Horse archers are overrated

[Domobran7]

Horse Archers Are Overrated

Horse archers often have a memetic status in military history and military fantasy alike. Mongols are said to have conquered most of Eurasia simply because they were awesome horse archers, and Doth…

warfantasy.wordpress.com

Horse archers often have a memetic status in military history and military fantasy alike. Mongols are said to have conquered most of Eurasia simply because they were awesome horse archers, and Dothraki are considered unbeatable by many in the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom because they are a horse archer stereotype. Most of the books discussing the Mongols focus on their composite bow as if it were some sort of a medieval nuke. Essentially, horse archers are considered the ultimate weapon, capable of devastating any premodern military nearly alone, or at least with minimal support.

But there are many problems with these ideas, stemming first from the nature of horse archers.

 

[randomradio]

@vstol Jockey

Interesting stuff.

Horse Archers Are Overrated

Horse archers often have a memetic status in military history and military fantasy alike. Mongols are said to have conquered most of Eurasia simply because they were awesome horse archers, and Doth…

warfantasy.wordpress.com

Horse archers often have a memetic status in military history and military fantasy alike. Mongols are said to have conquered most of Eurasia simply because they were awesome horse archers, and Dothraki are considered unbeatable by many in the A Song of Ice and Fire fandom because they are a horse archer stereotype. Most of the books discussing the Mongols focus on their composite bow as if it were some sort of a medieval nuke. Essentially, horse archers are considered the ultimate weapon, capable of devastating any premodern military nearly alone, or at least with minimal support.

But there are many problems with these ideas, stemming first from the nature of horse archers.

The argument you made about armor can be carried forward into the modern day battlefield as well, where people think the battle tank is a thing of the past, without recognizing the fact that a tank can protect itself from most projectiles today.