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Warmatrix

War Matrix

shield, axe and sword
The matrix below is an entry point to many texts about various aspects of that most hideous yet persistent aspect of human society: war. It is organized vertically by time period and horizontally by subject category. The matrix is neither complete nor exhaustive, as it would require hundreds of books to list all weapon variants, notable commanders, skirmishes and conflicts and to describe them in detail. Instead, only major subjects listed and described in small summaries. The texts are short enough to fit an encyclopedia; more details and context can be found in books and other websites. Therefore this set of webpages serves a starting point for further research, helping the reader by its straightfoward matrix structure.

The focus of the matrix is mostly on Europe, but other parts of the world are covered too. As usual in history, there is far more, and more reliable, information on late than early events. This does not mean that there was less fighting in early human history. In fact, there was probably a lot more, though of far lesser intensity and gruesomeness than is often thought. The War Matrix focuses the most important, well-known or interesting events and participants. This is not a scientific work; almost all information comes from secondary sources and has not been subject to peer review. But the sources have been cross-checked and deliberated, to get at the truth. You will not find fantasy heroes, game weaponry or Hollywood misconceptions here, just the real thing.

War as an object of study is a fascinating phenomenon, due to its variety and complexity. War in real life is a horror, a blight on the achievements of humanity. The texts of the War Matrix do not judge whether war is good or bad, but describe many aspects of it, so the reader may gain insight into how and why humans fight wars and may form and opinion him/herself.

Period Armies and troops Generals and leaders Weapons and technology Wars and campaigns Battles and sieges
Prehistory 35000 BCE - 3500 BCE tribal warriors   club • staff • spear • javelin • atlatl • mace • sling • self bow • shield • walled town    
Ancient Era 3500 BCE - 500 CE
Middle East Period 3500 BCE - 3000 BCE Sumerian warfare   axe • flail    
Early Bronze Age 3000 BCE - 2200 BCE Akkadian army Sargon of Akkad bronze weapons • dagger • sickle sword • sappers • composite bow • battering ram • polearm    
Middle Bronze Age 2200 BCE - 1600 BCE   Hammurabi siege tower • reinforced walls • short sword    
Late Bronze Age 1600 BCE - 1100 BCE Hittites   hill fort • war chariot • scale armor Invasion of the Hyksos Battle of Megiddo
Iron Age 1100 BCE - 550 BCE Neo-Assyrian army • Scythians • Greek hoplites   iron weapons • cataphract • camel cavalry • crossbow • ballista • catapult • pentekonter • trireme • border wall First Messanian War Battle of 300 champions
Classical Period 550 BCE - 480 CE
Persian Era 550 BCE - 330 CE Athenian navy Cyrus the Great • Sun Tzu lamellar armor • steel sword • war elephant • quinquereme Founding of the Persian empire • Greco-Persian Wars • Anabasis Battle of Marathon • Battle of Salamis • Battle of Plataea • Siege of Syracuse
Greek Era 330 BCE - 200 BCE Macedonian army • Maurya army • Roman republican army Alexander the Great • Pyrrhus of Epirus • Hannibal Barca • Han Xin mail armor • fortified camp • tree saddle Conquest of Persia • Unification of China • Punic Wars Battle of Gaugamela • Battle of the Hydaspes river • Battle of Asculum • Battle of Cannae
Roman Ascent 200 BCE - 120 CE Parthians • Roman professional army • Teotihuacan • Maya warfare Quintus Sertorius • Lucullus • Julius Caesar   Han-Xiongnu War • Roman-Persian Wars Battle of Cynoscephalae • Battle of Mobei • Battle of Tigranocerta • Battle of Carrhae • Battle of Alesia • Battle of Actium • Battle of the Teutoburg Forest • Battle of Watling Street
Roman Decline 120 CE - 480 CE Late Roman army • Huns Attila stirrup Gothic War Battle of Red Cliffs • Battle of Adrianople • Battle of the Catalaunian Plains
Middle Ages 480 CE - 1480 CE
Early Middle Age 480 CE - 1066 CE
Dark Age 480 CE - 630 CE fubing Belisarius      
Islamic Age 630 CE - 800 CE Carolingian Franks • ghazis Khalid ibn al-Walid • Charles Martel macuahuitl • Greek fire Arab conquests • Reconquista Battle of Yarmouk • Battle of Qadisiyya • Battle of Tours
Viking Age 800 CE - 1066 CE Vikings • berserkers • Mamluks • sohei Sweyn Forkbeard castle • longship • carroccio Magyar raids • Great Viking Army Siege of Paris • Battle of Svolder • Battle of Stamford Bridge • Battle of Hastings
High Middle Age 1066 CE - 1300 CE
Knightly Era 1066 CE - 1206 CE knights • crusader orders • Hashashin • Song navy • samurai Alp Arslan • El Cid • William Marshal • Richard I the Lionheart cog • trebuchet First Crusade • Gempei War Siege of Antioch • Battle of Hattin • Sack of Constantinople
Mongol Era 1206 CE - 1300 CE Mongol army • Mandekalu army Genghis Khan • Subutai • Baibars • Tran Hung Dao explosive mine • rocket • handgonne Conquest of Khwarezmia • Mongol invasion of Europe Battle of Mohi • Battle of Ain Jalut • Fall of Acre
Late Middle Age 1300 CE - 1480 CE men-at-arms • condottieri • Swiss mercenaries • Janissaries • Hussites • Aztec army • shinobi John Hawkwood • Tamerlane • Skanderbeg • Joan of Arc plate armor • long sword • estoc • bombard • star fort • matchlock • carrack Hundred Years' War Battle of the Golden Spurs • Battle of Grunwald • Battle of Agincourt • Battle of Castillon • Fall of Constantinople
European Age 1480 CE - 1945 CE
Age of Discovery 1480 CE - 1620 CE Landsknechte • Tercios • gun cavalry • regiments • line infantry Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba • Hernán Cortés • Takeda Shingen • Lautaro • Toyotomi Hideyoshi • Alexander Farnese • Maurice of Nassau bronze cannon • wheellock • galleon • galleass • turtle ship Conquest of the Inca empire • Ottoman-Habsburg Wars • Eighty Years' War Battle of Cerignola • Battle of Panipat • Siege of Malta • Battle of Lepanto • Siege of Leiden • Defeat of the Spanish Armada • Capture of Breda • Battle of Sekigahara
Age of Reason 1620 CE - 1750 CE Swedish army • grenadiers • Asante army • Dahomey Amazons • Royal Navy • Prussian army Gustavus Adolphus • Michiel de Ruyter • Turenne • Nader Shah • Frederick the Great • Alexander Suvorov flintlock • bayonet • ship-of-the-line • military academy Thirty Years' War Battle of Lützen • Battle of Freiburg • Siege of Maastricht • Battle of Vienna • Battle of Blenheim • Battle of Poltava • Battle of Karnal
First Industrial Revolution 1750 CE - 1830 CE French Revolutionary Army • Zulu army Arthur Wellesley • Napoléon Bonaparte • Carl von Clausewitz • Winfield Scott • Shaka horse artillery • carronade • caplock • conscription Seven Year's War • American Revolutionary War • French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars • French invasion of Russia Battle of Plassey • Battle of Leuthen • Battles of Saratoga • Battle of the Nile • Battle of Austerlitz • Battle of Waterloo
Geopolitical Race 1830 CE - 1880 CE French Foreign Legion Helmuth von Moltke the Elder • Robert Lee industry • rifled musket • gun-howitzer • Armstrong gun • rifle • ironclad • machine gun • modern shell Scotts Mexico City campaign • Crimean War • Franco-Prussian War Battle of Solferino • Battle of Königgrätz • Battle of Isandlwana
Second Industrial Revolution 1880 CE - 1914 CE Japanese Imperial Army   quick-firing gun • submarine • airship • dreadnought • multiplane laws of war • Russo-Japanese War Battle of Adwa • Battle of Tsushima
World Wars 1914 CE - 1945 CE stormtroopers • Royal Air Force • Red Army • nazi army • kamikaze fighters Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck • Tomoyuki Yamashita • George Patton • Erich von Manstein • Heinz Guderian • Adolf Hitler • Georgy Zhukov poison gas • tank • aircraft carrier • airborne troops • radar • monoplane • motorized troops • helicopter • mechanized infantry • self-propelled artillery • tank destroyer • bio-agent • assault rifle • rocket propelled grenade • cruise missile • jet aircraft • nuclear weapon World War I • Chinese Civil War • World War II • Operation Barbarossa First Battle of the Marne • Battle of the Somme • Battle of Warsaw • Battle of Suomussalmi • Fall of France • Battle of Britain • Battle of Stalingrad • Battle of Kursk • D-Day
Modern Age 1945 CE - present
Cold War 1945 CE - 1991 CE special forces • US Air Force   guided rocket • nuclear submarine • main battle tank • attack helicopter • ICBM • ballistic vest • aerial drone Korean War • Vietnam War • Cuban Missile Crisis • Yom Kippur War • Soviet-Afghan War • Iran-Iraq War • Falklands War • Gulf War Battle of Inchon • Battle of Dien Bien Phu • Operation Opera
Global Age 1991 CE - present Daesh Qasem Soleimani • Valerii Zaluzhnyi military robot • hypersonic aircraft • railgun • laser • exoskeleton Congo Wars • Syrian Civil War • Russian Invasion of the Ukraine