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Did medieval armies really use fire arrows ?

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Astor Kitsimble
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« on: June 12, 2016, 07:27:35 pm »

Sorry But Medieval Armies Probably Didn't Use Fire Arrows
Bryan Menegus
Friday 9:51amFiled to: actually

Fire arrows are in everything from Gladiator to Braveheart to Game of Thrones. The good guys stretch their bows in unison and rain flaming death en masse onto the opposing army, looking like total badasses the whole time. But like so many things on this terrible planet, fire arrows are too good to be true and almost no Medieval army actually used them in open warfare.

As Lindybeige explains, there were three core properties that made arrows appealing to the armies of old: range, rate of fire, and the ability to pierce armor. Modifying an arrow to stay on fire through its entire flight has a negative impact on some or all of these attributes.

For starters, think about wrapping a normal arrow in cloth or pitch and setting that ablaze. Once the arrow is drawn back, it’s going to do the most damage to the bow and your own hand. Not good! A longer tip or shaft solves this, but adds more weight and therefore less range, or makes arrows too fragile. Not to mention that a sharp pointy thing is far more effective against armor than an on-fire not-so-pointy thing. Guys in full-plate armor don’t immediately go up in flames like they do in the movies when getting hit by a tiny burning stick.

As Lindy notes, tests have been done on reconstructed fire arrows to see which chemicals were best for A) keeping the arrow lit while in flight and B) causing the target to actually catch fire. At best, the success rate was measured at around 2%.

This could have been somewhat useful during late Medieval naval warfare—where there was a chance of hitting a sail or a store of gunpowder—and to a lesser extend during sieges by the invading army. But at best, fire arrows were meant to pester and distract rather than cause meaningful damage, and weren’t ever put into regular use. Sorry for ruining about 800 of your favorite movies!


http://sploid.gizmodo.com/sorry-but-medieval-armies-probably-didnt-use-fire-arrow-1781748322
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Astor Kitsimble
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« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2016, 07:29:30 pm »



Real-life fire arrows were not as effective as in the movies. Image Credit: Ecole Rhenane
It's a form of attack used to great effect in movies - but did real soldiers ever actually use them ?
From Braveheart to Game of Thrones, archers have long been seen dipping their arrows in to a flammable liquid, setting them alight and raining fiery death down upon their enemies.

According to YouTube historian Lindybeige however, the whole idea of setting your arrows on fire before sending them flying towards someone is fraught with problems.

Perhaps the biggest problem of all is the fact that modifying an arrow to be able to stay on fire for the entire time that it is flying through the air significantly compromises its effectiveness as a long-range weapon - in particular its ability to pierce a target and to travel far enough to hit someone.

Wrapping an arrow in some sort of cloth and setting it alight is also likely to do more damage to the archer's hand than to whatever it eventually hits and making the shaft longer to compensate will simply make it too heavy and too fragile to be a useful weapon during battle.

Perhaps the only time fire arrows could be helpful is in naval combat where a carefully aimed arrow might be able to set the sails of an enemy vessel on fire or blow up a powder keg.

Overall though, these deceptively unintimidating weapons were most likely only used under certain conditions to pester and distract enemies rather than as a staple weapon during large battles.

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