The Battle of Carrhae

The Battle of Carrhae was an incredibly accurate forewarning of the archery tactics that would ultimately defeat the heavy infantry that built the Roman Empire. The battle occurred in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae (now the present-day ruins of Harran, Turkey). The Commanders were Marcus Crassus and the Parthian General Spahbod Surena. The battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Parthians. Rome, unfortunately neglected the lesson in battlefield tactics that was eventually to lead to its defeat and the dissolution of the Empire.

Neither did the Russians, the Chinese or the Muslims, the Chinese and the Hungarians pay sufficient attention to the tactics and Ghengis Khan conquered them all and built an Empire that stretched from the Gates of Vienna to the China Sea.

In 55 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus was the richest man in Rome, had just finished serving his joint-consul year with Gnaius Pompey. He then formed a triumvirate with Caesar and Pompey to control Rome. Caesar and Pompey had great military were both great Generals. Crassus had no achievements since his defeat of Spartacus nearly 20 years earlier and was beset by an insatiable desire to add new glory to his name.

He had himself appointed General of the East (Today's Near East) and began to plan an invasion of Parthia (Iran) that would give him a glorious victory to enhance his reputation. Many members of the Roman Senate tried to dissuade him from this course of action, but Caesar and Pompey used their influence and the senate relented.

Crassus arrived in Syria in late 55 BC. and marched directly to the Parthia. Instead of glory, Crassus found death. "

The Parthian army was outnumbered almost 2 to 1 but used 1,000 heavily armed and armored horsemen, called "cataphracts", in conjunction with 9,000 horse archers to defeat the heavily armored Roman legions.

Surena's tactic was to us his cataphracts to control the Roman Cavalry while his horse archers surrounded the legionaries and fired repeated volleys of arrows into the densely packed formation of the Romans that caused major casualties to the legionaries. To sustain their barrage, the Parthians employed camels to carry additional arrow loads to the archers. The Roman legionaries eventually broke formation and were routed. A major factor in the Roman defeat can be attributed to their legionaries heavy armor.

The Romans attempted to charge the horse archers, but the Parthians would feign retreat, while firing arrows at their pursuers. (a custom known as the "Parthian shot"). When the Romans formed their ranks into the protective testudo (a tortise like formation of large shields), the Cataphracts would charg under suppressive arrow storms and smash the Roman ranks. The legionaries were unable to fight effectively in their tight formation, despite the large protective shields.

Many Roman soldiers eventually collapsed from thirst and heat exhaustion and the exertion of defending themselves from the never ending arrow storm. When Crassus urged them to charge the enemy's mail-clad horsemen, they showed him that the arrows had riveted their hands to their shields and their feet nailed through and through to the ground. They were helpless and perished almost to a man.

The Parthian archers used a composite bows of wood and horn which were more powerful than traditional bows. Arrows fired from these bows were able to penetrate the legionnaires' thick armour, to the horror of the heavy Roman infantry.