Pages: 31-38

Information currently available on the combat tactics and techniques of the Prussians and their closest ancestors, Aesti, can be presented as follows: 1. There are no direct indications of any presence of combat techniques and military tactics among the inhabitants of the western border of the Baltic world in the early Roman time. 2. Weapons represented in the graves of Sambia of the Late Roman time are the result of the German influence on the traditions of Aesti. 3. First archaeological indications of the presence of military tactics among the early Prussians belong to the 5th century and are associated with the appearance of Vidivarian groups among the western Balts. 4. Prussian horsemen in late 6th — 7th centuries master a new type of weapon — a “narrow” sax with a slightly curved tip of the blade, adapted for slashing from the saddle. 5. Until now, there is no clarity with the Prussian tactics during the Viking era. 6. The local militia disappearing from the Prussian tribal area at the turn of the 11th —12th centuries, the military art of the Prussians degraded, which led to their constant failures in wars with the Teutonic Order.

Keywords: Baltic region, Early Middle Ages, military affairs, tactics, weapons, Prussians

Information about author:

Vladimir Kulakov (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dmitry Ulyanov St., 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]