We were 1,800 Germans and were attacked by 15,000 Swedish peasants...we struck most of them dead.
--Landsknecht Paul Dolstein, on fighting for the king of Denmark, July 1502
A peasant uprising can be scary, and I wouldn't personally want to face up to a farmer with a scythe. But if you've got angry peasants against trained soldiers or mercenaries, it's wise to put your money on the mercs.
If you're writing a peasant uprising of some sort, the peasants really need to have some sort of ace-in-the-hole before they get to be anything but fertilizer.
2 comments:
Are we sure these Germans weren't exaggerating a bit?
Also, these days wouldn't a populous armed with at least fairly modern firearms have somewhat less lopsided odds against modern mercenaries?
Untrained peasants tend to "bunch and rush". I'm not sure that would be any different today. Even if the weapons are more sophisticated, people are still about the same.
And battle is more than massed numbers. Look at the Battle of Agincourt. Or the Battle of Thermopylae. Both of those were battles where clever use of terrain helped overcome serious disadvantages in numbers.
How would a peasant uprising succeed? Mostly by never offering a pitched battle, and blending in with the terrain and populace that surrounds them. Think Vietnam guerrilla tactics. Or Iraqi insurgent tactics. They don't have to kill all of the invaders. Just need to make them want to leave.
-David
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