哪种武器在战争中更有效，英国长弓还是法国弩？

Which weapon was more effective in war, the English longbow or the French crossbow?

哪种武器在战争中更有效，英国长弓还是法国弩？

Battle of Crecy, 1346.

克雷西战役，1346年。

Genoese crossbow mercenaries were considered amongst the finest crossbowmen of the medieval age. This article will therefore highlight a battle between English and Welsh Longbowmen against Genoese crossbowmen.

热那亚雇佣弩兵被认为是中世纪最优秀的弩手之一。因此，本文将重点介绍英国和威尔士长弓手与热那亚弓箭手之间的一场战斗。

Edward III landed in France with 12,000 men, of those 7,000 were the finest Longbowmen of their generation. A couple of victories later, Edward had captured Caen in Normandy. Edwards force was being shadowed by a much larger French army, he made his stand when he reached Crecy.

爱德华三世带着12000人登陆法国，这7000人中有他们这一代最优秀的长弓手。几次胜利后，爱德华在诺曼底攻占了卡昂。爱德华兹部队正被一支规模大得多的法国军队跟踪，他到达克雷西时表明了立场。

This area of Normandy actually belonged to Edward, he had inherited it from his mother and knew it well, no doubt he considered it a suitable site for a battle. He formed his men into three divisions and positioned them in defensive positions on the high ground with deceiving slops and broken terrain towards French.

诺曼底的这片土地实际上属于爱德华，他从母亲那里继承了这片土地，并且对它了如指掌，毫无疑问，他认为这是一个适宜作战的地方。他把部下分成三个师，把他们安置在高地上的防御阵地上，用欺骗性的斜坡和破碎的地形向法军进发。

Edwards 16-year-old son, Edward prince of wales aka the Black Prince, commanded the vanguard with around 800 men-at-arms, 2,000 archers and 1,000 Welsh spearmen. The second division on his left had 800 men-at-arms and 1,200 archers. Behind them, the King commanded the reserve division, with another 800 men-at-arms and 2,000 archers. Each division was composed of men-at-arms in the centre, all on foot, with ranks of spearmen immediately behind them, and with longbowmen on each flank and in a loose skirmishing line at the front.

爱德华兹16岁的儿子，威尔士亲王爱德华，又名黑王子，指挥先锋队，有大约800名士兵，2000名弓箭手和1000名威尔士长矛手。他左边的第二师有800名战士和1200名弓箭手。在他们后面，国王指挥预备役部队，还有800名士兵和2000名弓箭手。每一个师都是由中间的兵士组成，都是步行的，后面紧跟着一排长矛兵，两边都是长弓兵，前面是松散的小规模战斗线。

It started to rain, while the English dug into defensive positions. Each longbowman was ordered to drive a large sharp stake into the ground directly in front of him.

天开始下雨了，而英国人在防守阵地上奋力拼搏。每个长弓手都被命令将一根锋利的大木桩直接打入他面前的地面。

The French formed a large vanguard of 7,000+ Genoese crossbowmen, these legendary mercenaries were considered the best crossbow force money could buy. Behind the large force of Genoese crossbows, came the second French division, formed of Men at Arms and Knights.

法国人组成了一支由7000多名热那亚弓箭手组成的庞大先锋队，这些传说中的雇佣兵被认为是金钱所能买到的最好的弓箭手。在热那亚弓弩大军的后面，是法国第二师，由战士和骑士组成。

The rain was coming down in a torrent, so the Longbowmen de-strung their bows to avoid the strings becoming slackened and placed the string under the helmets to keep it dry. The Genoese crossbowmen didn’t have this luxury, as tools and a great deal of time were involved in de-stringing their crossbows.

暴雨倾盆而下，长弓队员们解开了弓弦，以防弦松开，并把弦放在头盔下保持干燥。热那亚弓箭手没有这种奢侈，因为工具和大量的时间都涉及到解除他们的弩弦。

at the start of the battle, the massive wave of Genoese crossbow mercenaries was sent forward, advancing to just outside the limit of their lethal range of about 75 metres. They formed into a loose line directly in front of the English and the Black Princes division. It must have come as a shock to those lethal crossbowmen when they quickly realised that the longbowmen had a far better lethal range.

战斗一开始，热那亚弓弩雇佣兵大浪向前推进，前进到刚好超出其致命射程约75米的极限。他们排成一条松散的队伍，直接面对英国和黑人王子师。当那些致命的弩手很快意识到长弓手的射程远比长弓手好的时候，他们一定很震惊。

The Crossbows could manage 3–4 bolts a minute, under the best conditions. The Longbows could comfortably manage three times that number, with Welsh and English Longbowmen were able to fire 12 war arrows a minute.

在最好的条件下，弩每分钟可以射3-4发箭。长弓兵可以轻松应付三倍于这个数字，威尔士和英国长弓兵每分钟可以发射12支战争箭。

Below is a clip of Joe Gibbs, for an example of my point. Gibbs is one of a few longbowman who can fire 160–200lb Warbows. I made this gif from a Tod’s Workshop video.

下面是一个乔吉布斯剪辑，作为我的观点的一个例子。吉布斯是少数几个能发射160-200磅战弓的长弓手之一。我从托德工作室的视频中制作了这个gif。

The 7,000 Genoese crossbowmen were engaged by 4,000 Longbowmen and the carnage in that opening to the battle of Crecy, must have been horrific. With storms of war arrows, being fired in rapid volleys and raining down on the lightly armoured crossbowmen.

7000名热那亚弓箭手与4000名长弓手交战，在克雷西战役的开场，大屠杀一定很可怕。伴随着风暴般的战箭，快速的凌空抽射，雨点般的落在轻甲弩兵身上。

That brief engagement lasted less than 20 minutes, but it was telling, the Longbow had utterly defeated the crossbow. Most of the commanding officers of the Genoese mercenaries were dead, along with many of the force. What remained routed, the havoc as they collided with the second French division made up of Knights and Men at Arm, who were advancing behind them, causing chaos and leading to the French Knights attacking their Genoese allies.

那场短暂的交战持续了不到20分钟，但很明显，长弓已经彻底击败了十字弓。热那亚雇佣兵的大部分指挥官都死了，还有许多部队的指挥官也死了。剩下的是，当他们与法国第二师（由骑士和武装人员组成）相撞时的混乱，后者在他们后面前进，造成混乱，并导致法国骑士攻击他们的热那亚盟友。

‘The English and Welsh Longbowmen and men-at-arms held off the charging French Knights and Men-at-arms not just once, but 16 times in total. During one of these attacks Edward’s son The Black Prince came under direct attack, but his father refused to send help, claiming he needed to ‘win his spurs’.

“英国和威尔士的长弓手和兵士不仅一次，而且总共16次挡住了冲锋的法国骑士和兵士。在其中一次袭击中，爱德华的儿子黑王子遭到直接攻击，但他的父亲拒绝提供帮助，声称他需要“赢得马刺”。

By the battles end, the French king was wounded, the French retreated. The French casualties were high and included eleven princes, 1,200 knights and 12,000 mixed soldiers killed. Edward III is said have lost a few hundred men.’

战斗结束时，法国国王受了伤，法国人撤退了。法国伤亡惨重，包括11名王子、1200名骑士和12000名混合士兵丧生。据说爱德华三世失去了几百人

Advantages of Longbow; The men wielding it, physical specimens whose bodies were shaped by a lifetime of training with longbows of progressively increasing draw weights, competing in highly competitive competitions and finally passing selective recruitment.

长弓的优点；挥舞长弓的人，他们的身体是通过终生练习逐渐增加的长弓重量而形成的，在激烈的竞争中竞争，最后通过选拔赛。

“If you want to train a Longbowman, start with his grandfather” – Edward III

“如果你想训练长弓手，从他的祖父开始”—爱德华三世

The Longbowmen which the English built their armies around, were the cream of the entire kingdom, just imagine a few hundred of these physically impressive career soldiers, each capable of firing 12 bodkin arrows a minute, raining heavy war arrows into densely packed formations of slow-moving but well-armoured infantry or heavy cavalry, it would be carnage, in fact, we KNOW it was. The same result was repeated across many battles.

英国人建立军队的长弓兵是整个王国的精锐部队，试想一下，几百名身强力壮的职业士兵，每分钟都能射出12支博德金箭，把沉重的战箭射向行动缓慢但装备精良的步兵或重骑兵密集的编队，那将是大屠杀，事实上，我们知道那是。同样的结果在许多战役中反复出现。

Longbowmen, unlike most missile units, were highly effective in melee, using their prodigious strength and endurance to wield heavy weapons like Mallets & Poleaxes, to lethal effect. There are many accounts of Longbowmen slaying French knights or men at arms in Melee combat.

长弓兵不同于大多数导弹部队，他们在近战中非常有效，用他们惊人的力量和耐力来挥舞沉重的武器，如木槌和长矛，达到致命的效果。有许多关于长弓手在近战中杀死法国骑士或士兵的记载。

‘Mess him up John’ – ‘I’m bloody hitting him, Sir’

“把他搞砸约翰”——“我要揍他，先生”

Advantages of Crossbow; Much easier to use, with very short training time, ideal for turning untrained commoners into killers. Raising a large force of crossbowmen rapidly was comparatively simple and ideal for conscription, simply buy the crossbows and give them to able bodied person.

弩的优点；更容易使用，训练时间很短，非常适合把未经训练的平民变成杀手。迅速培养一大批弓弩兵对于征兵来说是比较简单和理想的，只要把弓弩买下来交给身体健全的人就行了。

Crossbows were far more widespread because they could be used by anyone, this was its greatest strength. While Longbows required Longbowmen who were incredibly special.

弩更广泛，因为他们可以被任何人使用，这是它最大的力量。而长弓则需要非常特别的长弓手。

In closing: Crossbows and Longbows were both competing missile weapons, but they suited wildly different strategies, situations and operated tactically at opposite tiers of ability.

最后：弓弩和长弓都是相互竞争的导弹武器，但它们适应的战略、情况和战术水平截然不同。