I sometimes read about medieval battles in which armies of thousands marched at each other and think about what it must have felt like for those at the fronts of each side. In films and television, we're conditioned to regularly see our heroes fighting on the frontlines and surviving (especially looking at Game of Thrones), but when I imagine the carnage that must have happened in actual historical battles, I can't imagine a single person who was leading the charge making it more than a couple of minutes. Am I wrong to think that? And it begs the second question - if the reality was that you were very likely to die if you had the misfortune of being placed at the front, why did the entire frontline go through with it, and how did enough men keep fighting for anyone to sustain an army, since eventually surely most soldiers would have the misfortune of being placed at the front?
Sorry if this is a really stupid question - I am absolutely nothing close to a historian, but this is something I've been thinking about lately. I'm very interested in what smarter people than I have to say.
Less survivable than people would hope, more survivable than you'd think. It is legitimately dangerous to be in a battle, people have died in them, and it is legitimately more dangerous to be in the front rank - but the danger is not quite as portrayed by films or a game of Total War. The Hollywood Combat Moshpit is most assuredly not how fighting went back then.
As always, more can be said from other quarters, so if you'd like to write up a post of your own, please don't let this linkdrop stop you!