Lietuvių karybos bruožai XIII a. pradžioje

LTTirti lietuvių karybą mus įgalina dviejų veiksnių derinys: 1. karo amplitudės sklidimas ir 2. lietuvių pakliuvimas į krikščioniškų, raštą turinčių visuomenių akiratį. Livonijos, Prūsijos, Lenkijos kronikos ir rusų metraščiai yra pagrindiniai šaltiniai šiai temai nušviesti. Henriko Latvio Livonijos kronikai tenka ypač svarbus vaidmuo. Jos sukūrimo ankstumas suteikia progą pamatyti gentines Pabaltijo visuomenes, nepatyrusias vokiečių užkariavimų Livonijoje, o Lietuvoje - valstybės susidarymo poveikio. Henriko Latvio pateikiamų duomenų betarpiškumui, išskyrus Petro Dusburgiečio kroniką, retai kada prilygsta kiti minėti šaltiniai [p. 487].

ENThe article consists of two parts, discussing (1) bellicosity as wrath and (2) bellicosity as strength. The first deals with the tribal warfare of the Baltic peoples and the second aims at tracing the impact of the formation of the state of Lithuania upon its warfare. Native tribes were pitted against one another in permanent hostilities. According to the Livonian Chronicle at the beginning of the 13th century Lithuanian warrior bands harassed the area of the Lower Dauguva to such an extent that people there had to look for shelter in forests rather than live in their hamlets. That cruel domination admitted no payment of tribute or any other kind of agreement - the exaction of ransom was practiced only very rarely. Booty - prisoners of war and various goods - was the main purpose of military expeditions. The treatment of the prisoners depended upon their sex and age. The male population of the invaded land was usually killed, while women and children were abducted into slavery. Some of them were sold to slave-traders or to neighbouring tribes. A high value was set on horses since they could be used as a means of riding and transportation. Many other things could interest the raiders and valuable implements and utensils, clothes, even Christian icons were grabbed, too. Robbed gold and silver went into the hoards of the chieftains. In that period Lithuanian warfare was adapted to meet the requirements of pillage. An ambush on the unprepared enemy was the first prerequisite for success. These tactics, more characteristic of hunting rather than of fighting, indicate that such warriors were more used to sacking the peaceful population than doing battle.War was an inseparable part of everyday life. Military values were naturally maintained in a society, dominated by warriors in the conditions of continual war waging. To be a man, first of all, meant to be a warrior. Any man of another tribe was considered an enemy and had to be treated as such - killed or cruelly mutilated. Killing and plundering the enemy were social values. The analysis of pagan rites, such as marrying kidnapped women, augury, decapitating the dead or burning the captive alive on the offering bonfire, martial games, the role of the duke in military actions, etc. lead to the conclusion that the spirit of violence-making in all the body social was a decisive mark of bellicosity as wrath. In the attempts to grasp bellicosity as strength (which contrary to the bellicosity as wrath is to be understood as a rational agent in waging a war) some questions are to be answered, at least tentatively. How did the screaming and disorderly fighting bands of warriors, highly vulnerable to the straightforward attacks of the Teutonic Knights, become the army of the Grand Duke of Lithuania? What new social conditions contributed to the fostering of the disciplined group courage rather than uncontrolled individual temerity?.The changing situation in the Baltic region - mainly due to the activities of the Crusaders and the Lithuanian expansion into Rus’ - compelled a change in the military tactics. At first Lithuanian warriors used to dismount and fight in defensive battles under the protection of felled trees; later they learned to form a rudimentary battle array of three lines of warriors protected with shields. Thus it was possible to come into direct contact with the enemy and learn to fight. Although the formation of the Lithuanian state did not directly affect its warfare, it nevertheless contributed much to the consolidation of numerous military bands. Structural changes within them made the vertical relations between their members prevalent over the horizontal ones. In that way the warrior’s fighting skill and fidelity rather than blood relationship conditioned his position in the band. Another very important change was initiated by the introduction of taxation, leading to the division between military and civil services, and that, in its turn, gave rise to professional soldiery. In a word, the process of state formation meant the overcoming of organizational looseness, and bellicosity as strength acquired its main features.