*They were pajamas- Going into battle in coat and breeches or dressed liked a Tinker is one thing. Coming into battle dressed in CAMOFLAUGE so that you can blend in at ALL times with your surroundings (brings to mind warder cloaks) is another.
*No armor is a HUGE disadvantage- True. For the TYPICAL soldier. However, they are not. By this reasoning all Warders should be chopped down immediately seeing as the never wear armor and are constantly facing overwhelming odds. Except there's the fact they are the most highly trained swordsmen and that's all they do. Kinda like Aiel no? Basically having no armor suits Aiel tactics. They are all about speed and maneuverability. The whole point of using short spears is because they can strike quicker with those than a man can with a sword, and as we've seen most wetland soldiers, while competent with swords, aren't quite blademasters.
You have to take into account the effect of intimidation. They not only completely tower over the people of all the other nations, but come garbed in a way that makes them seem inhuman with only eyes showing. Battles have been lost time and time again before blows were struck because of the terror an opposing force has caused. Wetlanders on the whole FEAR death and cling to life, while Aiel see it as nothing more than waking from a dream. This is not to say they might never know a moments fear but it allows them to accept whatever may come and face it bravely, rather than being slightly paralyzed by it.
*Cavalry is the end all of fighting- Having great cavalry is a HUGE bonus true, but in CONJUNCTION with other troops. As has been stated by many others cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, is only suitable when it can charge a not so fluid infantry squad or another force of cavalry. But the key is being able to close to grips while maintaining the unit cohesion with the charge. The Aiel, who have been compared to light cavalry by mat and lan, are anything but a force that will just stand still while you ride them down. The simple truth is that Wetlander armies rarely seem to maintain such cohesion. You say the Aiel have no tactics but we've never seen one instance of them rushing forward all willy-nilly like the Persians at Thermopylae. If anything its the "civilized" armies, and more importantly the cavalry that do so. The nobles leading them seem far more interested in the glory they can personally achieve on the field of battle than with maitaining cohesion. Just look at Mat's first battle leading men against Shaido when he's cursing the fact that several nobles and their retainers are scattered around the battle flailing their swords left and right being "brave" rather than sitting inside the box of pikemen awaiting his and Talmanes's charges. The leadership is just flawed for the most part because it is given to nobles by right of birth (Weiramon!) and not because they have the best strategies and tactics. The Aiel do nothing but study warfare, seek to perfect their mode of it, and don't allow thirst for glory to make them sloppy.
Lastly, I will say this. The Aiel are by no means invincible. Besides all the aforementioned reasons there are quite a few more as to why they succeed in battle: There are maybe 5 or so great captains on this side of the ocean, where as it can easily be argued that while not all the chiefs are great captains, the foremost leaders among them are. They have to be to lead such a society.
When is the last time Aiel truly faced a great captain in a full on confrontation? Most of those in command they face are fools like Weiramon or Laman, or nobles in lands like Ghealdan that never see real battles and war. Were this during the trolloc wars or the war of the hundred years they would still have successes, but not nearly so much. Afterall, Cairhien is no Manetheren. The closest thing to those armies is the Borderlanders but we haven't seen these Aiel do battle with them on any kind of notable scale. However, we DO hear from the Seanchan who probably have the best organized army that they've found ways to beat Shaido once they'd engaged a few times.
Don't forget Mat's remark in the Janghai pass (can't remember the sacked city's name) that the town should have been able to hold out for quite some time if they had guards posted who were keeping watch and doing their duty. That shows how complacency and a false sense of security will allow an invading force to conquer quickly (Alexander the great and caesar both prized speed and experience more than anything else), and that is just what they did during the aiel war. Fully formed resistance was slow in coming, and their was far too much clashing of leadership ideas among the nations. They had to settle on rotating days of command between the generals, and we all saw how well that worked out for Romans against Hannibal.
Numbers. If nothing else, you have to acknowledge that in the current age Wetland armies (excepting the borderlanders) just don't have the numbers, not when 10,000 men is considered a huge army. The Aiel came across in their previous war with 3 full clans, and even giving a lowest possible estimate i'd say that meant at least 60,000 men. But from what we know of the clans numbers it must've been far more seeing as the shaido came with a good 100-150k (though many were deserters from other clans), and Rand's group at least doubles that. Now seems to me vastly superior numbers who are ALL extremely trained (no militia here), greater speed and structure (arriving sooner than expected always and NOT a milling mass of troops), superior leadership (can you really compare any cairien or tairen lord to Rhuarc or Bael?), and having a preceding reputation that induces terror before you even strike would make winning not all that hard.
Does anyone else loathe the Aiel?
in Wheel of Time Books
Posted
A few points to make about the Aiel:
*They were pajamas- Going into battle in coat and breeches or dressed liked a Tinker is one thing. Coming into battle dressed in CAMOFLAUGE so that you can blend in at ALL times with your surroundings (brings to mind warder cloaks) is another.
*No armor is a HUGE disadvantage- True. For the TYPICAL soldier. However, they are not. By this reasoning all Warders should be chopped down immediately seeing as the never wear armor and are constantly facing overwhelming odds. Except there's the fact they are the most highly trained swordsmen and that's all they do. Kinda like Aiel no? Basically having no armor suits Aiel tactics. They are all about speed and maneuverability. The whole point of using short spears is because they can strike quicker with those than a man can with a sword, and as we've seen most wetland soldiers, while competent with swords, aren't quite blademasters.
You have to take into account the effect of intimidation. They not only completely tower over the people of all the other nations, but come garbed in a way that makes them seem inhuman with only eyes showing. Battles have been lost time and time again before blows were struck because of the terror an opposing force has caused. Wetlanders on the whole FEAR death and cling to life, while Aiel see it as nothing more than waking from a dream. This is not to say they might never know a moments fear but it allows them to accept whatever may come and face it bravely, rather than being slightly paralyzed by it.
*Cavalry is the end all of fighting- Having great cavalry is a HUGE bonus true, but in CONJUNCTION with other troops. As has been stated by many others cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, is only suitable when it can charge a not so fluid infantry squad or another force of cavalry. But the key is being able to close to grips while maintaining the unit cohesion with the charge. The Aiel, who have been compared to light cavalry by mat and lan, are anything but a force that will just stand still while you ride them down. The simple truth is that Wetlander armies rarely seem to maintain such cohesion. You say the Aiel have no tactics but we've never seen one instance of them rushing forward all willy-nilly like the Persians at Thermopylae. If anything its the "civilized" armies, and more importantly the cavalry that do so. The nobles leading them seem far more interested in the glory they can personally achieve on the field of battle than with maitaining cohesion. Just look at Mat's first battle leading men against Shaido when he's cursing the fact that several nobles and their retainers are scattered around the battle flailing their swords left and right being "brave" rather than sitting inside the box of pikemen awaiting his and Talmanes's charges. The leadership is just flawed for the most part because it is given to nobles by right of birth (Weiramon!) and not because they have the best strategies and tactics. The Aiel do nothing but study warfare, seek to perfect their mode of it, and don't allow thirst for glory to make them sloppy.
Lastly, I will say this. The Aiel are by no means invincible. Besides all the aforementioned reasons there are quite a few more as to why they succeed in battle: There are maybe 5 or so great captains on this side of the ocean, where as it can easily be argued that while not all the chiefs are great captains, the foremost leaders among them are. They have to be to lead such a society.
When is the last time Aiel truly faced a great captain in a full on confrontation? Most of those in command they face are fools like Weiramon or Laman, or nobles in lands like Ghealdan that never see real battles and war. Were this during the trolloc wars or the war of the hundred years they would still have successes, but not nearly so much. Afterall, Cairhien is no Manetheren. The closest thing to those armies is the Borderlanders but we haven't seen these Aiel do battle with them on any kind of notable scale. However, we DO hear from the Seanchan who probably have the best organized army that they've found ways to beat Shaido once they'd engaged a few times.
Don't forget Mat's remark in the Janghai pass (can't remember the sacked city's name) that the town should have been able to hold out for quite some time if they had guards posted who were keeping watch and doing their duty. That shows how complacency and a false sense of security will allow an invading force to conquer quickly (Alexander the great and caesar both prized speed and experience more than anything else), and that is just what they did during the aiel war. Fully formed resistance was slow in coming, and their was far too much clashing of leadership ideas among the nations. They had to settle on rotating days of command between the generals, and we all saw how well that worked out for Romans against Hannibal.
Numbers. If nothing else, you have to acknowledge that in the current age Wetland armies (excepting the borderlanders) just don't have the numbers, not when 10,000 men is considered a huge army. The Aiel came across in their previous war with 3 full clans, and even giving a lowest possible estimate i'd say that meant at least 60,000 men. But from what we know of the clans numbers it must've been far more seeing as the shaido came with a good 100-150k (though many were deserters from other clans), and Rand's group at least doubles that. Now seems to me vastly superior numbers who are ALL extremely trained (no militia here), greater speed and structure (arriving sooner than expected always and NOT a milling mass of troops), superior leadership (can you really compare any cairien or tairen lord to Rhuarc or Bael?), and having a preceding reputation that induces terror before you even strike would make winning not all that hard.