
Historical Collections
Skanderbeg's Military Tactics
According to Marin Barleti, the tactical variants used by Skanderbeg to defeat enemy armies were diverse and relied on coordinating defence with offense, employing both Infantry and lightly armed Cavalry.
Cavalry was the primary weapon of Gjergj Kastrioti' s army. It consisted of light and simple formations, unburdened with heavy armaments, capable of covering great distances in a short time and delivering sudden and powerful strikes. Cavalry would play a crucial role in destroying Ottoman hordes. The successes of this cavalry, whose main advantage lay in its ability for swift, wide, and deep manoeuvres on the battlefield, had a significant impact on the field of military art and became one of the main factors for the rapid spread of the use of Light Cavalry in European battlefields of the XV- XVI centuries.
Skanderbeg also paid attention to disrupting the supply routes of the enemy army by attacking its supply caravans carrying food and other necessary supplies. He also took care in organizing intelligence gathering to secure strategic, operational, and tactical information related to the timing of the arrival of enemy forces, their size, organization, movement, military actions, and so on.