Claim:
At the Battle of Bratislava a several hundred thousand strong Bavarian army met 40 thousand Magyars?
Rebuttal:
Armies of this size are unimaginable at that age.
In more detail:
These numbers seem exagerrated even at first sight, they are more similar to those seen in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 11th century it would have been impossible to cater for soldiers and horses along a more than 200 km long trek, especially for the attackers. Even much smaller invading German armies would be forced to leave the country due to lack of provisions. It is also questionable whether the number of Magyars reached even 10 thousand (one ’tömény’ as the contemporary unit of measurment had it). We simply have no data regarding the number of participants of the battle or indeed its course. All we have at our disposal is the following few entries, all else was made up much later:
“907 AD: The hopeless war of the Bavarians with the Magyars, Count Luitpold was killed, his conceited followers were broken, only a handful of Christians could escape, most of the bishops and counts were killed.
907 AD The entire Bavarian armi got annihilated by the Magyars
907 AD A very unfortunate battle was fought at Braslavespurch (today’s Bratislava) on July 4.”
