Describes evolution of the Frankish panoply from the Merovingian to the Carolingian period. compares it to the Roman Legionnaire?

As the Roman army ranks were overwhelmed by the intrusion of the Germanic Barbarians, the Roman Army eventually became "barbarianized" and the end of the heavy infantryman. It is, however, ironic that as the Roman Legionnaire evolved from the large rectangular shield and the heavy shorter sax of a foot soldier to the specialized units (with more and more emphasis on the horse), that the Germans and Franks were still "essentially a people of the …

…evolving into siege-warfare. Charles the Great utilized a strategy that involved garrisons in forts as he penetrated enemy territory, and it was this same method that would later be adapted by the Vikings as their over-the-North Sea-raids became staged attacks from fortified outpost. It was the Viking explosion that would finalize the absence of "real" battlefield clashes as the use of defense and fortifications became the watchword for survival throughout Western Europe (Cambridge U. 12-18).