In classical times, the Roman legionary armies held contingents of archers, among the most prized being Syrian archers, who served on battlefields and outposts throughout the ancient Roman Empire and its boarders.
The Roman world was eventually overrun by armies of the Huns, Goths and Vandals, groups of nomadic peoples famed for their skill in archery, the Huns shooting their Asiatic re curve bows from horseback.
Made from wood, animal bone and sinew glued and bound together, the re curve bows used by the Huns were particularly feared by later Roman Armies.

By the time of the Middle Ages (1066 A.D. to 1485 A.D.) the most proficient archers in Europe were the English, and won many notable battles against the armies of France during the period known as the Hundred Years War (1338 A.D. to 1453 A.D.), shooting the English Longbow.
The Longbow figures large in the legends and folklore surrounding the outlaw Robin Hood and his merry men, which dates from this period.

With the discovery of the New World by Columbus and other great feats of exploration by other travelers at the beginning of the Renaissance, accounts came back to Europe that showed the bow and arrow to be possibly the most important tool for hunting and welfare used in East Asia, the Americas, Central Africa and the Artic Regions.

By the middle of the 16th Century, with the introduction into European armies on a large scale of the use of gunpowder with handgun and arquebus equipped troops, the bow and crossbow became obsolete on a large scale in war. Since that time, the bow and crossbow has still found use in various conflicts around the Globe.

Steve Crabtree 2004