'Cavalry' (from
French ''cavalerie'') were
soldiers or
warriors who fought mounted on
horseback in
combat. The designation was not usually extended to any military force that used other animals, such as camels or mules.
Infantry who moved on horseback but dismounted to fight on foot were in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries known as
dragoons, a class of mounted troops which later evolved into cavalry proper while retaining their historic title. From earliest times cavalry had the advantage of improved mobility, an "instrument which multiplied the fighting value of even the smallest forces, allowing them to outflank and avoid, to surprise and overpower, to retreat and escape according to the requirements of the moment." A man fighting from horseback also had the advantages of greater height, speed, and inertial mass over an opponent on foot.
In many modern armies, the term cavalry is often used for units that fill the traditional horse-borne
light cavalry roles of
scouting,
screening,
skirmishing and
raiding. The
shock role, traditionally filled by
heavy cavalry, is generally filled by units with the "
armoured" designation.
History
Origins
Before the
Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light
chariots. The chariot originated with the
Sintashta-Petrovka culture in
Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic
Indo-Iranians [1]. The chariot was quickly adopted by settled peoples both as a military technology and an object of ceremonial status, especially by the
Pharaohs of the
New Kingdom of Egypt as well as
Assyrian and
Babylonian royalty.
The power of mobility given by mounted units was recognized early on, but was offset by the difficulty of raising large forces and by the inability of horses (then mostly small) to carry heavy armor. Cavalry techniques were an innovation of
equestrian nomads of the Central Asian and
Iranian steppe and
pastoralist tribes such as the
Persian Parthians and
Sarmatians.
Assyrian cavalry
The photograph shows Assyrian cavalry from reliefs of 865-860 BC. At this time, the men had no
spurs, saddles, saddlecloths, or stirrups. Fighting from the back of a horse was much more difficult than mere riding. The cavalry acted in pairs; the reins of the mounted archer were controlled by his neighbour’s hand. Even at this early time, cavalry used swords, shields, and bows. The sculpture implies two types of cavalry, but this might be a simplification by the artist. Later images of Assyrian cavalry show saddlecloths as primitive saddles, allowing each archer to control his own horse.
As early as 490 BC a breed of large horses was bred in the Nisaean plain in Media to carry men with increasing amounts of armour (Herodotus 7,40 & 9,20). But large horses were still very exceptional at this time. Excepting
scythed chariots the use of chariots in battle was obsolete by the time of the Persian defeat at the hands of
Alexander the Great, but chariots remained in use for ceremonial purposes such as carrying the victorious general in a
Roman triumph, for chariot racing, and among the Gallic and Germanic tribes.
Ancient Greece and Macedon
Main articles: hippeis
Cavalry played a relatively minor role in
Ancient Greece, with conflicts decided by massed armored infantry. However,
Thessaly was widely known for producing competent cavalrymen, and later experiences in wars both with and against the
Persians taught the
Greeks the value of cavalry in skirmishing and pursuit. The
Athenian author and soldier
Xenophon in particular advocated the creation of a small but well-trained cavalry force; to that end, he wrote several manuals on horsemanship and cavalry operations.
The
Macedonian kingdom in the north, on the other hand, developed a strong cavalry force that culminated in the ''hetairoi'' (
Companion cavalry) of
Philip II and Alexander the Great. In addition to these heavy cavalry, the Macedonian combined arms army also employed lighter horsemen called
prodromoi for scouting and screening, as well as the
Macedonian pike phalanx and various kinds of
light infantry. The effectiveness of this combined-arms system was most dramatically demonstrated in Alexander's conquest of
Persia,
Bactria, and northwestern
India.
Roman Republic and Early Empire
Reenactor showing Roman military equestrian
The cavalry in the early Roman Republic remained the preserve of the wealthy
landed class known as the
Equites --men who could afford the expense of maintaining a horse in addition to arms and armor heavier than those of the common
legions. As the class grew to be more of a social elite instead of a functional property-based military grouping, the Romans began to employ Italian
socii for filling the ranks of their cavalry. At about the same time the Romans began to recruit foreign auxiliary cavalry from among
Gauls,
Iberians, and
Numidians, the last being highly valued as mounted skirmishers and scouts.
Julius Caesar himself was known for his escort of Germanic cavalry, while the early Emperors maintained an
ala of
Batavian cavalry as their bodyguards until the unit was dismissed by
Galba.
For the most part, Roman cavalry during the Republic functioned as an adjunct to the legionary infantry. This does not mean that its utility could be underestimated, though, as its strategic role in scouting, skirmishing, and outpost duties was crucial to the Romans' capability to conduct operations over long distances in hostile or unfamiliar territory. In some occasions it also proved its ability to strike a decisive tactical blow against a weakened or unprepared enemy.
After the
Battle of Carrhae, the Romans learnt the importance of large cavalry formations from the
Parthians and began to substantially increase both the numbers and the training standards of the cavalry in their employ, just as nearly a thousand years earlier the first Iranians to reach the
Iranian Plateau introduced the
Assyrians to a similar reform.
[2]
Late Roman Empire and the Migration Period
In the army of the late
Roman Empire, cavalry played an increasingly important role. The
Spatha, the classical sword throughout most of the 1st millennium which had originated among the
Germanic peoples, was adopted as the standard model for the Empire's cavalry forces. The
Eastern Roman Empire itself came to rely increasingly on
Visigothic and
Sarmatian heavy cavalry as the primary shock force of its armies.
The most widespread employment of heavy cavalry at this time was found in the forces of the
Parthians and their
Iranian
Sassanid successors. Both, but especially the latter, were famed for the
cataphract (fully-armored cavalry armed with lances) even though the majority of their forces consisted of lighter
horse archers. The West first encountered this eastern heavy cavalry during the
Hellenistic period with further intensive contacts during the eight centuries of the
Roman-
Persian wars. At first the Parthians' mobility greatly confounded the Romans, whose excellent close-order infantry still proved unable to match the speed of the Parthian strategic deployments. However, later the Romans would successfully adapt such heavy armor and tactics by creating their own units of cataphracts and ''clibanarii''
[1].
The decline of the Roman infrastructure made it more difficult to field large infantry forces, and during the
fourth and
fifth centuries cavalry began to take a more dominant role on the European battlefield, also in part made possible by the appearance of new, larger breeds of horses. The replacement of the Roman
saddle by variants on the Scythian model, with pommel and cantle, was also a significant factor as was the adoption of
stirrups and the concomitant increase in stability of the rider's seat. Armored Cataphracts began to be deployed in eastern
Europe and the
near East, following the precedents established by
Persian forces, as the main striking force of the armies in contrast to the earlier roles of cavalry as scouts, raiders, and outflankers.
Asia
Main articles: Horse archer
Central Asia
Xiongnu or
Hun,
Tujue,
Mongols,
Cossacks and the various
Turkic peoples are examples of the horse-mounted peoples that managed to gain substantial successes in military conflicts with settled agrarian and urban societies, due to their strategic and tactical mobility. As European states began to assume the character of bureaucratic
nation-states supporting professional standing armies, recruitment of these mounted warriors was undertaken in order to fill the strategic roles of scouts and raiders. The best known instance of the continued employment of mounted tribal auxiliaries were the Cossack cavalry regiments of
Tsarist Russia. In eastern Europe, Russia, and out onto the
steppes, cavalry remained important much longer and dominated the scene of warfare until the early
1600s and even beyond, as the strategic mobility of cavalry was crucial for the semi-nomadic
pastoralist lives that many steppe cultures led.
[3]
Tibetans also had a tradition of cavalry warfare, in several military engagements early on with the Chinese
Tang Dynasty (
618-
907 AD), including
Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tufan in 638.
East Asia
Further east, the
military history of China, specifically
northern China, held a long tradition of intense military exchange between Chinese infantry forces of the settled dynastic empires and the mounted "barbarians" of the north. The
naval history of China was centered more to the south, where mountains, rivers, and large lakes necessitated the employment of a large and well-kept
navy.
In
307 BC,
King Wuling of Zhao, the ruler of the former
State of Jin territory, ordered his military commanders and troops to adopt the
trousers of the
nomads as well as practice the nomads' form of mounted archery to hone their new cavalry skills.
[4] Soon afterwards the cavalry tactics employed by the
State of Zhao forced their enemies in the other
Warring States to adopt the same techniques in order to mount any effective attack against their swift movements on the battlefield.
[5] The adoption of massed cavalry in China also broke the tradition of the
chariot-riding Chinese
aristocracy in battle, which had been in use since the ancient
Shang Dynasty (c.
1600 BC-
1050 BC).
[6] By this time large Chinese infantry-based armies of 100,000 to 200,000 troops were now buttressed with several hundred mounted cavalry in support or as an effective striking force.
On many occasions the Chinese studied nomadic cavalry tactics and applied the lessons in creating their own potent cavalry forces, while in others they simply recruited the tribal horsemen wholesale into their armies; and in yet other cases nomadic empires have proved eager to enlist Chinese infantry and engineering, as in the case of the
Mongol Empire and its sinicized part, the
Yuan Dynasty (
1279-
1368). The Chinese recognized early on during the
Han Dynasty (
202 BC-
220 AD) that they were at a disadvantage if lacking the amount of horses the northern nomadic peoples mustered in their armies.
Emperor Wu of Han (r.
141 BC-
87 BC) went to war with the
Yuezhi for this exact reason, since the Yuezhi were hording a massive amount of tall, strong, Central Asian bred horses in the
Hellenized-
Greek region of
Fergana (established a bit earlier by
Alexander the Great). Although experiencing some defeats early on in the campaign, Emperor Wu's war from
104 BC to
102 BC succeeded in gathering the prized tribute of horses from Fergana.
Cavalry tactics in China were enhanced by the invention of the saddle-attached
stirrup by at least the 4th century, as the oldest reliable depiction of a rider with paired stirrups was found in a
Jin Dynasty tomb of the year 322 AD.
[7][8][9] The Chinese invention of the
horse collar by the 5th century was also a great improvement from the breast harness, allowing the horse to haul greater weight without heavy burden on its skeletal structure.
[10][11]
South Asia
In the Indian subcontinent, cavalry played a major role from the
Gupta Dynasty (
320-
600) period onwards. Native Indian cavalry forces proved decisive in the defeat of nomadic invaders such as the
White Huns, and the
Mughal occupation met serious opposition from the excellent
Maratha cavalry. India has also the oldest evidence for the introduction of toe-
stirrups.
European Middle Ages
Although Roman cavalry had no stirrups, their horned saddle allowed the combination of a firm seat with substantial flexibility. But the introduction of the wraparound
saddle during the Middle Ages provided greater efficiency in mounted shock combat and the invention of
stirrup enabled a broader array of attacks to be delivered from the back of a horse. As a greater weight of man and armor could be supported in the saddle, the probability of being dismounted in combat was significantly reduced. In particular, a charge with the lance couched under the armpit would no longer turn into
pole vaulting; this eventually led to an enormous increase in the impact of the charge. Last but not least, the introduction of
spurs allowed better control of the mount during the "knightly charge" in full gallop. In western Europe there emerged what is considered the "ultimate" heavy cavalry, the
knight. The knights and other similarly equipped mounted men-at-arms charged in close formation, exchanging flexibility for a massive, irresistible first charge.
A 13th century depiction of a riding horse. Note resemblance to the modern
Paso Fino.
The mounted men-at-arms quickly became an important force in Western European tactics, although it is worth noting that Medieval military doctrine actually employed them as part of a combined-arms force along with various kinds of foot troops. Still, Medieval chroniclers tended to pay undue attention to the knights at the expense of the rank and file, and this has led early students of military history to suppose that this heavy cavalry was the only force that mattered on Medieval European battlefields--a view with hardly any grounding in reality. Massed English longbowmen triumphed over French cavalry at
Crécy,
Poitiers and
Agincourt, while at
Gisors (1188),
Bannockburn (1314),Battle of Patay(1429), and
Laupen (1339), foot-soldiers proved their invulnerability to cavalry charges as long as they held their formation. However, the rise of infantry as the principal arm had to wait for the
Swiss to develop their
pike squares into an offensive arm instead of a defensive one; this new aggressive doctrine brought the Swiss to victory over a range of adversaries, and their enemies found that the only reliable way to defeat them was by the use of an even more comprehensive
combined arms doctrine as evidenced in the
Battle of Marignano. The introduction of missile weapons that were simpler to use, such as the
crossbow and the
hand cannons, also helped remove the focus somewhat from cavalry elites to masses of cheap infantry equipped with easy-to-learn weapons.
This gradual rise in the dominance of infantry led to the adoption of dismounted tactics. From the earliest times knights and mounted men-at-arms had frequently dismounted to handle enemies they could not overcome on horseback, such as in the
Battle of the Dyle (891) and the
Battle of Bremule (1119), but after 1350s this trend became more marked with the dismounted men-at-arms fighting as super-heavy infantry with two-handed
swords and
poleaxes. In any case, warfare in the Middle Ages tended to be dominated by raids and sieges rather than pitched battles, and mounted men-at-arms rarely had any choice other than dismounting when faced with the prospect of assaulting a fortified position.
Renaissance Europe
Ironically, the rise of infantry in the early 16th century coincided with the "golden age" of heavy cavalry; a French or Spanish army at the beginning of the century could have up to 50 percent of its numbers filled with various kinds of light and heavy cavalry, whereas in medieval and 17th-century armies the proportion of cavalry seldom rose beyond twenty-five percent. Knighthood largely lost its military functions and became more closely tied to social and economic prestige in an increasingly capitalistic Western society. With the rise of drilled and trained infantry, the mounted men-at-arms, now sometimes called ''
gendarmes'' and often part of the standing army themselves, adopted the same role as in the Hellenistic age - that of delivering a decisive blow once the battle was already engaged by either charging the enemy in the flank or attacking their commander-in-chief.
Gardes Du Corps of the Kingdom of Hannover (Germany) in 1838
From the 1550s onwards, the use of gunpowder weapons solidified infantry's dominance of the battlefield and began to allow true mass armies to develop. This is closely related to the increase in the size of armies throughout the early modern period; heavily armored cavalrymen were expensive to raise and maintain and it took years to replace a skilled horseman or a trained horse, while
arquebusiers and later
musketeers could be trained and kept in the field at a much lower expense in addition to being much easier to replace. The Spanish
tercio and later formations relegated cavalry to a supporting role. The
pistol was specifically developed to try and bring cavalry back into the conflict, together with manoeuvres such as the
caracole. The caracole was not particularly successful, however, and the charge (whether with sword, pistol, or lance) was remained as the primary mode of employment for many types of European cavalry, although by this time it was delivered in much deeper formations and with greater discipline than before. The
demi-lancers and the heavily armored sword-and-pistol
reiters were among the types of cavalry that experienced their heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries. These centuries also witnessed the high-water mark of the
Polish husaria, a force of heavy cavalry that achieved great success with their lances against
Swedes,
Russians, and
Turks alike.
Eighteenth Century Europe and Napoleonic Warfare
Cavalry retained an important role in this age of regularization and standardization across European armies. First and foremost they remained the primary choice for confronting enemy cavalry. Attacking an unbroken infantry force head-on usually resulted in failure, but the extended linear formations were vulnerable to flank or rear attacks. Cavalry was important at
Blenheim (
1704),
Rossbach (
1757), and
Friedland (
1807), remaining a significant factor throughout the
Napoleonic Wars. Massed infantry was deadly to cavalry but also offered an excellent target for
artillery. Once the bombardment had disordered the infantry formation, cavalry were able to
rout and pursue the scattered footmen. It was not until individual firearms gained accuracy and improved rates of fire that cavalry was diminished in this role as well. Even then light cavalry remained an indispensable tool for scouting, screening the army's movements, and harassing the enemy's supply lines until military aircraft supplanted them in this role in the early stages of World War I.
19th century
By the
Nineteenth Century, European cavalry fell into four main categories:
★
Cuirassiers, heavy cavalry
★
Dragoons, originally mounted infantry but later regarded as medium cavalry
★
Hussars, light cavalry
★
Lancers or
Uhlans, light cavalry armed with
lances
There were cavalry variations for individual nations as well:
France had the ''chasseurs à cheval'';
Germany had the ''Jäger zu Pferd'';
Bavaria had the ''Chevaulegers''; and
Russia had Cossacks. Britain had no
cuirassiers (other than the
Household Cavalry), but had Dragoon Guards regiments which were classed as heavy cavalry. In the
United States Army, the cavalry were almost always dragoons. The
Imperial Japanese Army had its cavalry dressed as
hussars, but fought as dragoons.
In the early
American Civil War the regular United States Army mounted rifle and dragoon regiments were reorganized and renamed cavalry regiments, of which there were six. Over a hundred other federal and state cavalry regiments were organized, but the infantry played a much larger role in many battles due to its larger numbers and much easier recruitment. However cavalry saw a role as part of screening forces and in foraging and scouting. The later phases of the war saw the
Federal army developing a truly effective cavalry force fighting as
scouts, raiders, and, with repeating rifles, as
mounted infantry.
Post Civil War, as the volunteer armies disbanded, the regular army cavalry regiments increased in number from six to ten, among them the
U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment of
Little Big Horn fame, and the
African-American U.S. 9th Cavalry Regiment and
U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment. These regiments, which rarely took the field as complete organizations, served throughout the
Indian Wars through the close of the frontier in the 1890s.
19th-century Imperial Expansion
Cavalry found new success in Imperial operations (
irregular warfare), where modern weapons were lacking and the slow moving infantry-artillery train or fixed fortifications were often ineffective against native insurgents (unless the natives offered a fight on an equal footing, as at
Tel-el-Kebir,
Omdurman, etc). Cavalry "
flying columns" proved effective, or at least cost-effective, in many campaigns—although an astute native commander (like
Samori in western Africa,
Shamil in the
Caucasus, or any of the better
Boer commanders) could turn the tables and use the greater mobility of their cavalry to offset their relative lack of firepower compared to European forces.
The
British Indian Army maintained about forty regiments of cavalry, officered by British and manned by Indian
sowars (cavalrymen). The legendary exploits of this branch lives on in literature and early films. Among the more famous regiments in the lineages of modern Indian and Pakistani Armies are:
The charge of the 21st Lancers at
Omdurman★ Governor General's Bodyguard (now
President's Bodyguard)
★ Skinner's Horse (now Indian
1st Horse (Skinner's))
★ Gardner's Lancers (now Indian
2nd Lancers (Gardner's))
★ Hodson's Horse (now Indian
3rd Horse (Hodson's)) of the Bengal Lancers fame
★
6th Bengal Cavalry (later amalgamated with
7th Hariana Lancers to form
18th King Edward's Own Cavalry) now
18 Cavalry of the
Indian Army
★ Probyn's Horse (now Pakistani)
★ Royal Deccan Horse (now Indian
The Deccan Horse)
★ Poona Horse (now Indian
The Poona Horse)
★ Queen's Own Guides Cavalry (now partitioned between Pakistan and India).
Several of these formations are still active, though they now are armoured formations, for example Guides Cavalry in Pakistan.
[2]
The French Army maintained substantial cavalry forces in Algeria and Morocco from 1830 until the Second World War. Much of the Mediterranean coastal terrain was suitable for mounted action and there was a long established culture of horsemanship amongst the Arab and Berber inhabitants. The French forces included
Spahis,
Chasseurs d' Afrique,
Foreign Legion cavalry and mounted
Goumiers.
Cavalry's demise
Italian cavalry officers practice their horsemanship in 1904 outside Rome.
At the beginning of the
20th century all armies still maintained substantial cavalry forces although there was contention over whether their role should revert to that of mounted infantry (the historic dragoon function). Following their experience of the South African War of 1899 - 1902 (where mounted Boer citizen commandos fighting on foot from cover proved superior to regular cavalry) the British Army withdrew lances for all but ceremonial purposes and placed a new emphasis on training for dismounted action. In 1908 the lancer regiments resumed this impressive but obsolete weapon. Between 1881 and 1910 the Imperial Russian Army converted all its line hussar, lancer and cuirassier regiments to dragoons with an emphasis on mounted infantry training. In 1910 they reverted to their historic roles, designations and uniforms.
In August 1914 all combatant armies still retained substantial numbers of cavalry and the mobile nature of the opening battles on both Eastern and Western Fronts provided a number of instances of traditional cavalry actions, though on a smaller and more scattered scale than those of previous wars. The Imperial German Cavalry, while as colourful and traditional as any in peacetime appearance, had adopted a practice of falling back on infantry support when any substantial opposition was encountered. These cautious tactics aroused derision amongst their more conservative French and Russian opponents but proved appropriate to the new nature of warfare. Once the front lines stabilised, a combination of barbed wire, machine guns and rapid fire rifles proved deadly to horse mounted troops. For the remainder of the War on the Western Front cavalry had virtually no role to play. The British and French armies dismounted many of their cavalry regiments and used them in infantry and other roles (the Life Guards for example as a machine gun corps). The German Army dismounted nearly all their cavalry in the West.
Some cavalry were retained as mounted troops behind the lines in anticipation of a breakthrough of the trenches that it seemed would never come. Unfortunately these cavalry forces looked upon the new tanks that began to appear late in the war with derision, thus they did not support tank attacks aggressively. This had unfortunate consequences as the tanks were able to achieve breakthroughs but did not have the reliable range to exploit them. Since the cavalry was not on hand to exploit the breakthroughs, history recorded no significant role for cavalry in mechanized warfare, and post war planning in the allied nations replaced horse cavalry with mechanized cavalry.
In the wider spaces of the Eastern Front a more fluid form of warfare continued and there was some use for mounted troops. Even here though the value of cavalry was over-rated and the maintenance of large mounted formations at the front by the Russian Army put a major strain on the railway system, to little strategic advantage.
In the Middle East mounted forces (British, Indian, Turkish, Australian, Arab and New Zealand) retained an important role, though of the mounted infantry variety.
Post World War I
In retrospect it was clear that by 1918 the advent of modern
vehicles with effective
mobility and
armor such as
tanks and
armored cars had spelled the end of horse troops as the key mobile element of an army. This change was made even more necessary by the development of the
machine gun and other weapons which could easily destroy cavalry formations. Military aircraft had taken over the light cavalry roles of scouting, screening, and harassment at roughly the same time. As a result horses became relegated to
logistical roles, with few exceptions (see
tachanka), and cavalry traditions and insignia were often inherited by the emerging armored formations and air forces.
A combination of military conservatism in almost all armies and post-war financial constraints prevented the lessons of 1914-18 being acted on immediately. There was a general reduction in the number of cavalry regiments in the British, French, Italian and other Western armies but it was still argued with conviction (for example in the 1922 edition of the
Encyclopedia Britannia) that mounted troops had a major role to play in future warfare. The 1920s saw an interim period during which cavalry remained as a proud and conspicuous element of all major armies, though much less so than prior to 1914.
The last major cavalry battle was the
Battle of Komarów in
1920. Colonial warfare in Morocco, Syria, the Middle East and the
North West Frontier of India provided some opportunities for mounted action against enemies lacking advanced weaponry.
Interestingly the post-war German Army (
Reichsheer) was permitted a large proportion of cavalry (18 regiments or 16.4% of total manpower) under the conditions of the
Treaty of Versailles. The US Cavalry abandoned its sabres in 1934 and commenced the conversion of its horsed regiments to mechanised cavalry, starting with the First Regiment of Cavalry in January 1933.
In the
British Army, all cavalry regiments were mechanised between 1929 and 1941, redefining their role from horse to armoured vehicles to form the
Royal Armoured Corps together with the
Royal Tank Regiment.
The thirty-nine regiments of the
Indian Army were reduced to twenty-one as the result of a series of amalgamations immediately following World War I. The new establishment remained unchanged until 1936 when three regiments were redesignated as permanent training units, each with six, still mounted, regiments linked to them. In 1938 the process of mechanism began with the conversion of a full cavalry brigade (two Indian regiments and one British) to armoured car and tank units. By the end of 1940 all of the Indian cavalry had been mechanised, receiving light tanks, armoured cars or 15cwt trucks. The last horsed regiment of the Indian Army (other than the Viceregal Bodyguard and some Indian States Forces regiments) was the 19th King George's Own Lancers which had its last mounted parade at Rawalpindi on 28 October 1939.
During the 1930s the French Army experimented with integrating mounted and mechanised cavalry units into larger formations. Dragoon regiments were converted to motorised infantry (trucks and motor cycles), cuirassiers to armoured units, while light cavalry (Chasseurs a'Cheval, Hussars and Spahis) remained mounted sabre squadrons. The theory was that mixed forces comprising these diverse units could utilise the strengths of each according to circumstances. In practice mounted troops proved unable to keep up with fast moving mechanised units over any distance.
World War II
While most armies still maintained cavalry units at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, significant mounted action was largely restricted to the Polish and Soviet campaigns.
A popular myth is that Polish cavalry armed with lances charged German tanks during the September 1939 campaign. This arose from misreporting of a single clash on 1 September near Krojanty, when two squadrons of the Polish 18th Lancers armed with sabres scattered German infantry before being caught in the open by German armoured cars
[12]. See also
Polish cavalry. A more correct term should be "mounted infantry" instead of "cavalry", as horses were primarily used as a means of transportation, for which they were very suitable in view of the very poor road conditions in pre-war Poland. Another myth describes Polish cavalry as being armed with both sabres and lances; lances were used for peacetime ceremonial purposes only and the primary weapon of the Polish cavalryman in 1939 was a rifle. Individual equipment did include a sabre, probably because of well-established tradition, but in the case of a melee combat this secondary weapon would probably be more effective than a rifle and bayonet. Moreover, the
Polish cavalry brigade order of battle of 1939 included, apart from the mounted soldiers themselves, light and heavy machine guns (wheeled), anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapon, artillery, light and scout tanks, etc.
The last substantive cavalry charge of the war was probably that made by the Italian regiment ''Savoia Cavalleria'' on the
Eastern Front and this time the charge was successful since it was against infantry, not armoured vehicles.
By the final stages of the war only the Soviet Union was still fielding mounted units in substantial numbers, some in combined mechanised and horse units. The advantage of this approach was that in exploitation, mounted infantry could easily keep pace with advancing tanks. This approach was also taken because of the high quality of Russian
Cossaks as cavalry.
Romanian, Hungarian and Italian cavalry had been dispersed or disbanded following the retreat of the Axis forces from Russia. Germany still maintained some mounted (mixed with bicycles) SS and Cossack units until the last days of the War. 18th Indian Cavalry Regiment (later 18 Cavalry of
Indian Army), fought in a dismounted role, in Tobruk as part of
9th Australian Division. The US
26th Cavalry Regiment (PS), a small mounted regiment comprised of
Philippine Scouts fought the Japanese during the retreat down the Bataan peninsula, until it was effectively destroyed by January, 1942. All British cavalry had been mechanised since 1942 and the last horsed US Cavalry (the Second Cavalry Division) were dismounted in March 1944.
The final cavalry charge by British Empire forces occurred on 21 March 1942 when a 60 strong patrol of the Burma Frontier Force encountered Japanese infantry near
Toungoo airfield in central
Burma. The
Sikh sowars of the Frontier Force cavalry, led by Captain Arthur Sandeman, charged in the old style with sabres and most were killed.
Post World War II to present day
Several
armored divisions of the modern United States Army retain the designation of "cavalry". The
United States also has
air cavalry units equipped with
helicopters.
While most modern "cavalry" units have some historic connection with formerly mounted troops this is not always the case. The modern Irish Defence Force (IDF) includes a "Cavalry Corps" equipped with Panhard armoured cars and Scorpion tracked combat reconnaissance vehicles. The Irish Defense Force has never included horse cavalry since its establishment in 1922 (other than a small mounted escort drawn from the Artillery Corps when required for ceremonial occasions). However, the mystique of the cavalry is such that the name has been introduced for what was always a mechanised force.
Some engagements in late twentieth and early twenty first century
guerrilla wars involved mounted troops, particularly against partisan or guerrilla fighters in areas with poor transport infrastructure. Such units were not used as cavalry but rather as mounted infantry. Examples occurred in Afghanistan, Portuguese Africa and Rhodesia. The French Army used existing mounted squadrons of
Spahis to a limited extent for patrol work during the Algerian War (1954-62) and the Swiss Army maintained a mounted dragoon regiment for combat purposes until 1973. There were reports of Chinese mounted troops in action during frontier clashes with Vietnam in the mid 1970s. The Portuguese Army used horse mounted cavalry with some success in the wars of independence in Angola and Mozambique in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1978 to present Afghan Civil War there have been several instances of horse mounted combat.
South and Central American armies maintained mounted cavalry later than those of Europe, Asia or North America. The Mexican Army included a number of horse mounted cavalry regiments as late as the mid 1990s and the Chilean Army had five such regiments in 1983 as mounted mountain troops (see Jane's "Armed Forces of Latin America" by Adrian J. English).
A number of armored regiments in the British Army retain the historic designations of Hussars, Dragoons, Dragoon Guards or Lancers. Only the Household Cavalry squadrons maintained for ceremonial duties in London are mounted.
Cavalry or mounted gendarmerie units continue to be maintained for purely or primarily ceremonial purposes by the United States, Australian, British, French, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Chilean, Portuguese, Moroccan, Nigerian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Peruvian, Paraguayan, Polish, Argentine, Senegalese, Jordanian, Pakistani, Indian, Nepalese, Spanish and Bulgarian armed forces. The Army of the Russian Federation has recently reintroduced a ceremonial mounted squadron wearing historic uniforms.
In the United States, the Horse Cavalry Detachment of the U.S. Army's
1st Cavalry Division is made up of active duty soldiers, still functions as an active unit, trained to approximate the weapons, tools, equipment and techniques used by the United States Cavalry in the 1880s.
[13] [14] In addition, the Parsons' Mounted Cavalry is a Reserve Officer Training Corps unit which forms part of the
Corps of Cadets at
Texas A&M University.
Polish 66 Airforce Squadron of 25th Aeromobile Cavalry Brigade
The
French Army still has regiments with the historic designations of
Cuirassiers,
Hussars,
Chasseurs,
Dragoons and
Spahis. Only the cavalry of the
Republican Guard and a ceremonial fanfare (trumpeters) for the cavalry/armoured branch as a whole are now mounted.
In the
Canadian Army, a number of regular and reserve units have cavalry roots, including
The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal),
the Governor General's Horse Guards,
Lord Strathcona's Horse, the
Royal Canadian Dragoons, and the
South Alberta Light Horse. Of these, only the Governor General's Horse Guards maintains an official ceremonial horse mounted cavalry squadron.
[15]
Both the Australian and New Zealand Armies follow the British practice of maintaining traditional titles (Light Horse or Mounted Rifles) for modern mechanised units. However, neither country retains a horse mounted unit.
Today, the
Indian Army's 61st Cavalry is reported to be the only remaining non-ceremonial horse-mounted cavalry in the world.
[16] It was raised in 1951 from the amalgamated state cavalry squadrons of Gwailior, Jodhpur, and Mysore. The 61st Cavalry together with the President's Body Guard parade in full dress uniform in New Delhi each year in what is probably the largest assembly of traditional cavalry still to be seen in the world.
Both the Indian and Pakistan Armies maintain a number of armoured regiments with the titles of
Lancers or
Horse, dating back to the nineteenth century.
As of 2007 the Chinese
People's Liberation Army employs two battalions of horse cavalry in Xinjing Military District for border patrol work (see China-Defense.com website).
Light and heavy cavalry
Historically, cavalry was divided into light,
heavy cavalry and
Horse archer. The difference was mainly how much armor was worn by the
mount and
rider, and the active role they played in war.
Early light cavalry (like the auxiliaries of the Roman army) were typically used to
scout and
skirmish and to cut down retreating infantry and for defeating enemy missile troops. Heavy cavalry like the
Byzantine Cataphract were used as shock troops — they would charge the main body of the enemy and in many cases, their actions decided the outcome of the battle.
During the
Gunpowder Age, armored cavalry began to approach obsolescence. However, many units retained
cuirasses and helmets for their protective value against
sword and
bayonet strikes and the morale boost these provide to the wearers. By this time the main difference between light and heavy cavalry was their training; the former was regarded as a tool for harassment and reconnaissance, while the latter was considered best for close-order charges.
Since the development of armored warfare the distinction between light and heavy armor has persisted basically along the same lines.
Armored cars and
light tanks have adopted the
reconnaissance role while medium and heavy tanks are regarded as the decisive
shock troops.
Social status
From the beginning of civilization to the 20th century, ownership of heavy cavalry horses has been a mark of wealth amongst settled peoples. A cavalry horse involves considerable expense in breeding, training, feeding, and equipment, and has very little productive use except as a mode of transport.
For this reason, and because of their often decisive military role, the cavalry has typically been associated with high
social status. This was most clearly seen in the
feudal system, where a lord was expected to enter combat armored and on horseback and bring with him an entourage of
peasants on foot. If landlords and peasants came into conflict, the peasants would be ill-equipped to defeat armored knights.
In later national armies, service as an officer in the cavalry was generally a badge of high social status. For instance prior to 1914 most officers of British cavalry regiments came from a socially privileged background and the considerable expenses associated with their role generally required private means, even after it became possible for officers of the line infantry regiments to live on their pay. Options open to poorer cavalry officers in the various European armies included service with less fashionable (though often highly professional) frontier or colonial units. These included the British Indian cavalry, the Russian
Cossacks or the French
Chasseurs d' Afrique.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most monarchies maintained a mounted cavalry element in their royal or imperial guards. These ranged from small units providing ceremonial escorts and palace guards through to large formations intended for active service. The mounted escort of the Spanish Royal Household provided an example of the former and the twelve cavalry regiments of the Prussian Imperial Guard an example of the latter. In either case the officers of such units were likely to be drawn from the aristocracies of their respective societies.
Some cavalry forces
★
Bayreuth Dragoons
★
Blues and Royals
★
Cataphract
★
Companions
★
Cossacks
★
Cuirassier
★
Dragoons
★
Hakkapeliitta (Finnish cavalry of
Thirty Years' War fame)
★
Garde Républicaine
★
Governor General's Horse Guards (Canada)
★
Hussars
★
Kalmyks
★
Lancers
★
Life Guards
★
Light horse (Australia)
★
Mamluks
★
Polish cavalry
★
Savari (Italian North African)
★
Savoia Cavalry
★
Sipahi (Ottoman)
★
South Alberta Light Horse (Canada)
★
Spahi (French North African)
★
Uhlans
★
United States Cavalry
Some contemporary horse cavalry officers
★
Brazil:
Ataìde Barcelos Pereira, Regimento Osorio
★
Canada:
Akaash Maharaj, Governor General's Horse Guards
★
France:
Didier Courrèges, Cadre Noir
★
Italy:
Giulio Serafini, COMFOD 1
★
UK:
Harry Wales, Blues and Royals
★
USA:
Edwin Ramsey, 26th Cavalry regiment
See also
★
Cavalry tactics
★
Heavy Cavalry
★
Light Cavalry
★
Horses in warfare
★
War elephant
★
Tent pegging
★
Ski warfare
★ See List of British Army regiments by year, for cavalry units:
1881,
1962,
1994
★
Cavalry in the American Civil War
★
Casimir Pulaski
★
Order of the spur
★
Charge of the Light Brigade
★
Camel cavalry
★
London lobsters - The English Civil War armoured cavalry unit formed and lead by Sir Arthur Haselrig.
Notes
1. ''Chariot racers of the Steppes, ''Discover'', April, 1995 by Shanti Menon
2. Suren-Pahlav S., ''General Surena; The Hero of Carrhae''
3. This needs a re-write -- the chronology is all over the place.
4. Ebrey, 29-30.
5. Ebrey, 30.
6. Ebrey, 29.
7. Dien, Albert. "THE STIRRUP AND ITS EFFECT ON CHINESE MILITARY HISTORY"
8. "The stirrup - history of Chinese science." ''UNESCO Courier, October, 1988
9. "The invention and influences of stirrup"
10. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 322.
11. Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 305.
12. "The Polish Army 1939-45", , S. J., Zaloga, , , ISBN 0-85045-417-4
13. First Team! Horse Cavalry Detachment
14. Hubbell, Gary. "21st Century Horse Soldiers." ''Western Horseman,'' December 2006, pp. 45-50
15. The Honours, Flags, and Heritage Structure of the Canadian Forces
16. India Polo Magazine
References
★ Ebrey, Walthall, Palais (2006). ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
★ Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering''. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.
External links
★
Cavalry tactics from Francis J. Lippitt's, ''A Treatise on the Tactical Use of the Three Arms - Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry'' (1865)
★
Cavalry in Mass (U.S. report on Russian cavalry organization and operations in World War II)
★
Italian Savoia Cavalry during World War 2
★
Society of the Military Horse
★
Gesellschaft der Freunde der Kavallerie (German)
★ http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Army/Reg-Arm.html
★
''A Horse is Worth More than Riches'' by Jason Hribal
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