Cavalry: Encyclopedia - Cavalry

Cavalry

An army unit consisting of mounted soldiers is commonly known as cavalry. Cavalry fight from the backs of their mounts, which most often are horses or camels. Infantry travelling by horse and fighting on foot are instead known as mounted infantry or dragoons. Historically cavalry 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."

In some modern militaries (especially the United States Army), 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.

Cavalry - Origins

Before the Iron Age, the role of cavalry on the battlefield was largely performed by light chariots. 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.

The chariot originated with the Sintashta-Petrovka culture in Central Asia and spread by nomadic or semi-nomadic Indo-Iranians. The chariot was quickly adopted by settled peoples both as a military technology and an object of ceremonial status by the Pharaohs of the New Kingdom of Egypt as well as Assyrian and Babylonian royalty.

Cavalry techniques were, again, an innovation of equestrian nomads of the Eurasian steppe. Use of chariots in battle was obsolete by the Persian defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great, but chariots remained in use for ceremonial purposes, for instance carrying the victorious general in a Roman triumph. The first cavalry consisted of pairs of men, one using a bow while the other guided both of their horses.

In the armies of the Ancient Greeks and the Roman Republic, cavalry played a relatively minor role—in both civilizations conflicts were decided by massed armored infantry. The cavalry in the Roman Republic remained the preserve of the wealthy landed class known as the Equites; later on, as the class became more of a social elite instead of a functional property-based military grouping, the Romans turned to Gauls and Iberians to fill the ranks of their auxiliary cavalry. Numidians were also highly valued as mounted skirmishers and scouts. Julius Caesar himself was known for his escort of Germanic cavalry, and the early Emperors maintained an ala of Batavian cavalry as their bodyguards until the unit was dismissed by Galba. In the army of the late Roman Empire, cavalry played an increasingly important role. Sarmatians were hired as cavalrymen. The Spatha, the classical sword throughout most of the 1st millennium, originated as a Roman cavalry sword. The Eastern Roman Empire itself came to rely increasingly on Visigothic heavy cavalry as the primary shock force of their armies.

As a result of selective breeding, the size and weight of war horses approximately doubled throughout the Middle Ages; while during the Migration period, a horse might bear an unarmoured horse archer, by the 11th century, it could bear the weight of a warrior in full chainmail armour, and by the 1400s, the Friesian could bear a weight of a knight in full plate armour, as well as additional armour protecting the horse itself. Due to this development, cavalry tactics also changed from the ancient "Parthian shot" and skirmishing techniques to the medieval massed cavalry charges relying on the horsemen's mere impact force. Among the first to use such cavalry charges were the Companion Cavalry of Macedon, although its power in this role was not fully used after Alexander the Great's death.

Cavalry - Light and heavy cavalry

Historically, cavalry was divided into light and heavy cavalry. The difference was mainly how much armor was worn by the soldiers, and thus how powerful their mounts had to be in order to sustain the burden.

Early light cavalry (like the auxiliaries of the Roman army) were typically used to scout and skirmish and to cut down retreating infantry. 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 became obsolete and the main difference between light and heavy cavalry was their training—either for harassment and reconnaissance or 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.

Cavalry - Dominance and decline

The decline of the Roman infrastructure made it more difficult to field large infantry forces, and during the second and third centuries cavalry began to take a more dominant role on the battlefield, also in part made possible by the appearance of new, larger breeds of horses. The replacement of the insubstantial Roman saddle by variants on the Scythian model, with pommel and cantle, was significant too.

New armored Cataphracts were deployed in eastern Europe and the near East, notably in Persian forces as the main striking force of the armies, whereas earlier cavalry had to be consigned to the flanks.

The introduction of the stirrup allowed for even heavier cavalry. As a greater weight of man and armor could be supported in the saddle, the almost-certainty of being dismounted in combat was reduced. In the initial charge a lance could be 'set' rather than held over-head—leading to an enormous increase in the impact of a charge. In western Europe there emerged the heaviest of the heavy cavalry, the knight— exchanging much of the mobility advantage for a massive, irresistible first charge.

Knights quickly became an important military force in western Europe, 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 knights were the only things 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), 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, although eventually numbers would tell (Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs). The introduction of less effective but simpler missile weapons, like the crossbow, was additionally decisive. A top-quality 15th century army could be 50 percent cavalry, but by the 1520s this proportion had fallen below 25 percent. Knighthood quickly became associated with land ownership and senior positions in the feudal social structure.

From the 1550s, 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 at maintained 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. These innovations were not particularly successful, however, and soon the charge was revived as the primary mode of employment for European cavalry. The demi-lancers and the heavily armored sword-and-pistol reiters were among the types of cavalry that experienced their heydays in the 16th and 17th centuries.

In any case, cavalry still had a role to play. First and foremost they remained the primary choice for confronting enemy cavalry. Attacking an unbroken infantry force head-on was usually unsuccessful, 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. And while massed infantry was deadly to cavalry, it was an excellent target for artillery—once formations were broken, cavalry was essential and deadly in the harry and rout of the scattered infantry. 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 20th 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.

These forces 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 use the added mobility (but reduced firepower) against European forces.

In the early American Civil War regular cavalry was significantly absent, but it continued to play 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 mounted infantry.

Cavalry - Asia

In eastern Europe, Russia, and out onto the steppes cavalry remained important much longer and dominated the battlefield until the early 1600s, because of long distances and better tactics. Huns, Mongols and Cossacks are examples of succeeding horse-mounted peripheral peoples successful in military conflicts with Western civilizations, due to their strategic and tactical mobility.

After defeats, Westerners quickly adopted Eastern cavalry tactics; one of the most famous examples is Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. As European nation-states became established, they were keen to recruit border peoples to serve in formal roles in national armies. For instance, Cossack cavalry regiments were an important part of the Imperial Russian Army until the Revolution, and some even served in the Red Army.

Cavalry - British Indian Army

The British Indian Army maintained scores of 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 that continue to be figure in lineages of modern Indian and Pakistani Armies are:

• Governor General's Bodyguard (now Indian Presidential 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
• 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)

Cavalry - Cavalry's demise

In the 20th century the advent of modern vehicles with effective mobility and armor, such as tanks, provided the opportunity for vehicles to replace horses 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. Horses became relegated to logistical roles, with few exceptions (see tachanka).

The demise of cavalry as a decisive force on the battlefield came in the First World War when cavalry forces were slaughtered while failing to achieve a strategic breakthrough on the Western Front. They nevertheless played an important role on several fronts, particularly in the Middle East.

After World War I and the Polish-Bolshevik War, horse cavalry was gradually abandoned as a major combat weapon by the industrialized powers. The last major cavalry battle was the Battle of Komarów in 1920. In the 1920s and '30s most industrialized countries either transformed their cavalry units into mounted infantry or motorized infantry. The last cavalry charges in modern warfare were seen in the Second World War. Although there have been some engagements in twentieth and twenty-first century guerrilla wars involving cavalry, particularly by partisan or guerrilla fighters in areas with poor transport infrastructure, these units were not used as cavalry but rather as mounted infantry.

Cavalry actually experienced a minor revival in the more mobile warfare of World War II. Russia, Italy, Germany, and even the United States fielded mounted units. Russia also fielded combined mechanized and horse units.

Cavalry traditions and insignia were often inherited by the emerging armored formations and air forces. In the British Army, the armored regiments (apart from the Royal Tank Regiment) have one of four titles:

• Hussars
• Lancers
• Dragoons
• Yeomanry

In the Canadian Army a number of both regular and reserve units have cavalry roots. These include The Governor General's Horse Guards, Lord Strathcona's Horse, The Royal Canadian Dragoons, and The South Alberta Light Horse. Several current divisions of the United States Army and other modern armies retain the name "cavalry" due to their origins in the era of horse cavalry; they generally consist in armored forces. The United States also has air cavalry units equipped with helicopters.

Today Indian Army's 61st Cavalry remains the only regular horse-mounted cavalry in the world -- preserving its heritage by recruiting only former Maharajahs and Rajputs. Indian Army maintains some of its Armored Regiments under the title of Lancers or Horse.

Cavalry - 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 the cavalry often remained a badge of social status, with the typical exception of "frontier" units like Cossacks. For instance, an officer of the (British) Household Cavalry was (and still is) relatively likely to have attended elite schools and to come from a socially privileged background.

Cavalry - Famous cavalry forces

• Cataphract
• Cossacks
• Dragoons
• Hakkapeliitta during the Thirty Years War.
• Governor General's Horse Guards {Canada}
• Hussars
• Kalmyks
• Lancers
• Australian Light Horse
• Mamelukes
• Polish Cavalry
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Savoia Cavalry
• South Alberta Light Horse
• Uhlans
• United States Cavalry
• US 7th Cavalry Regiment
• Winged Lancers

See also

• Air cavalry
• Military tactics
• Ski warfare
• See List of British Army regiments by year, for cavalry units: 1881, 1962, 1994
• Cavalry in the American Civil War
• Order of the spur
• Fiddler's Green
• Charge of the Light Brigade

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cavalry", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki