Cavalry

German Cavalry 1860-70 Part I

Cavalry German Units 33 Min Read

The 7th Cuirassiers’ charge by Franz Amling, 1890. Prior to the dawn of mechanized warfare in the early twentieth century, and indeed for several decades thereafter, no element of the Western world’s armies so evoked the exotic and romantic aspects of war as the cavalry. For centuries the cavalryman’s kettle-drums and bugles were the sine qua non of martial music.…

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Armies Cavalry France German Units 22 Min Read

French Cavalry 1914

The French strategic cavalry was composed of ten cavalry divisions. This strategic cavalry would be reinforced by infantry battalions and artillery. Each French corps had a light cavalry regiment assigned (six squadrons). There was no divisional cavalry. French reconnaissance patrols were to avoid combat. In reconnaissance and security the French…

Cavalry 6 Min Read

Imperialist Cuirassier c. 1630

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, heavily armoured cavalrymen stopped using horse-armour, and reduced their own, becoming cuirassiers. The tactics of the reiters were adopted by all cavalry forces. Owing to improved weaponry and training, the depth of battle formation decreased first to ten lines, and towards the end…

Cavalry German Units 33 Min Read

German Cavalry 1860-70 Part I

The 7th Cuirassiers’ charge by Franz Amling, 1890. Prior to the dawn of mechanized warfare in the early twentieth century, and indeed for several decades thereafter, no element of the Western world’s armies so evoked the exotic and romantic aspects of war as the cavalry. For centuries the cavalryman’s kettle-drums…

Cavalry German Units 36 Min Read

German Cavalry 1860-70 Part II

Heinrich XVII, Prince Reuß, on the side of the 5th Squadron I Guards Dragoon Regiment at Mars-la-Tour, 16 August 1870. Emil Hünten, 1902. Consequently, German and European cavalry in 1870 was not typically used in one of its most potentially important operational spheres, namely the regular, long-range interdiction of the…

Ancient Warfare Cavalry 10 Min Read

Cataphract camels

The Parthians and early Sassanian Persians made use of camel units; even experimented with cataphract camels. The early Sassanids have armoured camels. That may mean they fought, it may only be an experiment,  to put off Roman javelin Light Cavalry who were deadly to cataphracts, whose rear fighting ability was…

Cavalry Ottoman 8 Min Read

Polish Winged Hussars

The Winged Hussars were prominent in Jan Sobieski’s 30,000-man force that defeated the Turks at Vienna in September 1683. There, on the right wing of the Polish-German force, they pierced the Turkish lines, found themselves surrounded, and hacked their way out. They then re-formed and charged again, breaking the Turkish…

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IMPERIAL RUSSIAN ARMY – RUSSO–JAPANESE WAR

On the eve of the Russo–Japanese War, Russian land forces were the biggest in the…

Cataphract camels

The Parthians and early Sassanian Persians made use of camel units; even experimented with cataphract…

BAYBARS AND THE MAMLUK SULTANATE

  The Mamluks under Baibars (yellow) fought off the Franks and the Mongols during the…

French Cavalry 1914

The French strategic cavalry was composed of ten cavalry divisions. This strategic cavalry would be…