Cavalry
Iberian cavalry
Iberian cavalryman, 2nd C. BC. Iberian cavalry were certainly trained and equipped to fight en masse (Polybios 3.65.6) The ancient writer Strabo described Hispanics wearing helmets with three crests, and there are also references to iron helmet-masks rather in the manner of those worn by the Romans for their cavalry sports; but for the moment we have no archaeological evidence.…
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Napoleonic Cavalry III
Modern-day Knights The armoured warrior on horseback had dominated the battlefields of Europe for a millennium, but the advent of firearms had generally caused the disappearance of armour. By the end of the eighteenth century, most cavalry had abandoned it altogether. However, in the Napoleonic Wars armour made a comeback,…
Reiters
Equipment of lancer and reiter, also from Wallshavsen Art Militare a Cheval, 1616. While the French and Spanish stuck with the lance as the weapon of choice of their heavy cavalry, the Germans changed over to pistols. These reiters (or schwartzreiters because of their habit of wearing black armour) became…
KING CYRUS AND THE ACHAEMENIDS
Cyrus the Great wanted to use more mounted soldiers because he knew how important they were especially since two of his greatest enemies used cavalry or soldiers on horseback. The Persian army was organized in a new fashion. The cavalry flanked both sides of the army in the middle which…
Caesar’s Allies
Gaul Cavalry German Cavalry ‘It was the practice of the Romans to make foreign friends of any people for whom they wanted to intervene on the score of friendship, without being obliged to defend them as allies.’ Throughout the Republican period, Rome relied heavily on its allies for additional infantry…
The Afternoon at the Kahlenberg
Kahlenberg Mountain near Vienna on 12 September 1683 All reports agree that, on this day of blistering sunshine, there was a pause in the fighting at noon. It was a pause to recover breath, but the allied commanders were also determined not to weaken their position by pressing too far…
BAYBARS AND THE MAMLUK SULTANATE
The Mamluks under Baibars (yellow) fought off the Franks and the Mongols during the Ninth Crusade. In the autumn of 1260, Baybars was patently aware of the fragility of his hold on the sultanate. He moved swiftly to assume authority in Cairo, occupying the great citadel–the seat of power…