Horseman against footman discussion -- myArmoury.com

About • Links • Search • Contribute

Features

Books

Info

Favorites

myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index

Memberlist

Usergroups

Spotlight Topics

Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Horseman against footman discussion
This is a standard topic	Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Author

Message

Lukasz Papaj

Location: Malbork, Poland
Joined: 09 Mar 2009

Posts: 59

Posted: Thu 13 Jun, 2013 6:43 am Post subject:

Eugeny Davidov wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTA9-lYs41A - cavalry against footmen in 20th century )

Supposedly a 1958 flick of engagement from eastern front in WWI?
Anyway: there were cavalry armies as long as Polish-Soviet war of 1919-21

Anyway whenever discussing cavalry vs infantry not only it is a question of "when" but a question of where, to be specific if we are talking about Eastern/Central European Plain or elsewhere, with more rough or "bocage" style terrain that severely impedes tactical/strategical use of cavalry.

Another factor: the availability of easy-to-use grain. Plains were always breadbasket for Europe. This translates for less costly grain and substantial income source - which allowed for fielding costlier cavalry. Loss of export capabilities for grain in late XVII century was important factor in decline of Polish Military, eventually leading to partitions etc. etc..

Life on plain itself lead to everyday use of horse as viable method of travelling in open country - so more people accustomed to saddle in first place.

Open plain also means less cover - so there was early adoption of field earthworks and Wagenburgs/Laagers/Tabors as both means of defence from harassing cavalry and platform for field artillery.

For early XV century there is also weapon disparity, with type XIIa/XVI/ XVII blades prevailing and shorter/pointy types (XV/XVIII) absent from record (according to Marian Glosek "Miecze środkowoeuopejskie z X–XV wieku"). Also there is Grunwald battle that is much different with both scope and usage of horse armies from any western-context battle of that period.

With that in mind - head-to-head pitched battle performance could be of less importance than overall strategic advantage in plains context that speed and range of cavalry gave - that was only diminished by widespread use of mechanized infantry/armour in WWII.

Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Horseman against footman discussion
Page 6 of 6
Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	All times are GMT - 8 Hours View previous topic :: View next topic

You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum