CHAPTER XVII
THE EVOLUTION OF CAVALRY
Modern Cavalry has perhaps but slight claim to be descended from feudal Chivalry. The Man-at-Arms, the fully armoured Knight, with his mounted retinue of a squire, a page, and a few retainers, acted indeed by “shock,” but individually, with jealous independence of his fellow knights; whereas the efficiency of Cavalry action has from the first rested on a combined disciplined attack. But the traditions of Chivalry may be traced in the “Cavalry Spirit,” which preaches, like Danton, “de l’audace, encore de l’audace, et toujours de l’audace,” and in the prestige which still clings to the Mounted Arm. Cavalry has never forgotten its aristocratic and romantic ancestry, and is inclined to look down somewhat on the Infantry without whom battles cannot be fought, and still less won. Cavalry is to this day the premier Arm in the British and in many other Armies. In Germany the logical insight of the Hohenzollerns has long since made Infantry the senior Arm of the Service.
The word Cavalry—French Cavallerie, Italian Cavaleria—is, like Chivalry, derived from the Late Latin word caballus, in common use for horse when equus had become highflown. But caballus became cheval in Early French, whence Chivalry; while the Italian Cavaleria was directly derived from caballus. The Knight’s arms, the sword and lance, are still those of Cavalry, and his armour survives in the metal helmet and cuirass.
The introduction of pikes and firearms for Infantry was the cause of the extinction of the man-at-arms, although he met them by himself adopting a firearm for use on horseback. This was at first the petronel, or poitrinal, fired from the breast (poitrine) on a rest rising from the saddle bow; then the harquebus, or match lock fired from the shoulder; later the pistol, a shorter and lighter weapon, used with one hand, which was introduced in Spain in 1520, and in Germany in 1540. But by 1500 fire action had attained superiority over shock action, and the mounted men in armour became definitely inferior to the Infantry, whose bullets pierced their armour, and whose pikes they could seldom break through. Armour was reduced to helmet and cuirass, and the lance given up, not to be revived till two centuries later.
Origin of true Cavalry in the “Reiters”
We first find true Cavalry of the modern type in the German “Reiters” of the early sixteenth century, who were disciplined troopers, acting in rank and file in organized bodies, as distinguished from the individual man-at-arms of feudal days. The organization of the Reiters is practically the same as that of the infantry Landsknechts already described. They were similarly raised by their Captains, in bodies termed Troops, a name which was soon replaced by a tactical unit composed of several Troops, which arose from the tactical requirements of the battlefield. This was the Squadron, a word derived from squadra, Italian for square, because the earliest bodies of horsemen had equal front and depth. The numbers in a Troop depended on the popularity of the Captain; but Squadrons were of a strength based on the fact that one man could command by voice a body of Cavalry with a front of 50 men. Thus the “Reiter” Squadrons with six ranks were 300 strong, but those of Gustavus, with three ranks, had 150 men. This is still the strength of a Squadron to-day.
The Officers of the Troops of Reiters were the Captain, still called Rittmeister (or “Reiter”-master) in Germany to-day; the Lieutenant; the Fähnrich (or Colour-bearer); the Wachmeister (or Watch-master), as the Sergeant-Major is still called; the Fourier (or Quarter-Master), charged with allotting quarters and subsistence, and also with reconnaissance, as explained on page 174. He had an assistant, answering to our Q.M.S. Each Troop had a Trumpeter. He accompanied the Colour-bearer, whose hornshaped pennon (Cornette in French) gave its name to the officer carrying it, known as “Cornet” down to our day.
The Reiters carried sword and pistol, and wore helmet and cuirass. They were the ancestors of all Heavy Cavalry, generally called Cuirassiers abroad, but simply “Regiments of Horse” in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There were always less regular Cavalry, or Light Horse, for scouting, pursuit, and independent action to front and flanks. This division of duties and names has long survived.
To obtain better fire effect, Henry IV. of France armed his Horse with a short arquebus called a carabine, whence the Carbineers. In Italy a larger firearm, called a dragon, was given to horsemen, so as to enable them to use fire with more effect when dismounted. Hence originated Dragoons, originally merely Mounted Infantry. We have thus got the three Arms of the Service, as commemorated in the old expression Horse, Foot, and Dragoons, to denote the whole Army; for Artillery did not become an Arm before 1700.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, under Maurice of Nassau, the organization of the Dutch Cavalry was further developed during the War of Independence against Spain. His Squadrons were fixed at 120 strong, with the three Officers and the Trumpeter of the Reiters, but were now divided into three Sections, each under an Officer, with a Corporal. These represent the existing Troops. A Farrier was added to the troop for shoeing and veterinary work. Improved drill and discipline enabled Maurice to reduce the ten ranks of his day to six.
Gustavus organized the Swedish Army on the same lines as Maurice, but improved on his model in Cavalry, as in other Arms. His Troops were smaller, only 70 strong, and were grouped in Regiments of 8 troops. He was the first to inculcate shock tactics, which he facilitated by reducing the ranks to four, and discouraging firing from horseback.
After Gustavus’ brilliant success in the Thirty Years’ War, the use of shock tactics was carried on in England, but was not imitated in other countries. Cromwell, seizing on the idea with his unfailing military insight, taught his Ironsides to charge home, and especially to rally after the charge. He established an undying reputation as the first great Cavalry leader in the modern sense, and his horsemen were never equalled till Seidlitz appeared and led Frederick’s Cavalry in the Seven Years’ War a century later. Neither of these two great soldiers has ever been surpassed, or indeed approached, as a leader of Cavalry.
During those hundred years Cavalry continued to fire from their horses, and charge at the trot. Even long afterwards, Napoleon’s Heavy Cavalry did not gallop. But Cavalry began to find their true mode of action when Marlborough and Charles XII. of Sweden expected their Horse to charge without firing.
Frederick the Great, however, was the first to initiate true Cavalry Tactics. He forbade any firing from horseback, formed his Cavalry in two ranks, and trained them to charge boot to boot in long lines of scores of Squadrons. He insisted on high speed over long distances, and adopted the plan of charging in three lines—the first of Cuirassiers, the second of Dragoons as a support, and the third in columns to protect the flank. The training and tactics of Frederick’s Cavalry have never been improved on, and are still the model for shock action. Frederick’s Cavalry was organized, like that of Gustavus, in Troops of 70 men, of which two, or, later, four smaller ones as in Europe to-day, formed a Squadron. The Regiment had 5 Squadrons, as it still has in Germany, although the fifth now becomes the depôt of the Regiment on mobilization.
Light Horse
During the Seven Years’ War, Austria made good use of a screen of light troops, both Horse and Foot, in front of her armies. Her Light Horsemen had been very serviceable in the Thirty Years’ War in the previous century, and had been constantly used since in fighting the Turks. These horsemen were irregular troops from Hungary, where they had been raised since the sixteenth century under the name of Hussars. They wore the national dress of Hungary, which Hussars have retained ever since they were imitated by Frederick during the Seven Years’ War, and in other armies later. Lancers were similarly copied everywhere from the Polish Light Cavalry, clothed in their national costume, who joined Napoleon’s service in 1807. The lance, which had not been used since the early sixteenth century, was then reintroduced, and has since held its own, and even won ground in Germany. The British adopted Lancers after their experience against Napoleon’s Polish Lancers at Waterloo. The Prussians called them Ulans, from the Polish, while other nations adopted the French word Lancier, from the Late Latin lancearius (lancea, a lance).
British Light Cavalry began in the eighteenth century, in the Light Troops of the Dragoon Regiments, soon detached to be grouped into Light Dragoon Regiments, which, early in the nineteenth century, were changed to Hussars.
After firing on horseback had been stopped by Frederick, Cavalry discarded the firearm until the close of the century, when the French Light Horse of the Revolutionary armies received a short musket, called by its old name of carbine, which became the universal Cavalry firearm for use on foot. But Heavy Cavalry had no firearms for years; even in the Prussian Army of 1870 only Light Cavalry were armed with the carbine.
Cavalry Regiments were first brigaded during the eighteenth century, but had no higher organization. The Brigade formed one of the lines of Cavalry on each wing of the Army. Cavalry Divisions were first formed by Hoche in 1793, and were adopted by Napoleon, who extended the idea later to creating Cavalry Corps of two or more Divisions.