So this tweet and the attached video has been making the rounds...
"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux@BretDevereaux
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Aug 05, 2024
~5 min read
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So this tweet and the attached video has been making the rounds (again, in the case of the vid) and getting a range of responses, so it is worth talking about it, because for various reasons, no, I do not think this is a good example of the 'devastating power of cavalry.' 1/
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First let's talk about the defending formation: this is now really how infantry fight.
First, the formation is both too dense (not enough gaps left-right between men in the same rank) and too shallow (not enough men deployed behind these guys). 2/
First, the formation is both too dense (not enough gaps left-right between men in the same rank) and too shallow (not enough men deployed behind these guys). 2/
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That matters when you are thinking about this from the horseman's perspective. If the line is two or three men deep, you might be able to punch through to the open on the other side.
But the Romans generally fought 6-8 deep. 3/
But the Romans generally fought 6-8 deep. 3/
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That's of course compounded by the fact that the infantry aren't trying to actively kill the horses, which in a real battle they would be. We might also expect a lot of longer weapons here (spears, bills, pikes, halberds) which would enable killing the horse at distance. 4/
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Yes, you can armor the horse to resist those weapons, putting metal protection on its head and breast, but most cavalry was not nearly so heavily armored, in almost any period.
And it's not going to save you if you get stuck in the formation. 5/
And it's not going to save you if you get stuck in the formation. 5/
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And that gets us to the cavalryman's side of the equation. You will hear it said that horses will not charge solid infantry which is not quite right - you *can* get a horse to plow into a solid mass of people. Some horses may balk, but you can get impacts. 6/
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But it is rider psychology, not horse psychology, that matters here.
Let's say these guys hold firm and aren't actors with safe play-weapons but have real spears and you charge home with force against a mass of them.
What happens then? 7/
Let's say these guys hold firm and aren't actors with safe play-weapons but have real spears and you charge home with force against a mass of them.
What happens then? 7/
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Maybe your horse catches a spear in the chest or a sword to the knees, and goes down, violently throwing you to the ground in the middle of a mass of armed enemies who then kill or capture you. 8/
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Or maybe you knock two or three people out of the way before your horse runs out of momentum (armor having kept you and it alive this long) but now you are alone in the middle of a mass of armed enemies who pull you off of your horse and THEN kill or capture you. 9/
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These are not great options! It is possible that the raw impact of you and your buddies is going to mess up the formation enough to enable you to win the resulting fight or push through to the other side, but it's not likely - infantry can fit a LOT more people into a space. 10/
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Those cavalrymen didn't all sign up to die horribly, they'd like to survive this battle.
All of which informs what we see historically when we see cavalry and infantry interacting: shock-cavalry struggles to successfully engage infantry in good order. 11/
All of which informs what we see historically when we see cavalry and infantry interacting: shock-cavalry struggles to successfully engage infantry in good order. 11/
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Contrary to what video games would tell you, spears are not required. Examples of Roman legions getting run over from frontal cavalry charges (as opposed to being flanked or skirmished) are almost non-existent despite legionaries being armed with swords and javelins. 12/
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And that pattern repeats through a wide range of technological pre-gunpowder environments: infantry in good order resists cavalry effectively (but doing that with infantry is hard): gladii, spears, pikes, ji, halberds - the weapons don't matter so much as the cohesion. 13/
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Occasionally that interaction does express itself in charges that fail catastrophically on impact, making a great mess of everyone and everything. But more often what we see is that the cavalrymen *know* how this goes and act accordingly. 14/
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They swerve aside, make multiple feints to try to break the formation or focus their efforts on flanks and weak points, using their mobility. 15/
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A few other notes:
1) What about lances? Sure, actual knightly cavalry will have lances that project ahead of the front of their horse. Lances tend to be a bit longer than thrusting spears (but not as much as pikes) but remember that the horse is out front...16/
1) What about lances? Sure, actual knightly cavalry will have lances that project ahead of the front of their horse. Lances tend to be a bit longer than thrusting spears (but not as much as pikes) but remember that the horse is out front...16/
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...that is, the lance is 'starting' from a position behind the horse's head by a few feet. With a c. 9-10ft lance, that's not insignificant - around half of the lance is still behind the leading edge of the horse.
5ft reach against someone w/ a 18ft pike is 😬 17/
5ft reach against someone w/ a 18ft pike is 😬 17/
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So lances are important, they were used for a reason and they provided advantages, but they don't solve the problem of trying to 'shock' an infantry formation out of position.
Which is why knightly cavalry struggled to shock good infantry out of position! 18/
Which is why knightly cavalry struggled to shock good infantry out of position! 18/
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2) My understanding from other folks' comments is that this was filmed for The King (2019), in which case we ought to see a LOT more battlefield obstructions - caltrops, stakes, pits and other ways to foul the advance of horses. 19/
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Again, those methods aren't strictly necessary - Roman infantry seems to have been able to advance to positions and resist cavalry while advancing by dint of shields, swords, discipline and mass - but they sure help! Not only do they alter the physics...20/
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...obstructions alter the psychology of the situation. It's easier for infantry to hold together if they feel safe behind stakes or defensive ditches and of course it is harder for both man and horse to summon the will to charge directly into a sharp pointed stake. 21/
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So in sum, I don't think this is a good example of the 'devastating power of cavalry.' The physics of cavalry charge and impact remain debated, but one thing that is very clear from our sources is that infantry drawn up decently deep and in good order...22/
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...could and regularly did resist heavy 'shock' cavalry. Cavalry could not simply rely on bashing infantry out of the way in battle and attempts to do so tended to fail badly unless the infantry broke ranks and fled.
Psychology mattered as much as physics in that.
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Psychology mattered as much as physics in that.
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Addendum: Some folks are asking about horse archers so let me offer my essay on that topic here: acoup.blog/2019/07/04/col…
