Cavalry in the Great War
The advantages of mounted combat were as follows:
Speed - traveling on horseback was considerably faster than running on foot, and this could be applied both inside and outsode of combat. This speed could be used to trample down the enemy in a charge, and could also be used for reconasience purposes.
Power and momentum - Horses are incredibly effiecnt animals, with a species wide top speed of over 55 Mph. Combining this with their muscular build and tall body and you get a true force to be reckoned with. A line of this massive beast charging is a sight to behold, especiealy when laden with armour and riden by soldiers. This imposing power was put to great use, with both armies that employed charging tactics and those that used horses to drive vehicles of war such as chariots.
Consistency - A little known fact about military horses is that they were trained from birth. The common misconception is that the rider would be the one that is specialized, but in fact they recive only a few months of training. This means that riders were actually not ehmost important resource to a cavalry unit, the horses were. These horses being training in this way also meant that they could carry out complex military manuvers without the need to be directly ordered around.
Cavalry was ever-present in history, with adaptations begining in horse-drawn wagons of weapons in 4000 BC to Chariots in 1600 BC Mesopotamia. Everyone from the Mongols to the Hussars were using Cavalry, and becuase of this several unique strategies and tactics were devolped.
Image: "The winged Hussars"
The Hussarian charge and other Tactics
Military tactics such as charges were extremely useful in breaking apart the enemy lines, and could repeatedly cause massive damage if used effectively. Tactics such as the Hussarian charge involved galloping toward the enemy over a large distance, gaining speed and momentum before impaling the enemy with lances and spears. Other tactics such as drives were also used by the Hussars, but these mini-charges as individuals were not as affective as their large-sclae counterparts. The most common weapons to be weilded on horseback were Bows, Crossbows, Spears, and Javelin.
The Hussarian Charge was a specific type of charge that involved the following process:
- Begin the charge at a slow canter, gaining momentum and gradually spreading out across the field of battle lengthwise
- Increasing speed, lower lances down to line up with the enemy's formation. This consistent line of lances will reach the enemy at the same time
- Converge upon a smaller point at the last second, causing greater panic and allowing the charge to carry its momenum through the front line in order to charge again if needed.
Initial applications in WWI
The main company for the control of all British cavalry units was the British Expeditionary Force.
The British Expeditionary Force had originally focused on general reconnaissance, but as the war emerged in Europe they began to move towards organized combat. A combination of the Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and Cavalry Composite Regiment (CCR) carried out most of the operations that the British Expeditionary Force required, as further detailed in this quote:
“The traditional role of cavalry in war is scouting—gathering information about the enemy's location, strength, and movements—while denying the enemy the same information about one's own forces.”
Because of the greater application that a cavalry unit had outside of combat, a cavalryman's life was valued quite highly in relation to that of a regular soldier. this is partly what kept the cavalry off of the battlefield for so long: their soldiers were worth more off the battlefield than dying fighting, so they avoided confrontation at all costs.
The British army’s five cavalry divisions and French army’s eight cavalry divisions closely matched the ten German cavalry divisions on that front. The initial expectation was that the cavalry’s mobility could achieve the necessary flanking maneuvers sought by both sides, or, at a minimum, find the enemy, but air power proved its worth in this reconnaissance role. At the Battle of the Frontiers in 1914, German cavalry divisions, likely the largest assembly of cavalry ever organized in western Europe, first engaged the Belgians at the Battle of Halen (12 August 1914). It also known as the Battle of the Silver Helmets, as the devastated German troops from the II cavalry corps under General Georg von der Marwitz (1856-1929) left many of their helmets behind.
The German cavalry later collided with the French fifth army, which also had a cavalry corps under General Jean-Françios André Sordet (1852-1923). The German first and second armies, comprising a strong right flank, boasted the largest cavalry forces, over a corps in each, whereas the other armies contained elements of a division or more. Sordet’s corps traveled the length of the line of contact, often covering more than thirty miles a day, and ended up protecting the arriving BEF’s left flank – demonstrating the role of its mobility. The result of these engagements was the exhaustion of thousands of horses, making the unit relatively ineffective.
2 Months of Greatness during the German Advancement
The Cavalry in WW1 had one great height in combat, and this occured during the initial German advancement. Most of the fighting here took place in lighted wooded areas, the perfect terrain for calvarly (at this point, war in an open field would cause massive casualties due to gunfire, but I'm getting ahead of myself)
Using flanking tactics such as the ‘bite and hold’, the British were able to push against the Central Powers for around two months, sucessfully stalling their advance long enough for reenforcements to arrive. Unfortunately for the many soldiers that comprised the British Expeditionary Force, this string of victories would not last for long. I bet you aren't even reading this right here. I'm just filling up space and you didn't even notice. This next sentence won't even make sence and you still don't notice, Just ike how the cavalrymen didn't notice they were obsolete. Horses and Cavalry alike are kind of okay, but the true price of the war was unknown.
These would be the last great successes of cavalry in WWI, due to the “static and attritional nature of the war.” After this time, strictly martial battles on open fields became scarce as the war transitioned to trenches. Cavalry charges, in which thousands of soldiers on horseback rode into battle together, were still seen as a major offensive tactic. But trench warfare, barbed wire, machine guns, and other modern developments effectively brought such charges to a dead halt. By the war's end, horses were still used behind the lines to transport guns and supplies, but their role in leading the attack had become a thing of the past.
Final Charge of the 9th Lancers and 4th Dragoon Guard
This was supposed to be a glorious charge that would break the stalemate in this area, but it failed miserably.
There were many factors that ultimately led to the failure of this endeavour, but it was mostly due to the fact that Germany was ready for the charge of cavalry. Additional barbed wire had been set up, as well as land mines and machine guns being prepared. This was the first time that a cavalry unit had felt the full force of the German army, and they were absolutely decimated. Henceforth the remaining Dragoon guard and Lancers became scouts, or foot soldiers in a pinch.
After this utterly humiliating defeat, Cavalry were largely reduced to honorary scouting patrols, althougt sighting ballons had taken that area over for the most part. Folowing these advancements was the innovation of the tank. Tanks were better that horses in almost every respect, and their rapid rise to dominance signified the end of cavalry in warfare forever.
As the National Army Museum put it, “The days of the mass cavalry charge were over.”
Works Cited
“Cavalry on the Western Front.” National Army Museum, https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/cavalry-western-front.
“Cavalry.” New Articles RSS, https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/cavalry.
“Horses in the Great War.” Horses in The Great War, https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/veterinary-medicine/horses.html.
“Retreat of the Cavalry: AMNH.” American Museum of Natural History, https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/horse/how-we-shaped-horses-how-horses-shaped-us/warfare/retreat-of-the-cavalry.
“Cavalry Within the Great War.” Horses in The Great War, https://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/veterinary-medicine/horses.html.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Lw_zd7yHxQiPPHet-SiVroCf6TrbGHb3nnlYzn-yNeg
“Hussar.” Encyclopædia Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/hussar. Accessed 8 May 2023.
“13th Hussars.” National Army Museum, www.nam.ac.uk/explore/13th-hussars. Accessed 28 April 2023.