The
Cavalry Through History
First used in appreciable strength in Europe in 371 B.C. in Greece.
Alexander the Great (reigned 336-323 B.C.) achieved success with cavalry against
Persians and Indians.
Mongols under Genghis Khan in the early 13th century found much of Europe
defenseless against their mounted warriors. Many European horsemen and their
steeds used heavy armor that hindered their mobility.
Cavalry went into a period of decline after development of the long bow and
spread of defensive pikes buried in the ground, in the mid-1300s.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, cavalry came back in force with the advent of
weapons using gunpowder. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden trained his cavalry to
advance at a gallop with the front-rank firing.
Napoleon Bonaparte's French cavalry, coordinating with infantry and artillery,
achieved rapid victories through Europe until Russians inflicted heavy damage on
his horsemen in 1812.
On Oct. 25, 1854, in the Crimean War, British mounted squadrons made a frontal
assault against Russian batteries in the Charge of the Light Brigade. They were
raked with head-on and flanking fire; of 673 charging cavalrymen, 113 were
killed and 134 wounded, with 475 horses dead.
Cavalries were used widely in the Civil War and against American Indians,
although less for overwhelming charges than for raids and other narrower
missions, and horsemen often fought dismounted when they could.
In June 1876, George Armstrong Custer's mounted detachment of 225 men attacked
at the Little Bighorn, an Indian force of some 1,500 men. Custer and his men
were annihilated.
In 1916, an expedition into Mexico marked the only time horses, airplanes and
armored vehicles were used together in a U.S. military operation.
Large cavalries faced off at the start of World War I but were quickly proved
ineffective against armaments and barbed wire.
Cavalry units of Poland and France were swiftly wiped out at the start of World
War II. Russia's cavalry also took heavy losses but learned to launch surprise
attacks through thin German lines.
Of two cavalry divisions at the start of World War II, the U.S. Army disbanded
one and sent the other to the Pacific as infantry. A Jan. 16, 1942 raid by a
26th Cavalry platoon on a Japanese-controlled village in the Philippines was the
last cavalry charge by the U.S. armed forces.
Remaining U.S. cavalry units were disbanded in 1950.
The name "cavalry" has been passed to other highly mobile units. Today,
the Army's 1st Cavalry Division relies on tanks and helicopters.
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Sources: Encyclopedia Americana, U.S.
Cavalry Association, and U.S. Cavalry Association: http//www.uscavalry.org
