Horses in warfare and Related Topics

French 4th Hussars at the Battle of Friedland, 1807

Cavalry

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A trumpeter of the Representative Cavalry Squadron in the Polish Army

Parthian horseman, now on display at the Palazzo Madama, Turin

Warrior's departure; an Athenian amphora dated 550–540 BC

Tombstone of a Roman auxiliary trooper from Cologne, Germany. Second half of the first century AD

Reenactor as a Roman auxiliary cavalryman

A bas-relief of a soldier and horse with saddle and stirrups, from the tomb of Chinese Emperor Taizong of Tang (r 626–649), c 650

The Qianlong Emperor in ceremonial armor on horseback, painted by Giuseppe Castiglione, dated 1739 or 1758

A mounted samurai with bow and arrows, wearing a horned helmet. Circa 1878

In the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, Japanese cavalry moving down a mountain-side

Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra

Coin of Chandragupta II or Vikramaditya, one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta empire during times referred to as the Golden Age of India

Akbar leads the Mughal Army during a campaign

Horse-mounted Normans charging in the Bayeux Tapestry, 11th century

A 13th-century depiction of a riding horse. Note resemblance to the modern Paso Fino

A Hussite war wagon: it enabled peasants to defeat knights

A Moroccan with his Arabian horse along the Barbary coast

Kanem-Bu warriors armed with spears in the retinue of a mounted war chief. The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1892

Knighted cavalry and noblemen, painting by Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441)

Cavalry charge at Eylau, painted by Jean-Antoine-Siméon Fort

British infantry formed into anti-cavalry squares at the Battle of Quatre Bras

The charge of the Venezuelan First Division's cavalry at the Battle of Carabobo

"The Thin Red Line" at the Battle of Balaclava, where the 93rd Regiment held off Russian Cavalry

Monument to the Spanish Regiment of light cavalry of Alcántara

The charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman

19th Lancers near Mametz during the Battle of the Somme, 15 July 1916

Union Cavalry capture Confederate guns at Culpepper

Italian cavalry officers practice their horsemanship in 1904 outside Rome

German cavalryman in September 1914, German South-West Africa

Dead German cavalry horses after the Battle of Halen - where the Belgian cavalry, fighting dismounted, decimated their still mounted German counterparts

A British cavalry trooper in marching order (1914–1918)

German dragoons, armed with lances, after the capture of Warsaw, August 1915

Lithuanian lancers training in the 1930s

Turkish cavalry during mopping‐up operation 1922

Polish uhlan with wz. 35 anti-tank rifle. Military instruction published in Warsaw in 1938

A German cavalry patrol in May 1940, during the Battle of France

Mongolian cavalry in the Khalkhin Gol (1939)

U.S. Special Forces and Combat Controllers on horseback with the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan, which frequently used horses as military transport

Italian Army regiment “Lancieri di Montebello” (8th) on public duties in Rome 2019

Horse-mounted color guard from Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow

A cavalryman of Hakkapeliitta, the Finnish cavalry of Thirty Years' War, featured on a 1940 Finnish stamp

Mongol mounted archer of Genghis Khan late 12th century.

Tatar vanguard in Eastern Europe 13th–14th centuries.

Manikin of a Safavid Qizilbash, showing characteristic red cap (Sa'dabad Palace, Tehran).

An Ottoman Mamluk cavalryman from 1810, armed with a pistol.

Ottoman Ghazi cavalrymen during the Battle of Nicopolis.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lokman |url=http://warfare.atwebpages.com/Ottoman/Ottoman.htm |title=Battle of Nicopolis (1396) |year=1588 |work=Hünernâme |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529094441/http://warfare.atwebpages.com/Ottoman/Ottoman.htm |archive-date=2013-05-29 }}</ref>

Washington National Guard cavalry pictured in Tacoma, Washington in 1907.

French cuirassiers, wearing breastplates and helmets, parade through Paris on the way to battle, August 1914.

Spanish light cavalry (cazadores) during the Rif War 1921.

Polish PZL W-3 Sokół of the 66 Air Cavalry Squadron, 25th Aeromobile Cavalry Brigade.

The mounted President's Bodyguard of the Indian Army

French Republican Guard – 2008 Bastille Day military parade

The President's Body Guard of the Pakistan Army, 2006.

Troopers of the Blues and Royals on mounted duty in Whitehall, London

Turkmenistan ceremonial cavalry in the Independence Day parade 2011

Representative Cavalry Squadron of the Polish Army on military parade in Warsaw, 2006

Historically, cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback.

A 'bred back' Heck Horse, said to resemble the now-extinct Tarpan

Domestication of the horse

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A number of hypotheses exist on many of the key issues regarding the domestication of the horse.

Replica of a horse painting from a cave in Lascaux

Equus caballus germanicus front leg, teeth and upper jaw at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

The early stages of domestication were marked by a rapid increase in coat color variation.

Chariots of Ramesses II and the Hittites in the Battle of Kadesh, 1274 BCE

Depiction of a mounted warrior from the Pazyryk burials, c. 300 BCE

From there, use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work, and warfare.

Arabian horse

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Breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula.

Mounted skeleton of an Arabian horse, showing underlying structure of breed characteristics including short back, high-set tail, distinction between level croup and well-angulated hip. This specimen also has only 5 lumbar vertebrae.

Arabians are noted for both intelligence and a spirited disposition

A gray Arabian; note white hair coat but black skin

A tobiano patterned National Show Horse, a type of partbred Arabian

An Arabian horse in the desert. Antoine-Jean Gros, c. 1810

Carl Raswan pictured on an Anazeh warmare

Hittite chariot (drawing of an Egyptian relief)

"Mameluck en Attaque" 18th-century painting by Carle Vernet

Battle of La Higueruela, 1431. Spanish fighting the Moorish forces of Nasrid Sultan Muhammed IX of Granada. Note the differences in tail carriage of the various horses in the painting. The Arabian's high-carried tail is a distinctive trait that is seen even in part-blooded offspring.

Several noble families of Poland became major breeders of Arabian horses. Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, painted by Juliusz Kossak.

Lady Anne Blunt with her favorite Arabian mare, Kasida

Washington Taking Control of the American Army, at Cambridge, Massachusetts July 1775. Copy of lithograph by Currier & Ives, 1876.

Exhibitor from Syria holding an Arabian horse at the Hamidie Society exhibition, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893.

The Arabian stallion Hector, or "Old Hector" was an early import to Australia whose bloodlines are still found today in the pedigrees of some Australian Thoroughbreds.

A postage stamp from the Soviet Union featuring the Arabian horse

The Darley Arabian, a foundation sire of the Thoroughbred.

An Arabian horse in "native" costume, used in both exhibition and competition

Rudolph Valentino and Jadaan. Publicity shot for The Son of the Sheik, 1926

The Arabian also developed the high spirit and alertness needed in a horse used for raiding and war.

Destrier

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Caparisoned horses competing in a joust from the Codex Manesse

The destrier is the best-known war horse of the Middle Ages.

Heavy cavalry

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Class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed shock cavalry.

Early 16th-century French gendarmes, with complete plate armour and heavy lances

Spanish Heavy Cavalry - Royal Armoury of Madrid, Spain

The oldest known relief of a heavily armoured cavalryman, from the Sasanian Empire, at Taq-i Bostan, near Kermanshah, Iran (4th century)

A recreation of a medieval joust between heavily armoured knights at a modern Renaissance fair

Contemporary depiction in the Liber ad honorem Augusti, of Dipold of Acerra, an early 13th-century knight, when the knight was undisputed master of the battlefield

Mongol heavy cavalry in battle (13th–14th century)

Christian the Younger of Brunswick in the armour of a cuirassier

A re-enactor dressed as a Winged Hussar, who served as the heavy cavalry of the Polish Commonwealth

Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and historical period, heavy cavalry were generally mounted on large powerful warhorses, wore body armor, and armed with either lances, swords, maces, flails (disputed), battle axes, or war hammers; their mounts may also have been protected by barding.

Light cavalry

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The famous Charge of the Light Brigade, in the Battle of Balaclava in 1854 (painted by William Simpson in 1855)

Mongol soldier on horseback, preparing a mounted archery shot

French 4th Hussar at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807. "Vive l'Empereur!" by Édouard Detaille, 1891.

Polish cavalry at the Battle of Somosierra in Spain, 1808

Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored.

Knight

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Person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity.

A Norman knight slaying Harold Godwinson (Bayeux tapestry, c. 1070). The rank of knight developed in the 12th century from the mounted warriors of the 10th and 11th centuries.

The battle between the Turks and Christian knights during the Ottoman wars in Europe

The miles Christianus allegory (mid-13th century), showing a knight armed with virtues and facing the vices in mortal combat. The parts of his armour are identified with Christian virtues, thus correlating essential military equipment with the religious values of chivalry:
The helmet is spes futuri gaudii (hope of future bliss), the shield (here the shield of the Trinity) is fides (faith), the armour is caritas (charity), the lance is perseverantia (perseverance), the sword is verbum Dei (the word of God), the banner is regni celestis desiderium (desire for the kingdom of heaven), the horse is bona voluntas (good will), the saddle is Christiana religio (Christian religion), the saddlecloth is humilitas (humility), the reins are discretio (discretion), the spurs are disciplina (discipline), the stirrups are propositum boni operis (proposition of good work), and the horse's four hooves are delectatio, consensus, bonum opus, consuetudo (delight, consent, good work, and exercise).

Tournament from the Codex Manesse, depicting the mêlée

Elements of a harness of the late style of Gothic plate armour that was a popular style in the mid 15th to early 16th century (depiction made in the 18th century)

Page from King René's Tournament Book (BnF Ms Fr 2695)

The Battle of Pavia in 1525. Landsknecht mercenaries with arquebus.

Fortified house – a family seat of a knight (Schloss Hart by the Harter Graben near Kindberg, Austria)

The Battle of Grunwald between Poland-Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights in 1410

Pippo Spano, the member of the Order of the Dragon

The English fighting the French knights at the Battle of Crécy in 1346

Miniature from Jean Froissart Chronicles depicting the Battle of Montiel (Castilian Civil War, in the Hundred Years' War)

A modern artistic rendition of a chevalière of the Late Middle Ages.

A battle of the Reconquista from the Cantigas de Santa Maria

The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback.

A young rider at a horse show in Australia

Equestrianism

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Equestrianism (from Latin equester, equestr-, equus, 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (British English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting.