A History of the Warhorse

The warhorse survives, now an instrument of anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan. A look at the use of cavalry throughout history:

* First used in appreciable strength in Europe in 371 BC, in Greece.

* Alexander the Great (reigned 336-323 BC) achieved success with cavalry against Persians and Indians.

* Mongols under Genghis Khan found much of Europe defenseless against their mounted warriors in the early 13th century. Many European horsemen and their steeds used heavy armor that hindered their mobility.

* Cavalry went into decline in the mid-1300s, after development of the longbow and spread of defensive pikes buried in the ground.

* In the 16th and 17th centuries, cavalry came back in force with the arrival 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 American Civil War and against American Indians, although less for overwhelming charges than for raids and other narrower missions. Horsemen often fought dismounted when they could.

* In June 1876, Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s mounted detachment of 225 men attacked at Little Bighorn against 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 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 Assn.

On the Net: U.S. Cavalry Assn.: www.uscavalry.org