02-22-2013, 05:38 AM
1. Well... if I write about the tactics of Alexander at Granicus and start the whole thing with some modern fictional description adding " from "Alexandrou Historia", by Cleomachos Aristeidou", will it not be misleading? Or did he really think that Henry Sienkevich is soooo renowned to the non-Polish... I really find it hillarious as an approach to something that is meant to resemble a study.
2. As I read it it was no conventional charge. The Aussies just jumped over the entrenchments and then immediately dismounted. There was no cavalry-infantry battle.
3. The first painting shows cavalry in an enveloping position and an infantry square that for some reason has its pikes upright. It shows no clash. No one disputes that cavalry came even to a jostling distance. It is the "galloping into" that we debate. So, again we need the next frames... but again I say you have to be cautious with art. It rarely is realistic and each painting has to be individually researched to be able to say. However, this particular painting does not show any clash.
In the second painting it is also impossible to say what the heck is happening. Instead of a clear frontal charge as your model suggests (if I understand you right), I see conventional envelopment which excludes galloping into the formation, since the cavalry depicted is attacking the square from all sides. It is interesting that there seems to be no reaction from the second line, which also points at the intervals/distances being depicted much distorted (scaled down), total inability or plain imagination of the artist.
I tried to find primary sources on this battle but I only read about some poem (Carolomachia) which I didn't find in English in my short search. Aren't there any historical accounts of the battle? I am sure that studying these would be much more enlightening.
4. Well.. actually you could be both wrong, it would not be the first time that truth has nothing to do with consensus, let alone consensus among 3 people... However, this changes nothing, so I am ready to admit it is a ramming attempt. If you think that during a charge, horses would stop and then "ram" in this way, I have no trouble accepting it too... However, it seems to me that the horse guards itself against injury and then probes the fence trying to see if it can jump over it without risking a true, galloping ramming/jump.
Is this also a ram?
2. As I read it it was no conventional charge. The Aussies just jumped over the entrenchments and then immediately dismounted. There was no cavalry-infantry battle.
3. The first painting shows cavalry in an enveloping position and an infantry square that for some reason has its pikes upright. It shows no clash. No one disputes that cavalry came even to a jostling distance. It is the "galloping into" that we debate. So, again we need the next frames... but again I say you have to be cautious with art. It rarely is realistic and each painting has to be individually researched to be able to say. However, this particular painting does not show any clash.
In the second painting it is also impossible to say what the heck is happening. Instead of a clear frontal charge as your model suggests (if I understand you right), I see conventional envelopment which excludes galloping into the formation, since the cavalry depicted is attacking the square from all sides. It is interesting that there seems to be no reaction from the second line, which also points at the intervals/distances being depicted much distorted (scaled down), total inability or plain imagination of the artist.
I tried to find primary sources on this battle but I only read about some poem (Carolomachia) which I didn't find in English in my short search. Aren't there any historical accounts of the battle? I am sure that studying these would be much more enlightening.
4. Well.. actually you could be both wrong, it would not be the first time that truth has nothing to do with consensus, let alone consensus among 3 people... However, this changes nothing, so I am ready to admit it is a ramming attempt. If you think that during a charge, horses would stop and then "ram" in this way, I have no trouble accepting it too... However, it seems to me that the horse guards itself against injury and then probes the fence trying to see if it can jump over it without risking a true, galloping ramming/jump.
Is this also a ram?
