Cavalry and chariots against infantry

[Michael Kerr]

Hi, in regards to chariots against infantry I recall where in the "Battle of Gaugamela" Darius III thought his chariots were his trump card against the Macedonian infantry but Alexander devised tactics to defeat this threat by creating channels in his infantry to funnel the chariots to awaiting infantry who despatched both drivers and horses when they lost momentum and came to a halt.

Also after watching a few of the videos about horses and crowds I remembered a few years ago on the news where there was a University student demo in Sydney (Australia) and the mounted police moved in a line to clear the streets when all of a sudden the front line of the demonstrators all rolled hundreds of marbles towards the mounted police and how the horses just stopped in their tracks and started slipping and sliding all over the place. I saw some skilful riding that day and thankfully no horses or police were hurt but they were interesting modern day "infantry" tactics to stop a horse's momentum. Good discussion though.

Regards
Michael Kerr