The Late Roman Army

[tlclark]

Logistics I agree with, Superior power of the Arscid Parthian and Sassanid Persian cavalry too, they were very good in battle. I'm sure those remounts were essential - I've read somewhere (but where oh where..) that horses in armour get tired after just one charge, so I guess to keep their tactical speed intact you need remounts!

So true! Horses, unlike soldiers, can only be whipped so much before they quit!

But strategical speed?

Exactly, I agree with you, the calvary is just not as strategically fast as an infantry which can be horse-whipped more than a horse frankly. But the calvary is SO effective, you need to figure out how to make it faster, and you can, through lots of logistics.

But we were discussing the power/speed/mobility of cavalry across great distances,

I never said that calvary had superior strategical speed on one set of horses. Only that you need great logistics to compensate for the lag/tiring of horses and that the Parthians clearly did that. Why not Romans? You ride all night to one location, change horses and then ride like hell til you reach the next fort and switch, Pony Express style. Repeat until you reach the destination. Forts become very important then, as does the loyalty of local leaders and their willingness to house and swap horses.

At that point, a calvary becomes a VERY strategically fast response force. Even more so if you place the forts - for lack of a better word - strategically near your 'hot spots'. I don't know if the Late Romans did this, but I see no reason why they couldn't when it's obvious the Parthians did. They had the forts, so why not? Has anyone done a survey of horse barns and stables, and equestrian gear to determine what the ratio of horses to riders might have been? Might be very revealing.

and I'm not so sure that Parthian or Persian cavarly could ride rings around Roman armies any more than Roman cavarly could ride rings around invading Germanic infantry.

Actually they did ride rings around the Roman military...literally!! In fact, that's probably where we get the cliche in the first place. Parthians were notorious for running their horses over the horizon faster than the Roman infantry could pursue, swapping horses, and then returning to the fight, Their rear support camps with herds of horses were in near constant motion to avoide being discovered. They would do this in waves, so that as one left for fresh horses, new ones arrived to cover their departure. It was, in a word, devastating. I think that the increase in Late Roman cavalry is clearly a response to this. You have to match them speed for speed on the battle field, cut off reinforcements, find their fresh horses, remove them from the equation, etc.

What's interesting is that they never completely abandon the infantry. It'a obvious that the well trained infantry with artillery was a deadly combination. You just had to stop those damn bloody horses!! An increase in calvary would counter this allowing the infantry to be more effective.

I don't think that I am really in disagreement with your post. I just think it's possible to overcome the natural defficiencies of the calvary with lots and lots of logistical support. And since they move to more calvary, I think they must be doing some of this.

Travis[/quote]