06-30-2006, 02:04 PM
The actual, specific meaning of a cavalry charge is really a very difficult problem to solve. There is no longer any legal context to treat horses and men in this manner. Literary sources, unless they are instructional, are not so good because people use metaphors and things. So when someone says, such and such cavalry 'smashed into the rear of the enemy line' you don't really know what that means. In fact, I don't even know if we know what it means in Neopoleanic times much less Roman times. I bet there's some very good information from Napoleon's time period regarding what horses will do and not do. It may be an easier place to start to find useful information about ancient cavalry. It's an area of military history that could use some serious study, because our grip on it is rapidly fading from memory. Did Napoleon's cavalry officers need to read any 'how to' books?
If soccer team A 'kicks the butt of' soccer team B, one might get strange ideas regarding the rules of soccer a thousand years on.
If soccer team A 'kicks the butt of' soccer team B, one might get strange ideas regarding the rules of soccer a thousand years on.
Rich Marinaccio
