07-12-2007, 10:21 AM
Of course this all is a bit ot, but quite interesting. The rear ranks of the football teams then pressed forward the front ranks? Indeed a infantry formation can better transform energy and pressure towards the person(s) in front than a cavalry formation. It is the principle of othismos in phalanx fighting. The same principle as the strong right wing of Theban phalanges in the 4th c. BC. I had only doubts about the wedge being really a wedge, because the front man is so endangered and I don't see advantages compared with a rectangular column. But if it is recorded in practice I have to accept it.
Is the same true for cavalry? One rule in some reglements after the Napoleonic times was that a cavalry formation deeper than two ranks was waste. More ranks added no momentum. It was also a thump of rule that cavalry can only break a carree (which happened not seldom) if the infantry was shattered by artillery or other infantry fire. Most attacks on infantry slowed down before contact. Many troopers feared the infantry fire and stopped 50 metres or so apart. If a charge went over the "50-metres-line" it frequently slowed down shortly before the infantry line, each rider seeking to wound the foot soldiers and looking for weak points where they can get in and through the infantry line. A charge into the line happened only seldom.
The cavalry in ancient times had not to face gunfire, a very big advantage. However they faced often armoured foot soldiers with shields and/or long spears or pikes. Wedge or not, a real break could only be achieved if the horses ran into the spears, pikes and men in the line. One thought I got is, that perhaps a few well trained ruthless horses (which must have been rare because horses die quickly and in great numbers in war) with determined riders formed the peak of the wedge and the others followed blindly.
Is the same true for cavalry? One rule in some reglements after the Napoleonic times was that a cavalry formation deeper than two ranks was waste. More ranks added no momentum. It was also a thump of rule that cavalry can only break a carree (which happened not seldom) if the infantry was shattered by artillery or other infantry fire. Most attacks on infantry slowed down before contact. Many troopers feared the infantry fire and stopped 50 metres or so apart. If a charge went over the "50-metres-line" it frequently slowed down shortly before the infantry line, each rider seeking to wound the foot soldiers and looking for weak points where they can get in and through the infantry line. A charge into the line happened only seldom.
The cavalry in ancient times had not to face gunfire, a very big advantage. However they faced often armoured foot soldiers with shields and/or long spears or pikes. Wedge or not, a real break could only be achieved if the horses ran into the spears, pikes and men in the line. One thought I got is, that perhaps a few well trained ruthless horses (which must have been rare because horses die quickly and in great numbers in war) with determined riders formed the peak of the wedge and the others followed blindly.
Wolfgang Zeiler
