368 



CAVALRY. 



troops; but the ii. ith-lmnv >i chivalry was the in- 

 vention of gunpowder : that event, ami the gene- 

 ral employment of fire-arms, by which it was pro- 

 gressively followed, form the important frontier of 

 the ancient and modern art of war. The weapons 

 of former warfare gradually lost their efficacy ; 

 physical force was reduced to a very subordinate 

 place in the accomplishments of a soldier, and the 

 >i' mail was no longer a security. 



The ct>niji<!i/iii<-s il'tinlonnance of Charles VII. 

 consisted of nine thousand heavy, and seven thou- 

 sand five hundred liirht cavalry. These troops may 

 be considered as the foundation of regular cavalry, 

 and, indeed, the first national standing army, ex- 

 hody-guards, which had been raised in any 

 part of Europe. The heavy cavalry still preserved 

 the costume of the men-at-arms; but a consider- 

 able change took place in the light cavalry, who 

 appeared under the different denominations of 

 arquebusiers, hussars, carabines, light-horse, &c. 

 The nrquebusiers were so called from the hargo- 

 bus or arquebus, a sort of short musket with which 

 they were armed ; the hussars from the Hungarian 

 word huz (i. e., twenty) being raised in Hungary 

 by an ordinance which required every twentieth 

 man to take the field ; the carabines, or carbineers, 

 were something similar to the arquebusiers, and 

 were attached to the regiments of light cavalry, in 

 order to act as skirmishers. Of all the European 

 cavalry, the reiters of the empire appear to have 

 been the most distinguished. In the civil wars of 

 France, and in the army of prince Maurice of 

 Orange, these horsemen always constituted the 

 principal and most efficient body of cavalry, and 

 by means of their long pistols and dense formation 

 carried destruction into the single ranks of the 

 French and Spanish lancers. The employment of 

 carbineers and arquebusiers, who sometimes fought 

 on foot, and were frequently obliged to carry in- 

 fantry behind them, led, at a later period, to the 

 establishment of dragoons. 



After the decline of chivalry, and the abandon- 

 ment of defensive arms, the service of the infantry 

 rose in estimation. The first organised body of 

 foot, which proceeded from the feudal armies, was 

 probably formed out of that monstrous multitude, 

 which passed from Europe into Asia, in the train 

 of the crusaders ; but it was the Swiss patriots 

 who restored the infantry to that place which it 

 had held in the armies of Greece and Rome. The 

 poverty of these simple peasants, and the small 

 number of gentlemen residing in their barren and 

 uncultivated country, rendered them unable to 

 bring into the field any body of horse capable of 

 resisting the heavy-armed cavalry of the Austrians, 

 and they were, therefore, compelled to rest their . 

 whole dependence upon their infantry. The intre- 

 pidity and devotion of these troops rivalled that of 

 the heroes of Lacedaemon. Instinctively adopt- 

 ing the principle of the Grecian phalanx, they | 

 fanned themselves into dense battalions, present- i 

 ing on every side so formidable a front of pikes, as 

 to be perfectly impenetrable to the attacks of the 

 Austrian cavaliers, who, after repeated efforts to 

 overcome these martial peasants, thought it pru- 

 dent to discontinue their attacks, and give up all 

 attempts upon the liberties of the Swiss.* The 



* The example of Wallace and Brace, in their defence of 

 Scotland against the splendid chivalry of the Plantaeenets. had 

 probably little influence on the continent ; but in the history 

 of th*e wars a complete and perft-ct parallel to that of Switz- 

 erland at this period is to be found. The old monkish rhyme, 

 commonly railed " Th Brace's Testament," may amuse the 



- 



Burgundian gendarmerie were equally unsuccessful 

 as the Austrian ; and the invincible Swiss infantry 

 became so celebrated, that they were everywhere 

 sought for, and employed. Their mutinous and 

 insolent conduct, however, when acting as mercen- 

 aries, induced other states to form infantry for 

 themselves, and the Spaniards very soon excelled 

 their far-famed opponents. The Spanish infantry 

 rendered their battalions much more formidable 

 than those of the Swiss, by mixing fire-arms with 

 their pikes; and, although sometimes broken by 

 the lansquenets or German infantry, they were 

 never thrown into disorder, but always returned 

 individually to the charge. The reputation of the 

 Spaniards lasted until the battle of Kocroi, when 

 the decline of the monarchy brought on also that 

 of their infantry, and the French infantry took tin; 

 lead in Europe. Meantime, Gustavus Adolphu* 

 introduced a new system of tactics ; the applica- 

 tion of both infantry and cavalry became better 

 understood; and the utility of amalgamating both 

 arms appeared evident. By intermixing platoons 

 of infantry with squadrons of cavalry, Gustavns 

 was enabled to withstand the formidable Austrian 

 cuirassiers at the battle of Leipsic ; and the same 

 practice was followed by Weimar and all the gene- 

 rals of the Swedish school. 



From Gustavus Adolphus to Frederick the Great 

 there was no inventor in the art of war : Louis 

 XIV. certainly established grenadiers d cheval ; 

 and James II. horse-grenadiers. Charles XII. also 

 rode two horses to death at a cavalry review ; and 

 some swarms of Turks appeared in Hungary ; hut 

 no change occurred that is worth recording, in 

 either the tactics or organization of cavalry. Fre- 

 derick, however, infused new life into the whole 

 military system. He increased the cuirassier's trot 

 into a gallop, changed their heavy armour into a 

 simple breastplate, reduced their formation to two 

 deep, and, with the assistance of the great Seidlitz, 

 brought the Prussian cavalry to a degree of perfec- 

 tion which they had never before attained. Since 

 the time of Frederick, the tactics of cavalry have 

 undergone little change; but in the arming of that 

 force, two remarkable innovations have been intro- 

 duced in the revival of the cuirass and lance. 



The lance is not yet properly estimated in the 

 British service. An imperfect knowledge of its 

 capabilities, and an ill-founded prejudice against its 

 use, have conspired to render the lance absolutely 

 unpopular with our tacticians; and, perhaps, if a 

 majority of opinions was now taken on the subject, 



' S-otioa sit guerra Peditps, mons, mossica terra j 



Silrae pro muris sint, arciis. et liasta. securis ; 



Per loca stricta greges munientur : plana per igneg 



Sic inflammentur. ut ab hoslibiis evacuentur ; 



Insidiae vigiles sint, noctu vocifcrantes. 



Sic male turbati red_ient velut ense fugnti 



Hostos pro certo sic Rege docente Roberto." 

 A capital code, of which the following, the old Scotch v. 

 is meritorious ; 



" ( )n fut suld be all Scottes weire 



Be hyll and moss themself to wcirre. 



Let wood for wallis be ; bow and sppar 



And battle-axe their fechling gear. 



That enemies do thaim na dreire 



In strait places gar keip alle storre 



And birnen the plane land them beforre 



Than sail they pa-s away in haist 



Quhen that they find nathing but wai~t 



With wylles and awakenen of the nych 



And meikle noyse made on hyrlit ; 



Than sail they turnen with gret afirai 



Als they were chasit with swerd away : 



This is the counsel! and intent 



Of gud king Robert's Testament." 



See Tytler's History of Scotland (vol. i., p. 475'), 11 work in 

 which tlie ancient military history of that country is, for the 

 first time, handled with skill and ettect. 



