

I 



60 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period 1. 



and they were the most useful in broken ground and in 

 the midst of obstacles. It is no wonder that Livy said 

 th*"^. they were the best cavalry in all Africa. 



L one can calculate the enormous advantage such a 

 force must have been to Hannibal. AVithout it and his 

 heavy cavalry he could not have held his own in Italy 

 for one single campaign ; with them he fought victoriously 

 in a hostile country far removed from his base, in fact 

 practically cut off from it, for sixteen long years. Had 

 the Romans been as well supplied with horsemen or been 

 superior to him in that force, he would almost at once 

 have been obliged from want of food to surrender, or to 

 have evacuated Italy. It is the first instance in the 

 history of Western Europe of the enormous advantages 

 to be gained by an overwhelming force of cavalry. As 

 we proceed in this work this same idea will continually 

 recur, until example heaped upon example will show as 

 plainly as can be possible the great value of a cavalry, 

 numerous and properly equipped and handled. 



Hannibal not only fully understood the value of 

 cavalry in all the minor operations of war, but he was 

 the first in the West to use cavalry on the field of battle 

 in accordance with the true spirit and genius of the 

 force. Under him, the horsemen in large masses were 

 hurled with impetuous fury upon the foe, the victory 

 being gained by the overwhelming rush of the charging 

 squadrons. No man knew better how to pave the way 

 to victory, by the use of his cavalry before the action, 

 or to secure success by skilful charges of his horsemen 

 upon the field. 



The first engagement that occurred between Hannibal 

 and the Romans in Italy took place on the banks of the 

 Ticinus. It was almost entirely a cavalry action, and it 

 established at once the superiority of the Carthaginian 

 cavalry, and evinced the extraordinary skill displayed 

 by Hannibal in his method of handling it. 



Publius Scipio, who commanded the Roman army, was 

 advancing with his cavalry and some light armed troops 

 to reconnoitre the enemy, whom he had heard were 

 approaching, when he met Hannibal at the head of his 



