94 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period I. 



f 



Meuse between 800 of the German cavalry and 5,000 

 of Caesar's horsemen. The Germans were not the least 

 impressed by the difference in numbers, but commenced 

 the attack at once, put the Gaulish cavalry into confusion 

 and then dismounted and fought on foot among their 

 mounted enemies, killing their horses, throwing them to 

 the ground, and putting them to flight.^ Caesar's cavalry 

 in this action, though immensely superior in numbers, 

 was completely defeated with heavy loss. So de- 

 moralized were they by this skirmish, that Caesar, when 

 marching against the enemy the next day, placed hia 

 cavalry in the rear-guard. 



In the year 58 B.C., when Ariovistus was at war with the 

 Romans unJer Caesar in Gaul, he had in his army a corps 

 of 6,000 cavalry, to which were attached 6,000 chosen 

 infantry, so that they should support each other. If a 

 horseman fell wounded from his horse the foot soldiers 

 surrounded and protected him, and one of them mounted 

 the horse if it was still unwounded.^ These infantry 

 men were exceedingly agile and skilful, and by holding 

 to the manes of the horses to aid them, they could keep 

 up with the cavalry in their most rapid manoeuvres. 

 This force was very useful in skirmishes of cavalry, their 

 skill and endurance being great, and the weapons of the 

 age being suitable only for close fighting. 



Later in the war in Gaul, when Vercingetorix had 

 drawn most of the Gallic tribes into the revolt against 

 the Romans, it became necessary for Csesar to look 

 elsewhere for allies to furnish him with cavalry. We 

 find that in the action before Neuvi, in 52 B.C., Caesar 

 used 600 German cavalry who had served under him 

 since the commencement of the war. He says in his 

 Commentaries, that the cavalry of Vercingetorix could 

 not stand against them, but were defeated and driven 

 back to their main body.* As, however, Csesar threw 

 them into action as a reserve, after the fight had been 

 going on for some time between his other cavalry and 

 the enemy's horse, it is doubtful whether the success is 

 not to be attributed more to the fact of a fresh body 



> Caesar, iv. 12, 13. 2 i^jd, j 43. 3 ibid. vii. 13. 



