Horses, Cavalry, and Stirrup The introduction of horses revolutionized warfare, as the speed and strength of

5.3.2 Horses, Cavalry, and Stirrup The introduction of horses revolutionized warfare, as the speed and strength of

horses could not be matched by the infantry. Lynn White explained that the historic use of horses in battle was divided into three periods: (i) the chariot, (ii) the mounted warrior who clung to his steed by pressure of the knees, and (iii) the mounted warrior with his feet in stirrups. Each introduction of new technology led to far-reaching social and cultural changes and elevated the status of people with horses. There are numerous wall paintings in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China with images of triumphant kings on their chariots, sharing with drivers and archers and trampling on their prostrate enemies. This technology required horses and two- wheeled chariots and gave the owner a high platform from which to observe the battle and rapid movement to arrive at the critical places. The chariot was also an excellent platform for shooting arrows, throwing javelins, and cutting down enemy infantry with spears. The Greeks and Macedonians developed the infantry phalanx in formation, where each soldier carried a spear as long as 7 m in the right hand and

a shield in the left hand. As long as the phalanx was locked in order, it was very difficult for chariots and mounted cavalry to break through this formation of spears. The Greeks and Macedonians repeatedly proved the superiority of the phalanx over the chariot and less organized infantry.

During the second period of Lynn White, the mounted cavalry sat on a horse with nothing more than a piece of cloth between them. Before the invention of the stirrup for the rider’s feet, a horseman was primarily a mobile bowman and hurler of javelins. He could do limited swordplay on his horse, but a swipe that missed might throw him to the ground, and his spear could only be thrusted with the force of his shoulder and biceps. He could not charge and ram his spear at the infantry without

5.3 HUMAN VIOLENCE: WAR

FIGURE 5.1 Saddle with stirrup, pommel, and cantle.

being thrown out the back of the horse at the same time. So the purpose of riding a horse was speed and a high vantage point, but heavy hand-to-hand combat often meant dismounting first and fighting as infantry.

When the horse stirrup was invented and adopted, and the saddle was strapped to the horse, the knight with his feet in the stirrup could keep his seat safely despite violent actions. In Figure 5.1, the saddle is strapped to the horse and has stirrups for the feet, so that the rider can resist forces that push him to the left or right. The saddle also has a high pommel in the front and a high cantle at the back, which prevent him from sliding forward or backward if the horse suddenly changes speed, such as during the impact in a joust. In fact, his most lethal attack would be to rest his lance in the forward position and allow the combined weight of his body and the charging stallion to thrust the lance with much greater force than swinging his lance with his biceps.

White attributed the invention of the more primitive big-toe-stirrup to India in the second century BCE, and the invention of the foot stirrup to China that was first mentioned in 477. The use of the stirrup spread to Byzantium by 582 and to Western Europe at the time of Charles Martel, which led to the institution of knighthood. The early Franks mainly fought on foot. In the year 732, Charles Martel met the Saracens near Poitiers and the infantry line stood like a wall against the Saracen

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horses, but Martel’s victorious infantry was unable to pursue the fleeing Saracen horses. The support of horses and heavy armory required more investment by a dedicated and professional army of a small elite group, which led to feudalism. With the acquiescence of Pope Zacharias on the grounds that it was necessary to fight the Saracens, Saxons, and Frisians, Martel confiscated church lands to distrib- ute among his fiefs as an endowment to support horses and armor. Feudalism meant that these fiefs who accepted the land would swear an oath of allegiance that they would come with horses and armor when called by their lords. This was a small professional army that the more numerous yeoman with light armor on foot could not hope to compete with. The army of Charlemagne was dominated by cavalry.

The Norman conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings of 1066 could also be attributed to this change in technology. The Anglo-Saxons knew about stir- rups, as Harold and his housecarls rode horses with stirrups, but they did not develop feudalism and did not have an elite corps of mounted cavalry. At Hastings, the Saxon lords dismounted to do battle on foot, in the old Germanic style of shield wall. The Saxons also had the advantage of a higher position on the hill of Senlac and they probably outnumbered the Normans. But Harold fought without cavalry and had few archers, and could only stand in line to resist this mobile striking power, without the ability to rapidly maneuver and counterattack. When William won his victory and the crown of England, he feudalized his new kingdom and cre- ated more mounted knights.

The period of the dominance of the cavalry lasted for several centuries till the arrival of the long bow. The Battle of Crecy took place in 1346, when 12,000 English foot soldiers decimated the French cavalry. The Age of Chivalry was over when common soldiers could stand up to their furious charges with long bows, and later with the much more lethal explosives and guns.