Author: Matthew Richardson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399051563
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The opening months of the First World War were the golden sunset for the horsed regiments of the British army. Whether they were Lancers, Hussars or Dragoons, their names were redolent of glory and grandeur. Trained for shock tactics as well as scouting and reconnaissance, several times in 1914 they clashed dramatically with their German counterparts on the battlefields of France. Yet at the same time, the role of the cavalry was shifting inexorably away from these romantic charges, with trumpets, gleaming lances and swirling sabres. In the new warfare of the Twentieth Century, the true value of these regiments was as an intensively trained, highly mobile reserve. Despite their misgivings about the role, the Regular cavalry (latterly with Yeomanry alongside them) were also a highly effective force when fighting on foot. Able to arrive quickly at trouble spots, they were equally skilled with the rifle, and on more than one occasion in 1914 they were able to retrieve a critical situation.
A History of the British Cavalry, 1816 to 1919
Author: George Charles Henry Victor Paget Marquis of Anglesey
Publisher: Leo Cooper Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 454
Book Description
This is the last volume of his monumental chronicle. The author examines the cavalry's role in trench warfare and shows how at the worst crisis moments, the cavalry's superior mobility saved the day.
Publisher: Leo Cooper Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 454
Book Description
This is the last volume of his monumental chronicle. The author examines the cavalry's role in trench warfare and shows how at the worst crisis moments, the cavalry's superior mobility saved the day.
The Last Great Cavalry Charge
Author: Joe Robinson
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
The Battle of the Silver Helmets was an engagement orchestrated according to the previous successes of the cavalry of Frederick the Great. It was staged so that the magnificently equipped and trained German Fourth Cavalry Division would charge into glory, sabres rattling; instead, 24 German officers, 468 men, and 843 horses were lost during the eight separate charges conducted that day. The entire right wing of the Imperial German Army consisted of only nine cavalry brigades in the Schlieffen Plan, and in the battle of 12 August 1914, two of these brigades were catastrophically beaten. This battle has not yet been explored in the English language because it took place before the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in the Channel ports and well before any American involvement. British historians have also generally focused on Germany s efforts to enter Belgium through the forts at Liège, which are east of Halen. However, the Battle of the Silver Helmets so impacted century-old cavalry tradition that large-scale charges would never again be attempted on the Western Front. Thoroughly researched and hugely revelatory, The Last Great Cavalry Charge is a blow-by-blow account of the moment that the cavalry went from a prestigious, pivotal role in German Army tactics to obsolescence in the face of newly mechanised infantry. It provides essential and moving insight into the wider socio-cultural repercussions of technical military innovations in the First World War.
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
The Battle of the Silver Helmets was an engagement orchestrated according to the previous successes of the cavalry of Frederick the Great. It was staged so that the magnificently equipped and trained German Fourth Cavalry Division would charge into glory, sabres rattling; instead, 24 German officers, 468 men, and 843 horses were lost during the eight separate charges conducted that day. The entire right wing of the Imperial German Army consisted of only nine cavalry brigades in the Schlieffen Plan, and in the battle of 12 August 1914, two of these brigades were catastrophically beaten. This battle has not yet been explored in the English language because it took place before the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in the Channel ports and well before any American involvement. British historians have also generally focused on Germany s efforts to enter Belgium through the forts at Liège, which are east of Halen. However, the Battle of the Silver Helmets so impacted century-old cavalry tradition that large-scale charges would never again be attempted on the Western Front. Thoroughly researched and hugely revelatory, The Last Great Cavalry Charge is a blow-by-blow account of the moment that the cavalry went from a prestigious, pivotal role in German Army tactics to obsolescence in the face of newly mechanised infantry. It provides essential and moving insight into the wider socio-cultural repercussions of technical military innovations in the First World War.
Bengal Cavalry Regiments 1857–1914
Author: Ronald Harris
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9780850453089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The British connection with India dates from the formation of the Honourable East India Company in the 17th century, when a military force was needed to protect Britain's valuable trading interests. By 1914, there were over 40 regiments of Indian cavalry, all of which were commanded by British officers. This book provides an overview of the component cavalry regiments in the years between the Great Mutiny of 1857 and the outbreak of World War I. Numerous contemporary photographs and eight colour plates offer a rare glimpse into the distinctive uniforms of the cavalry.
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9780850453089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The British connection with India dates from the formation of the Honourable East India Company in the 17th century, when a military force was needed to protect Britain's valuable trading interests. By 1914, there were over 40 regiments of Indian cavalry, all of which were commanded by British officers. This book provides an overview of the component cavalry regiments in the years between the Great Mutiny of 1857 and the outbreak of World War I. Numerous contemporary photographs and eight colour plates offer a rare glimpse into the distinctive uniforms of the cavalry.
With the British Cavalry in 1914
Author: Matthew Richardson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399051563
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The opening months of the First World War were the golden sunset for the horsed regiments of the British army. Whether they were Lancers, Hussars or Dragoons, their names were redolent of glory and grandeur. Trained for shock tactics as well as scouting and reconnaissance, several times in 1914 they clashed dramatically with their German counterparts on the battlefields of France. Yet at the same time, the role of the cavalry was shifting inexorably away from these romantic charges, with trumpets, gleaming lances and swirling sabres. In the new warfare of the Twentieth Century, the true value of these regiments was as an intensively trained, highly mobile reserve. Despite their misgivings about the role, the Regular cavalry (latterly with Yeomanry alongside them) were also a highly effective force when fighting on foot. Able to arrive quickly at trouble spots, they were equally skilled with the rifle, and on more than one occasion in 1914 they were able to retrieve a critical situation.
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399051563
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
The opening months of the First World War were the golden sunset for the horsed regiments of the British army. Whether they were Lancers, Hussars or Dragoons, their names were redolent of glory and grandeur. Trained for shock tactics as well as scouting and reconnaissance, several times in 1914 they clashed dramatically with their German counterparts on the battlefields of France. Yet at the same time, the role of the cavalry was shifting inexorably away from these romantic charges, with trumpets, gleaming lances and swirling sabres. In the new warfare of the Twentieth Century, the true value of these regiments was as an intensively trained, highly mobile reserve. Despite their misgivings about the role, the Regular cavalry (latterly with Yeomanry alongside them) were also a highly effective force when fighting on foot. Able to arrive quickly at trouble spots, they were equally skilled with the rifle, and on more than one occasion in 1914 they were able to retrieve a critical situation.
Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880–1918
Author: Stephen Badsey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351943189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
A prevalent view among historians is that both horsed cavalry and the cavalry charge became obviously obsolete in the second half of the nineteenth century in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower, and that officers of the cavalry clung to both for reasons of prestige and stupidity. It is this view, commonly held but rarely supported by sustained research, that this book challenges. It shows that the achievements of British and Empire cavalry in the First World War, although controversial, are sufficient to contradict the argument that belief in the cavalry was evidence of military incompetence. It offers a case study of how in reality a practical military doctrine for the cavalry was developed and modified over several decades, influenced by wider defence plans and spending, by the experience of combat, by Army politics, and by the rivalries of senior officers. Debate as to how the cavalry was to adjust its tactics in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower began in the mid nineteenth century, when the increasing size of armies meant a greater need for mobile troops. The cavalry problem was how to deal with a gap in the evolution of warfare between the mass armies of the later nineteenth century and the motorised firepower of the mid twentieth century, an issue that is closely connected with the origins of the deadlock on the Western Front. Tracing this debate, this book shows how, despite serious attempts to ’learn from history’, both European-style wars and colonial wars produced ambiguous or disputed evidence as to the future of cavalry, and doctrine was largely a matter of what appeared practical at the time.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351943189
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 399
Book Description
A prevalent view among historians is that both horsed cavalry and the cavalry charge became obviously obsolete in the second half of the nineteenth century in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower, and that officers of the cavalry clung to both for reasons of prestige and stupidity. It is this view, commonly held but rarely supported by sustained research, that this book challenges. It shows that the achievements of British and Empire cavalry in the First World War, although controversial, are sufficient to contradict the argument that belief in the cavalry was evidence of military incompetence. It offers a case study of how in reality a practical military doctrine for the cavalry was developed and modified over several decades, influenced by wider defence plans and spending, by the experience of combat, by Army politics, and by the rivalries of senior officers. Debate as to how the cavalry was to adjust its tactics in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower began in the mid nineteenth century, when the increasing size of armies meant a greater need for mobile troops. The cavalry problem was how to deal with a gap in the evolution of warfare between the mass armies of the later nineteenth century and the motorised firepower of the mid twentieth century, an issue that is closely connected with the origins of the deadlock on the Western Front. Tracing this debate, this book shows how, despite serious attempts to ’learn from history’, both European-style wars and colonial wars produced ambiguous or disputed evidence as to the future of cavalry, and doctrine was largely a matter of what appeared practical at the time.
The Indian Army on the Western Front South Asia Edition
Author: George Morton-Jack
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107117658
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
Recasts the role of the Indian Army on the Western Front, questioning why its performance was traditionally deemed a failure.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107117658
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349
Book Description
Recasts the role of the Indian Army on the Western Front, questioning why its performance was traditionally deemed a failure.
Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750–1914
Author: Richard Holmes
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007370342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 856
Book Description
Sahib is a magnificent history of the British soldier in India from Clive to the end of Empire, making full use of personal accounts from the soldiers who served in the jewel in Britain’s Imperial Crown.
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007370342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 856
Book Description
Sahib is a magnificent history of the British soldier in India from Clive to the end of Empire, making full use of personal accounts from the soldiers who served in the jewel in Britain’s Imperial Crown.
Cavalry
Author: V. Vukšić
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781854095008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
Over 100 color paintings of mounted cavalry through the centuries--in the most spectacularly illustrated book on the subject ever published--highlight this tribute to 2,500 years of history's most fascinating fighting force. From the early rise of Assyrians, Persians, Carthaginians, and Romans, view the ascendency of Parthians, Goths, Byzantines, Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire, and follow it to the 20th-century triumphs of Texas Rangers, Russian Cossacks, Bengal Lancers, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781854095008
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240
Book Description
Over 100 color paintings of mounted cavalry through the centuries--in the most spectacularly illustrated book on the subject ever published--highlight this tribute to 2,500 years of history's most fascinating fighting force. From the early rise of Assyrians, Persians, Carthaginians, and Romans, view the ascendency of Parthians, Goths, Byzantines, Mongols, and the Ottoman Empire, and follow it to the 20th-century triumphs of Texas Rangers, Russian Cossacks, Bengal Lancers, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Harnessing the Airplane
Author: Lori A. Henning
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806163747
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
At its dawn in the early twentieth century, the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry: what do we do with the airplane? Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information. Harnessing the Airplane compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge. A multilayered look at a critical aspect of modern industrial warfare, this book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces. Cavalry officers pondered the potential military uses of airplanes and other new technologies early on, but preferred to test them before embracing and incorporating them in their operations. Cavalrymen cautiously examined airplane capabilities, developed applications and doctrine for joint operations, and in the United States, even tried to develop their own, specially designed craft. Throughout the interwar period, instead of replacing the cavalry, airplanes were used cooperatively with cavalry forces in reconnaissance, security, communication, protection, and pursuit—a collaboration tested in maneuvers and officially blessed in both British and American doctrine. This interdependent relationship changed drastically, however, during the 1930s as aviation priorities and doctrine shifted from tactical support of ground troops toward independent strategic bombardment. Henning shows that the American and British experiences with military aviation differed. The nascent British aviation service made quicker inroads into reconnaissance and scouting, even though the British cavalry was the older institution with more-established traditions. The American cavalry, despite its youth, contested the control of reconnaissance as late as the 1930s, years after similar arguments ended in Britain. Drawing on contemporary government reports, memoirs and journals of service personnel, books, and professional and trade journals and magazines, Harnessing the Airplane is a nuanced account of the cavalry’s response to aviation over time and presents a new perspective on a significant chapter of twentieth-century military history.
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806163747
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237
Book Description
At its dawn in the early twentieth century, the new technology of aviation posed a crucial question to American and British cavalry: what do we do with the airplane? Lacking the hindsight of historical perspective, cavalry planners based their decisions on incomplete information. Harnessing the Airplane compares how the American and British armies dealt with this unique challenge. A multilayered look at a critical aspect of modern industrial warfare, this book examines the ramifications of technological innovation and its role in the fraught relationship that developed between traditional ground units and emerging air forces. Cavalry officers pondered the potential military uses of airplanes and other new technologies early on, but preferred to test them before embracing and incorporating them in their operations. Cavalrymen cautiously examined airplane capabilities, developed applications and doctrine for joint operations, and in the United States, even tried to develop their own, specially designed craft. Throughout the interwar period, instead of replacing the cavalry, airplanes were used cooperatively with cavalry forces in reconnaissance, security, communication, protection, and pursuit—a collaboration tested in maneuvers and officially blessed in both British and American doctrine. This interdependent relationship changed drastically, however, during the 1930s as aviation priorities and doctrine shifted from tactical support of ground troops toward independent strategic bombardment. Henning shows that the American and British experiences with military aviation differed. The nascent British aviation service made quicker inroads into reconnaissance and scouting, even though the British cavalry was the older institution with more-established traditions. The American cavalry, despite its youth, contested the control of reconnaissance as late as the 1930s, years after similar arguments ended in Britain. Drawing on contemporary government reports, memoirs and journals of service personnel, books, and professional and trade journals and magazines, Harnessing the Airplane is a nuanced account of the cavalry’s response to aviation over time and presents a new perspective on a significant chapter of twentieth-century military history.
From Boer War to World War
Author: Spencer Jones
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806189614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383
Book Description
The British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War I was tiny by the standards of the other belligerent powers. Yet, when deployed to France in 1914, it prevailed against the German army because of its professionalism and tactical skill, strengths developed through hard lessons learned a dozen years earlier. In October 1899, the British went to war against the South African Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State, expecting little resistance. A string of early defeats in the Boer War shook the military’s confidence. Historian Spencer Jones focuses on this bitter combat experience in From Boer War to World War, showing how it crucially shaped the British Army’s tactical development in the years that followed. Before the British Army faced the Boer republics, an aura of complacency had settled over the military. The Victorian era had been marked by years of easy defeats of crudely armed foes. The Boer War, however, brought the British face to face with what would become modern warfare. The sweeping, open terrain and advent of smokeless powder meant soldiers were picked off before they knew where shots had been fired from. The infantry’s standard close-order formations spelled disaster against the well-armed, entrenched Boers. Although the British Army ultimately adapted its strategy and overcame the Boers in 1902, the duration and cost of the war led to public outcry and introspection within the military. Jones draws on previously underutilized sources as he explores the key tactical lessons derived from the war, such as maximizing firepower and using natural cover, and he shows how these new ideas were incorporated in training and used to effect a thorough overhaul of the British Army. The first book to address specific connections between the Boer War and the opening months of World War I, Jones’s fresh interpretation adds to the historiography of both wars by emphasizing the continuity between them.
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806189614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383
Book Description
The British Expeditionary Force at the start of World War I was tiny by the standards of the other belligerent powers. Yet, when deployed to France in 1914, it prevailed against the German army because of its professionalism and tactical skill, strengths developed through hard lessons learned a dozen years earlier. In October 1899, the British went to war against the South African Boer republics of Transvaal and Orange Free State, expecting little resistance. A string of early defeats in the Boer War shook the military’s confidence. Historian Spencer Jones focuses on this bitter combat experience in From Boer War to World War, showing how it crucially shaped the British Army’s tactical development in the years that followed. Before the British Army faced the Boer republics, an aura of complacency had settled over the military. The Victorian era had been marked by years of easy defeats of crudely armed foes. The Boer War, however, brought the British face to face with what would become modern warfare. The sweeping, open terrain and advent of smokeless powder meant soldiers were picked off before they knew where shots had been fired from. The infantry’s standard close-order formations spelled disaster against the well-armed, entrenched Boers. Although the British Army ultimately adapted its strategy and overcame the Boers in 1902, the duration and cost of the war led to public outcry and introspection within the military. Jones draws on previously underutilized sources as he explores the key tactical lessons derived from the war, such as maximizing firepower and using natural cover, and he shows how these new ideas were incorporated in training and used to effect a thorough overhaul of the British Army. The first book to address specific connections between the Boer War and the opening months of World War I, Jones’s fresh interpretation adds to the historiography of both wars by emphasizing the continuity between them.