i'm indy neidell welcome to a great war special episode about cavalry in the First World War now before we begin this is another special episode with support from The Rock Island auction company we'll show you some cavalry equipment from World War one that you can actually bid on in their next auction you can find the details and a link in the description below ok cavalry had of course been a major part of every army for centuries but by the late NUMBER_TOKENth century there were those who foresaw that its role in modern warfare would be different from that traditionally one of the first of those was Russia watching the aftermath of mid-century Wars like the Crimean War and the franco-prussian war when both cuirassiers and light cavalry were hard hit by concentrated artillery and gunfire Russian Minister of War Alexei Kropotkin saw this and said while cavalry may no longer be the offensive threat it once was it still performs a vital role within the force of the modern army because the mounted troops should above all else be the advanced guards the eyes and ears of the army and action this idea met with vehement protest however from the traditional noble elite cavalry was supposed to lead fearless charges against the enemy not serve as some glorious reconnaissance outfit and battles were ultimately won by the Sabre not the gun even in NUMBER_TOKEN soldiers were drilled into defensive formations to repel cavalry attacks and fencing was taught to everyone who aspired to be a high-ranking officer cavalry men all over Europe went to war in their finest dress white gloves plumed helmets with their Sabres proudly by their sides military theorists like Friedrich von Bernhard II believed that wars without cavalry engagements were unthinkable critics did point out that they moved too slowly and in too tight formations but still in the first few weeks of the first world war they played a role for example on the Western Front although much of that was reconnaissance maybe the ask proper cavalry battle on the Western Front was the Battle of Highland also known as the Battle of silver helmets on August NUMBER_TOKEN NUMBER_TOKEN German cavalry charged a Belgian cavalry division saber met saber in the cornfields near town but horses became entangled in barbed wire stumbled in shale holes or were shot down by Belgian rifles the German cavalry lost eight hundred and forty eight horses nearly NUMBER_TOKEN/NUMBER_TOKEN of their total but only lost NUMBER_TOKEN men and it really showed that cavalry charges were easily defeated by modern technology the British cavalry was arguably the most experienced cavalry in Europe when the war broke out and they knew shock cavalry as well as dragoon tactics they didn't carry a carbine and used a short rifle but after a few costly engagements against entrenched enemies they were sent to the rear and large amounts of mounted troops were kept as reserves British commanders John French answered Douglas Haig were unwilling to reduce those numbers and throughout the war kept them waiting for an opportunity to use them upon a breakthrough but you know horses are expensive to maintain they need a lot to eat every day and they're difficult to transport over large distances the hard surfaces of modern roads would wear down their horseshoes German and austro-hungarian cavalry was also often reserves filling trenches in time of need now they didn't have as much shooting practice as infantry they were not as
START_SPONSOR_TOKEN now before we begin this is another special episode with support from The Rock Island auction company we'll show you some cavalry equipment from World War one that you can actually bid on in their next auction you can find the details and a link in the description below END_SPONSOR_TOKEN