The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-12

1t was in A. ID. 37S. at the battle OF Adrian.
ople, tho most crushing dcfoat suffered by q
Roman army since Gamma. that the first great
victory was won by heavy cavalry, which now
showed its ability to %supplant tho heavy infan-
try OF Rome MS the ruling power OF war. During
their sojourn OH the eteppes OF South Russia,
the Goths. first OF all Teutonic races, had come
to place their main reliance on their horsemen
and to consider IL moro honorable to fight on
horseback than on foot. Driven against thoir
will into conflict with the empire, whose pro-
lection they had originally sought against the
oncoming Huns. they found themselves face to
face with the army that had so long held the
barbarian world In check. Tho 6rst fighting
was inconclusive, but when the test came In
07s the Goth found, perhaps to his own surprise.
that his stout lance and his good steed would
carry him through tho serried ranks OF the i'm
periHl infantry. He had become the arbiter Of
war. the lineal ancestor of all the knights Of the
middle ages, tho Inauguration of that Ascen-
dancy Of hOrSemen, which was to endure for
q thousand years. Six years after Adrianople
there were already 10000 Gothic and other
Teutonic horsemen serving under their own
chiefs In the Roman Army OF the East. More
over, the cavalry arm began to be no less pre-
dominant in the West after the battle of the
Erlgidus. in 1902. when the legions of the West
ern Empire were beaten after a desperate strug-
klJs JuO ChlpA a. III dOlOoI SCI
taken by the 90, 600 Gothic horsemen who formed
the backbone or the host of Theodosius. SO far as
Southern Europe was concerned. the day Of in.
fantry was now gone by: If they continued TO
exist. II was not as the core and strength OF an
army, but only as a subsidiary force used as
light troops in tho day of battle. or to garrison
fortreSses. or to penetrate woods or mountains
where a horseman could not pierce his way.
Tho battle, decisive for civilization, which was
fought against the Huns on the plain OF
Chalons. was prominently q cavalry on
gngoment. The victory was won by sheer hard
fighting from the saddle, the Huns being ridden
down by Theodoric's heavier VisiRothic horse.
men. The triumphant hosts of Justinian. which
in the sixth century reconquered for the empire
Italy, Africa, and southern Spain, were COM
posed in about equal proportions of foreign aux
iliaries serving under their own chiefs lFpder-
ati) and OF regular native troops. Both among
the FBderati and the native corps the cavalry
were by far tho more important arm. 1t should,
however. be observed that while the Goths.
Gepide, Heruli. and Lombards were horsemen.
the custom of fighting on foot was retained
throughout the Merovingian epoch by the Franks
who overran northern Gaul, and was kept by
the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of Britain up to
the battle of Hastings. Tho great victory won
by Charles Martel at Poictiers In 723 was
achieved by the purely defensive tactics of the
infantry square. against which the fanatical
Arab horsemen dashed themselves in vain. On
the other hand. the preceding battle between
the Arabs and the Visigoths, that of the
Guadafete, had been fought on horseback.
The battle which. next to Poictiers, may
DO deemed tho most momentuus. was that
of the Lechfeld. in 955. when Otto the
Great turned back the heather Magyars.
This was l. fight between heavy cavalry and
light horse. The last struggles of infantry
against mounted soldiers were the battle of
Hastings pO66D and Dyrrhachium uOslD. At
Hastings Harold was beaten by a combination
Of hOrsemen and bowmen. At the less known
battle Of Dyrrhachium another body OF English
axemen. composing the famous Varangian
Guard of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus. dis.
Duted the victory against the Norman lancers
and bowmen in the service of Robert
Guiscard. Not n Varangian escaped; such
was tho fate of the last important attempt
made by infantry to face the feudal array of the
eleventh century. There were, it Ia true, in tho
twelfth century some instances OF cavalry being
withstood by dismounted troops. The latter,
however. were not true infantry. but knights
who had sent their horses to tho rear in a su-
prone moment of peril and stood firm to fight
out the battle to the end. Well nigh three CEN
turtles were to elNpse before real foot soldiery,
unRided by the cavalry arm. made another
serious attempt to stand up against the mailed
horSemen.