TOP 12 cavalry of all time.[no order]

[mehmeTcc]

Those heavy cavalry you have mentioned has no chance against light armoured hordes. History proved this in Manzikert.
Huns and Memluks are Turkic btw. And what about Khazarian Alps? Europe owes them much.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Out of curiosity, does cavalry play an important role in South East Asian warfare? I know pretty much nothing about historical Vietnamese/Cambodian armies other than that they did use elephants. What about horses?

For me the best:
light cavalry = cavalries that emerged out of Central Asia (whether it be Turkic or Iranian or Mongolian). The parthian shot and feigned retreats was their trademark and used successfully again and again.

heavy cavalry = medieval European knights. A big combined charge by these horseman could break any infantry. However this way of warfare was only suitable for colder climates, as the heavy equipment that these knights wore, bore a heavy toll on them in hotter climates, best exemplified by what happened at Hattin.

On S-E asian warfare.
The chinese suffered and learned form the steppes and in the heyday of the tang maintained huge cavalry armies,these were of solid quality.Though they did suffer a loss to the umayyads,and to the mongols.But almost everyone lost to the mongols.

In japan cavalry was not predominant,the generals and select few rode and fought on horseback though.
Th predominant cavalry weapon was the japanese naginata.Samurai fought on horseback as archers and for individual combat.
Massed organized charges were not there till takeda shingen introduced in japan during the sengoku era .Takeda cavalry was feared throughout nippon as a battlewinning arm,till it was destroyed by massed volleyfire from arquebusiers at the battle of nagashino by oda nobunaga,the first unifier of japan.


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Mounted samurai.Note bow and katana,wakizashi swords.


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Naginata,used by later charge cavalry of the sengoku era.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

On south east asia,these heavily forested and damp areas didn't produce cavalry of good calibre.The elephant was the strike arm instead.This applied to most parts of india as well except rajasthan and later maharashtra.

 

[ajtr]

poona horse...........................

 

[Basbug]

Those heavy cavalry can get tired quick, slow not mobile, a Turkish Cavalry maybe Akıncı can hunt them down on horse with he's bow.

 

[livingdead]

Those heavy cavalry can get tired quick, slow not mobile, a Turkish Cavalry maybe Akıncı can hunt them down on horse with he's bow.

Ok.. turkey is best. happy now?

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Those heavy cavalry you have mentioned has no chance against light armoured hordes. History proved this in Manzikert.
Huns and Memluks are Turkic btw. And what about Khazarian Alps? Europe owes them much.

I mentioned it that they met their match against light cavalry that refused to meet their charge.But even though on occasions they caught up with the enemy like at arsuf results were devastating.
BUt u are right these were obsolete vs steppe horse archers with composite bows ,and the mongols would prove this at mohi and liegnitz destroying the european knights.And yes manzikert was another classic example of steppe hordes doing their thing.
Btw not all horse archers were turks huns and turkic tribes certainly were,but parthians were primarily iranian,the kushans,the scythians,alans,sarmatians etc so i gave steppe horse archer as a generalization.

 

[Kambojaric]

On south east asia,these heavily forested and damp areas didn't produce cavalry of good calibre.The elephant was the strike arm instead.This applied to most parts of india as well except rajasthan and later maharashtra.

Yes that was my guess as well.

Those heavy cavalry can get tired quick, slow not mobile, a Turkish Cavalry maybe Akıncı can hunt them down on horse with he's bow.

It all comes down to the generals ability. Both heavy cavalry and light cavalry have advantages and disadvantages. If you play to your advantage then you are bound to win. At Arsuf for example, the Crusaders heavy cavalry dealt a crushing blow to the comparably light armoured Muslim army as the battle had ended up in close hand to hand combat. At Hattin before that however, Salahuddin had been able to maintain a distance from the Crusaders instead preferring to harass them with hit and run tactics. The Crusader cavalry were simply unable to chase down the light Ayyubid cavalry. The victory there was hence Salahuddins.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

4.THE STEPPE HORSE ARCHER

From the hellenistic period right until the rise of gunpowder infantry,the steppe horse archer from central asia was a terryfying foe,mostly because it combined excellent mobility and devastating firepower meaning it could kill u while u couldn't touch them.[the american way of war at present]It was the smart bomber of the ancient and medieval era.Fielded by steppe hordes with born horsemen and used in a organized fashion they were very difficult to stop.
From the scythians and sarmatians,to the huns and parthians,later the seljuk turks,the turkictatar tribes of the steppes to finally the dreaded mongols they were a dominant force on the battlefields of medieval and ancient eurasia.



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Parthian horse archers.Rome's nemesis.These annhilated crassus's legions at carrhae.



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Kushana horse archers.Descended from the yue chi tribe of central asia.



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The famed 'parthian shot'.Where the horseman turned back and fired while riding away simultaneously.



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Scythian royal cavalry.Only alexander ever succeded against them.Cyrus lost his head[literally],darius failed.



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Typical horse archer equipment.This one from the kypchak-bulgar hordes.



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Dismounted seljuk turks.Terror of byzantium.


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Arsenal of the huns.Scourge of late rome.



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Typical composite bows.

Next;Indian war elephant.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Yes that was my guess as well.



It all comes down to the generals ability. Both heavy cavalry and light cavalry have advantages and disadvantages. If you play to your advantage then you are bound to win. At Arsuf for example, the Crusaders heavy cavalry dealt a crushing blow to the comparably light armoured Muslim army as the battle had ended up in close hand to hand combat. At Hattin before that however, Salahuddin had been able to maintain a distance from the Crusaders instead preferring to harass them with hit and run tactics. The Crusader cavalry were simply unable to chase down the light Ayyubid cavalry. The victory there was hence Salahuddins.

Thank you ,i don't usually expect people to be so knowledgable,reasonable and non fanboyish here.Pleasant surprise.

 

[Basbug]

Kapikulu Spahi right next to the Sultan in battlefield heavy cavalry

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Don't steal my pics and thunder
Wait for the sipahi.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

5.The INDIAN WAR ELEPHANT

The elephant has been used a weapon of war in africa by carthage as well but the smaller carthaginian african pachyderm was tiny before the behemoth of the asian elephant,which was the mobile weapon of decision of the ancient indian and south east asian armies.Fielded in large numbers[around 500 or over] they were nearly unstoppable,and were used as tanks of the ancient battlefield.They were used successfully from the time of the mauryas,guptas,the khmer empire,by prithviraj at 1st tarain,and alauddin vs the mongols,right into the mughal era by akbar as a terror inducing tool,mobile missile platform and charging juggernaut to trample soldiers underneath.However a serious drawback was if a elephant went berserk it could trample ur own soldiers as well.



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The mauryan war elephants,both armoured and unarmoured.Chandragupta maurya was said to possess 9000 war elephants with which he conquered india and defeated seleucus's macedonian army.Seleucus would exchange 500 indian war elephants for 4 of his provinces.These elephants would go on to win him the battle of ipsus of the diadochi wars.



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Recreation of porus's war elephant.Porus had 70-130 war elephants,but these were enough to create a lasting impression on the greeks.



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War elephants of the khmer empire.Note how these beasts were used as mobile fortresses mounting longbowmen and javelineers who got a height/range advantage and were invulnerable to cavalry who were afraid of the smell of elephants.The armoured foot soldiers were placed between elephants to protect them from light infantry getting too close .Once the enemy was peppered with arrows and javelins and disrupted enough,the elephants would charge en masse and rout them.Tactics was similar in india.


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Mughal war elephant,elephants were the tanks of the battlefield and mughal emperor akbar understood that tanks needed armour.These behemoths were used as command centres on the battlefield.



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Mughal war elephant,note matchlock musketeers ahve replaced longbowmen and javelineers.



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Not hard to imagine Impact of a elephant charge on massed formations.

Next;Ottoman Sipahi

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

6.OTTOMAN SIPAHI

The ottoman sipahi was a brute force in eastern european battlefield unrivalled in discipline and tactics in its timeframe.
Timarli Sipahis of anatolia and Timarli Sipahis of rumelia (the Ottoman Balkan provinces) had employed different equipments and tactics. Timarli Sipahis of Anatolia equipped and fought as classic horse archer style. They could shoot arrows back and forth while galloping. Yet they weren't nomadic cavalry and their status was similar to medium cavalry class. Balkan Timarli Sipahis donned chainmail, rode barded horses and carried lances. Though they also carried javelins as missile weapons to fend off chasing enemy cavalry, and fought as medium cavalry.

Timarli Sipahis of classical Ottoman period usually comprised the majority of the army and did the majority of the fighting on the battlefield. While infantry troops of the army's center maintained a static battle line, the cavalry flanks constituted its mobile hitting arm. During the battle, Timarli Sipahi tactics were used, opening the conflict with skirmishes and localized contacts with enemy cavalry. Regiments of Timarli Sipahis made charges against weaker or isolated units and whenever confronted with heavy cavalry, retreated back to main body of troops. During one regiment's retreat, other regiments of sipahis may have charged the chasing enemy's flanks. This way, they were trying to draw enemy cavalry away from infantry support, distort their cohesion, isolate and overwhelm them with numerical superiority. Anatolian Sipahis had the ability to harass and provoke opposing troops with arrow shots. More heavily equipped Balkan Sipahis were carried javelins for protection against closing enemy horsemen during their tactical retreats. This way, all cavalry flanks of Ottoman army fought a fluid, mounted warfare around center of the army which remained as a stable pivot.
Though many cavalrycorps were called it was the kapikulu sipahis and silahtars that were the true elite of the ottoman cavalry.The mounted counterpart of the jannisaries,they were employed in the rearguard as a reserve force and personal bodyguards of the sultan.They were the ultimate reserve and could decide the battle with a single charge as at nicopolis 1396.



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The timarli sipahis of anatolia.Fought as horse archers complementing their heavy cavalry bretheren.



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Timarli sipahis of rumelia.Note the wicker round shield,This was discarded later with proliferation of gunpowder weapons as it became obsolete.



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Sipahi fully evolved.Lance the primary weapon of choice.



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Kapikulu sipahis,creme de la creme.



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The ottoman kilic cavalry sabre.



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Ominous looking turkish spahi mace.Shows byzantine influence.These things could be downright brutal.Don't get what i'm talking about?just play age of empires 3.These mace wielding spahi maniacs are so badass that playing as ottomans[my fav civ] u can't build them!U can only ship a limited number from shipments.Not allowed to build lol.

Next: Polish winged hussar.

 

[scholseys]

Suely napoleon's french cavalry desserves a spot