I was inspired by comments on our latest Units of History episode covering the Companion Cavalry which asked about how shock tactics worked in an age before the stirrup and saddle. I went down the rabbit hole finding answers and present to you my findings in this video! One awesome source we used was the Manual on Horsemanship by Xenophon which you can read for yourself here: www.gutenberg.org/files/1176/1176-h/1176-h.htm

@LuisAldamiz

3 жыл бұрын

Great! I also got involved recently in some discussion on the importance of stirrup and high saddles, probably in SandRhoman's video on "the infantry revolution" but can't find it. It is a most important topic, especially as heavy cavalry (cataphracts) appear without apparently any stirrup to give them the extra push but still being quite effective since at least the battle of Carrhae (and much more clearly since the Sassanids).

@shorewall

3 жыл бұрын

This is a great video! I'm glad you made it. It is such an interesting topic. :D

@weirdofromhalo

3 жыл бұрын

@@LuisAldamiz No stirrup is necessary for a massed cavalry charge when you have mass on your side. Most cavalry formations when charging infantry adopted a wedge formation to punch a hole in the formation.

@Intranetusa

3 жыл бұрын

@@weirdofromhalo The Parthians, Romans, Sassanids, Han Empire, etc were known to have used specialized saddles (in some cases even tying the rider to the horse) for stability during a heavy cavalry lancer charge.

@Intranetusa

3 жыл бұрын

One interesting part of Xenophon's manual is the part where he urges the Greeks to adopt Persian style heavy cavalry. "Xenophon watched as the Persian heavy cavalry charged in column formation and caused massive damage to the unprepared Greek horsemen....The Persian heavily armoured cavalrymen made such as impression upon Xenophon that in the years between 367 and 365 BC, he wrote two treatises, The Cavalry Commander and On Horsemanship, in which he advised the Greek heavy cavalrymen to not only attack in the column formation of their Persian counterparts, but also to adopt similar weaponry and heavy armour for both rider and mount." -Cataphracts Knights of the Ancient Eastern Empires by Erich B Anderson

Crazy how this guy went from making Total War commentaries to making high quality history docs.

@RhoninFire

3 жыл бұрын

Crazy, but isn't he in good company? A bunch of the history channels started as Total War-related channels.

@nothingtoseeheremovealong598

3 жыл бұрын

DarkGhost89 And many others used or are using total war for thier history docs

@workingpeon9316

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I remember watching THFE back then, he was the one that got me into total war games.

@howdoyouturnthison7827

3 жыл бұрын

If you consider most of his viewers are total war players , It is not so surprising .

@sean668

3 жыл бұрын

Even before that he used to do Halo Reach custom games reviews

My Great Great Grandfather was in the 1st Royal Bavarian Chevau-légers. He brought back several trophies from the battlefields of Europe during WWI which we still have including a mummified severed ear. Family legend says he got it during the Battle of the Frontiers in 1914 after getting into a sword fight with a high ranking French soldier who's unit had shot his horse.

@blackstone1a

3 жыл бұрын

what a fucking legend

@jorgenajar9407

3 жыл бұрын

Dam he was savage

@dylandoh6495

3 жыл бұрын

Was World War 1 the last time cavalry had an impact on the battlefield?

@QualityPen

3 жыл бұрын

@@dylandoh6495 Sort of… It was the last time cavalry was deployed effectively in a major war. It should also be noted cavalry was made largely useless on the Western Front by trenches but the Eastern Front was too large to fortify and cavalry remained a legitimate force there. However, cavalry did see limited use at the start of WW2 on the Eastern Front. It was used mostly as mobile infantrymen rather than shock cavalry, but afterwards it was replaced by motorized infantry. Horses were also used in Afghanistan a couple of decades ago. Basically, after WW1 cavalry became the poor man’s motorized infantry and cars have replaced horses wherever they were available and affordable. The closest thing to shock cavalry today is a tank assault with mobile infantry riding in support.

@dmac2899

2 жыл бұрын

@QualityPen That is an excellent answer.

I find your cavalier attitude on this deadly topic to be quite schocking.

Everything is hard until it is easy. The couched lance was such a strange idea until it was normal, and then out-dated.

@Inquisitor6321

3 жыл бұрын

Well put! Perhaps someday a trip to the moon will be as easy.

@dangerdan2592

3 жыл бұрын

@@Inquisitor6321 I bet that you're right. It will probably be much easier and widely accessible in the futher.

@miskakopperoinen8408

3 жыл бұрын

Eventually outdated, but it had some amazing longevity for sure. Even in WW1, the eastern front was a frequent scene to light cavalry clashes between Russia and their opponents, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

@monkeymoo87

Жыл бұрын

It was due to technological advances behind it like stirrup or saddle that allowed that equipment to become normal. Tl dr, technology

It never occurred to me until now that they didn't have saddles and stirrups, but it makes perfect sense. I can't imagine riding a horse into combat without stirrups! That's horsemanship on a whole different level! Great video! Please keep the outstanding videos coming and God bless you, my friend!

@patriciusvunkempen102

3 жыл бұрын

idk, stirrips i know are usede for deep swipes and allow the rider to lean more outward of the saddle,

@flamingmuffin666

3 жыл бұрын

Great Stirrup Debate. Historians debate heavily over the stirrup, for a long while it was considered that only the stirrup allowed cavalry charges, but that has changed heavily in the last few decades. Stirrups increase left-right stability, but not the front-back stability to the level that is required to withstand and deliver a spear thrust in a charge. The Roman 4 horn saddle, and a the medieval high-back saddle serve to increase front-back stability. But no matter the specifics of techniques or technology, being in and executing a cavalry charge is just such and weird and fascinating concept.

@Supadubya

2 жыл бұрын

Have you ever ridden a horse? It's really not that hard to maintain stability forward and back- even while hardly using the stirrups. It's side-to-side stability they really help with...

@mjdonahue6438

2 жыл бұрын

Love this stuff! American Indians did not use stirrups or saddles, as a rule. When I didn't have lots of time but wanted to work in a ride at 5 AM, I would ride bareback. It's actually easier to do! Of course, we weren't charging into battle!

What's interesting to note is that horses in the middle ages were a bit like cars today. Most households could afford one, but it's not a flashy breed. A warhorse is going to cost something like 40 to 400 times as your horse for everyday travel, not to mention how much feed it required. These specialized breeds were only developed during what we typically think of as the middle ages, most horses before more the size of ponies, and thus made the conventional image of knight possible.

@bubbasbigblast8563

3 жыл бұрын

In the Middle Ages, it wasn't so much size, as musculature, and even depth perception: as horses were bred stronger, and with more intense training, they became more agile and better at shifting their weight.

@jamieconnor3505

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I didn't know that before.

@BoxStudioExecutive

3 жыл бұрын

What’s also interesting is that during the classical age, the cost of a slave was comparable to the cost of a car. Rich people had lots of them, having one was a sign of being at least middle class, and some less financially astute went into unsustainable debt just so they could buy one. Oh, and like horses and cars some people bought slaves that simply looked flashy and had no practical use other than to ride.

@freekmulder3662

3 жыл бұрын

@Somnus 0 Se-ecks :D

@TheTariqibnziyad

3 жыл бұрын

@Somnus 0 😏

4:52 goddamn that Achaemenid cavalryman looks badass. No wonder they were the most feared unit of the ancient world.

I've always loved learning about lost early history. Just a month ago I was browsing through a unit of an old estate buyer and found an old book for $3. It turned out it was a horse care and riding manual from 1520 Germany. This thing has at least 1-2 thousand pages. Im extremely excited to have it translated as there no telling how much lost information on the subject can be recovered as the accumulated knowledge in the book will likely stretch back centuries.

@Caesar-ww3yp

Жыл бұрын

That's amazing, any updates on the book?

A few things that need to be noted. One being that we have no clue how the Roman four horned saddle was actually constructed. It can be seen on artworks (monuments of stone etc.) and we have finds of the leather covers of the saddle. But it is not at all clear whether it had a solid wooden tree or was actually constructed more like a pillow and filled with straw for example. Also it does sound interesting that it is being linked to Eurasian steppe while most scholars argue it was invented by the Celts. I am kinda hung up on the part that shock cavalry did not charge right into formations. This probably was the case in antiquity but in the next video, if there will be a medieval version, as well as renaissance and beyond, it does have to be pointed out that they often successfully did. The idea that you need a stirrup for using the lance in a couched position has by now been disproven quite a lot. There also is a bachelors thesis about it. In general fencing with spears/lances is a lot more fluid and less like Total War Medieval II (even though I love the game). If you want to see mounted fencing check out Arne Koets' channel: kzread.info/dash/bejne/mJh1tJp7hdPHZrg.html

@Reactionary_Harkonnen

3 жыл бұрын

I mean to be fair the Romans and the later Persians did have really good saddles. Matter fact the Roman Saddles so good that there was a study done where a man joust with it with no Stirrup and I was able to joust just fine with the Roman for horn saddle. Sure the Stirrup does help but it's not needed with the Roman four horned saddle.

@wiwersewindemer4437

3 жыл бұрын

@Kshitij Raj An easy shortcut would be to prevent the horse from seeing forward at all, and only see to the sides. It would be simple enough to teach a horse to trust the rider in that case, and historically this was also a thing.

@hia5235

3 жыл бұрын

Invicta did say Horses wont charge without extensive training: Which Destriers received in the Middle Ages. You folks need to LISTEN BETTER. Im not sure you understand the difference between the Lance/Spear of Antiquity and the Spear/Lance of the Middle ages. The invention of stirrups and more importantly: the lance rest and frankly, the heavy heavy armor they wore allowed Middle age charging.

@weirdofromhalo

3 жыл бұрын

Shock cavalry rarely charged headfirst into infantry. However, it did occasionally happen, especially often with cataphracts. But of course, cavalry charged into infantry from the rear all the time.

@peterspatling3151

3 жыл бұрын

@Kshitij Raj many medieval chanfrons cover the horses eyes to an extent which does impede vision therefore they see could end up seeing less. One thing people tend to forget is that a horse has a HUGE field of vision. One pointy stick aimed at the horses front might simply not be noticed or ignored. There are innumerable videos on the internet where you can see horses that are not trained at all simply not caring one bit and just charging right into stuff. My favorite example is a video where two horses trot on a street and just run straight into an approaching car (and they did see it coming for a long time). Head on charging infantry was done a lot. Sure you try to get them from the sides (why shouldn't you? It makes absolute sense) but we have dozens of examples where the cavalry just ploughed through the enemy lines and nobody really cared since it is the norm, rather then the exception. Cavalry getting stopped and beaten back is the exception, which is why there are so many sources about those battles. "Hey did you hear, XXX managed to stop and repel an YYY's cavalry charge at the battle of ZZZ." While the other sources regarding the successful charges are more like "and then they charged and won." Take Verneuil 1424 for example, the Italian cavalry just obliterates the English infantry at the beginning and then continuing further to the baggage train. When the Italian later come back to see how the battle went they found out that the English reformed and beat the French. But the Italians were rather happy, they got to plunder and only lost 16 men or something like that out of their 2000 guys that charged. And the sources are rather silent about them. They only care about the French being defeated. But the Italians did their job with near perfection.

The more you think about cavalry the crazier it gets. Like whoa, an animal riding another animal? That’s some fantasy shit right there.

@JasonKifner

3 жыл бұрын

How about we build a freaking tower on top of an animal, and fill it with other animals who hurl sticks at other animals with tension from animal intestines.

@heroscapewarrior4217

3 жыл бұрын

@@JasonKifner how about we get another animal, set it on fire and send that at the animal with the tower

@fakechloe207

3 жыл бұрын

I didn't know you're into that!

@QualityPen

3 жыл бұрын

@@heroscapewarrior4217 That’s actual fantasy right there.

@googane7755

3 жыл бұрын

@@QualityPen That was actually a legit battle tactic against elephants

This video just screams "my balls!" throughout the ages and in so many different languages

@samwessels8216

3 жыл бұрын

this is the first thing to make me laugh since i heard my cat got hit by a car thank you

@fatherofdragons5477

3 жыл бұрын

The first stirrups were probably two balls that hung by the sides of the horse.

@nicolasgodines1129

3 жыл бұрын

@@samwessels8216 Hold up?

@mohammedyeaminhasanjami7676

2 жыл бұрын

Greatest comment in history

The one time I decide to pull an all-nighter to work on a report. I recieved a gem that'll help keep me awake, entertained, and informed. Thank you Invicta!

Of all the saddles I've ridden with, the Roman 4 horned saddle is my personal preference. While you may not have quite the same freedom of movement that stirrups can allow, I have never felt so secure on the back of a horse with any other saddle type. This was particularly nice when practicing javelin or archery.

This is gonna be awesome!! Never been this early. Keep making garest content; I love your videos!!!

@InvictaHistory

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to see we've got people out here in the late night shift (11:50 pm my time) : )

@ajithsidhu7183

3 жыл бұрын

@@InvictaHistory please do 1 on the sikh empire please

The whole thing about no stirrups is incredible.

I really hope you never stop making these videos, The imagery and the information is so interesting that I wish you continue. Greetings from Denmark

The Last time I was this early Silesia was still Austrian.

@TheTariqibnziyad

3 жыл бұрын

The last time I was this early Napoleon was admiring you at your grave

@FigureOnAStick

3 жыл бұрын

too soon :(

You guys are incredible! Your content just keeps getting better and better!

I appreciate how you mention how the horse won't simply throw itself into the enemy. It really does look comedic

@mcsmash4905

2 жыл бұрын

except it actually will do that , a war horse to be more specific , this idea that a horse simply wont do it is mainly true for modern horses which are simply used for riding around and jumping while being cute at the same time , people werent dumb enough to ride skittish horses into battle , wouldnt be bad if modern horse owners realised that and stopped spreading rubbish all over the internet , i might add that a good example were the winged hussars which charged into pikemen headlong , often breaking them and other times failing

@steelydan3263

2 жыл бұрын

@@mcsmash4905 then by that logic, how did formations such as the Napoleonic Squares or Tercios work at all. Because by that definition, it like running small cars into a formation. This is also not taking into considering that the horse or the rider is insane or suicidal enough to preform that action in the first place.

@mcsmash4905

2 жыл бұрын

@@steelydan3263 the fact that cavalry broke pike squares doesnt mean the square didnt work like what kind of logic is that? And dont forget that this is war if you are ordered to charge at a square you **will** do it and if not someone else will horses and humans are expendable , either way sometimes the pike broke sometimes it didnt it depended largely on the men forming it , veteran troops with nerves will hold , rookies will be scared shitless and will freeze in place or run away and on top of all that you have half dead horses falling on top of you and making a breach with their own bodies which is what happened when a british light cavalry unit did in persia during thr anglo persian war , they made a gap with their bodies and broke thr square apart , several VC's were won that day (ignore the typos)

In Ireland into the Renaissance stirps weren't used as it was seen as unmanly , there horses were also Very small (.if demounted (which happened often) They would Just jump back up on the horse .an Englishman said there were no. Finer horseman on Christian ground, the problem they weren't very effective as soldiers

@bobbyjoe1111

3 жыл бұрын

Pretty sure there were finer horsemen than Irish tribals in the Steppes or the Middle East

@mikeoxsmal8022

3 жыл бұрын

@@bobbyjoe1111 it was a quote and the Middle East and the steeps weren't Christian. The Irish weren't tribal

Which software did you use to create this video?

Awesome vid. As soon as I get a foothold economically you're the first creator I'm becoming a patron for.

Murat: Charge!! Napoleon: what the hell is that idiot doing?

@alexm.h.8270

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry for doing this, but I think you mean a scene at Waterloo. So it will be Ney and Napoleon. But the content is 100% correct.

@animeyahallo3887

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexm.h.8270 its not a waterloo reference, its a reference that Murat is not a bright tactician and Napoleon always tell him about his recklessness and to use his brain to think and not mindlessly chase or charge the enemy.

@williemherbert1456

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexm.h.8270 No no, actually this is more befitting with him, like at the Battle of Eylau, most of daring cavalry charge was being led by him personally, even as far as Cossacks want to capture him alive in the midst of battle since the beginning of Russian campaign, heck he is even famous with the soldiers from various nation because of his bravery in combat. Well since he's the most easy to spot on the battlefield with those flamboyant suits and clothes he had wear all along the Napoleonic War. Meanwhile Ney become famous for his brave attempt to relink himself with the rest of Grand Armee at the Battle of Krasny. So in my opinion Murat is a more fitting choice.

@HeyImLucious

3 жыл бұрын

Every Cossack wanting to capture him: OOORAAH! MURAAAT!

I remember reading about some early Assyrian or Babylonian cavalry that were essentially two guys riding on one horse, with one in front riding and the guy behind him shooting a bow. There were apparently also another type of horse archer where two horses were led a man riding one of the horses, with the archer sitting on the second horse and firing. Its kind of interesting how complicated firing a bow from horseback was at that point.

Always be down for "doing the greatest mischief to the enemy."

CAN'T WAIT FOR PART 2! I LOVE CAVALRY

Last time I was this early the Winged Hussars just arrived!

@gudboah4688

3 жыл бұрын

Kislev

Ah, the tanks of antiquity.

@Therandeon

3 жыл бұрын

@@Crinjal_2611 Elephants would be more like the air strike equivalent but not that effective against infantry the second the time you use them.

Nice video! Could be nice to see a video discussing the evolution of infantry combat from antiquity to the middle ages.

Hype!!!!! Can’t wait to spend my time watching this!!!!

I love your uploads so much!

"We'll start with getting on a horse.. a process that's hard enough today." **Laughs in Colorado**

@talknight2

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, try getting on top of an unsaddled horse. Quite a bit more athletic than climbing a stirrup, isn't it.

@QualityPen

3 жыл бұрын

@@talknight2 Modern horses are significantly larger than ancient ones, though. Iron Age horses were 12 hands tall, while anything shorter than 14.2 hands today is a pony. The average horse today is 15.2 hands and get as tall as 18 hands.

@googane7755

3 жыл бұрын

@@QualityPen People were also smaller back then too and maybe even more so than horses.

Splendid, thanks!

Can’t wait for the next episode of this, hopefully about the medieval evolution or even the steppes cultures!

Great video. Also to note that the Irish didn't adopt the high saddle or stirrups until the 1600s. It was reported that they were still highly maneuverable and fought in similar ways done in antiquity. They didn't do full frontal charges but more flanking and routing. It was mention that they were easily unhorsed but they could simply hop back on again and keep going. They also were known to fight with an overarm grip rather than an couched position the English would use.

Earlier than the sea people

@fishnujish1511

3 жыл бұрын

😂

@odd-ysseusdoesstuff6347

3 жыл бұрын

That was a horrific sight to remember. ;-;

@mrgaudy1954

3 жыл бұрын

Crab people, crab people!

A wonderfully informative video. It's great to know about this sort of thing. Nice job.

exaclty what i needed

A great book about horsemanship in antiquity is “ Warhorse - cavalry in ancient warfare” by Phillip Sidnell.I fully recomend.

Yaaaay . love any thing this channel makes

Interesting and informative, thanks!

Awesome as always

Damn almost a mill subs. I swear i feel like not long ago it was less than 200k. Keep up the good work!❤️

Out here on the steppes we have smaller horses. So to mount the horse without stirrups we lean over the horseback, put our arms over the horse's back and then jump. As we leave the ground, we use our hands to pull us further up, while throwing our right foot over the horse and to the other side.

Excellent video! Thank you very much. ☝️😎

Excellent! Thanks

really interesting video, thanks for the content

This was a really awesome video.

Another awesome video.

Have you ever seen a Krieg cavalry charge It is awe inspiring

@SusCalvin

3 жыл бұрын

Rough riders in 2nd edition work a little like infantry with a longer charge. I think they got their explosive lances later on, in here they got normal lances. Close combat weapons with a big initiative bonus on the charge. Double the cost of an infantry squad though, even more expensive than stormtroopers (who to be fair are just BS 4 Ld 8 guardsmen with lasguns and flak).

Imagine a patchy sky with sun in greece, you get your horse and meet up with your friend and gallop and train with the javelin rest in the shade and just enjoy life. Certainly people back then had a sh*ty and brutal life but i do believe that would have been a good day to be alive.

@alioshax7797

3 жыл бұрын

@Wind Rose Actually, inequalities were really high. Meaning that the 5% to 10% top had ok to great living conditions (for that time) while 95% of the population were poor farmers. Remember that a kid out of 3 died during his first year at the time though. Being adult means you're already lucky.

@miskakopperoinen8408

3 жыл бұрын

This brings up a good point, which is sometimes overshadowed by current view on the lives of the past. Human beings are adaptable and will try and find rewarding and enjoyable experiences with what they have regardless of other circumstances. Leisurely horsemanship would have been a perfectly common and even encouraged pastime for nomadic populations. Sedentary antique civilizations loved all kinds of different parties, festivals and holidays. The Greeks were massive fans of professional sports and even the poorest would have had access to communal sports (It's obvious, of course, that the representatives a city state would send to panhellenic Olympics would have been healthy, wealthy freemen, not some random slaves).

In the Far East in China, chariot-to-horse military usage follows a similar pattern during the Warring States era. The State of Zhao, for instance, fought the Xiongnu nomadic forces extensively, and therefore adopted horse archers extensively among their own forces. Other states still used heavy chariots in battle, and only in the late Han did the usage of the chariot phase out slowly. The Jin Dynasty is often credited with the use of paired stirrups, and that era coincides quite well with an earlier development timeline of the stirrup from the steppes, further supporting their likely place of origin.

@weirdofromhalo

3 жыл бұрын

The chariot was fully replaced by the time of the Qin Dynasty, actually. The Qin also fought many horse riding peoples and embraced cavalry quite quickly.

@brokensky2378

3 жыл бұрын

@@weirdofromhalo Actually, we have accounts of the Han Dynasty using armored chariots against the Xiongnu at the battle of Mobei. It was after 133 BC when the Han Dynasty decided to finally phase out chariots, and even then they would see some usage. Cavalry had certainly become a dominant force by the late Warring States era, but the chariot's phase-out was gradual rather than a sudden shift. But the Qin, too, were extensively skilled horsemen, considering their supposed origins as horse-breeders for the Zhou, and their extensive battles against the nomads from further west.

@weirdofromhalo

3 жыл бұрын

@@brokensky2378 I believe those "chariots" are actually war wagons, used as mobile cover on the steppe. It's a similar tactic that's popped up all around the world where wagons were a common means of transport.

You guys make bananas specific videos. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM

It’s crazy to me how long it took for the stirrup to be invented and spreaf. It seems like such a logical piece to have as part of a saddle, even a basic saddle.

"maintaining this pose for long period of time takes years of practice and physical conditioning" and the conditioning kinda ruins you for other things. A rider has a narrowed hip joint, tilting the pelvis forward and rolling the thighs inward, this leads to pronation of the foot and hyper extension of the knees when standing legs together, with a exaggerated curve in the lower spine to compensate. Knock kneed and sway backed on land, when the legs are roughly horse width apart the knees face forward, the foot is flat, and the back is straight when relaxed. There is a reason most modern horse riders are also avid pilates/yoga/stretching fanatics. These soldiers would have had horrible daily pain when not in the saddle. It only gets worse without stirrups...

i expected to hear more about shock cavalry in the middle ages where i thought its height was. but the video just cuts off right there. feelsbadman

Would like to know more how Alexander's heavy cavalry fought. Did they charge to cover ground stab with their spears once or twice, then retreat, regroup, and charge again until the infantry broke? Did they charge one time to cover ground, and then fought as hoplites on horses? This is still unclear.

@Leonidas8613

3 жыл бұрын

The Hetairoi and similiar Hellenistic heavy cavalry (Xystophoroi, Lonchophoroi, ect) used the Xyston, a 12ft lance that was held with two hands and at a slight downward angle. Kontos lance is the successor of this, which was primarily used by Kataphraktoi. Basically, they dealt with enemy cavalry first and then charged into the pinned down enemy infantry line with Xystons angled, per Hammer and Anvil. Atleast that's what the source material is telling us. Macedonian styled heavy cav changed the role of cavalry and made a distinction between normal, skirmish and heavy. Kataphraktoi are a further distinction, namely heavy shock cav. Their whole point being breaking up already engaged and damaged formations to cause a mass route. Usually the mere sight of them was enough already to cause a drop in cohesion. And it's all about cohesion in infantry combat.

Rohan loves this video ;)

I feel sorry for their bottoms, at the same time, their bottoms must be really cut.

@exaggeratedswaggerofablackteen

3 жыл бұрын

Salut à toi vieil empereur.

You should do a video on the gallic/germnaic auxillary calvary the romans utilized so often! Great video!

PLEASE!!! do the medieval part soon!

Yey! another video voiced by Oakley^^

Thank you 🙏 for this invicta

@thegoatslayer7403

3 жыл бұрын

Your almost to a mill

@VOTE_REFORM_UK

3 жыл бұрын

Fun fact: he will never read this comment.

Cool topic

👍 good video

Tnx

Good clip :)

Interesting 🤘

Nice video!! Can you make more total war videos?

I think Khalid's mobile guard cavalry was heavily influenced by the Companion cavalry, both relied more on speed and shock rather than brute strength and armor, the only difference might've been the lack of formation with the mobile guard.

@zippyparakeet1074

8 ай бұрын

Early Muslim conquests feel a lot like the great Conquests of Alexander the Great or the expansion of the Roman Republic/Empire. .

@cool06alt

6 ай бұрын

@@zippyparakeet1074 They rely heavily on clever tactic and patience, not superweapons unlike those armies you mentioned. On paper, Roman Cataprachts and Persian Asawiran should be able to defeat them. Their archers were equipped with self bow, kind of inferior to their enemies composite bows. I honestly don't buy the idea that Persian and Romans were too exhausted because history is never that simple. Their feats should be even harder to recreate in games. Perhaps there are so much we don't understand about historical warfare and the importance of morale. Maybe armors are just facade, maybe some bedouin spearmen in loose formation could truly defeat tight bodies of Scutatoi and Cataprachts.

I’ve been riding horses my entire life just about, the bond between horse and man is just absolutely incredible. I like to imagine my proud Thoroughbred charging into battle, but I realize after researching the history or horses in warfare how truly skilled and hardy you and your horse had to be. Even with all my years of riding, there’s no way I could dream of doing these maneuvers bareback. Not to mention, my horse is 17.1, (which is very tall) and isn’t really ideal for warfare for that reason. You wanted something smaller, and agile, to accomplish this. Great video Invicta! Thank you so much!

@miskakopperoinen8408

3 жыл бұрын

The maneuvers and the suitable size of the horse varied with the intended role. 17.1 is indeed on the tall side for any role, but early renaissance heavy cavalry that delivered formed charges tended to use the largest and strongest horses available, as it was easier for them to maintain formation while in armor and being ridden by a soldier in armor. The late shock cavalry didn't need to be particularly agile for their role, especially as the infantry formations begun to transform into massive pike blocks that were positively glacial in movement and reaction ability. The natural consequence of this specialized superheavy shock cavalry was, of course, the (re)introduction of light and intermediary cavalry that would be used against field cannons and other cavalry as well as targets of opportunity and out-of-battlefield harassment of the opponent and these groups would indeed have wanted smaller, nimbler steeds.

I absolutely love this channel and I have only one gripe, I don't mind you getting paid for a promo at all but, I pay for KZread premium so I don't get force fed advertisements. It's a shame they're in every episode regardless. That being said I'm not asking you to change anything on your program, just wish the adverts were only in non premium like we pay for.

neat stuff

perfect! i recall archeologists found human thigh bones very dense and strong from lots of riding like this.

Well thank you a lot for this video: this is a topic i recently got info, nice to have this video ad a starting point for further research. In that regard, there are any sources you can suggest to a novice researcher?

Last time I was this early, it was Bronze Orientation Day for stone artisans

i would love to see a presentation how cavarly charge looked like into an infantry formation, why diamond formation was good etc

The Assyrians were well known for using shock cavalry and archer mounted horses

@alioshax7797

3 жыл бұрын

The Assyrians were known for using horses at all, while others used them only with chariots. But "shock cavalery" is kinda exagerated. There is pictures showing 2 guys on the same horse's back. Charging without saddle is already hard enough with one guy, imagine with two.

What was the second type of antiquity cavalry mentioned in the video? Besides the companions and cataphract

Besides the "Evolution of Shock Cavalry", any chance you'll also cover what led to shock cavalry's decline or allowed the infantry to level the playing field again shock cavalry units or charges?

Will you make a video talking about the evolution of the use of the spear / pike / Bayonet

Notes: light cavalry used as scouts, transport or skirmishes to sofen up the enemy, sometimes these light hourse could be turned into a full charge helping the infantry but could esaly be detured by string walls of long spears or large amounts of archer, But these light skermishers will out last in stamina, so can skermish multiple times to bate an enemy into a trap... Tiering them out too So heavy cavalry used as tanks could more reliably conduct these charges of flanks, or if the enemy breaks and roughts can be hunted down but these heavy units will get tired exspecaly in hoter climets meaning cannot retreat or defend themselves Later the winged husars used longer lances and heavy armour to counter pikes making infantry break before the horse reach the spears but were counterd when the guns incred in power and range, and longer spears were put in the ground..

I definitely want to try out a four horn saddle. I’ve been riding horses all my life, and I want to see how that would be

I had never thought about them having to have their legs loose or they might break, scary stuff

For next units of history do the Winged Hussars.

This makes me wonder how armies that were pure cavalry or close to being such (steppe peoples, Parthians, etc.) functioned. In this example, and many many similar to this, the cavalry relies on the infantry to do it's part of the work. That makes me wonder how the aformentioned armies adapted.

@miskakopperoinen8408

3 жыл бұрын

Nomadic armies must be understood as more holistically strategic entities than the infantry-based sedentary armies. The importance of a pitched battle, or the threat of such, is much less of a point with a cavalry army. Instead, skirmishing, controlling the general area and raiding is the name of the game with their usage. The point would be to relentlessly harass infantry-based armies on the march where they are vulnerable to sudden attacks and unable to respond quickly and prevent efficient foraging by keeping constant contact with the foraging parties and killing off any such group that's unable to protect itself. The idea was to essentially keep any stationary army under soft siege and attrition any marching army. Against each other, cavalry armies would have largely done the same and a large, pitched battle, would have been more an accident or an exploitation of sudden opportunity than an actual goal. If you look at Parthian-Roman conflicts, this is exactly what they did and in both Anthony's and Crassus's case, the Romans ultimately couldn't deal with the inability to forage and the inability to fend off the Parthian forces, while the Parthians were hard-pressed to crack the Roman fortifications and couldn't pursue Romans to the Armenian mountains that the Romans used as a refuge in Anthony's retreat. In Crassus's case, the pitched battle saw extensive use of horse archers with the Parthian forces replenishing their arrows on the go, with the core of cataphracts being used to give short, focused strikes against the parts of Roman forces that were especially badly affected by the constant arrow fire. The weaknesses would be dealing with especially difficult terrain, such as mountains, or dealing with long, stationary conflicts such as sieges as the mobility of the cavalry couldn't be properly utilized in the first case and in the second, the cavalry would eat through the fodder quickly and exhaust the nearby grazing grounds too, which would force the army to abandon siege.

Oh right comments to show my liking :)

The “slipping and flipping” appears as a visual gag in Mulan 2!

Invicta it's midnight on a Sunday and I was about to sleep. Why do you do this to me

@odd-ysseusdoesstuff6347

3 жыл бұрын

Because no expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Can you do a video on why the romans started just using the sword in late republic and why they later dropped its sole use again in the later empire

Maybe video about battles when horse cavalry faced camel cavalary?

I don't need sleep, I need to watch this Video (For my time zone is 2:14 am)

Sir,which is the next video on encient military units

3.47 what culture's depicted here?? That looks amazing

Woah

When is Caesar Part 3 coming out????

Feel like someone watched a Lindybeige vid and did some homework. Nice. 🤗

I still wonder what a charge was like. Was it like Total War where they smash into infantry or did the slow down and start poking? It's a part of history I don't have a clear Idea of.

@miskakopperoinen8408

3 жыл бұрын

Somewhat varied. Antique superheavy cavalry, such as cataphracts, would have cantered into the enemy as a solid formation in charge and then continued in melee. High medieval knights would have had a notably more aggressive stance where they'd have advanced at canter and completed the charge in trot. This would have rather resembled the animation which M2TW cavalry performs if you give them the order to charge in slow speed (With the obvious problem being that M2TW doesn't actually feature trot, cavalry can only canter or gallop in it). The modern shock cavalry, such as uhlans, would have charged in gallop but in loose formations and avoid direct attacks on line infantry. Much of what the charges looked like was dependent on what the cavalry expected would happen with a successful charge. Antiquity featured large, highly professional contingents of infantry which would have been resilient to shock, so the cavalry had to operate in the expectance that the infantry would have a high likelihood of withstanding a charge. On the other hand, the political and economic degeneration from the antiquity meant that the medieval armies mostly had relatively poorly trained and equipped infantry that was likely to break in contact with knights, which, in combination with equipment more suitable for aiding the rider to remain mounted when receiving large impacts, encouraged aggressive charges. It was additionally beneficial that the less professional medieval infantry couldn't use as tight formations, which meant that there was more room for the cavalry charge to penetrate into and therefore the cavalry formations were less likely to tie themselves up with the backside of the formation trying to press into the front when there was no space for them to do so. The likes of uhlans and hussars, on the other hand, would have advanced in gallop and didn't intend to so much collide with their target than ride through it and strike targets in passing, which is why regiments of line infantry were largely inassailable for them if not otherwise occupied or disorganized. My understanding is that Napoleonic era heavy cavalry would have advanced and made contact in trot, somewhat like medieval knights in this specific aspect, though their usage was as much against light cavalry as infantry and they were well suited for staying in melee once they made contact. This is to say, they didn't necessarily expect to break the infantry immediately on contact.

There is a book my bucket told me about called "20 years in The Sadle" by one Major Assburns Makes sense ngl