"Napoleonic French Cavalry Disaster Review" Topic

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Tango01

01 May 2023 8:47 p.m. PST

"A cavalry charge is a magnificent spectacle, and there has been no shortage of images, films and models attempting to capture the splendour of the scene, as hundreds of men and horses thunder along, making the ground shake and installing fear in their opponents. Such a charge may have seemed unstoppable, but in fact close-packed ranks of horsemen made excellent targets for artillery, and once within musket range, men and horses would fall all around, bringing some chaos to the ranks. The standard response to a cavalry charge was for infantry to form square, presenting a continuous hedge of bayonets that would keep the horses at bay and leave the riders struggling to even reach the soldiers within. If the square held firm, and the cavalry were unsupported, then there was usually not much the horsemen could do, and the best-known example of this is the battle of Waterloo. On that day, thousands of the best cavalry in Europe repeatedly charged the allied position, where much of the infantry was made up of raw recruits with little battle experience. Yet their officers kept them firm, and the result was, as the title of this set suggests, a disaster for the French cavalry, which suffered great losses and achieved nothing except to waste time, which Napoleon could not afford with the approach of the Prussians. Few cavalry sets in this hobby depict anything other than a well-ordered charge – this one from Linear-A brings us closer to the reality…"