Winston Smith | 06 Jul 2015 2:07 a.m. PST |
Cavalry did a better job, and cheaper. |
Who asked this joker | 06 Jul 2015 4:55 a.m. PST |
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Gennorm | 06 Jul 2015 5:23 a.m. PST |
Made possible by stronger horses. |
Frederick | 06 Jul 2015 5:30 a.m. PST |
Absolutely The evolution of battlefield mobility is entirely tied to the evolution of the horse – the first chariot armies used horses that were too small and not hardy enough to carry mounted warriors for any length of time; as selective breeding produced bigger and healthier horses, cavalry developed as being more versatile (you need very flat ground for chariots), more useful and also cheaper |
miniMo | 06 Jul 2015 7:14 a.m. PST |
Yup, cavalry only became a better option once the horses became strong enough to carry riders through a battle. |
Yesthatphil | 06 Jul 2015 8:32 a.m. PST |
Chariots pre-date cavalry and I believe pre-date the specialisation of cavalry types into what we think of a skirmishing and combat types (and 'shock' – although I think 'shock' is a fairly anachronistic concept and am not really sure their is much 'shock' before, say, Alexander at the earliest … ) … Chariots can do all of skirmishing, intimidating, shooting, battle taxi-ing, command post-ing etc. But, with some exceptions, it does none of them as well as an accomplished rider on a well bred horse. Accomplished riders with specialised skills on better bred horses, over time, render most chariot types obsolete. The inept survivor was the scythed chariot which occasionally makes a recurrence every few of generations or so (no, I don't buy the continual usage nonsense) as a sort of ancient truck bomb: like truck bombs, generally useless, but a possible way to intimidate and wrong foot a superior enemy (and like most useless terror weapons, with very rare 'spectacular' successes). So … Accomplished riders with specialised skills on better bred horses … I ticked the 'Scythians' box rather than the cavalry box because I think the steppe peoples probably had a hand in all of those changes but it is virtually impossible to put the evolutions in an order. Phil |
Maddaz111 | 06 Jul 2015 9:52 a.m. PST |
cavalry did a better job, and were more economic in terms of fighting power per man employed, but this was only possible with better stronger horses.. |
TheBeast | 06 Jul 2015 11:32 a.m. PST |
I thought the crowning achievement was stirrups. Doug |
Buff Orpington | 06 Jul 2015 11:42 a.m. PST |
The wheels fell off mine. |
Cerdic | 06 Jul 2015 11:52 a.m. PST |
Weren't stirrups developed a long time after chariots fell out of use, though? Or maybe someone said "I reckon that in a few hundred years time they'll invent a thing to put your foot in while riding a horse. It'll make our chariots pointless. Let's chop 'em up for firewood right now!"… |
skippy0001 | 06 Jul 2015 4:18 p.m. PST |
They couldn't pass the emissions test. |
Skeptic | 06 Jul 2015 5:54 p.m. PST |
Stirrups? What, centuries later, in some reverse chronology effect? |
Tom Bryant | 07 Jul 2015 7:40 p.m. PST |
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