"Cairo Cavalry Charge" Topic

With all due sympathy for the Egyptian people… but, did anyone else watch the untrained skirmish cavalry and camels charge a warband last night on CNN? The warband was initially disordered and let the cavary in their ranks, but after a rally turn, the foot pulled the riders off their horses. However the camel unit seemed to do a bit better. Bring back the EHCm designation.

One report said these were Pyramid tour guides who were unhappy about their lost tourist business.

Allen

At least that's where the camels came from. Maybe they should be rated as irregular "trained"?

The guy on the donkey did not do well…

Camels are foul evil beasts….

They should have formed square.

I dunno, closing in on the stragglers seemed to do quite well.

I note the New York Times online has a photo of a guy using a towel as a makeshift sling, and makeshift shields have appeared.

Julius Caesar had to practically destroy the center of Alexandria in order to retain it, when the Egyptian populace became displeased with Cleopatra:

link

Allen

those Camel and donkey whallopers should have used a wedge formation.
Have they forgotten everything Alexander the Great showed them?

those Camel and donkey whallopers should have used a wedge formation.
Have they forgotten everything Alexander the Great showed them?

Pretty much.

Interesting, though, to watch the ebb and flow of the battle between warbands and velites/psiloi.

The warband(s) seem a bit tenacious, but aren't faring very well against the Legionaries.

Perhaps they would have done better if they'd continued moving, and not gotten bogged down in a close melee.

Impetus is important.

Lances or swords would probably be a bit more threatening than bullwhips too, but are harder to come by nowadays, and very few are trained to use them properly.

Sorry to hear, lots of pain going on over there.

Lets hope they don't break out the Seleucid Chariots.

…but Kyoteblue likes camels anyway.

Where are the Palestinian Clubmen when you need them!

No a thousand times no….camels are evil!!!

Where are the Palestinian Clubmen when you need them!

I don't know about a club but I saw one of the guys on foot bring down a horse and rider almost by launching himself at it like something out of a movie. A very surreal experience watching it on TV.

It all comes down to, "Ya gotta be willin'." (drawl like John Wayne day, 2 months and 23 days early ….)

aecurtis

Julius Caesar had to practically destroy the center of Alexandria in order to retain it, when the Egyptian populace became displeased with Cleopatra:

That sounds a bit familiar, Allen.

Writing about the provincial capital, Bến Tre, on February 7, 1968, Arnett said: "'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,' a United States major said today. – Wikipedia.

Camels are not evil, they can be quite lovable. Especially the females. However they do have a certain odour which takes a lot of getting used to.

Funniest camel moment. In the movie "Road to Morroco" with Hope and Crosby, about ten minutes into the film, a camel spits on Hope. It is unscripted, and they kept it in the movie. Watch Crosby's reaction.

Camels are not evil, they can be quite lovable.

The operative phrase is "can be quite lovable". Both my mother and father said the same thing. Camels are nasty suborn beats. They spit. They bite. They even kick if you get them riled up. Oh yeah. Like you said, they stink too! Better to ride a horse.

Agree with acarhj, except they're stubborn rather than suborn.
Also, they really wreck your landrover when you hit one at 50 mph (it didn't do the camel much good, either.)