Organization: How Armies are Formed for War

by Hubert Foster

Origin of true Cavalry in the “Reiters”

We first find true Cavalry of the modern type in the German “Reiters” of the early sixteenth century, who were disciplined troopers, acting in rank and file in organized bodies, as distinguished from the individual man-at-arms of feudal days. The organization of the Reiters is practically the same as that of the infantry Landsknechts already described. They were similarly raised by their Captains, in bodies termed Troops, a name which was soon replaced by a tactical unit composed of several Troops, which arose from the tactical requirements of the battlefield. This was the Squadron, a word derived from squadra, Italian for square, because the earliest bodies of horsemen had equal front and depth. The numbers in a Troop depended on the popularity of the Captain; but Squadrons were of a strength based on the fact that one man could command by voice a body of Cavalry with a front of 50 men. Thus the “Reiter” Squadrons with six ranks were 300 strong, but those of Gustavus, with three ranks, had 150 men. This is still the strength of a Squadron to-day.

The Officers of the Troops of Reiters were the Captain, still called Rittmeister (or “Reiter”-master) in Germany to-day; the Lieutenant; the Fähnrich (or Colour-bearer); the Wachmeister (or Watch-master), as the Sergeant-Major is still called; the Fourier (or Quarter-Master), charged with allotting quarters and subsistence, and also with reconnaissance, as explained on page [174]. He had an assistant, answering to our Q.M.S. Each Troop had a Trumpeter. He accompanied the Colour-bearer, whose hornshaped pennon (Cornette in French) gave its name to the officer carrying it, known as “Cornet” down to our day.

The Reiters carried sword and pistol, and wore helmet and cuirass. They were the ancestors of all Heavy Cavalry, generally called Cuirassiers abroad, but simply “Regiments of Horse” in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There were always less regular Cavalry, or Light Horse, for scouting, pursuit, and independent action to front and flanks. This division of duties and names has long survived.

To obtain better fire effect, Henry IV. of France armed his Horse with a short arquebus called a carabine, whence the Carbineers. In Italy a larger firearm, called a dragon, was given to horsemen, so as to enable them to use fire with more effect when dismounted. Hence originated Dragoons, originally merely Mounted Infantry. We have thus got the three Arms of the Service, as commemorated in the old expression Horse, Foot, and Dragoons, to denote the whole Army; for Artillery did not become an Arm before 1700.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, under Maurice of Nassau, the organization of the Dutch Cavalry was further developed during the War of Independence against Spain. His Squadrons were fixed at 120 strong, with the three Officers and the Trumpeter of the Reiters, but were now divided into three Sections, each under an Officer, with a Corporal. These represent the existing Troops. A Farrier was added to the troop for shoeing and veterinary work. Improved drill and discipline enabled Maurice to reduce the ten ranks of his day to six.

Gustavus organized the Swedish Army on the same lines as Maurice, but improved on his model in Cavalry, as in other Arms. His Troops were smaller, only 70 strong, and were grouped in Regiments of 8 troops. He was the first to inculcate shock tactics, which he facilitated by reducing the ranks to four, and discouraging firing from horseback.

After Gustavus’ brilliant success in the Thirty Years’ War, the use of shock tactics was carried on in England, but was not imitated in other countries. Cromwell, seizing on the idea with his unfailing military insight, taught his Ironsides to charge home, and especially to rally after the charge. He established an undying reputation as the first great Cavalry leader in the modern sense, and his horsemen were never equalled till Seidlitz appeared and led Frederick’s Cavalry in the Seven Years’ War a century later. Neither of these two great soldiers has ever been surpassed, or indeed approached, as a leader of Cavalry.

During those hundred years Cavalry continued to fire from their horses, and charge at the trot. Even long afterwards, Napoleon’s Heavy Cavalry did not gallop. But Cavalry began to find their true mode of action when Marlborough and Charles XII. of Sweden expected their Horse to charge without firing.

Frederick the Great, however, was the first to initiate true Cavalry Tactics. He forbade any firing from horseback, formed his Cavalry in two ranks, and trained them to charge boot to boot in long lines of scores of Squadrons. He insisted on high speed over long distances, and adopted the plan of charging in three lines—the first of Cuirassiers, the second of Dragoons as a support, and the third in columns to protect the flank. The training and tactics of Frederick’s Cavalry have never been improved on, and are still the model for shock action. Frederick’s Cavalry was organized, like that of Gustavus, in Troops of 70 men, of which two, or, later, four smaller ones as in Europe to-day, formed a Squadron. The Regiment had 5 Squadrons, as it still has in Germany, although the fifth now becomes the depôt of the Regiment on mobilization.