The transition from the domination of knights in forged armor, riding powerful and similarly "armored" horses, to relatively light cavalry, armed with pistols and swords, occurred in less than a century. Let's remember the Hundred Years War. It began in the era of "combined chain and plate armor" and ended in the era of "white metal armor", but it took a century. Why? Yes, because the main striking force at that time was a spear and a sword, but a bow and a crossbow, with all their destructive power, were an auxiliary weapon. In addition, in Europe, even riding archers could not shoot from a horse, since it was believed that they could not do such an ignoble deed, sitting on a noble animal! On the other hand, in order to pull out a knight's tooth they mounted a horse in order to at least in this way approach “their nobility”!
Pikemen at the Battle of Rocroix in 1643 Painting by Sebastian Renx.
The decree of the French king Charles VII created cavalry from "fully armored nobles" and noble servants, deprived of shields, since they were no longer needed - the armor had reached its perfection. At the Battle of Fornovo in 1495, it was these horsemen who scattered the Italians like pins, and in Ravenna in 1512, the French knights broke through the ranks of the German Landsknechts, proving that they were practically invulnerable.
But this army demanded an incredible amount of money and only the French crown was able to support it. There were attempts by the Burgundian duke from the Habsburg dynasty to copy these French companies of gendarmes, but in fact they were not crowned with success. Yes, there were such riders, but they were few in number. When Henry VIII of England invaded France in 1513, he laboriously armed the number of men he needed, and even then they had to wear only half armor or "three-quarter armor" and ride unarmored horses.
This paradigm changed in the mid-1540s with a new invention in Germany: the wheel lock pistol. And very soon, riders began to use such pistols, since they were very convenient for them. So during the siege of Szekesfehervar in Hungary in 1543, these pistols were already used in battle. The following year, a whole unit of horsemen with pistols appeared at the disposal of the German Emperor Charles V. Interestingly, Henry VIII in the same year complained that the German cavalry he hired was not really heavy cavalry, but only pistol cavalry. So he was not such a seer, although he loved various military wonders.
Burgonet helmet. France, 1630 Weight 2190 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
As early as 1550, German heavy cavalry almost completely abandoned the spear in favor of a pair or more wheeled pistols. Moreover, they continued to be considered heavy cavalry, since they wore both full armor and "three-quarter armor", but they already used pistols as the main offensive weapon. Armored horses immediately became a thing of the past and, thus, in 1560 the German horse for heavy cavalry was already much lighter than only thirty years ago. What is the benefit? Yes, very simple - you had to spend less on fodder, and the effectiveness of such cavalry in battle did not suffer, but, on the contrary, increased!
Another reason was the appearance in the late 1540s of muskets weighing 20 pounds or more and up to 20 mm in caliber. The lead bullet of such a musket could penetrate any armor, so there was less and less sense in it. As a result, the French and Italians began to employ Albanian stradiots; Germans - Hungarians; the Spaniards used their own light horsemen - ginets, armed with a shield and a spear (but also a pistol!); Well, in England a whole system was created, according to which the horsemen were armed in proportion to their income!
Musket. Germany, XVI - XVII centuries Caliber 17.5 mm. Weight 5244, 7 g. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Lock to this musket.
All this cavalry was cheap, mobile, looting and not very reliable, but … they put up with it. Why? Because, on occasion, any such rider with a point-blank shot could send to the next world an expensive and "correct" nobleman in expensive armor and on an expensive horse!
German engraving of the early 17th century explaining the principles of using firearms by reiters in battle.
With the beginning of the French wars of religion in 1562, France also began a transition from the domination of the old heavy cavalry to light cavalry. Initially, the so-called ordinance companies in the state consisted of 600 horsemen, consisting of 100 "spears", in turn, divided into 10 dozen. In practice, a company could have from 30 to 110 "copies" in its composition, that is, the actual number was far from always equal to the staff. The "spear" consisted of six people: a gendarme ("armed man") in heavy armor, who was not necessarily a knight, a squire called a boozer, then three shooters (it could be both archers and crossbowmen) and a page for services. According to other sources, there were two shooters, and the sixth in the "spear" was a servant. The company also had its own headquarters, in which the commander was a captain, a lieutenant (he was a deputy captain), and besides them there were two more standard-bearers and a quartermaster. The Ordinance companies in the army of Charles the Bold differed only in that they also included infantry.
But here in Germany the so-called Schmalkalden War between Catholics and Protestants began, and in the course of it new horsemen appeared, using both new weapons and new tactics - "black horsemen", reitars or pistoliers. They differed from their contemporary cuirassiers in that the main thing for them was firearms, and not traditional edged weapons. Having with them several heavy large-caliber pistols, often almost a meter long, they used them in the first place and relied on them. And the sword acted as a backup weapon "just in case."
Cuirassiers usually fired a volley of pistols at the infantry and cut into its ranks, but the Reitars methodically shot the infantry until it fled from the battlefield. Reitars also never dismounted, but fired directly from a horse, that is, in fact, they became the European analogue of eastern horse archers!
"Three-quarter armor" for the Barberini family. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The debate about which is better, a spear or a pistol, continued for some time, but the practice definitely made a choice in favor of the latter. Now the traditional weapon of most riders has become a metal helmet-helmet and cuirass, but then different riders armed themselves according to the circumstances. Cuirassiers, more than others, continued to resemble knights in that they had a closed helmet and knee-length legguards, and below high boots of solid leather. The dragoons were armed with carbines, had a minimum of armor, but a carbine from which it was possible to shoot, both dismounted and from the saddle. To catch up with them after they fired a volley, the same, say, Reitars could not!
French helmet Morion 1575 Weight 1773 Usually such helmets were worn by infantrymen, but horsemen did not disdain them either. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Cuirassiers usually had two pistols. Light spearmen are two-one, but Reitars - three, five, six, which allowed them to conduct a prolonged fire battle with the enemy. Two were worn in holsters at the saddle, two behind the tops of the boots, and one or two behind the belt!
Since their opponents also wore armor, so that even the infantry had helmets and cuirasses, the Reitars tried to fire their weapons almost point-blank. To get closer to the enemy, a trot was usually used, but under favorable conditions they could also gallop at a light gallop, which, however, depended on the terrain, so that a quick jump would not interfere with maintaining the formation. Since the pistols reloaded very slowly, the main tactical technique both in the infantry and among the reiters was the karakole formation - a formation in which the first row of fired soldiers immediately turned around and went back, taking the place of the last row, while the second row, which became the first, fired the next volley. Usually reitars were built in karakol with about 20 riders along the front and a depth of 10 - 15 ranks. The first line of horsemen immediately after the volley was divided into two groups: one galloped to the left, and the other to the right, and they both met in the rear, where they reloaded their pistols and again prepared for the attack.
Although this tactic may seem simple, it actually required excellent training so that the ranks of horsemen in battle did not mix, and did not turn into an uncontrollable crowd. In addition, it was required to fire volleys, which also required skill and was not achieved immediately. In addition, a certain psychological attitude was required to fight in this way.
The technique of shooting a pistol in combat. "Ironside" of the army of parliament against the "cavalier" of the army of Charles I.
No wonder contemporaries wrote that "Big pistols made the fight at close range so dangerous that everyone wants it to end as soon as possible, and there would be no more risk." That is, it is obvious that with a certain percentage of losses, the infantrymen and horsemen attacked by pistollers did not risk defending themselves to the end, but everyone threw themselves and retreated in order to save their lives! But the pistoliers themselves were not too eager to die under a hail of bullets, and if they suffered heavy losses from the very beginning, they almost immediately retreated.
The Spaniards held on to their spears the longest in Europe, but they had a very bad time when they began to fight in Holland against mercenary cavalry from the British, Germans and Scots (well, the Dutch themselves, of course!), Armed like pistolier cavalry. And only Philip III indicated to abolish spears in the early years of the 17th century.
Double-barreled pistol Charles V (1519 - 1556) Germany, Munich. Length 49 cm. Caliber 11, 7 mm. Weight 2550 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
We can say that up to the middle of the 17th century, it was the pistoliers in Europe that were a kind of “doomsday weapon”, and their numbers and skillful use guaranteed victory. This was the reason why the Reitarskaya cavalry after the Time of Troubles was introduced in Russia as well. Without her, it was very difficult to achieve victory in the battles of that time!
Milanese armor 1600 g. Weight 19, 25 kg. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
However, over time, the pistoliers were abandoned. Why? Yes, simply because they all also wore heavy armor, and this was too expensive a price to pay for their invincibility. Well, and, of course, horses. Breeding horses for such cavalry and feeding them was not easy and expensive, especially in peacetime.
German carbine caliber 14, 2 mm 1680-1690 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
And when the Thirty Years War in Europe ended, and the Peace of Westphalia came, the armies began to resolutely "disarm", throwing off their armor and abandoning heavy horses. Under these conditions, the cuirassier cavalry turned out to be "more versatile", therefore it survived, but a little more specialized, but incomparably more expensive pistoliers have sunk into oblivion.
Armor of the "winged hussars". Museum of the Polish Army. Warsaw.
Longest of all in the version of "winged hussars" they held out in Poland, which at that time continued to fight the Turks. The Poles needed a "weapon" to break through the ranks of the Janissaries and she received and used it, but in the end she also abandoned these spectacular, effective, but too expensive horsemen!
