The role of infantry and cavalry in european war: 1300-1500

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The role of infantry and cavalry in european war: 1300-1500

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries witnessed a decisive change in the balance between infantry and cavalry in European armies which went beyond the normal temporary fluctuations which had existed for many years. The total hegemony which the knightly heavy cavalry had enjoyed in previous centuries came under attack from a resurgent infantry with growing skills, the recognition of which saw their promotion from their previous role as a mere auxiliary arm of the great cavalry armies. While by no means sweeping aside the cavalry, infantry became increasingly important until by the end of the fifteenth century, some countries fought successfully despite using cavalry as a distinctly subordinate branch of their army.

The armoured cavalry of the European knights had its strength essentially in the shock value of its charges. This one strength had ensured its general supremacy when set against infantry in the centuries before 1300, and even as late as the Italian Wars, "Heavy cavalry continued to prove itself unequalled for shock tactics." In 1300, infantry was yet to develop the tactics or the weapons which would allow it to stand up to the cavalry charge, a difficulty which had not been widely overcome even by 1494, as suggested by the fact that the first French armies to invade Italy were made up of about two-thirds cavalry. In spite of the development of the offensive capability of the infantry up to this date, and of measures to blunt the effectiveness of cavalry charges, attacks by armoured horsemen remained the ultimate form of attack, capable of breaking up most formations of foot soldiers.

One of the underlying reasons behind the value of the heavy cavalry was that the knight's raison d'être was to be a warrior, and as a result of a lifetime's training, he was by far the best-trained of soldiers in late mediaeval armies. Their social position under the feudal system rested on their role as protectors of their peasants and as soldiers of the king, and the knightly military culture of tournaments and the like developed around them, ensuring that every nobleman was a well-trained, disciplined soldier. In 1347, Philip VI explained that, "...in the future he intended to use for war and lead into battle nothing but noblemen...For warfare, the only men of value were the noblemen, who had learned military skill from their youth and were raised for that purpose."

The cavalry not only retained its prominent position in most armies because of its military effectiveness, but also as a result of the high social standing of the knights. To fight as heavy cavalry was the preserve of the noble classes, and as such was a considerable honour. The commoners in the infantry were looked down upon, and military commanders would much rather have had their fellow nobles in their armies than the despised foot soldiers. This bias can in some cases be said to have artificially preserved the dominance of cavalry in armies in spite of the growing importance of the infantry.

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Although all of the factors listed above remained more or less constant in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, this is not to say that mounted knights did not need to follow some kind of development in order to maintain their importance. Cavalry was not immune to change, and the knights who fought in the Italian Wars at the end of the fifteenth century bore a number of differences from their counterparts in 1300. There was a tendency for the size of cavalry units to increase, in France for example there was a change at the end of the fourteenth century ...

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