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Ottoman Sipahi heavy cavalry, c. 1550 Early 16th-century French gendarmes, with complete plate armour and heavy lances Spanish Heavy Cavalry – Royal Armoury of Madrid, Spain. Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed shock cavalry. [1]
Ironically, the rise of infantry in the early 16th century coincided with the "golden age" of heavy cavalry; a French or Spanish army at the beginning of the century could have up to half its numbers made up of various kinds of light and heavy cavalry, whereas in earlier medieval and later 17th-century armies the proportion of cavalry was ...
Cavalry units, from the 16th century on, were more likely to charge other cavalry on the flanks of an infantry formation and try to work their way behind the enemy infantry. When they achieved this and pursued a fleeing enemy, heavy cavalry could still destroy an enemy army.
The Italian army maintains the Cuirassiers' Regiment (Italian: Reggimento Corazzieri) as the honour guard of the President of the Italian Republic. They are part of the Carabinieri. The Spanish army maintains a cavalry detachment as part of the Spanish Royal Guard, who wear cuirasses and are sometimes known as cuirassiers (Spanish: Coraceros).
In the early 16th century light cavalry in the European armies was principally remodeled after Albanian stradioti of the Venetian army, Hungarian hussars and German mercenary cavalry units (Schwarzreiter). [55] They employed hit-and-run tactics, ambushes, feigned retreats and other complex maneuvers.
Without cavalry, a 15th-century army was unlikely to achieve a decisive victory on the field of battle; battle might be decided by archers or pikemen, but a retreat could only be cut off effectively or followed-up by cavalry. [23] In the 16th century, a lighter, less expensive cavalry gained ground, so that the proportion of cavalry in the ...
A gendarme was a heavy cavalryman of noble birth, primarily serving in the French army from the Late Middle Ages to the early modern period.Heirs to the knights of French medieval feudal armies, French gendarmes enjoyed like their forefathers a great reputation and were regarded as the finest European heavy cavalry force [1] until the decline of chivalric ideals largely due to the ever ...
Improvements in armour for man and horse allowed cavalry to retain an important role into the 16th century. [50] Instead, the three components of revolution identified by Ayton and Price led to a rebalancing of the elements of the medieval tactical system, opening the way for an integrated arms approach in the 16th century. [51]