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Historically, cavalry (from the French word cavalerie, itself derived from cheval meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback.Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in the roles of reconnaissance, screening, and skirmishing, or as heavy cavalry for decisive economy of force and shock attacks.
Armoured cavalry are military units using armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) instead of horses. They began to replace horse cavalry in the heavy shock and the light reconnaissance, skirmishing and exploitation/pursuit roles in most armies commencing after the First World War. In that succeeding capacity, the obsolete name "cavalry" was retained.
The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of Congress on 3 August 1861 and ceased as a distinct Army branch in 1942. [1]
The light armored cavalry regiment was developed in the United States Army in the first years of the Cold War to replace the mechanized cavalry groups used during World War II. The new regiments primarily tasked with providing reconnaissance and security capabilities at the corps level, although also able to attack and defend either mounted or ...
Harquebusier, carbine-armed cavalry, 17th century. The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was the technical name for this type of cavalry ...
During the Tang dynasty (618–907) the importance of infantry and lighter-armed cavalry and infantry increased while that of the armoured cavalry decreased, with horse armour seldom used. However, armoured cavalry were again used by the Song dynasty (960–1279) and its enemies, including the Jin, Xi Xia, Mongols, and Khitans.
Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily raiding , reconnaissance , screening , skirmishing , patrolling , and tactical communications .
The German cavalry retained the lance as a service weapon until 1927, as did the British cavalry until 1928. Some other armies retained lance-armed cavalry units for ceremonial purposes only. The Polish cavalry did not discard the lance as a weapon until 1934 [ 12 ] or 1937 [ 13 ] and continued to use it for training and ceremonial purposes ...