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Thread: Britannia

  1. #271
    Requin Member Vincent Butler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Britannia

    From Caesar's "De Bello Gallico":
    Their mode of fighting with their chariots is this: firstly, they drive about in all directions and throw their weapons and generally break the ranks of the enemy with the very dread of their horses and the noise of their wheels; and when they have worked themselves in between the troops of horse, leap from their chariots and engage on foot. The charioteers in the meantime withdraw themselves some little distance from the battle, and so place themselves with the chariots that, if their masters are overpowered by the number of the enemy, they may have a ready retreat to their own troops. Thus they display in battle the speed of horse, [together with] the firmness of infantry; and by daily practice and exercise attain to such expertness that they are accustomed, even on a declining and steep place, to check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest celerity to their chariots again. Book IV, XXXIII
    In XXIV of the same book, and then again in XXXVII, Caesar does mention British cavalry, in XXXVII he mentions a force of 6,000 strong, so they did have them. It appears that they were missile cav of a sort, he says they waded into the water and threw their weapons, and the cav would spur on their horses and attack the Romans who were unable to really fight back.
    Last edited by Vincent Butler; 08-22-2015 at 17:48.
    Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: Psalm 144:1

    In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
    As modest stillness and humility:
    But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
    Then imitate the action of the tiger;
    -Henry V by William Shakespeare

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