degradation of Greek cavalry in Hellenistic era

[geala]

Geala wrote:

It was handbook tactic and the task of heavy cavalry also to attack infantry bodies and it was done over and over again at least in the 18th century (from when we have better documentation than antiquity or the medieval times).

Yes, but not frontally, unless the infantry faltered and ran. As you yourself point out, successful attacks occurred from flank or rear or in other circumstances where the infantry were surprised and/or ran. Minden is a good example of what really happens when the infantry face up to "charging" cavalry - the best cavalry in Europe could not prevail in one "charge" after another, even with serious artillery support, against two successive thin lines of British and Hanoverian infantry - who were able to advance into the 'teeth' of the "charges" and drive the cavalry from the field..

Hello Paul,

but you know there were also other events where it was the other way round. Against a square there were fronts all around btw. Many examples I know came from battles in Germany, mainly the Silesian Wars and the Seven Years War, maybe not so well known to the English speaking world. But the events during the fight at Garcia Hernandez 1812 (Wellington in Spain) might be better known, where some firmly standing French squares were destroyed by cavalry, others not, giving us a perfect example what could happen in reality. I think many people visualize only the battle at Waterloo with the seemingly helpless French cavalry masses, repelled time after time by the British squares, when they think about cavalry against infantry. :wink: