How Effective were Spears Against Cavalry?

[Macedon]

3. A line of horsemen vs a dense line of spearmen

Here it is the spearmen who have the upper hand. The horse will not (under most circumstances, with the training techniques, the equipment and stratagems used in those - and I think even today - times) blindly run into what it perceives as a wall. That means that the horses would actually not even wildly charge into a line of swordsmen. One, two, maybe three would but not the whole line. So there goes the main threat. Spears though give an edge, since they can hit against horsemen approaching the line, pushing with a trotting movement against the men, jabbing with spears or those galloping along it. What a cavalry charge, a massive line of iron-clad horses thundering towards the infantry could achieve was that the line could not withstand the psychological pressure and left their lines degenerating into a disordered mass, taking us back to situation Nr 2.

Of course the ability of the horse to blindly charge into a wall (this is how the horse perceives a dense shieldwall) and its tactical use on the battlefield are an issue many of us have debated on for a long time and with a lot of arguments, but I think that consensus is that this was not the role of cavalry. After all, in order for such a tactic to be implemented one such horse with an equally resolute rider are not enough... you need hundreds of both of them.

With number 3 is that assuming a large number of infantry against a smaller number of horsemen or a large number of infantry against an equal number of horsemen? How much damage would a horse that did keep charging cause?


Slightly related question, in large numbers would a 'stampede mentality' make horses more likely to charge into danger?

This would be about any substantial mass of infantry regardless the number of cavalry. A densely formed (close or compact order) line (or square if the infantry fears flank attacks) would have this wall effect. As I have stated in the past, this does not mean that in the whole of history there was no cavalry charge against massed infantry, there have been such cases however debatable the circumstances of the charge (were the infantry in disorder? Does the writer imply a melee or just an approach to discharge javelins by the use of the word "attack"?, etc etc etc), but the study of battles and manuals reveals that such instances were very rare and were usually not a tactical choice to use cavalry. I think it was Nicephorus Phocas who urged in his manual that the cataphracts should attack the enemy commander EVEN if he was among infantry, and went on that cataphracts should not be afraid to attack infantry, (I can provide the exact quote if anyone needs it) which only shows that however this charge would take place (trot, slow gallop etc) it was not standard tactics and was considered very dangerous, even by the Nicephorian elite cataphract units.

I think that a horse that for any reason kept charging would first and foremost mean death for itself and most possibly for its rider. It reminds me of Xenophon's account of the use of chariots against the deep lines of the Egyptians in Cyropedia. I think that a single horse falling on the shields would not even be able to stampede more than a single enemy before checking its speed on its own and being stabbed from all sides with spears and swords fall among them. If it were a dead horse, it would probably slide a bit more and make more damage to the first men of the line. Yet, the infantry line would quickly recover, while horses of the back ranks would have to stop being unable to push the horse (dead or alive) in front of them. This inability of the horses to "push" is very often stressed in the sources.

In the extreme case where a cavalry line falls blindly as a whole into an infantry line, it becomes a matter of morale. If the infantry stands and does not instantly break by the suicidal resolution of the enemy, they will again have the upper hand, since they will be many against few. The infantry will have back ranks to push forward (assuming a non-shallow depth of 8-16) and there will be many men standing among the fallen masses of horses stabbing at them and their riders while the rear cavalry ranks will not be able to charge in (the masses of dead/dying horses also check the movement of horses) remaining stationary in front of infantry and thus at a great disadvantage.