Light cavalry refers to lightly-armed and armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders (and sometimes the horses) are heavily armored. The missions of the light cavalry were primarily reconnaissance, screening, skirmishing, raiding, and most importantly, communications, and were usually armed with spears, swords, bows and later pistols.

Light cavalry was used infrequently by the Greeks and Romans (though Roman auxiliaries were often mounted), but were popular among the armies and hordes of Central Asia. The Huns, Turks, Mongols and Hungarians were all adept light cavalrymen and horse archers.

With the decline of feudalism and knighthood in Europe, light cavalry became more prominent in the armies of the continent. Many were equipped with firearms, as their predecessors had been with bows. European examples of light cavalry included stradiots, hobelars, hussars, chasseurs à cheval, cossacks, chevau-légers and some dragoons.

Historical use

Armies of the ancient Roman-Germanic wars made use of Light Cavalry as patrolling squads, or armed scouts, and often had them in the front lines during regional battles.

During the Punic Wars, one of Carthage's main advantages over Roman armies were its extensive use of Numidian Light Cavalry. Partly because of this, the Roman General Scipio Africanus recruited his own cavalry from Sicily before his invasion of Tunisia during the Second Punic War.

During the Crusades between the Arabians and the Europeans, Light Cavalry were often used as foot-troops; the first of the military lines to charge into the conflict. The purpose of this was to establish room for the heavier warriors to attack and to provide tactical benefit.

See also

• Cavalry

• Irish hobelar

• Heavy cavalry

• Horse archer

• Horses in warfare

• Hussar

• Waler horse

References and notes