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Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880 - 1918 (Birmingham Studies in First World War History)
Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880 1918 - Birmingham Studies in First World War History Author:Stephen Badsey A prevalent view among historians is that both horsed cavalry and the cavalry charge became obviously obsolete in the second half of the 19th Century in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower, and that officers of the cavalry clung to both for reasons of prestige and stupidity. It is this view, commonly held but rarely supported ... more »by sustained research, that this book challenges.Debate as to how the cavalry was to adjust its tactics in the face of increased infantry and artillery firepower can be traced back to the 1840s, when the increasing size of armies required an increasing need for mobile troops. The problem of how to deal with a gap in the evolution of warfare, between the mass army of the mid 19th Century and the fast-moving motorised firepower of the early 20th Century, provides an issue closely connected with the origins of the deadlock on the Western Front. Tracing the course of this debate, Dr Badsey shows how, despite serious attempts to 'learn from history', both European-style wars and colonial wars produced ambiguous or disputed evidence as to the future of cavalry.Altogether, the book shows how the achievements of the cavalry in the First World War, although controversial, were sufficient to contradict the argument that belief in the cavalry before 1914 was evidence of military incompetence. The whole story offers a case-study of how in reality a practical military doctrine was developed and modified according to circumstances.« less