Gustavus Adolphus

“The strength of the Byzantines lay in their heavy cavalry, and this they set up in two lines and a reserve, whose three successive shocks told well. Courage was valued highly, but discretion and a knowledge of how to utilize varying conditions were deemed a better quality.”

“The feature characterizing the history of the art of war, from the fall of the Roman empire to the era of the Reformation, is the rise of cavalry as the main reliance of nations, and the corresponding decadence of infantry. This condition lasted for many centuries, until the English long-bow and the Swiss pike and halberd, coupled to the growth of firearms, again reduced the horseman to his true level.”

“The feudal knight was so utterly without discipline or reliability that mercenaries gradually crept into favor. But the mercenary was cast in the same mould; he was a man in armor, if not a knight, and was equally bold and useless, though more loyal to his chief. So long as he was paid, he would stay with the colors, which was more than you could count on in the knight. The mercenary became the support of autocratic monarchs; but when, at the end of a war, bands of mercenaries began to move to and fro over the face of the country, seeking a new lord and fresh campaigns, they became of questionable utility and unquestionable danger.”

“Of war there was much; of art in war there was little – as we understand it, none – until Gustavus Adolphus again infused method into what others had done with no method at all. Strategy had rarely shown itself since the days of Cæsar; tactics was whatever suited each nation or tribe, and never rose to the rank of grand-tactics.”

“Theodosius began to enlist bands of Teutonic chiefs, and from now on the Roman soldier quite lost caste, and the barbarian horseman became the pillar of the empire.”

“That the old Roman quality had perished was abundantly proven by the numerous ballistic machines, and by the beams and stakes carried along on pack-mules, not for the ancient purpose of entrenching the nightly camp, but to save the legion from cavalry attacks on the field of battle. These supplementary engines and tools meant that the legion had been reduced to an un-Roman defensive.”

“It was thus arose all over Europe the idea that cavalry should be the chief and only arm; the idea that mounted service alone was honorable; the idea that the footman was a sloven and a coward.”

“Adrianople made it evident that the legions alone could no longer uphold the Roman supremacy.”

“When the kingdom of Charles the Great was broken up and the local counts began to acquire a semi-independence, feudalism arose, and horsemen acquired still greater importance. They had their merits. It was they who kept back the vast inroads of that era from north, east and south. Without them Christendom might have been overrun; no wonder the knight in armor won the regard of the whole earth.”

“From the establishment of feudalism until the Swiss at Morgarten and the English at Crécy proved the ability of good foot to withstand the best of cavalry, the horseman was preeminent.”

“Ehrenbreitstein”