The Evolution of Cavalry in 16th century

How cavalry evolved in the pike and shot era and the importance of reiters.

One of the most dominant narratives regarding the military history of Europe is that the Middle Ages were a period of domination of “cavalry” whereas the pike and shot era was the period of “infantry revolution” which saw infantry becoming the dominant force on the battlefields.

However this view is to a large extent a deception as it ignores much more complex developments that took place. As I have already written in the past, cavalry continued to be important in the pike and shot era and its importance only increased with time, eventually becoming the single most important component in the armies of the Thirty Years’ War.

There is also something else I would like to address. Regarding the alleged cavalry domination in the Middle Ages, there is an interesting discussion whether we can even talk about “cavalry” during that period. In the opinion of military historian Hans Delbrück - who was one of the first modern military historians, writing in late 19th and early 20th century -, a distinction has to be made between “cavalry” and “knights”. He saw cavalry as an organized tactical body of horsemen, whereas knights were individual warriors who were able to operate together only loosely and did not possess a disciplined tactical system that would qualify them as cavalry.

How accurate is this assessment?

A depiction of two German cavalrymen from 1584.