Heavy cavalry is invincible in Europe, why is there little time in China to show its face
In the era of cold weapons, the cavalry has always been the existence of crushing various arms, it has the mobility of "as fast as the wind, as fast as thunder" and the powerful battlefield impact, making it very difficult for infantry to resist. And cavalry, also divided into several kinds, such as light cavalry, heavy cavalry, cuirassier cavalry, etc., of which heavy cavalry in the cold weapons invincible, the most famous.
In Europe, the feudal knights were actually heavy cavalry, they were dressed in heavy armor, swords could not penetrate, and when they charged, the sound was like thunder, and the momentum was amazing. At that time, the number of knights under the feudal lords of Europe was often able to determine the outcome of a battle.
However, in ancient China, there were few heavy cavalry, and even if there were, they could not change the situation of the war. So what exactly is the reason. What about the gap between the cold weapons period between China and the West?
First, the difference in the number of fighters
In European feudal society, wars were mostly battles between the feudal power lord and another feudal power lord, and the scale of the battle was relatively small. The number of warring sides rarely exceeds 10,000, so five hundred or a thousand heavy cavalry are very important, and they can be used as a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, thus changing the situation of the battle.
But in China, it is rare for heavy cavalry to change the tide of battle. After all, on the Chinese battlefield, the battle scenes are quite fierce, and the number is large, and a small number of heavy cavalry cannot affect the battle situation.
Second, the cost of heavy cavalry is too expensive
Some people may say that since a small number of heavy cavalry cannot change the situation of the war, then a large number of heavy cavalry is not enough, in fact, this statement is very absurd, because heavy cavalry is actually a money-burning machine.
The first to build heavy cavalry often requires expensive armor, which he uses to resist stray arrows on the battlefield and the weapons of ordinary infantry. I want to know that this set of armor must be expensive, in addition to the heavy cavalry also need a strong war horse, because only a strong war horse can carry heavy armor, so the war horse is also extremely rare, expensive.
In addition, warhorses and heavy cavalry need additional training, because individual heavy cavalry are not effective, and only hordes of heavy cavalry have the effect of tearing apart the opposing defenses. So if you want the heavy cavalry to have combat effectiveness, you need to train them first, train their formations and horses.
In addition, it is necessary to train the light cavalry and infantry that cooperate with them, so as to form an effective cover for the heavy cavalry and allow the heavy cavalry to successfully complete the charging task (such as the iron floating tu needs the cover of the abductor horse). Such a high cost, I believe that the rulers of ancient China will not train heavy cavalry on a large scale.
Reference: History of the Development of Chinese and Foreign Cold Weapons