[gothic-l] Gothic Cavalry Strength

[Bertil Haggman]

Einar and Tore,

Even if Icelandic and Gotlandic horses were allowed to graze
this would not have been possible for the military commanders
of a weakened West Roman empire, where the commanders
were Gothic and others anyway.

The Goths learned from the Huns the use of the horse and
could during migration let the horses graze. During military
campaigning the natural security decisions don't allow
grazing. Grain feeding is necessary and that was the problem
the Romans faced. Roman cavalry had also earlier consisted
mainly of recruits from different parts of the empire.

If we turn to special works on the Late Roman Empire I would
like to recommend Arther Ferrill, _The Fall of the Roman Empire:
The Military Explanation_, London:Thames and Hudson, 1986.

The Roman Army was under threat from the at least the beginning
of the 4th century AD - afflicted by man-power shortages, loss
of status, declining morale, and rampant indiscipline. These are
well known facts. Of course, it has to be admitted, that at times
the Roman Army fought valiantly. Roman cavalry, quite under
strength for the task facing fighting armies based on horse culture,
was strategically inefficient, although it could at times be
tactically efficient. There was always the need to protect the
horses of the small cavalry detachments from surprise raids.

Thus Quigley, whose book is of course very broad because the
large time span it covers, has a point here. It is, as he
notes in the subtitle, _An Introduction to Historical Analysis_.
I think it is important to bring in this broad perspective to avoid
too much concentration on a few recent archaelogical articles
in reviews.

An important aspect of the Gothic warfare during the late empire
was also the sociology of weaponry, how structure and development
of society could be a reflection of the weapon system (in this case
cavalry) and military organization among the Goths.

Gothically

Bertil





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