lost a
relentless foe, and the revolutionary elements in Italy a gifted, if not
entirely trustworthy, leader. (H. W. S.)

CAVALRY (Fr. _cavalerie_, Ger. _Kavallerie_ or _Reiterei_, derived
ultimately from late Lat. _caballus_, horse), a word which came into use
in military literature about the middle of the 16th century as applied
to mounted men of all kinds employed for combatant purposes, whether
intended primarily for charging in masses, in small bodies, or for
dismounted fighting. By degrees, as greater refinement of terminology
has become desirable, the idea has been narrowed down until it includes
only "horsemen trained to achieve the purpose of their commander by the
combined action of man and horse," and this definition will be found to
cover the whole field of cavalry activity, from the tasks entrusted to
the cavalry "corps" of 10,000 sabres down to the missions devolving on
isolated squadrons and even troops.

Early use of mounted warriors.

_History_--The evolution of the cavalry arm has never been uniform at
any one time over the surface of the globe, but has always been locally
modified by the conditions of each community and the stage of
intellectual development to which at any given moment each had attained.
The first condition for the existence of the arm being the existence of
the horse itself, its relative scarcity or the reverse and its
adaptability to its environment in each particular district have always
exercised a preponderating influence on the development of cavalry
organization and tactics. The indigenous horses of Europe and Asia being
very small, the first application of their capabilities for war purposes
seems everywhere to have been as draught animals for chariots, the
construction of which implies not only the existence of level surfaces,
perhaps of actual roads, but a very considerable degree of mechanical
skill in those who designed and employed them. The whole of the
classical and Oriental mythologies, together with the earliest monuments
of Egypt, Assyria and India, are convincing on this point. Nowhere can
we find a trace either of description or delineation of animals
physically capable of carrying on their backs the armed men of the
period. All the earliest allusions to the use of the horse in war either
point directly to the employment as a draught animal, or where not
specific, as in the description of the war-horse in Job, they would
apply equally well to one