The Romans Did This To Defend Against Cavalry

In this video we demonstrate how Roman soldiers used the famous testudo formation to defend themselves against cavalry. Using their large, rectangular scutum shields to create a solider barrier, they were able to deter approaching horsemen from making a direct charge. Mark Hatch from the Roman Military Research Society explains how it worked.

[@survivehistory]

If you enjoyed this Short, check out the full length episode and please consider supporting the channel at: ko-fi.com/survivehistory

[@Intranetusa]

A shield wall isn't really a static version of the testudo. The testudo was a close order formation that was great against enemy projectile weapons, but was vunerable to melee combat (as the men were packed too tightly to fight back effectively). There are also artistic and textual depictions of the use of the pila against infantry. Anyways, great use of different armors to portray the Roman legions.

[@Sandwich13455]

You made a schilltron

[@X-boomer]

Shorts suck. Cut off in mid sentence!

[@armyaj]

The fact he's speaking RESTORED CLASSICAL LATIN!! Luke would be proud

[@martincisar2002]

Sed pronuntiatione terribili loquitur! (with terrible pronounciation)

[@armyaj]

@@martincisar2002 hey take what we can get. Not everybody can be as great as Luke right haha or his avid watchers

[@senseishu937]

​@@martincisar2002"facitaaaaaaay"

[@specialnewb9821]

​​@martincisar2002 man was clearly recruited from the barbarians, he is doing his best with his germanic accent.

[@Kroetens]

Ugh......................................................................

[@ptag7566]

As a horse I can confirm I am a bit scared to charge.

[@patrickconklin5946]

Nay nay!

[@cjmabanta2950]

Nani!!!!

[@nobliuman]

What if this comment was really wrote by a horse

[@iche9373]

Don't worry, you are a Cataphract.

[@whiteknightcat]

@@iche9373 Did somebody say CATaphract?

[@theCrimsonTemplar]

Props to the cameraman for going back in time to film this

[@gae_wead_dad_6914]

Too bad it's 6th century Germanic reeenactors from when Britain was already r*ped by Angles and Saxons.

[@OscarSchneegans]

And to the Romans for learning 21st Century English.

[@jay_vng]

They say horses don’t charge against walls… but it’s not easy to keep this formation static and keep your head cold against enemy cavalry approaching fastly 🙃

[@kane357lynch]

Yeah but people were built different then

[@H-1467]

that's why they are legionaires and not jeff

[@EnbyOccultist]

@@kane357lynchThe same proportion as are now, it's just that back then people who weren't didn't live long enough to make history. Survivor bias and all that.

[@matthewishunting]

Blah blah "but" blah blah

[@concisecipher1]

Especially against armored cataphracts like the Persians would use. Sure it could potentially stop a charge but there can definitely be tons of losses if the formation isn’t braced at the right time or if chargers from multiple sides.

[@KusariGama101]

"A massive amount of horse flesh, charging at you" nough said

[@jonbong8547]

🥵

[@williammerkel1410]

​@@jonbong8547 that's what she said

[@kevinellis9533]

That's what neigh said

[@David-ns4ym]

The British were in love with masses cavalry charge since it had a psychological effect. When thousands of horses are thundering towards you. It can crack the nerve of an enemy

[@BeanMachine360]

"Any horse would be scared by the sheer-" Looks like its effective against camera men aswell.

[@montyhinton4971]

Trained horses is a consideration also the size difference in todays horses and Roman horse breeds

[@blackinferno57]

hey thanks, I forgot for a moment there that bronze age horses are a whole different game to what you see in paddocks today

[@Darqshadow]

​@blackinferno57 horses of the Iron age and early medieval period were the size of what we call ponies today. Very stout and rather strong but still shortish

[@satsebeli]

​@@Darqshadowthat's actually a myth that appeared in the 19th century and has been debunked many times already. Iron age and medieval horses weren't the size of a pony

[@SLAPZ91]

@@satsebelicould you provide a source? Not saying you’re wrong, I would just like to read more about that but can’t find anything that dispels it.

[@SLAPZ91]

@@satsebelimost people think Shetland or another dwarfish pony whenever they hear that word, but it would not surprise me that the majority of equine back then were below 14.5 hands

[@thewastedwanderer5787]

Doesn’t show it with six people but imagine the sound and flashing of glittering metal when thousands would be doing it. Especially the trumpets and calls of their officers.

[@Denasgurman]

I hope they would a bit more "enthousiastic" than thoses fellas, they seemed so tired of this scct when doing it.

[@prophetrexlexful8783]

Can you please make a list with all the craftsmen who made those gear and clothes of everybody of your unit.. because finding historic accurate stuff is hard...

[@channonfenris6627]

They probably made it themselves.. sad to say.

[@prophetrexlexful8783]

@@channonfenris6627 not possible.. not everyone is a smith or has the skills.. and in reenactment there are these craftsmen which are historical accurate with their work but somehow hard to find...

[@prophetrexlexful8783]

i make a list here for medieval ethusiast: Helmet: Tomala lublin shield(authentic roudnshield): Jan dolgowicz Authenticshields from polen (on etsy) Sword ( from 10th -14th and i guess more): historicalswordzone damian sulowski shoes: Recocraft (poland) Bows: Joe gibbs i can garantee they make good quality products with historical references

[@scottn1019]

Does Todd cutler make any of this or is he just medieval?

[@prophetrexlexful8783]

@@scottn1019 tod makes daggers and swords and falchion and crossbows/arrows and also shields (the norman one)

[@BorninPurple]

The reenactor is completely wrong about this: the Romans didn't utilise a static testudo against cavalry. The Romans did that against Parthia in Carrhae and were destroyed because Parthian heavy cavalry simply charged through the formation. Mark Anthony used it as a feint against Parthian Cavalry in order to draw them in. The Late Romans utilised a formation called a fulcum, which wasn't implied to be a dense formation like a testudo (may have been due to the nature of late Roman infantry) which may have been against heavy archer based armies (or against armies with horse archers). Basically, getting into a testudo against cavalry is suicide: the unit is strained too much to stand against a full momentum charge - the testudo itself was used against missile units, leaving it weak against cavalry.

[@lashlarue7924]

Yeah I would have guessed this just by looking at the defensive statistics of the Parthian cataphracts in Rome: Total War 😜

[@HaNsWiDjAjA]

Indeed. The Roman legionaries did use a very dense formation with pilum used as spears when facing a heavy cavalry charge. This was described in "Array Against the Alans" by the Roman officer Flavius Arrianus from the 3rd century AD. But Arrian certainly did not write of them forming a roof of shields while doing so.

[@mactire2702]

Congratulations, you've played Rome: Total War.

[@oskaraskasala8138]

First of all, thats not what happened at carrhae, the romans did not lose because they were charged by heavy cavalry, they lost because horse archers kept shooting and harrasing them for the whole day. And horses dont want to charge at something that seems like a wall, they are not stupid and suicidal zombies who dont feel pain

[@HaNsWiDjAjA]

@@oskaraskasala8138 It was a combination of cataphract charges and harassing horse archers that did in the Romans at Carrhae. This was made clear in the original source documents, both Plutarch as well as Cassius Dio: Plutarch, Life of Crassus: "Then, as the enemy got to work, their light cavalry rode round on the flanks of the Romans and shot them with arrows, while the mail-clad horsemen in front, plying their long spears, kept driving them together into a narrow space, except those who, to escape death from the arrows, made bold to rush desperately upon their foes. These did little damage, but met with a speedy death from great and fatal wounds, since the spear which the Parthians thrust into the horses was heavy with steel, and often had impetus enough to pierce through two men at once." Cassius Dio: "When this had taken place, the Roman infantry did not turn back, but valiantly joined battle with the Parthians to avenge his death. Yet they accomplished nothing worthy of themselves because of the enemy's numbers and tactics, and particularly because Abgarus was plotting against them. For if they decided to lock shields for the purpose of avoiding the arrows by the closeness of their array, the lancers were upon them with a rush, striking down some, and at least scattering the others; and if they extended their ranks to avoid this, they would be struck with the arrows. Hereupon many died from fright at the very charge of the lancers, and many perished hemmed in by the horsemen. Others were knocked over by the lances or were carried off transfixed. The missiles falling thick upon them from all sides at once struck down many by a mortal blow, rendered many useless for battle, and caused distress to all."

[@richter6699]

It might look a bit wonky when it's 6 guys, but imagine 10,000. You could even have darts and javelins coming over from the deeper ranks. I sure as hell wouldn't want to attack them lol

[@jules8876]

That formation unfortunately couldn't stop a cavalry charge. The pilum is a horrible anti-cavalry hand weapon because it's effectively a one hit wonder, bending all the way to uselessness with one contact with the enemy. I don't know where this guy got this information but it certainly didn't come from actual Roman legionary era tactics.

[@215618680]

My name is Mr. Ed and I approve of this message.

[@TheGosslings]

“The Fox knows many tricks. The hedgehog one good one.”

[@adamallen7070]

I love how you can see the similarities between Classical Latin and Spanish which is descended from it

[@specialnewb9821]

Its really interesting how you have romance languages being a mix of latin and whatever their particular history like Spanish have arabic origin words because of al andalus.

[@Cactusgamer303]

Honestly the whole Latin language is similar to a lot of languages but yeah

[@Toverneger]

Just like French, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian.

[@gordonlekfors2708]

Spanish is not descended from Classical Latin. it's descended from Vulgar Latin, which is different. yes, there are similarities, but it's not a descendent.

[@gordonlekfors2708]

​​@@Tovernegerthey're not descended from Classical Latin, technically.

[@AsiaDanceScene]

Love the words horse flesh. Great way to describe it

[@iiam2214]

Thousands of 🐎 are heading towards you at full speed. This had to be a terrifying position to be in.

[@Transgender-ProphetMohammed]

Whut?!

[@SponsorShort]

Cassius Dio says many Roman soldiers had heart attacks on the very start of such charge.

[@iiam2214]

@@SponsorShort I believe it, the adrenaline and seeing the whole cavalry heading to your position. Its Madness

[@def3ndr887]

It’s the reason soldiers were punished severely for minor things.

[@stefanchudziak5997]

It annoys me when people use javelin, pilum, and spear interchangeably. Their they’re there.

[@creanero]

It's more like gun -> rifle -> assault rifle. A spear is a straight stick with a pointy end. A javelin is a type of spear optimised for throwing. A pilum is a type of javelin commonly used by Roman legions. Similarly: A gun is a tube containing stuff that goes bang and something come out the other end. A rifle is a gun that has spin-inducing grooves in the tube. An assault rifle is a rifle with select fire and a magazine of intermediate cartridges. It's supersets and subsets: All assault rifles are guns, but not all guns are assault rifles (no matter what journalists might think). Similarly, a pilum and an assegai are both javelins, and thus both spears, but not all javelins are pila.

[@mohamed-fb9vt]

Caesar Said to his front line soldiers in his legion to sit down and used Thier pilum as spear to counter cavalry

[@butlazgazempropan-butan11k87]

The lack of armor noises left me deeply dissapointed

[@xys7536]

You mean SQUARES SIR SQUARES now that's SOLDERING

[@CR-vv7tt]

Excellent video 🔥

[@HeisenStark13]

I'm a horse and I am terrified!

[@rizzlebazzle5845]

Very similar to 17th-19th century tactic of fixing bayonets and forming a square to protect infantry against cavalry

[@TV2016Channel]

"Any horse that comes towards us will be scared with the sheer move..." *Gets run downed*

[@femboyskeleton9150]

any Roman infantrymen would be more scared by the sheer movement of the cavalry charge aha

[@leadingauctions8440]

This is awesome

[@CyprianLachowicz-b3s]

That Anglo-Saxon accent when he’s speaking Latin cracks me up.

[@derrickbonsell]

You better hope that your own cavalry is on the way because if the enemy does manage to charge you, and they sometimes were able to, this formation would only help so much.

[@Osd101]

"Okie dokie" - Gaius Julius Caesar

[@adamb8317]

The best part is that the plates on the back of a tortoise are also named Scuta, like the shields used for its namesake (testudo)

[@jasonsamson6172]

Amazing channel

[@Truck_Kun_Driver]

"we've found a solution for that" he's not acting anymore 😂

[@Raz.C]

The Romans had ANOTHER way of fending off cavalry. They called it "Digging a ditch." They also, on occasion, would turn trees into logs and logs into long bits of wood with very pointy bits on the end. They would have the pointy bits facing outwards and could thus defend against cavalry without needing to have any men taking any action at all.

[@robertjohnsuan5758]

And a counter solution was to blindfold a horse.

[@danwelterweight4137]

Very good chance your horse could trip on a rock or hole and fall really badly on top of you before you even get to near the shield wall.

[@dantefortheparty]

3:07:00 this rant Night Lords fans is absolutely correct. -The Night Lords Fan.

[@alanmacpherson3225]

How would they defend against Asterisk and Obelix?

[@Gideonthestargazer]

They demonstrated this in the movie' King Arthur' ,2004 but the Saxons use this technique.

[@MegaChalupe]

This is also, by the way, why soldiers stood in lines are fired at each other with the introduction of the musket. It was to repel cavalry charges.

[@cezarynapora7171]

In the heyday of Rome, horsemen had no way of charging infantry because they lacked stability and could easily fall off their horses when they collided with infantrymen. That's why they lost to elephants, for example, and were literally destroyed by tribes that learned to use stirrups, thanks to which they could fight on horseback without much risk of falling (yes, I know there were other reasons, but that was one of the biggest).

[@xXSEGISMUNDOXx]

Contra equites fajitas sounds delicous ngl

[@gordonmacdowell8117]

Curved shields are to give your body somewhere to be in the crush, instead of being suffocated against a flat shield in the press.

[@saeedkholghi9657]

Did it fare well against Sassanid cataphract?

[@SponsorShort]

Cataphracts had very long lances(at least 4 meters). They could easily run it between the shields and impale the legionnaires like chickens. The only tactic that worked was to prevent them to come too close. In Carrhae just 1000 Cataphract destroyed 7 legions without significant losses just because they had access to them.

[@Apodeipnon]

Massive amount of horse flesh 😳

[@jamesbedwell8793]

Weirdly, this isn't the most effective anti-cavalry formation that the Romans used. I think it was Vegetius who describes the "orbis", which looks a lot like this, only circular. In this way, a small group of soldiers (typically a manus i.e. 16 men) can be completely defended from a cavalry charge from any direction.

[@IllyrianPrince14]

wouldnt want to be the one kneeling down frontline against a charging horse. Great way to break your spine

[@nikola4962]

The accent is a tragedy but the effort is bravo

[@civilwildman]

Looks like a cross between a Roman Testudo formation and a Greek Phalanx formation.

[@Cornerboy73]

Anyone else start singing Vertigo at that countdown !?

[@LesterMoore]

What about those three pronged metal ground cover throwdowns meant to pierce the soft under part of horses hooves? Upon stepping on one, the horse would rear and throw the cavalryman off onto the ground, stunning and possibly injuring him.

[@jamesbedwell8793]

Called a caltrop, and they did work but they also tend to prevent your soldiers marching there, and took some set-up, so the Romans used them to prepare a battlefield, not as a last minute defensive measure

[@LesterMoore]

@@jamesbedwell8793 Thsnk you for this information. Stuff looked nasty.😱

[@renevalice3056]

When you teleport Romans into our time: perfect war lessons

[@Losttoanyreason]

Didn't work in the late 200s/early 300s AD when they transitioning to the round shields. This armor is from the early Empire and what we stereo-typically expect to see in movies that involve the Roman Empire regardless for the century. Great for the first century AD though. not sure if it was guts or the fear of capital punishment for running that kept the legionares in the porcipine formation.

[@xXIcariaXx]

The video of a knight behind fired of his feet reenactment comes to mind 😆

[@him050]

I love in movies when they’re all speaking English but then say “testudo” 😂

[@Samuel42069]

But arent the javelins to soft to be used as actual spears to stab with? They are used to be thrown, it breaks off upon impact if thrown at armored enemy or hard surface. Horse is pretty hard surface. Throwing one at horse would probably be more effective and disrupt cavalry formation more if you manage to hit it before charge does impact on you

[@cioruizpastor3925]

lol i never heard latin with american accent, as a person whos first language is a romance one is hilarious. good video btw

[@swainscheps]

I think those soldiers could use a little discipline! Not exactly hopping to it when you’re shouting orders at them. Maybe a week of KP or a taste of the lash would motivate them…

[@tomgilesmarvoloryley]

Maybe they're just back from a night out in Baiae

[@joshschneider9766]

so william wallace was coincidentally recreating a roman empire technique for anti cavalry operations. neat to know.

[@qqn4531]

Sum good romanized Britton that is !

[@DAVELAD101]

Times that by 5000-10000 horses some in heavy armour it’s one scary thought

[@noodleincup]

No, their strategy was a lot simplier, horses charged between the tortoises and ones being in heavy losses were compensated by the legion choreography, slaughtering those stuck to fight riders in the back and flank. If to ignore pilum throwing at all. And the training needed for cavalry, mostly, horses, to charge at wall if there are other horses going sideways. So that lost speed and maneuverability plus heavy range battle losses were their stratagem. And spies. If there were an HORDE of riders that made legion shiver they didnt go out without real preparations. Or just killed the kings armies before it posed danger to legions or Rome.

[@furiousfelicia5751]

I don’t even know how they made horses charge anything to be honest. They can be spooked by their own shadows.

[@Jesse-wn6jd]

A lot of conditioning, training and some would argue abuse until the horse tunes out the sounds, colours and clamoir of combat i assume

[@cordingdesert9566]

I prefer long pointy sticks, but that just me.

[@mechcommander7876]

A pointy bit on a long stick has stacked more bodies than any other weapon in human history. A spear, or any of its permutations, is probably one of the finest all-purpose infantry weapons outside of firearms.

[@unoriginalhazard]

​@@mechcommander7876don't let gun enthusiasts hear that or they'll pull out the "M1911 has killed more than anyone in history" shite 😂

[@jamiemezs9891]

Why did the Romans discontinue this Shields an armor.?❤

[@tomgilesmarvoloryley]

They gradually switched to more round shields, which would probably be because they're much easier to make and easier to learn how to use. In the later period of the empire there was less money going around due to external stresses on the empire and nasty civil wars, and also the way both the Romans and their enemies fought in the field changed a lot as well. This isn't to say late roman armies were necessarily bad, or poorly equipped, they still had well trained, heavily armoured soldiers and they still won many victories right until the western half collapsed. You can do lots of fun things with a round shield as well, and round shields were used with a lot of success well into the middle ages

[@EricDaMAJ]

The good news is that horses weren’t the large versions of the medieval era nor did they have stirrups to facilitate large lance use. Because a knightly charge would’ve blown right through that.

[@thurbine2411]

Depends on how many layers you have but yes it would be preferable with larger sticks

[@populusalba8461]

one word "cataphract"

[@EricDaMAJ]

@@populusalba8461 The early Greeks and Romans referred to ANY armored horsemen as "cataphracts." But just because you slapped some chain mail or scale male on a guy with a small horse, no stirrups, and a spear doesn't make him capable against a post Marian reform Roman Legion. They generally weren't except as part of a combined arms force. The cataphracts with lances that were a rough equivalent to early Medieval knights didn't show up in the Roman Empire til the 4th or 5th century.

[@populusalba8461]

@@EricDaMAJ but already existed further east, your point is invalid

[@EricDaMAJ]

@@populusalba8461 Nope. You need big horses and big lances to break a Marian reform Roman Legion all by itself. Those didn't exist anywhere in the world during the early Roman Empire.

[@Gwagon_G]

HELL YEAH!

[@harrisonbates155]

I expected "NIHIL. NIIHIL. NIIIIIIHIIIILLLLL" AFTER THE UNO DUOS TRES

[@TheHollomap]

Yeah.... I can just assume they would never do this. A trained warhorse is not scared of that.

[@shmeagol]

Okey dokey said the Roman calmly.

[@brunozeigerts6379]

But was it useful against Asterix and Obelix?

[@carlosfurtado1164]

*Obelix

[@brunozeigerts6379]

@@carlosfurtado1164 My bad.

[@HollyMoore-wo2mh]

A well trained horse would ride through that.

[@insertname3977]

Not the horses they had at the time. It took hundreds of years of selective breeding to get the sort of horses that we think of making cavalry charges.

[@queldron]

**Parthian laughing in the distance**

[@postmodernmining]

As they replenish their arrows

[@B1Gdipper]

SO what went wrong at the battle of Carrhae?

[@tbone6203]

Idk would have luved to see that- but being a n.c boy - i grew up around horses on my pops farm -horses are diff- history presents itself in the history of my people- all scots and hugenots- 1722--- eastern south carolina

[@alvinip9128]

Aren't shield walls suppose to lock their shields with each other?

[@pascalp1469]

The Roman Legionnaire were quite advance in terms of tactics for their time. Same applies to their technologies and resources usage.

[@nomosciya8805]

It sounds like the guy is a software developer talking about static versions and arrays 😂

[@Dante_-cg3fq]

FORM TESTUDO AND DEFEND!❤

[@MoonguKang]

Why reinvent the wheel when they should be forming square? Horses can turn

[@sera2775]

My scutum is rectangular as well😂

[@AvrahamYairStern]

Romans defending themselves on the streets of Londonium:

[@femboyskeleton9150]

it was called Londinium when the Romans ruled it

[@arvideng9333]

But isn't infantry the weekness for cav? Maybe I play too much Shogun 2,

[@pauldean8638]

You can train horses , horses have had to face firing cannons and masses of soldiers . One horse going full belt is going to wipe out how many romans?

[@malachor5ve]

I'm not sure where you got the idea of gen z having over involved helicopter parents. It seems like the vast majority of gen z were just left to rot, they didnt really have parents to guide them. They were left to be raised by youtube/instagram/tik tok

[@femboyskeleton9150]

wrong video???

[@malcolmclancytv2262]

If anyone knows anything about the pilums anti-cavalry potential LMK plz. Writing a book.... On one hand soft shaft narrative suggests it'd be ineffective v. cavalry compared to a regular spear. But pilae came in different calibers so to speak...

[@HaNsWiDjAjA]

I suggest you check out the primary source document "Arrian's Array Against the Alans". It described the pilum being used as an anti cavalry spear, right down to the shaft bending when striking the heavy armor of the Alan horsemen. Apparently that did not bother the Romans.

[@eh2587]

Couldnt the horse just flank from the sides?

[@qbpdnguyen2844]

It is not easy to stop a horse rushing with high speed even if you are a good rider. Plus the Romans can throw pilum at them if they do be able to avoid the dmg

[@JoshuaLikesGrahamCrackers]

This ain't total war where you can click left or right and they can turn so easily and quickly.

[@robinharwood5044]

A I think a full testudo covered the sides as well.

[@Ruyan212]

In a big enough field without enough support from other units a unit could be flanked, yes, so force commanders would always try to minimise the risk by scouting and preparing the battlefield and coming up with plans for how their units can protect one another

[@Simpson17866]

That's exactly why the Romans liked to form hollow squares against cavalry attacks from all sides ;) This tactic is most famous for the time when it didn't work (Crassus trying to invade Parthia, only for his army to be surrounded by thousands of horse archers with hundreds of thousands of arrows), but it worked very well when Caesarians were attacked by the Pompeians outside the Spanish town of Ilerda ;)

[@bobolin3607]

I know better than asking this but are they counting in Spanish?

[@MarcoCaprini-do3dq]

Latin

[@Tungdil_01]

LA: Unus, Duo, Tres IT: Uno, Due, Tre ES: Uno, Dos, Tres PT: Um, Dois, Três FR: Un, Deux, Trois

[@stefajesus]

Love this but man that Latin pronunciation could really use some work 😂

[@Lycurgus1982]

Easier said then done.

[@基督教是光和道路]

The lack of enthusiasm is hilariously British.

[@richardlionerheart1945]

Leavig a timestamp like this because i don't trust youtube to remember it 23:52

[@dareka9425]

I made a joke by pronouncing "tortoise" like the guy did in the video during an English language lesson and my teacher corrected me.

[@JHaras]

The real joke is his Latin pronunciation, believe me. But hey, he tried 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@rubenheymans1988]

I don't think this is true and a testudo is a terrible formation against horse charges as it's very static and they can just run around you and attack from behind. Testudo was used in sieges to protect against Missiles before reaching the walls

[@Chillemdafoe]

Yall shouldve let them win their invasion if you wanted to be them so bad😂

[@stop-the-greed]

R vanith r vanith r vanith i cried

[@theectoplasmish2657]

The counting in old latin sounds so similar to Spanish language.

[@vondantalingting]

Sometimes I really wonder if people understood the Idea of an era. Early Empire legions didn't encounter massive thorough bred horses that Knights rode. Modern horses are giants compared to anything Principate armies faced and even rode. The romans rode literal Ponies compared to the kind of horses we see today. Theres a reason why Roman cavalry sucked and why the most successful cavalrymen during the late republic to early Imperial era were Germans, scythians, Tarentin, and Numidian cavalry while Alexander's Companion cavalry deserves a mention. If one is to wonder exactly how these cavalry fought: Tarentine and numidians hurled javelins at a distance, scythians pelted arrows, and the Germans fought the other army's Cavalry before cutting a hole on the enemy's flank. Did any of them do cavalry charges? Hell no, other than Persian cataphracts the majority of cavalry didn't do proper charges towards defensible infantry. They simply didn't: have the heft for that, the carrying capacity for that, nor the confidence for that. Besides most of Romes enemies weren't cavarly based armies. They were mostly infantry except the east. Whats the point of using pikes when the sarisa fell to them?

[@hogg8888]

Terrifying

[@panchopistola8298]

Whatever I saw them do that in “ Gladiator “ nothing to see here .

[@Platanis2008]

That didn't work well against Parthian or Sarmatian heavy cavalry/horse-archers, though...