Osprey Men-at-Arms 138 : British Cavalry Equipments 1800-1941 (2002)

The disappearance of the working horse was abrupt. After a close association with man going back thousands of years, the horse has been supplanted by the internal combustion engine in the lifespan of one generation. Abrupt too has been the loss of knowledge of horses - not only the terminology associated with them, but also the appreciation of their nature. Generations accustomed to seeing horses only on the screen or the racing pages have begun to endow them with qualities they never had, nor ever will. Of course, all misconceptions are rapidly dispelled by first-hand contact with horses, to be replaced with an appreciation of their virtues and vices. Nevertheless, as the horse is nowadays the privilege of a few, the majority must remain content to be spectators. It is for the majority and not the experts, therefore, that this book by Mike Chappell is set out. From the opening years of the 19th century which saw the first moves towards standardisation and the beginnings of the demise of the system which allowed the colonels of regiments so much say in the equipping of their troops, through the influences of the Napoleonic Wars to the inevitable demise of the horse in military service brought about by the mechanisation prior to the Second World War, this text examines in detail the historical development of British cavalry equipment 1800-1941. Complemented throughout by first class photographs and illustrations including eight full page colour plates by the author himself, with detailed commentaries.

Contents

• Introduction
• 1800 to 1815
• 1815 to 1890
• 1890 to 1914
• 1914 to 1941
• Glossary
• Chronology
• Commentary on the Colour Plates