"If my army had Cossack cavalry, I would have conquered the whole world." - Napoleon
The Cossack cavalry was an excellent cavalry unit, and its descendants galloped on the steppes of eastern Europe, and were known for their bravery and good fighting. These cavalry have always been an important force of Tsarist Russia.
In the era of cold weapons, the cavalry was the heavy weapon of the country. A well-equipped and well-trained cavalry can turn things around in an instant and become a magic weapon for victory. Just as the Mongol cavalry was so powerful that it established the Mongol Empire, this cavalry cannot be underestimated. But why did such a cavalry lose the Russo-Japanese War? How did the mighty of an era end?
The Cossack cavalry once made a glorious history
The Cossack cavalry, the crystallization of the unique culture of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples, lived on the steppes and was the main force supporting Tsarist Russia's expansion to the south and east in the seventeenth century. Their mobility was extremely fast, and they could retreat quickly even in unfavorable conditions. Immortal feats have been established in history, and they have won the reputation of bravery and good fighting.
In the history of Tsarist Russia, the October Revolution kicked off the Red Revolution, and after Lenin began to establish the Soviet Union, the Cossack cavalry, which had been used heavily, was excluded.
In fact, the Cossack cavalry units, after the outbreak of the October Revolution, had been a powerful force of the White Guards against Bolshevism, with only a few supporting the Red Army. Therefore, it has always existed as an example of reaction in the history of the USSR.
Tsarist pride and complacency did not attach importance to the Russo-Japanese War
In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War broke out, and Japan's victory in this war made Japan one of the world's great powers in the twentieth century.
If the war is lost, Japan may not have a chance to have a place. Therefore, Japan is holding the belief of victory and fighting this hard battle with Tsarist Russia.
At that time, Tsarist Russia was an old power, both barbaric and arrogant, and did not look at Japan at all before the war began. Don't look at the old tsarist Russia as a country that liked to fight but was not good at war. On the contrary, Japan had the support of the domestic people at that time, and fought to the end with all its strength, defeating 126 infantry battalions and 162 cavalry companies of Tsarist Russia with 8,000 men of the 1st Cavalry Brigade regiment Akiyama Hokobu, a total of more than 100,000 people.
The reason for the defeat of the Cossack cavalry in the Russo-Japanese War
This included the heroic Cossack cavalry. The Cossack cavalry is one of the most powerful cavalry units in the world, extremely capable of combat. If it is encountered on the road of the charge, no team can match it.
After entering the twentieth century, it was the era of hot weapons, and cavalry frontal slashing was only rare. Thus, the Cossack cavalry became the kind of lightly armed cavalry that could move quickly, equipped in addition to horses with cavalry-specific cavalry guns.
The Japanese were also well aware of this, and their operational thinking was much more advanced, not only establishing a perfect cavalry unit, but also equipping themselves with a rapid-fire artillery team with six machine guns dragged by horses according to the characteristics of the Cossack cavalry. In addition, the cavalry was equipped with the latest carbines and wired telephones. In either case, the Cossack cavalry was relatively backward.
The Cossack cavalry fought bravely, under the cover of their own firepower, and single-handedly rushed into the Japanese positions. The Japanese tried to avoid direct conflict with it, hiding the horses in bunkers, and then taking out the pre-deployed machine guns and putting them on the front line, under heavy fire, the Cossack cavalry could not break through the enemy position.
After the war, the Cossack cavalry suffered numerous casualties. Throughout the history of the Russo-Japanese War, the cavalry did not have a single face-to-face battle. In terms of the overall strength of the cavalry, the Cossacks are experienced lancers, each holding a spear, it can be said that it is difficult to match, if you clash with the Japanese cavalry from the front, you have the strength to break through the Japanese defense line.
The weakness of the Cossack cavalry was that they were very backward in their thinking, as was the case during the Soviet-German War. When the Soviet-German War broke out, Germany relied on its tactical literacy and excellent combat concept to win the Soviet army with advanced technology and equipment at that time.
During the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese, with their flexible tactical thinking, first depleted the Cossack cavalry with powerful firepower, and then used the terrain to severely damage the Cossack cavalry.
The era of cold weapons represented by cavalry withdrew from the stage of history
The war between Japan and Russia was not just a contest of strength, but a contest of whose tactical ideas were more flexible. Another reason is that the advent of modern thermal weapons has caused the superiority of cavalry to be gradually weakened, resulting in the defeat of the Cossack cavalry.
Even if the cavalry is fast and has strong assault capabilities, the speed and strength can outperform the infantry, but it is not as good as tanks and cannons, not to mention the bombardment of aircraft, the use of nuclear weapons and the intervention of space forces.
The rapid development of thermal weapons made the cavalry finally withdraw from the stage of history. The same is true of China, where in 1985 the cavalry officially withdrew from the stage of Chinese history as an independent branch of the armed forces.
summary:
In modern times, human beings have produced tanks, cars, airplanes and other products, and the level of science and technology has reached a height that has been unimaginable to humans for thousands of years. The end of the era of cold weapons is only the inevitability of history, and although the Cossack cavalry has also been brilliant, it will be eliminated by history without changing itself.