Mounted Slingers

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Not sure coexistence necessarily means proper use. Domesticated horses and warfare coexisted since, what, 4500 BC? And they became seriously used in Europe around, what, 600 CE?

Depends what you mean by "seriously used". Skirmish cavalry existed from something like 800 BCE, and they would have far more use for slings than armoured knights would.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Not sure coexistence necessarily means proper use. Domesticated horses and warfare coexisted since, what, 4500 BC? And they became seriously used in Europe around, what, 600 CE?

I'm sure Alexander's Hetairoi would be thrilled to know that they never existed. Not to mention innumerable others, from Brittania through Campania, Scythia and Germania, who'd be surprised at knowing that they weren't serious about their cavalry.

Not to mention, why ever would you confine yourself to Europe? People on Asian steppes who knew the sling and used it for hunting adopted small horses for raiding some six thousand years ago. Granted, this was very far from later cavalry in sophistication, especially since the horses were so much smaller, but it's still a fact that the use of the horse in war has a long, long history.

While small ponies ridden bareback were not always competative against chariots as military technologies, especially not in 'civilised' lands where developing sufficient instinctive familiarity with the horse and mastery of riding to fight on him bareback was not practical even for the warrior class, it is not as if skirmish cavalry ever disappeared. And since it was popular for literally several millenia among people who had access to the sling, with some of them using it regularly in their daily lives, it seems like there was plenty of opportunity to combine the two, if there was any advantage in it.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Depends what you mean by "seriously used". Skirmish cavalry existed from something like 800 BCE, and they would have far more use for slings than armoured knights would.

Originally Posted by Icelander

I'm sure Alexander's Hetairoi would be thrilled to know that they never existed. Not to mention innumerable others, from Brittania through Campania, Scythia and Germania, who'd be surprised at knowing that they weren't serious about their cavalry.

Not to mention, why ever would you confine yourself to Europe? People on Asian steppes who knew the sling and used it for hunting adopted small horses for raiding some six thousand years ago. Granted, this was very far from later cavalry in sophistication, especially since the horses were so much smaller, but it's still a fact that the use of the horse in war has a long, long history.

While small ponies ridden bareback were not always competative against chariots as military technologies, especially not in 'civilised' lands where developing sufficient instinctive familiarity with the horse and mastery of riding to fight on him bareback was not practical even for the warrior class, it is not as if skirmish cavalry ever disappeared. And since it was popular for literally several millenia among people who had access to the sling, with some of them using it regularly in their daily lives, it seems like there was plenty of opportunity to combine the two, if there was any advantage in it.

Sorry, 'they' referred to stirrups. Edited.

And yes, I know stirrups appeared outside Europe earlier.