Equus caballus, the horse,
has been among man's closest sentient partners on
the fields of war. From ancient times on the plains
of Mesopotamia, the warhorse has served gallantly
right to modern times. Yet although descriptions
abound of military actions in which cavalry have
played a major part, little is said about the horse,
without whom very little would have been achieved in
the military sphere, in any era. This may be
because, with rare exceptions, military historians
are not horsemen or women, and the latter are seldom
military historians.
Ann Hyland is both of these
things. In the last volume in her acclaimed Warhorse
series, she draws on primary sources and first-hand
accounts to give a comprehensive account of the
horse in war from the Boer War to the beginning of
the second millennium. In the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, the horse was used in
traction, in cavalry, and in pack, in ever
increasing numbers. The veterinary profession
entered into an era of major progression, much of
its craft learnt on the battlefield and in the
veterinary hospitals close to the scenes of action.
Mules also continued to play their part in traction
and pack, and in some areas the donkey too, as a
water carrier in the Dardanelles, in the First World
War. In the mud of the Western front in the First
World War in 1914 to 1918, mechanical transport
bogged down, so horse-drawn transport was often the
only means of getting essential supplies to the
front. Even in the Second World War (1939 to 1945)
the horse was indispensable in Russia's frozen
wastes, while in Afghanistan the use of horses and
other equids among the military is ongoing.
Using many eyewitness
accounts by those who took part in these and other
campaigns, as well as official sources, Ann Hyland
gives us a moving picture of the sacrifices demanded
of - and made by, with so little complaint - this
most noble of creatures. In the midst of dreadful
carnage and in often appalling conditions, we catch
glimpses of the bond which existed between these
horses of war and the men who rode and cared for
them. The Warhorse in the Modern Era: The Boer War
to the Beginning of the Second Millennium is a
fascinating and readable book which will appeal to
both military history buffs and horse lovers alike.