Caracolla

The Caracolla , from the Spanish caracol , for snail, is a cavalry maneuver developed in the early modern period .

In a Caracolla, the cavalry rode in several rows one behind the other towards the opposing lines. The individual rows each fired their volleys with their wheellock weapons at the enemy and then turned back immediately ( cuirassiers could fire twice with their two pistols , bandel riders with their arquebuses once, but at a greater distance). If the enemy was sufficiently weakened, the cavalry advanced in closed formation and with a drawn sword against the dissolving enemy ranks.

This tactic was developed in order to counter the great disadvantages of the cavalry in the fight against pikeman formations. In the Thirty Years' War Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim forbade his cuirassiers to “caracoll” because he regarded this tactic as cowardly. The riders of his cuirassier regiment had to rush at the enemy in close combat immediately after the first shot was fired. Gustav II Adolf of Sweden also abolished this tactic in the Swedish army, from this point onwards at most one volley was fired before the close combat . The reason was the decreasing number of pikemen, and compared to the musketeers you were far inferior as a rider in firefights, but clearly superior in close combat.

The infantry procedure, corresponding to cavalry caracolling , was called enfilade .

literature

• Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels: Works . (Karl) Dietz Verlag, Berlin. Volume 14, 4th edition 1972, unchanged reprint of the 1st edition 1961, Berlin / GDR. Pp. 286-314.

Web links

• mlwerke.de Quotes from "Kavallerie" by Friedrich Engels, translated from "The New American Cyclopædia", Volume IV
• Britannica Online Encyclopedia Adaptation of the Pikenier u. Cavalry tactics, English