Left out my favorite, the great charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba in the late afternoon of October 31, 1917, depicted in the movie The Light Horseman (1987). The 4th Light Horse wasn't even true cavalry, more like mounted infantry, they had no business making a cavalry charge. But they charged an entrenched German-Turkish position, defended with artillery and machine guns, and they carried it! They charged with the riders holding their bayonets in the air as if they were swords. The charge began at an unusually long distance and it's not clear who ordered it to begin there; some believe the horses, not having had water for a day or two and smelling the water behind the German-Turkish position, started the charge on their own initiative. I highly recommend the movie. Hats off to the the Australian Lighthorsemen, and hats off to the horses!
@@randyclaywell1491 they were mounted infantry..that is the reason for the success of their action..Germans and Turks expected them to dismount and fight on foot
@@randyclaywell1491 doesnt matter as they r not cavalry they r infantry so even if on horses its still an infantry charge. they r whats called Dragoons mounted infantry with no weapons they can use while mounted and only use the horses to get around the battlefields faster to plug holes in defences like a mobile reserve. or get around the flanks of the enemy and then dismount and fire into the rear or flanks of the enemy and if they get fire coming back at them they mount up and run away as they r light troops setup for light skirmishes and scouting. Usaly when the army is on the march the Dragoons will be mounted and out on the flanks keeping an eye out for enemy in the area. if they spot an enemy army near by they send a messenger to their marching army to warn them the rest will dismount and form a skirmish line to hold back the enemy as long as possbile to allow their army to get into battle formation. then they will mount up and run away as fast as possible. They might charge now and then if they see something that would make a nice prize like an lightly gaurded supply wagon or unmaned artillery. There was light dragoons or light horse which did the scouting and skirmishing job. medium dragoons that was the mobile reserve job and heavy dragoons that plugged holes in defenes as they had better weapons for that job. Just cause troops r mounted on horses they r not all cavalry. Royal horse artillery use horses as well and they work with the caverly by going with them in cavalry brigades and most think they r cavalry just cause their on horses but nope artillery.
The Battle of Waterloo film is epic. No amount of CGI can make up for practical effects and real men. The Russian army extras really gave the film a sense of scale as did the panoramic shots.
I couldn't stand watching it because of the ridiculous close up shots on "mounted" characters. It's just too obvious that they're riding some kind of mechanical contraption hanging off the side of a truck. Doesn't look anything like being on horseback. It's like Monty Python's knees-bent running around behavior, but taken seriously.
@@doobermanpincher I see where you're coming from but to me at least that seems like a real nit pick when you look at all the other shots that had literally thousands of extras in front of the camera at once. So many other films did the whole close up on an actor while they were clearly not on a horse (though I'd agree other films handled it better) but didn't follow those cheesy shots with the long shots with thousands of men on screen at any given moment
@@doobermanpincher I totally agree with Cliff. The very brief moments were worth it just to see the huge numbers of cavalry sweeping across the landscape. In particular when Ney's charge the British squares. It is because of the quality of the rest of the cinematography, that the few close ups jar.
@@doobermanpincher - I have to agree with Cliff, as well. If you watch "History Buffs" you'd know some of the details about "Waterloo." It is truly the last film of it's kind, and it was financially helped by the Russian government. And if you watched the battles in some recent productions(like "Game of Thrones") the horse soldiers line up in ways that are un-natural, to give the impression of large numbers, and then the battle shows small groups of riders and reproduces them, so that it looks like a lot of horse soldiers. It ends up looking wrong - but only to us knowledgeable "nit - pickers." So as long as we shut up, everyone else can enjoy the mayhem. Fortune passes everywhere.
4:14 The flow of events in Cromwell is really good. No pauses for dramatic emoting every time something happens. No pauses for exposition. The whole scene just flows like a live sporting event, with action, reaction, action, reaction, and so on.
Sir Thomas Fairfax actually commanded the New Model Army, not Cromwell and the NMA was nearly double the size of Charles Army. We had recoiless artillary nearly 300 years before they were invented.
@@desthomas8747 What I think they did was to mix the battles of Naseby and Dunbar together, because in the former Cromwell did indeed defeat a much larger army.
@@steinarvilnes3954 Wonder which battle they mixed Edgehill up with because Cromwell was not there on the first day, shown in the film, he and Colonel Hampden were escorting some guns to the battlefield by the time they got there both sides had run out of gunpowder and quietly withdrew, the King to Oxford and the Earl of Essex to London. As to some other minor points, both sides looked so much alike they wore Field signs and uses Watchwords (Passwords). Ruperts dog was killed a Marston Moor the year before and was a Standard Poodle, huge compared to the tiny white thing that he held in his arm in the film. One of the problems with depiction of history is that the real story was much better than the ones shown. One of my worst film for this is Zulu, heroes, such as Hook was badly represented, a teetotaller, with several good conduct mentions, in the real battle he was ordered to go into the hospital to protect the wounded, when that got to be untenable he, with others saved the lives of all but two of the occupents. In the film he was called a "Malingerer, drunkard, Barack Room Lawyer, his elderly children walked out of the Premier. Much more too much to find room on here we went to a lecture by a local historian, he was telling us about a soldier that came of of one of the rooms, fell into a depfession, covered himself with a cloak as the Zulus came round a corner, whenn they had gone he stood up being dusty and dirty was mistaken for a Zulu and nearly killed.
Waterloo and The Charge of the Light Brigade are the two films that started my fascination with 19th century British/ European history as well as furthering my love of all types of swords. Well done in compiling this list sir, well done indeed!
#metoo. Sad really as once you know what really happened these great pieces of art become simply annoying. It's really difficult to watch anything Napoleonic these days without being pissed off by the gross, simple, and often pointless, inaccuracies. From uniforms and weapons to action there is enough info out there to make it good, at not much if any greater cost and still be watchable. Then there is the politics ...
The charge scene in Waterloo is breathtaking, you can clearly see the influence in "Braveheart". I've always loved the movie as the scope it is simply amazing and incredible to be filmed in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. THANKS for making this compilation! That said, it would have been great to show the charge of the 5th Light Horse at Beersheba in the movie, "The Lighthorsemen," as they were Commonwealth forces at that time
Excellent compilation video! I like in Warhorse how dozens of horses survive unscathed and continue the charge with their riders cleanly shot off. The British Army had armored horses in WWI it seems.
Love: 1. wilhelm's screams here and there 2. Polish ulans with lances 3. British infantry formations of boxes in secomd Waterloo movie and great birds eye view of cavalery moving around. 4. Awesome artillery fire, shock and sound effectiveness of it in one of the movies. 5. Beautifully poetic last scene of single horse running ahead without rider. Thanks!
There's a movie scene of Australian light horse charging German led ottoman defensive line in Gaza during WW 1. Though that's not British though, but still commonwealth.
Hey, the grounds keeper job is very important. He's got to keep the battlefield flat and level and mowed like a fairway. I've heard from multiple guides at Gettysburg that their favorite question from tourists is "how did they fought the battle with all the monuments in the way?" Or some version of that.
Battles got fought where armies could deploy. e.g. Agincourt is in the French countryside, not some wilderness. The woods on either side were there; Henry chose the position as a bottleneck.
@@jameshetu6885 I've been on the Gettsburg field (and it was farmland in 1863). Cemetery ridge looks like nothing compared to even a slight hill, but Little Round Top is a fearsome obstacle; you wouldn't want to climb it without hiking gear, let alone under fire.
One of the best charges shown in cinema was the charge of the Australian Light Horse into Beersheba in 1917, I know they weren’t strictly cavalry but it was still one of the last great cavalry charges and looked bloody awesome in the film.
@@mikematusek4233 I think there were two movies. It seems my dad was in the charge, but being an old fella, he died before I grew up enough and thought to ask him about it. Yes, he died over 50 years ago. I have a photo of him in uniform, mounted on his horse.
the slow motion part of the scot grays charge is one my if not the best movie moments ever. and then nays charge when the camera pan out to reveal all the red coat squares.
Looks like a special dramaturgy trick like the rest of the scene. It's all about easy to comprehend visual metaphors, not accuracy. Notice how it transitions from one scene to another. There's just one plane edited directly after another and could be shot different day or month.
Remember this film is based on a stage play; very poignant visual storytelling to cut from the horse and rider juxtaposed to the lone, riderless horses rushing through the line.
@@Vespuchian but all those visuals, photography, music amount to nothing if all scene is a big pile of bullshit made only to gain a quick reaction in the pubblic
Enjoyed that very much - If ever you decide to recut, I'd include the Australian Light Horse (British Empire troops) charge at Beersheba in 1917 from the film The Lighthorsemen. I'd also commend your choice of the (broadly) more accurate 1960s Charge of the Light Brigade to the spectacular but historically risible Errol Flynn version (but why oh why did they put the whole brigade in cherrypicker overalls?!)
the light horse were not cavalry they were dragoons. even thought they did charge they were not supposed too as they only fought on foot and didnt have any swords just rifles. the horses were to just get around faster. once then got to where they needed to attack they dismounted and went in on foot.
At the start of the charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, the opening scene is a homage to a famous painting of the event called 'Scotland forever' by Lady Butler.
The Australian film The Light Horsemen shows a really good charge when they captured Beersheba in then Palestine. They held their bayonets like sabres.
Did not understand why the used their bayonets as swords rather than fix bayonets and use their rifles as lances. A WWI rifle with bayonet is a lot closer to lance than a WWI bayonet was to a sabre even if WWI bayonets were long.
@@almacmathain6195 They wouldn't have been trained to use lances, plus even if they had the weight of a 303+bayonet would've been all wrong (difficult enough on foot with both hands). Swinging 16 inches of sharpened steel however sort of comes naturally
@@tyrannicfool2503 Well most charges are shown wrong. You move into to position at steps (skrit) then move towards the enemy at start in steps to move up to a trott (trav) at the last hundreds of meters you actually go into the gallop. Horses get tired to too. But ya I was hoping for the same.
At the battle of Omdurman (as portrayed by The Four Feathers, 1939), the British actually had gunboats behind them on the Nile with modern breach loaders and Maxim guns. The Infantry opened up at 2000 yards range in volley fire, not point blank. These combined to break the charge, but the Khalifa's army was not defeated. The units then advanced against them and the real fight began. They were faced by Infantry and Cavalry charges at much closer range. Some British and Allied Sudanese Regts became isolated in their advance. The Gunboats manoeuvred to provide support to the units on the flanks, who were heavily pressed. British discipline payed off and the Dervish army was defeated soundly. The Battle of Abu Klea (as portrayed by The Four Feathers, 2002), the squares were far too small, and the battle was actually a lopsided victory for the British, 65 to 1,100 dead. At Agincourt, the French Knights actually advanced on foot, in two dense groups. By the time they reached the English lines slogging through the mud, many were already exhausted.
Most notable cavalry charge in history - the 21st Lancers at Omdurman. 24:21. Because it marks the most astonishingly rapid weapons development in humanity's existence. Winston Churchill commanded men on horseback armed with spears. In his last term as Prime Minister, he commanded a nuclear arsenal. Lieutenant Winston Churchill led a squadron of lancers through the enemy formation, pistol in hand, sword at his side. The lances can be grouped with spears, which humans had been using for 400,000 years. Men had been fighting from horseback for thousands of years. He was Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time in 1951-55. In his last year the country had an atomic bomb arsenal mounted on bombers, operationally. A rapid advance - in 57 years! - from men mounted on horseback with lances and pistols - and swords! A fun collection, Matt. Thanks! P.S. The film is accurate in showing Churchill carrying a Mauser C96 pistol. British officers could supply their own choice of pistol. Among other reasons, he preferred a pistol due to an old shoulder injury.
Just a minor nitpick - he didn't lead the charge - he was actually from a different regiment (hussars) and took part at his own request. As you said, he used the pistol primarily because of his injured arm/shoulder.
@@scholagladiatoria Was compressing quite a lot to keep attention. Only said he led a squadron, not the charge, and even that’s inaccurate. But he did charge with some sub-unit of lancers at his command, needed for the contrast to nukes at his command. Not his regiment; Churchill actually managed to be at the scene of action by being a war correspondent for the Morning Post, which could be done while a serving officer. But Matt - not impressed by swords and nukes in one guy? When cadet Winston trained with a sword, it was still a real fighting weapon.
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Oh gosh that warhorse scene where the lazer machine guns manages to snipe all the riders off the horses which also manages to all succesfully jump over the germans not hitting one.
@@scholagladiatoria At first I thought the scene looked pretty good like what you would expect would happen in a calavry charge happen on on unexpecting camp than suddenly the fleeing germans got a speed boost and sillinest commenced.
@@timothystevens1529 Yeah I raised an eyebrow at that as well. Seems a bit of an odd layout for a camp. "Let's set up all our tents here in the open. Oh... and take all our machine guns over there in the edge of the forest. No... don't emplace them with fields of fire facing outwards... have them targeted towards our own camp."
@@peterblood50 LOL They could have shot the scene at night, and the Brits could have flaming sabres for some reason. Then a high distance shot with the flaming swords extinguished as the magic laser machine guns sniped them off their horses. If the film makers really wanted to show the horror of the transition to modern warfare, they should have used their CGI budget to show the entire company mowed down in gory detail, including most of the horses (except for the title character horse of course).
Oh for the good old days . . . when you could rent the Russian army and make a war movie that literally had a cast of thousands . . . and use a helicopter shot to prove that you had.
Right? A man on horseback coming right at you has quite a lot of his body hidden behind the horse's head and neck. There is no way that many horses would run by unharmed even if they gunners were ONLY aiming at the riders individually.
@@foelancer7625 It might be more evocative, it's also as far as I know, really tricky to pull off with real horses without them being injured. Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn has a rather infamous place in history just because of this.
The story goes that when they were filming the Agincourt charge in 1944 in Ireland, they only had time for two takes. Mid-way through the first take ... a lone B17 flew across the clear blue sky, leaving a white con-trail. The charge had to be called-off, and re-started - after the con-trail evaporated.
@@DavidSmith-ss1cg Long ago, but _not_ far away. Middle-earth was meant to be a mythological past age of Europe, and the Shire was an idealized England.
Was a little disappointed that King Arthur's charge on the French castle from The Holy Grail wasn't included. I know they were using coconut halves banged together but all the same, it's a classic.
The thing we learn is that since the invention of gunpowder, cavalry charges against infantry and artillery have proved disastrous in most cases. Curiously, one of the last successful charges was the Australian lighthorse at Beersheba - not strictly cavalry, but it's not so strange really. Effectively, they were dragoons in the old sense, and dragoon units (of mounted troops with firearms) ended up being used as cavalry.
The U.S. Special Forces joined Northern Alliance troops charging on horses Taliban an Al Qaeda troops in Afghanistan at the start of the war in 2001. Granted, it was not as epic like an classic cavalry attack in an open battle field but it should count,
A great idea - and thank you for the insightful notes, too. I must say that it only when put them you side -by-side that you can truly appreciate how cinematically superior was Sergey Bondarchuk's masterful 'Waterloo' compared with Tony Richardson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade' filmed just two year previously.
There are a few more great charges on film to include. Aside from the famous Beersheba charge, there is also the 1939 Charge of the Light Brigade, which starred Errol Flynn. Perhaps it was left out due to it being black and white? The final charge is very dramatic and realistic. In fact, several horses and one rider were killed when he fell onto a saber. The scale of it and number of horses used was incredible.
funny thing about Flynn's movie They Died With Their Boots On....all those wild indians charging in were actually filipinos....who kept falling off their horses... forcing some retakes
What!? You missed Monty Python and the Holy Grail?! Who could possibly forget the use of coconut halves for horses? Awe inspiring! ...and that wonderful use of the command voice - "Run away! Run away!
The only plausible explanation is that it was a trap. As for not hitting the horses, I guess some were shot but all the riders were. How they managed to avoid any of the shot riders getting dragged along by their stirrups is another question.
I'm not qualified to opine on accuracy but my favorite depiction has always been that of the Australian Light horse at Beersheva in "The Lighthorsemen".
Movies: Outlaw King (2018) 0:25 Henry V (1944) 1:26 Cromwell (1970) 3:39 Waterloo (1970) 6:26 Waterloo (1970) 11:27 (Michel Ney Charge) The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) 13:47 The Four Feathers (2002) 17:59 The Four Feathers (1939) 20:07 Young Winston (1972) 24:26 Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 26:31 Warhorse (2011) 28:45 Outro - 32:16
That was a great video! But you left out the best one. I was surprised you didn't include the 1936 version of Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn.
Cavalry charges are stressful. Don't know if it's been mentioned but T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) shot the camel he was riding on in the back of the head during one of his first charges. Apparently riskier for the camel than the rider.
@@YesYes-xb6he You are quite correct that the Beersheba charge was done by the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, which although it sounds like they were cavalry, were actually mounted infantry. Excellent piece of film though.
What has always amazed me when they made a lot of these films, there wasn't any CGI around back then The logistics and getting the horse and soldiers together, the choreography must have been a nightmare, you couldnt do numerors retakes They must have had some pretty ingenious tricks with the cameras, the actors How many people were hurt during the making of these films ? When they did these charges in real life,I wonder how the horsemen felt charging into massed spears, pits with stakes, clouds of arrows, facing cannons with grapeshot, being shot at with muskets (okay a musket wasnt very accurate, but if the troops are massed, you are going to hit something, the musket ball were big as well) I have watched a lot of these charges, it always seemed a crazy way to fight a war (the same as trench warfare in WW1) Anyway thanks for uploading these charges, it was very good watching them, I'm glad I never had to do one Yes War Horse was a fictional film but it didnt make it a lesser film, I have enjoyed it I have enjoyed all these films even though there were mistakes in them, I watch a film to be entertained, not educated
I know that script writers want to make movies exciting, but the German infantry outrunning the British Calvary from their camp to the woods and then having time to man their machine guns was rubbish. I would have chosen the change of the Australian Light Infantry at Beersheba instead. I also would have chosen Kenneth Branagh's Henry V instead of the Laurence Oliver's version.
"Why stick em, when you can shoot em." "If your close enough to stick them, your close enough to shoot them." I thought sword play went out with sailing ships.
this is only because movies are obsessed with showing only instances where cavalry charges didn't work. for most of medieval history and for much of the blackpowder era a heavy cavalry charge was still the most deadly thing on the battlefield.
Yeah, Hollywood is for appealing to the unwashed masses, who like to associate themselves with the chaps walking around on foot in the mud. The Charge of the Heavy Brigade would be AWESOME to see on film, but nobody has really bothered. Same for things like the Battles of Patay or Auray.
@@scholagladiatoria You don't get that poignant and romantic sense of watching the last gasp of a bygone era unless all the boys on the pretty horses bravely die.
@@nilloc93 Incorrect, ROUTES were the deadliest thing on the battlefield. It just so happens that in the absence of discipline, pikes, or palisades, heavy cavalry charges tended to turn into routes.
Successful cavalry charges to film: Blenheim, though 8,000 cavalry charging at once would have to use CGI, Emsdorf, a little known battle in a little known war but just one battalion of dragoons went through five battalions of infantry and took a vast number of prisoners, Kassassin, the moonlight charge of the household cavalry would make a great spectacle and the darkness could hide a lot of the sins of the movie industry, and Elandslaagte, dragoons and lancers fighting both dismounted and mounted (don't look at the Wikipedia account of this battle, it's plain wrong).
They weren't the Australian Light Infantry, but the Australian Light Horse. And yes, it could have been included, although they weren't part of the British Army.
YESSS! Haha! You put it in there, saw the title and was going to be... quite cross, if you hadn't (it being The Charge of the Light Brigade from 1968*) IS THAT A PORT BOTTLE!
@@EldarKinSlayer For those wondering, the Australian Light Horse were not cavalry, but mounted infantry, intended to be highly mobile, but tovfight dismounted. Beersheba was a brilliant success - but not a cavalry charge.
@@alecblunden8615 After Beersheba most of the Australian light horse were issued with '08 swords and given a crash cause in being cavalry and saw out the rest of the war as true cavalry and had some successful fights as such
You could make that argument though in reality of the 4 regiments that counter attacked at Waterloo only 1 large squadren of a dutch cavalry regiment was actually Polish
Four other cavalry charges come to mind: 1. The battle of Crecy, 2. The battle of Poitiers, 3. The battle of Bannockburn, 4. Charge of The Australian Light Horse at Beersheba (if you include Commonwealth military actions). I don't know whether there are movies/reenactment of the first 3 but there is definitely a movie on the last one.
Charge of the Scots Greys is one of the greatest scenes put to film. They remade the painting of Scotland Forever! with real horses and men. Also I think the raid in War Horse was meant to be part of the Battle of the Frontiers.
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No mention of the 8,000 French Infantry in the way and no mention of the other Regiments in the Union Brigade.
love the 4 feathers sequence, was masterminded by my cousin and a multi air shot overlaid, he taught heath ledger how to running jump onto his horse in one sequence
@@dunruden9720 no you are not , but I think it deserves honorable mention just because it was the best cavalry charge in any movie , any era , any where
@@dunruden9720 But it is part of British history. I am British and my Grandpa was part of that campaign. He never spoke about it much but had huge admiration for the ANZACs he fought beside. He was a post office engineer but had to learn to ride a camel to carry messages owing to the lack of a phone network in the desert!
@@dunruden9720 I know you aren't Brits. BUT before 1931 weren't you a British colony?. Even after 1931 didn't you have just limited independence? If you were still a colony at that time, it should have qualified. Well, it was a magnificent charge and was excellently portrayed in the movie
I've watched the entire ''Waterloo'' movie i can say over 30 times and my favourite is the.charge of.the Scottish calvary on those grey beasts. My first time was on National Tv in Ghana at age 6, since then, i've fallen in love with history and historical movies.
I am really surprised and happy that so many people have mentioned the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba. It was definitely a bad omission from this list and is by far the best charge in a movie. My great uncle was a member of the 9th Light Horse, a South Australian Regiment.
Did you notice, in Laurence Olivier's Agincourt made in 1944, that the archers, dressed in tights though they might have seemed, shot their arrows from the right hand side of their longbows. Shad would have been proud of them. The other observation I have from your selection is that the British have been a good deal better in receiving cavalry charges than mounting them. Speaking as an infantryman, I find this satisfactory.
Most late period cavalry used both firearms and swords. Having a lance to manage makes it awkward to operate firearms. Whereas a sword can simply be worn.
Oliver was a self important ass. And as for the Charge of the Light Brigade, didn't those cockwads charge horses into trip wires to simulation canon fire? Killing how many? That message, "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture"? A direct consequence of Charge of the Light Brigade.
@@scholagladiatoria The 21st Lancers at Omdurman carried carbines and lances, but of course charged using the lances. Then in the middle of a melee, hard to switch to the carbine. Edit: read the bit about the carbines a while ago, having trouble confirming it at the moment.
@CipiRipi00 You are correct that they were Mounted Rifles and untrained in Cavalry which makes it even more astounding that they accomplished a job for which they were never trained. The Light Horse attack on Beersheba was their FIRST ever battle as Light horsemen and no one can change history.
@CipiRipi00 Don't forget the Australian OIC had to get permission from the British before the attack. The British General Chetwode came up with the idea in the first place as they also desperately needed water from the Beersheba wells. General Allenby was so impressed with the Light Horsemen whose 6km charge at Beersheba, with thirsty horses, opened the way to attack the Turks in Jerusalem that he put the Light Horsemen in front of his own troops at the head of the Victory Parade in Jerusalem from which he took the salute. I think it was the first time a British General ever allowed foreign troops to march in front of his own. Israel erected a large statue of a Light Horseman titled ''The Australian Light Horsemen" out of deep gratitude.
Wonderful.Just imagine the work that went into costumes and rehearsals and scenes before today’s computer assisted graphics graphics.And all those great actors of bygone years.
This is a great compilation. Lots of incredible work went into filming these charges. I do feel for the horses! In WW2 over a million died on the Eastern Front. Are the horses British soldiers ride today the descendants of the war horses of the 19th century?
The ONLY detail they left out is the "Scott's Greys" charge at Waterloo they trampled over 2000 French line infantry, I guess in the days before CGI it would have been very hard to recreate that!!!
Found out about Outlaw King because of this video. Probably going to watch it soon! It looks great. This makes me think that I would really appreciate more suggestions for historical war movies from you, if you are aware of any particularly good ones.
@@paddy864 There would have been some Poms and first generation but a lot from those who came over the previous 100+ years. Canada had an even longer European history. Many still had close ties with UK as Aust. had been a federated nation for only 14 years.
@@stuartmcpherson1921 Most of the soldiers in the Australian forces at Gallipoli (for example) were born in the UK,, I've no reason to believe the composition of the ALH was any different.
@@paddy864 I rather doubt that. Only about 1 in 5 of the 1st AIF overall were born in Britain. The proportions of the ANZAC forces and Light Horse were probably little different.
Ok so here is a question: I was often lead to believe that the last British *Cavalry* charge was in fact at Ondurman and mounted offensive actions afterwards counted as mounted infantry rather than cavalry charges (a semantic distinction I personally think). So what counts as the last British Cavalry Charge? And if we are splitting hairs and consider it a separate category, what's the last British Mounted Infantry Charge? (I think Globally those categories are claimed by the Italian Cavalry at Izbushensky in 1942 and the US Green Berets in Afghanistan 2001 respectively, but hard to know for certain).
You'll take my life but I'll take yours too You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through So when you're waiting for the next attack You'd better stand, there's no turning back The Bugle sounds and the charge begins But on this battlefield no one wins The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath As I plunge on into certain death The horse he sweats with fear, we break to run The mighty roar of the Russian guns And as we race towards the human wall The screams of pain as my comrades fall We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground And the Russians fire another round We get so near yet so far away We won't live to fight another day We get so close near enough to fight When a Russian gets me in his sights He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow A burst of rounds take my horse below And as I lay there gazing at the sky My body's numb and my throat is dry And as I lay forgotten and alone Without a tear I draw my parting groan
You should read George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman at the Charge," for a better account of the Charge of the Light Brigade." If you speak and read English, you've never lived until you've read "Flashman." After that, try PG Woodhouse, and then, Shakespeare.
"The sand of the desert is sodden red, -- Red with the wreck of a square that broke; -- The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead, And the regiment blind with dust and smoke. The river of death has brimmed his banks, And England's far, and Honour a name, But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks: 'Play up! play up! and play the game!'
Listen to souvla bay, a scots folk musician who emigrated to Oz, Saddest war song you’ll ever listen too, ken this is feck all to do with horses, but they did eat the horses at souvla bay so it counts, and they charged for the dunny as the dysentery kicked in.
What about the Australian Light Horse charge at Bersheba Palestine 1917 , against Ottoman Turks, last successful charge in WWI of course the Australians thought they were charging for beer and sheilas. This made the taking of Damascus tactically possible, a few short weeks later......the Australians got to Damascus first.
Thank you- several of my favorites-missing John Boorman’s “Excalibur” knights in shining armor charge scenes. Saw it in the theater as a kid; kinda ruined my perception of the period as far as armor goes, I must say.
Have you, as a foot soldier, shared the grounds when the cavalry charges? The closest i experienced was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP's Musical ride's charge. It's the same feeling as an earthquake: It shakes one to one's core.
@@capbin146, Ah I wrote about apples, you reply about oranges. You are talking about the sound which travels through the air then into one's ear then eardrums. Have you ever been in an earthquake? I am talking about the feeling one gets from one's feet and the thumping of the hooves vibrates through one's being, like an earthquake.
@CipiRipi00 I see your point brain. It's probably why the seventh cavalry got wiped out at little big horn. Mounted infantry with no experience of fighting horse warriors, Cavalry: the part of an army mounted on horseback, but now often using fast armoured vehicles, (italian cavaliere horseman). Feeling lucky punk. You might offer a thank you for being educated. Have a nice day.
@CipiRipi00 Good morning brain. For Zipper heads like you I have always found the Collins English Dictionary a good place to start and finish as it was written for humans and machines. Where you fit in I'm not quite sure as your statment makes absolute no sense at all, just very limited understanding of the theater of command, Secondly my little troll friend I have always found a common name the first place to find respect unless one has something to hide maybe ones motives Zipi! I know you will be back opinionated people like you can never adapt from a helpfull educator. Kind regards Robert. P.S. Was that that charge! I heard you mention. Just have to put you down in the useual way with yourself. lol.
@CipiRipi00 You are not getting of the hook with time waister my little troll friend. Sucker Punch. Why do you think they were called the Australian Light Horse and not the Australian Light Infantry. Just maybe because the could conduct a Cavalry Charge. See I am making a good impression on you Zipi, has you bode me 'Have a good day', which it has been so far. Kind regards. Robert.
@CipiRipi00 So you think the Bible is the be all and end all its not, here is another. Oxford Hachette, French Dictionary. Cheval=horse to you! Chevalier = horse + knight = warrior on horseback or foot when needed. Still think you can split hairs troll. Kind regards. Robert
Left out my favorite, the great charge of the 4th Australian Light Horse at Beersheba in the late afternoon of October 31, 1917, depicted in the movie The Light Horseman (1987). The 4th Light Horse wasn't even true cavalry, more like mounted infantry, they had no business making a cavalry charge. But they charged an entrenched German-Turkish position, defended with artillery and machine guns, and they carried it! They charged with the riders holding their bayonets in the air as if they were swords. The charge began at an unusually long distance and it's not clear who ordered it to begin there; some believe the horses, not having had water for a day or two and smelling the water behind the German-Turkish position, started the charge on their own initiative. I highly recommend the movie. Hats off to the the Australian Lighthorsemen, and hats off to the horses!
An excellent movie!
They started charging at 4000 yards according to the sight adjustment of Turk's artillery.
If they were mounted it was a cavalry charge.
I was actually fully expecting to see the charge of the “ Light Horse “. Very well done.
@@randyclaywell1491 they were mounted infantry..that is the reason for the success of their action..Germans and Turks expected them to dismount and fight on foot
@@randyclaywell1491 doesnt matter as they r not cavalry they r infantry so even if on horses its still an infantry charge.
they r whats called Dragoons mounted infantry with no weapons they can use while mounted and only use the horses to get around the battlefields faster to plug holes in defences like a mobile reserve. or get around the flanks of the enemy and then dismount and fire into the rear or flanks of the enemy and if they get fire coming back at them they mount up and run away as they r light troops setup for light skirmishes and scouting.
Usaly when the army is on the march the Dragoons will be mounted and out on the flanks keeping an eye out for enemy in the area. if they spot an enemy army near by they send a messenger to their marching army to warn them the rest will dismount and form a skirmish line to hold back the enemy as long as possbile to allow their army to get into battle formation. then they will mount up and run away as fast as possible.
They might charge now and then if they see something that would make a nice prize like an lightly gaurded supply wagon or unmaned artillery.
There was light dragoons or light horse which did the scouting and skirmishing job. medium dragoons that was the mobile reserve job and heavy dragoons that plugged holes in defenes as they had better weapons for that job.
Just cause troops r mounted on horses they r not all cavalry. Royal horse artillery use horses as well and they work with the caverly by going with them in cavalry brigades and most think they r cavalry just cause their on horses but nope artillery.
The Battle of Waterloo film is epic. No amount of CGI can make up for practical effects and real men. The Russian army extras really gave the film a sense of scale as did the panoramic shots.
You can't beat 16,000 extras
I couldn't stand watching it because of the ridiculous close up shots on "mounted" characters. It's just too obvious that they're riding some kind of mechanical contraption hanging off the side of a truck. Doesn't look anything like being on horseback. It's like Monty Python's knees-bent running around behavior, but taken seriously.
@@doobermanpincher I see where you're coming from but to me at least that seems like a real nit pick when you look at all the other shots that had literally thousands of extras in front of the camera at once. So many other films did the whole close up on an actor while they were clearly not on a horse (though I'd agree other films handled it better) but didn't follow those cheesy shots with the long shots with thousands of men on screen at any given moment
@@doobermanpincher I totally agree with Cliff. The very brief moments were worth it just to see the huge numbers of cavalry sweeping across the landscape. In particular when Ney's charge the British squares. It is because of the quality of the rest of the cinematography, that the few close ups jar.
@@doobermanpincher - I have to agree with Cliff, as well. If you watch "History Buffs" you'd know some of the details about "Waterloo." It is truly the last film of it's kind, and it was financially helped by the Russian government. And if you watched the battles in some recent productions(like "Game of Thrones") the horse soldiers line up in ways that are un-natural, to give the impression of large numbers, and then the battle shows small groups of riders and reproduces them, so that it looks like a lot of horse soldiers. It ends up looking wrong - but only to us knowledgeable "nit - pickers." So as long as we shut up, everyone else can enjoy the mayhem. Fortune passes everywhere.
4:14 The flow of events in Cromwell is really good. No pauses for dramatic emoting every time something happens. No pauses for exposition. The whole scene just flows like a live sporting event, with action, reaction, action, reaction, and so on.
Sir Thomas Fairfax actually commanded the New Model Army, not Cromwell and the NMA was nearly double the size of Charles Army. We had recoiless artillary nearly 300 years before they were invented.
@@desthomas8747 What I think they did was to mix the battles of Naseby and Dunbar together, because in the former Cromwell did indeed defeat a much larger army.
@@steinarvilnes3954 Wonder which battle they mixed Edgehill up with because Cromwell was not there on the first day, shown in the film, he and Colonel Hampden were escorting some guns to the battlefield by the time they got there both sides had run out of gunpowder and quietly withdrew, the King to Oxford and the Earl of Essex to London.
As to some other minor points, both sides looked so much alike they wore Field signs and uses Watchwords (Passwords). Ruperts dog was killed a Marston Moor the year before and was a Standard Poodle, huge compared to the tiny white thing that he held in his arm in the film.
One of the problems with depiction of history is that the real story was much better than the ones shown. One of my worst film for this is Zulu, heroes, such as Hook was badly represented, a teetotaller, with several good conduct mentions, in the real battle he was ordered to go into the hospital to protect the wounded, when that got to be untenable he, with others saved the lives of all but two of the occupents. In the film he was called a "Malingerer, drunkard, Barack Room Lawyer, his elderly children walked out of the Premier. Much more too much to find room on here we went to a lecture by a local historian, he was telling us about a soldier that came of of one of the rooms, fell into a depfession, covered himself with a cloak as the Zulus came round a corner, whenn they had gone he stood up being dusty and dirty was mistaken for a Zulu and nearly killed.
trust you've heard of Cromwell?....he really was a nasty bastard....just the sort that wins battles...@@Selendeki
Greatest and most breath taking and inspiring Cavalry charge ever filmed was "The Lighthorsemen"
technically, they weren't cavalry but some kind of mounted infantry
@@Archer-op9cp They charge on horseback like a cavalry does by not doing the expected ground infantry assault.
check out "They Came to Cordura"....and all these guys had was .45's......
@@Archer-op9cp And technically they ween't British. Yer colonials innit.
Waterloo and The Charge of the Light Brigade are the two films that started my fascination with 19th century British/ European history as well as furthering my love of all types of swords. Well done in compiling this list sir, well done indeed!
#metoo. Sad really as once you know what really happened these great pieces of art become simply annoying. It's really difficult to watch anything Napoleonic these days without being pissed off by the gross, simple, and often pointless, inaccuracies. From uniforms and weapons to action there is enough info out there to make it good, at not much if any greater cost and still be watchable.
Then there is the politics ...
here there's a new movie coming out...@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle
The charge scene in Waterloo is breathtaking, you can clearly see the influence in "Braveheart". I've always loved the movie as the scope it is simply amazing and incredible to be filmed in the USSR at the height of the Cold War. THANKS for making this compilation! That said, it would have been great to show the charge of the 5th Light Horse at Beersheba in the movie, "The Lighthorsemen," as they were Commonwealth forces at that time
Excellent compilation video! I like in Warhorse how dozens of horses survive unscathed and continue the charge with their riders cleanly shot off. The British Army had armored horses in WWI it seems.
Love:
1. wilhelm's screams here and there
2. Polish ulans with lances
3. British infantry formations of boxes in secomd Waterloo movie and great birds eye view of cavalery moving around.
4. Awesome artillery fire, shock and sound effectiveness of it in one of the movies.
5. Beautifully poetic last scene of single horse running ahead without rider.
Thanks!
In reality, it was not polish "cheveaux-légers lanciers" , but french "lanciers de la ligne". But polish lancers are so great.
There's a movie scene of Australian light horse charging German led ottoman defensive line in Gaza during WW 1. Though that's not British though, but still commonwealth.
My favorite bit from the "Charge of the Light Brigade" was cut-- when the bloody, dusty trooper says to Cardigan "Go again, Sir?"
It's good that someone bothered to mow the lawn right before each battle, that way they can go play golf after they are done play-fighting.
Polo
Hey, the grounds keeper job is very important. He's got to keep the battlefield flat and level and mowed like a fairway.
I've heard from multiple guides at Gettysburg that their favorite question from tourists is "how did they fought the battle with all the monuments in the way?" Or some version of that.
Battles got fought where armies could deploy. e.g. Agincourt is in the French countryside, not some wilderness. The woods on either side were there; Henry chose the position as a bottleneck.
@@jameshetu6885 I've been on the Gettsburg field (and it was farmland in 1863). Cemetery ridge looks like nothing compared to even a slight hill, but Little Round Top is a fearsome obstacle; you wouldn't want to climb it without hiking gear, let alone under fire.
@@jameshetu6885 - Don't forget the Refs. They ensure one side doesn't have too many men on the field.
One of the best charges shown in cinema was the charge of the Australian Light Horse into Beersheba in 1917, I know they weren’t strictly cavalry but it was still one of the last great cavalry charges and looked bloody awesome in the film.
They charged as cavalry and fought through the streets of Beersheba while mounted.
Should be included.
There was a movie of that charge, The Light Horsemen, Australian.
@@mikematusek4233 I think there were two movies. It seems my dad was in the charge, but being an old fella, he died before I grew up enough and thought to ask him about it. Yes, he died over 50 years ago. I have a photo of him in uniform, mounted on his horse.
th-cam.com/video/_udGcKMhbtc/w-d-xo.html
the slow motion part of the scot grays charge is one my if not the best movie moments ever. and then nays charge when the camera pan out to reveal all the red coat squares.
Wow! Those machine gunners in _War Horse_ were incredibly accurate, missing all the horses the way they did, and only shooting their riders.
Yeah why did those germans have like 8 or 10 maxims pointed at their camp? Was this a penal camp?
You can't show animals getting killed, that might upset people. Showing men getting killed, that's fine.
Looks like a special dramaturgy trick like the rest of the scene. It's all about easy to comprehend visual metaphors, not accuracy. Notice how it transitions from one scene to another. There's just one plane edited directly after another and could be shot different day or month.
Remember this film is based on a stage play; very poignant visual storytelling to cut from the horse and rider juxtaposed to the lone, riderless horses rushing through the line.
@@Vespuchian but all those visuals, photography, music amount to nothing if all scene is a big pile of bullshit made only to gain a quick reaction in the pubblic
Enjoyed that very much - If ever you decide to recut, I'd include the Australian Light Horse (British Empire troops) charge at Beersheba in 1917 from the film The Lighthorsemen. I'd also commend your choice of the (broadly) more accurate 1960s Charge of the Light Brigade to the spectacular but historically risible Errol Flynn version (but why oh why did they put the whole brigade in cherrypicker overalls?!)
the light horse were not cavalry they were dragoons. even thought they did charge they were not supposed too as they only fought on foot and didnt have any swords just rifles. the horses were to just get around faster. once then got to where they needed to attack they dismounted and went in on foot.
At the start of the charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, the opening scene is a homage to a famous painting of the event called 'Scotland forever' by Lady Butler.
Hello! Watching schola gladiatoria from NY :)
Have fun in the Big Apple!
Come to Nevada and fight me you Italian Stallion!
Hope you are having a great visit.
I was about to go "nobody cares," then I saw it was my boy Metatron and felt like a bit of an asserole. Casserole of ass.
This is awesome! Thank you for posting!
The Australian film The Light Horsemen shows a really good charge when they captured Beersheba in then Palestine. They held their bayonets like sabres.
They were mounted infantry and certainly not British.
Probably the best charge of them all
I agree! Great movie. I made a comment above about this before reading down and seeing your comment.
Did not understand why the used their bayonets as swords rather than fix bayonets and use their rifles as lances. A WWI rifle with bayonet is a lot closer to lance than a WWI bayonet was to a sabre even if WWI bayonets were long.
@@almacmathain6195 They wouldn't have been trained to use lances, plus even if they had the weight of a 303+bayonet would've been all wrong (difficult enough on foot with both hands). Swinging 16 inches of sharpened steel however sort of comes naturally
This is a great video, but I'm dying to hear just a BIT of input throughout these scenes.
Gilly Yeah I was hoping to hear him point out what was specifically inaccurate and accurate with every scene
@@tyrannicfool2503 Well most charges are shown wrong. You move into to position at steps (skrit) then move towards the enemy at start in steps to move up to a trott (trav) at the last hundreds of meters you actually go into the gallop. Horses get tired to too. But ya I was hoping for the same.
At the battle of Omdurman (as portrayed by The Four Feathers, 1939), the British actually had gunboats behind them on the Nile with modern breach loaders and Maxim guns. The Infantry opened up at 2000 yards range in volley fire, not point blank. These combined to break the charge, but the Khalifa's army was not defeated. The units then advanced against them and the real fight began. They were faced by Infantry and Cavalry charges at much closer range. Some British and Allied Sudanese Regts became isolated in their advance. The Gunboats manoeuvred to provide support to the units on the flanks, who were heavily pressed. British discipline payed off and the Dervish army was defeated soundly.
The Battle of Abu Klea (as portrayed by The Four Feathers, 2002), the squares were far too small, and the battle was actually a lopsided victory for the British, 65 to 1,100 dead.
At Agincourt, the French Knights actually advanced on foot, in two dense groups. By the time they reached the English lines slogging through the mud, many were already exhausted.
Thanks for posting. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Most notable cavalry charge in history - the 21st Lancers at Omdurman. 24:21. Because it marks the most astonishingly rapid weapons development in humanity's existence. Winston Churchill commanded men on horseback armed with spears. In his last term as Prime Minister, he commanded a nuclear arsenal.
Lieutenant Winston Churchill led a squadron of lancers through the enemy formation, pistol in hand, sword at his side. The lances can be grouped with spears, which humans had been using for 400,000 years. Men had been fighting from horseback for thousands of years.
He was Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time in 1951-55. In his last year the country had an atomic bomb arsenal mounted on bombers, operationally. A rapid advance - in 57 years! - from men mounted on horseback with lances and pistols - and swords!
A fun collection, Matt. Thanks!
P.S. The film is accurate in showing Churchill carrying a Mauser C96 pistol. British officers could supply their own choice of pistol. Among other reasons, he preferred a pistol due to an old shoulder injury.
Just a minor nitpick - he didn't lead the charge - he was actually from a different regiment (hussars) and took part at his own request. As you said, he used the pistol primarily because of his injured arm/shoulder.
@@scholagladiatoria Was compressing quite a lot to keep attention. Only said he led a squadron, not the charge, and even that’s inaccurate. But he did charge with some sub-unit of lancers at his command, needed for the contrast to nukes at his command. Not his regiment; Churchill actually managed to be at the scene of action by being a war correspondent for the Morning Post, which could be done while a serving officer.
But Matt - not impressed by swords and nukes in one guy? When cadet Winston trained with a sword, it was still a real fighting weapon.
No noI'mźx@see eeeeèddddddddddddddddddďddddddddffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff6😢😢 9:35
Nice video! Might add the charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba in 1918.
Oh gosh that warhorse scene where the lazer machine guns manages to snipe all the riders off the horses which also manages to all succesfully jump over the germans not hitting one.
Yeah, modern movie audiences don't mind seeing lots of humans killed, but kill a horse?!?! That would be outrageous.
@@scholagladiatoria At first I thought the scene looked pretty good like what you would expect would happen in a calavry charge happen on on unexpecting camp than suddenly the fleeing germans got a speed boost and sillinest commenced.
@@timothystevens1529 Yeah I raised an eyebrow at that as well. Seems a bit of an odd layout for a camp. "Let's set up all our tents here in the open. Oh... and take all our machine guns over there in the edge of the forest. No... don't emplace them with fields of fire facing outwards... have them targeted towards our own camp."
@@sergeantpete6295
I think the same military adviser worked on it that did the Winterfell Battle against the White Walkers.
@@peterblood50 LOL They could have shot the scene at night, and the Brits could have flaming sabres for some reason. Then a high distance shot with the flaming swords extinguished as the magic laser machine guns sniped them off their horses. If the film makers really wanted to show the horror of the transition to modern warfare, they should have used their CGI budget to show the entire company mowed down in gory detail, including most of the horses (except for the title character horse of course).
I LOVE this channel! Thanks so much!!
You left out the charge to my credit card by my wife at Macy's
Oh for the good old days . . . when you could rent the Russian army and make a war movie that literally had a cast of thousands . . . and use a helicopter shot to prove that you had.
that scene from war horse
>machine guns firing
>none of the horses die
some PG13 level BS right there
nilloc93 Exactly what I thought. I have to give it credit though, that whole scenes cinematography was awesome.
Right? A man on horseback coming right at you has quite a lot of his body hidden behind the horse's head and neck. There is no way that many horses would run by unharmed even if they gunners were ONLY aiming at the riders individually.
It's a powerful image, it's not meant to be accurate. It emphasises the idea that none of the men can survive the carnage.
@@Tom-mk7nd would horses collapsing and skidding on the floor not be more evocative?
@@foelancer7625 It might be more evocative, it's also as far as I know, really tricky to pull off with real horses without them being injured. Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn has a rather infamous place in history just because of this.
The story goes that when they were filming the Agincourt charge in 1944 in Ireland, they only had time for two takes. Mid-way through the first take ... a lone B17 flew across the clear blue sky, leaving a white con-trail. The charge had to be called-off, and re-started - after the con-trail evaporated.
check out the sky in the kids attack scene in The Horse Soldiers....they just left it in.....
You forgot Gandalf, Theoden and the Rohirim at Helm's Deep. Tolkien was British, so that counts.
Great Movie Cavalry Charges from British _History..._
Frankenstein077 still counts
@@tyrannicfool2503 - Not really; Middle Earth is long ago and far, far away.
@@DavidSmith-ss1cg Also, _fictional..._
@@DavidSmith-ss1cg Long ago, but _not_ far away. Middle-earth was meant to be a mythological past age of Europe, and the Shire was an idealized England.
Was a little disappointed that King Arthur's charge on the French castle from The Holy Grail wasn't included. I know they were using coconut halves banged together but all the same, it's a classic.
it was an African sparrow that carried the coconuts
Bring out the cow!!
" run away.....run away"
You eeeeengleeeesh doag! Ah fart in your general direction, your father was a hamster and your mother smelled of eldrrberries. English KNIGGITS😂😢😮😅😊
9:47
The Lighthorsemen - Charge at Beersheba
TH-cam -
May 16, 2009
Yep - the Aussies knew how to do it th-cam.com/video/_udGcKMhbtc/w-d-xo.html
This is a great compilation,thanks
The thing we learn is that since the invention of gunpowder, cavalry charges against infantry and artillery have proved disastrous in most cases. Curiously, one of the last successful charges was the Australian lighthorse at Beersheba - not strictly cavalry, but it's not so strange really. Effectively, they were dragoons in the old sense, and dragoon units (of mounted troops with firearms) ended up being used as cavalry.
The U.S. Special Forces joined Northern Alliance troops charging on horses Taliban an Al Qaeda troops in Afghanistan at the start of the war in 2001. Granted, it was not as epic like an classic cavalry attack in an open battle field but it should count,
They started being equipped with sabres by 1918
longbows ain't bad either....
A great idea - and thank you for the insightful notes, too. I must say that it only when put them you side -by-side that you can truly appreciate how cinematically superior was Sergey Bondarchuk's masterful 'Waterloo' compared with Tony Richardson's 'Charge of the Light Brigade' filmed just two year previously.
There are a few more great charges on film to include. Aside from the famous Beersheba charge, there is also the 1939 Charge of the Light Brigade, which starred Errol Flynn. Perhaps it was left out due to it being black and white? The final charge is very dramatic and realistic. In fact, several horses and one rider were killed when he fell onto a saber. The scale of it and number of horses used was incredible.
my choice also, Errol Flynns version was better
well,..there were only six hundred...right?
funny thing about Flynn's movie They Died With Their Boots On....all those wild indians charging in were actually filipinos....who kept falling off their horses... forcing some retakes
"cannon to the right of them...cannon to the left of them"...[cannon in front of them?].......no more six hundred!@@gunnyski6304
What!? You missed Monty Python and the Holy Grail?! Who could possibly forget the use of coconut halves for horses? Awe inspiring! ...and that wonderful use of the command voice - "Run away! Run away!
Why were the German maxim guns in the last scene all pointing towards the German camp? And how did they miss all of the horses?
The only plausible explanation is that it was a trap. As for not hitting the horses, I guess some were shot but all the riders were. How they managed to avoid any of the shot riders getting dragged along by their stirrups is another question.
Selective bullets, only aimed at humans.
because its a laughably badly written film
I'm not qualified to opine on accuracy but my favorite depiction has always been that of the Australian Light horse at Beersheva in "The Lighthorsemen".
Movies:
Outlaw King (2018) 0:25
Henry V (1944) 1:26
Cromwell (1970) 3:39
Waterloo (1970) 6:26
Waterloo (1970) 11:27 (Michel Ney Charge)
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) 13:47
The Four Feathers (2002) 17:59
The Four Feathers (1939) 20:07
Young Winston (1972) 24:26
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 26:31
Warhorse (2011) 28:45
Outro - 32:16
That was a great video! But you left out the best one. I was surprised you didn't include the 1936 version of Charge of the Light Brigade with Errol Flynn.
Cavalry charges are stressful. Don't know if it's been mentioned but T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) shot the camel he was riding on in the back of the head during one of his first charges. Apparently riskier for the camel than the rider.
No charge at Beersheba from _The Light Horsemen_ ?
Because it is not British history - though you could argue that neither was the Arab charge from Lawrence of Arabia
@@stephenjamieson3833 Also, not a Cavalry charge, but a (mounted) infantry charge.
It is however a frigging awesome 6 minutes of film.
@@YesYes-xb6he You are quite correct that the Beersheba charge was done by the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, which although it sounds like they were cavalry, were actually mounted infantry. Excellent piece of film though.
They got the bluddy job done! I salute you Anzacs.🇦🇺
Great video curating a d thanks for occasional headsup!
To be on the receiving end of ANY cavalry charge, must have been terrifying, kudos to anyone who stood their ground!
indeed cause its good night vienna if you dont get out the way
What has always amazed me when they made a lot of these films, there wasn't any CGI around back then
The logistics and getting the horse and soldiers together, the choreography must have been a nightmare, you couldnt do numerors retakes
They must have had some pretty ingenious tricks with the cameras, the actors
How many people were hurt during the making of these films ?
When they did these charges in real life,I wonder how the horsemen felt charging into massed spears, pits with stakes, clouds of arrows, facing cannons with grapeshot, being shot at with muskets
(okay a musket wasnt very accurate, but if the troops are massed, you are going to hit something, the musket ball were big as well)
I have watched a lot of these charges, it always seemed a crazy way to fight a war (the same as trench warfare in WW1)
Anyway thanks for uploading these charges, it was very good watching them, I'm glad I never had to do one
Yes War Horse was a fictional film but it didnt make it a lesser film, I have enjoyed it
I have enjoyed all these films even though there were mistakes in them, I watch a film to be entertained, not educated
you send cavalry to silence the guns...when your own gunners can't....
I know that script writers want to make movies exciting, but the German infantry outrunning the British Calvary from their camp to the woods and then having time to man their machine guns was rubbish. I would have chosen the change of the Australian Light Infantry at Beersheba instead. I also would have chosen Kenneth Branagh's Henry V instead of the Laurence Oliver's version.
"Why stick em, when you can shoot em." "If your close enough to stick them, your close enough to shoot them." I thought sword play went out with sailing ships.
@@jeep146 Jack Churchill carried and used a claymore and a longbow during World War Two. For some reason he picked up the name "Mad Jack"
"come no more with talk of ransom"......
don't have to reload it....at a crucial time....[ The Sand Pebbles]@@jeep146
@9:45 The Duke of Wellington suddenly went from Irritated to concerned Man real quick. 😂😂
IE: A brief synopsis of why NOT to cavalry charge
this is only because movies are obsessed with showing only instances where cavalry charges didn't work.
for most of medieval history and for much of the blackpowder era a heavy cavalry charge was still the most deadly thing on the battlefield.
Yeah, Hollywood is for appealing to the unwashed masses, who like to associate themselves with the chaps walking around on foot in the mud. The Charge of the Heavy Brigade would be AWESOME to see on film, but nobody has really bothered. Same for things like the Battles of Patay or Auray.
@@scholagladiatoria You don't get that poignant and romantic sense of watching the last gasp of a bygone era unless all the boys on the pretty horses bravely die.
@@nilloc93 Incorrect, ROUTES were the deadliest thing on the battlefield. It just so happens that in the absence of discipline, pikes, or palisades, heavy cavalry charges tended to turn into routes.
Successful cavalry charges to film: Blenheim, though 8,000 cavalry charging at once would have to use CGI,
Emsdorf, a little known battle in a little known war but just one battalion of dragoons went through five battalions of infantry and took a vast number of prisoners,
Kassassin, the moonlight charge of the household cavalry would make a great spectacle and the darkness could hide a lot of the sins of the movie industry,
and Elandslaagte, dragoons and lancers fighting both dismounted and mounted (don't look at the Wikipedia account of this battle, it's plain wrong).
Cromwell: lines up his horses nicely, gives a little speech, immediately breaks into a disorganized mess the moment the trumpet sounds the charge.
Like so many movies, Breaveheart or Spartacus for example.
A little surprised the Australian Light Horse charge of Beersheba from 31st October 1917 didn't make the cut. Not British enough?
These older movies are amazing when you consider how many people had to be there to film some of these scenes.
You missed the charge of the Austrailian Light Infantry at Bersheba in WW1
You can't complain about it if you can't spell it!
Aussies, not British
They weren't the Australian Light Infantry, but the Australian Light Horse.
And yes, it could have been included, although they weren't part of the British Army.
Don't worry put another shrimp on the Barbie while the countries with history chat amongst themselves
@@TheZumph A reference to Americans presumably ("shrimps")? Anyway, plenty of history in Australia. And our cavalry charges tend to be successful. ;o)
YESSS! Haha! You put it in there, saw the title and was going to be... quite cross, if you hadn't (it being The Charge of the Light Brigade from 1968*)
IS THAT A PORT BOTTLE!
Where is the Light Horse at Beersheba??!!? The Empire has to count, doesn't it?
The bayonet charge is epic, trust the Australians to figure out a Cavalry Charge without Cavalry AND make it work.
@@EldarKinSlayer For those wondering, the Australian Light Horse were not cavalry, but mounted infantry, intended to be highly mobile, but tovfight dismounted. Beersheba was a brilliant success - but not a cavalry charge.
@@alecblunden8615 tell it to the Turks, Horsemen charged them, as I said a Cavalry Charge without Cavalry.
@@EldarKinSlayer We are not in dispute. I merely explained why they were NOT cavalry.
@@alecblunden8615 After Beersheba most of the Australian light horse were issued with '08 swords and given a crash cause in being cavalry and saw out the rest of the war as true cavalry and had some successful fights as such
Polish Lancers' counterattack at Waterloo, priceless, I'll give you a like for that.
You could make that argument though in reality of the 4 regiments that counter attacked at Waterloo only 1 large squadren of a dutch cavalry regiment was actually Polish
the awesome Royal Scots Greys charge from Waterloo proves that there are some things that CGI simply can't match...
Four other cavalry charges come to mind:
1. The battle of Crecy,
2. The battle of Poitiers,
3. The battle of Bannockburn,
4. Charge of The Australian Light Horse at Beersheba (if you include Commonwealth military actions).
I don't know whether there are movies/reenactment of the first 3 but there is definitely a movie on the last one.
you just forget the number one of alls times,12.000 horsemen...th-cam.com/video/iFKDnjjbB7o/w-d-xo.html
Are there any numbers on survival rates for cavalry?
stephend50 0% they're all dead now
@@davidcampbell4908 Plenty of cavalry left in the world. They've just traded their horses for mechanized transport.
Bruce Tucker That is true, but the context of the video suggests he was asking specifically about horse cavalry.
There are. I can't quote them to you off hand, but their survival rates were far higher than Hollywood movies suggest!
stephend50 Hard to believe but if memory serves the last survivor of the Light Brigade died in 1905. Gordon’s Battles and medals has the honour roll.
9:43. Wellington to trumpeter: “Stop that useless noise, you’ll hurt yourself.” 😂
I have always liked the charge of the French Cuirassiers at the Battle of Borodino in War & Peace (1956) stars Henry Fonda. The bugles are excellent!
watch the russian version...using cavalry to assault those redoubts was brutal!
Fine bunch of videos lately. Well done.
Charge of the Scots Greys is one of the greatest scenes put to film. They remade the painting of Scotland Forever! with real horses and men.
Also I think the raid in War Horse was meant to be part of the Battle of the Frontiers.
No mention of the 8,000 French Infantry in the way and no mention of the other Regiments in the Union Brigade.
The rider's were English though 😂😂😂😂
love the 4 feathers sequence, was masterminded by my cousin and a multi air shot overlaid, he taught heath ledger how to running jump onto his horse in one sequence
Did I miss the Charge of the Australian Light Horse at Beersheba?
We're NOT British, Jesus!!
@@dunruden9720 no you are not , but I think it deserves honorable mention just because it was the best cavalry charge in any movie , any era , any where
@@lesgallivan4159 Brilliant piece of movie footage, has me on the edge of the chair.... every time I see it!
@@dunruden9720 But it is part of British history. I am British and my Grandpa was part of that campaign. He never spoke about it much but had huge admiration for the ANZACs he fought beside. He was a post office engineer but had to learn to ride a camel to carry messages owing to the lack of a phone network in the desert!
@@dunruden9720 I know you aren't Brits. BUT before 1931 weren't you a British colony?. Even after 1931 didn't you have just limited independence? If you were still a colony at that time, it should have qualified. Well, it was a magnificent charge and was excellently portrayed in the movie
I've watched the entire ''Waterloo'' movie i can say over 30 times and my favourite is the.charge of.the Scottish calvary on those grey beasts. My first time was on National Tv in Ghana at age 6, since then, i've fallen in love with history and historical movies.
That Waterloo movie looks pretty darn epic. I need to see if I can find it somewhere.
Its a great movie.
Fned Tolfsen: Its on YT somewhere (unless its been recently removed).
it's here..just hit the search button...
@@frankpienkosky5688 Did you just reply with advice to a four-year-old post?
I am really surprised and happy that so many people have mentioned the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba. It was definitely a bad omission from this list and is by far the best charge in a movie.
My great uncle was a member of the 9th Light Horse, a South Australian Regiment.
"No horses were spared in the making of these films."
The Scott’s grays charge is just cinematic masterpiece
Holy crap! That first clip was bloody brutal!
Did you notice, in Laurence Olivier's Agincourt made in 1944, that the archers, dressed in tights though they might have seemed, shot their arrows from the right hand side of their longbows. Shad would have been proud of them.
The other observation I have from your selection is that the British have been a good deal better in receiving cavalry charges than mounting them. Speaking as an infantryman, I find this satisfactory.
Ney had no idea what was waiting for him when he crested that hill......
Out of curiosity, while watching this I caught myself wandering, and I couldn't think of an answer - whatever made the lance fall out of practice?
Most late period cavalry used both firearms and swords. Having a lance to manage makes it awkward to operate firearms. Whereas a sword can simply be worn.
Time needed to train on it and improving firearms technology.
Yes, in the United States Marine Corps, we also would train ten or twelve machine guns on our own cooks. Kept the bastards honest.
Oliver was a self important ass. And as for the Charge of the Light Brigade, didn't those cockwads charge horses into trip wires to simulation canon fire? Killing how many?
That message, "No animals were harmed in the making of this motion picture"? A direct consequence of Charge of the Light Brigade.
@@scholagladiatoria The 21st Lancers at Omdurman carried carbines and lances, but of course charged using the lances. Then in the middle of a melee, hard to switch to the carbine.
Edit: read the bit about the carbines a while ago, having trouble confirming it at the moment.
I cannot believe you failed to include _Gunga Din_ (1939) -- that was an epic charge!
You forgot the charge of the Light Horsemen in Beersheba, Israel 1917 by the Australians who were fighting under British Command.
@CipiRipi00 You are correct that they were Mounted Rifles and untrained in Cavalry which makes it even more astounding that they accomplished a job for which they were never trained. The Light Horse attack on Beersheba was their FIRST ever battle as Light horsemen and no one can change history.
@CipiRipi00 Don't forget the Australian OIC had to get permission from the British before the attack. The British General Chetwode came up with the idea in the first place as they also desperately needed water from the Beersheba wells. General Allenby was so impressed with the Light Horsemen whose 6km charge at Beersheba, with thirsty horses, opened the way to attack the Turks in Jerusalem that he put the Light Horsemen in front of his own troops at the head of the Victory Parade in Jerusalem from which he took the salute. I think it was the first time a British General ever allowed foreign troops to march in front of his own. Israel erected a large statue of a Light Horseman titled ''The Australian Light Horsemen" out of deep gratitude.
Wonderful.Just imagine the work that went into costumes and rehearsals and scenes before today’s computer assisted graphics graphics.And all those great actors of bygone years.
Where's the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba?
This is a great compilation. Lots of incredible work went into filming these charges. I do feel for the horses! In WW2 over a million died on the Eastern Front. Are the horses British soldiers ride today the descendants of the war horses of the 19th century?
31:55 Hey, that baby Loki! Aww, so young and innocent! : D
Loki AND Doktor Strange
I would love your commentary on these clips, thank you for your work.
The ONLY detail they left out is the "Scott's Greys" charge at Waterloo they trampled over 2000 French line infantry, I guess in the days before CGI it would have been very hard to recreate that!!!
Found out about Outlaw King because of this video. Probably going to watch it soon! It looks great. This makes me think that I would really appreciate more suggestions for historical war movies from you, if you are aware of any particularly good ones.
Matt, you missed the great charge from "The Light Horsemen!" That was a fantastic charge!
1. It was Aussies and not Poms
2. It was successful with few casualties
@@stuartmcpherson1921 Really? Most "Aussies" in WW1 were born in the UK or were first-generation settlers. Same with the Canadians actually.
@@paddy864 There would have been some Poms and first generation but a lot from those who came over the previous 100+ years. Canada had an even longer European history. Many still had close ties with UK as Aust. had been a federated nation for only 14 years.
@@stuartmcpherson1921 Most of the soldiers in the Australian forces at Gallipoli (for example) were born in the UK,, I've no reason to believe the composition of the ALH was any different.
@@paddy864 I rather doubt that. Only about 1 in 5 of the 1st AIF overall were born in Britain. The proportions of the ANZAC forces and Light Horse were probably little different.
Ok so here is a question:
I was often lead to believe that the last British *Cavalry* charge was in fact at Ondurman and mounted offensive actions afterwards counted as mounted infantry rather than cavalry charges (a semantic distinction I personally think).
So what counts as the last British Cavalry Charge?
And if we are splitting hairs and consider it a separate category, what's the last British Mounted Infantry Charge?
(I think Globally those categories are claimed by the Italian Cavalry at Izbushensky in 1942 and the US Green Berets in Afghanistan 2001 respectively, but hard to know for certain).
There was I believe a Cavalry charge by the British Yeomanry in Syria in about 1941 against the Vichy French if I remember correctly.
paddy864 Cheshire Yeomanry. Visited their museum in 1978.
But you left out the Charge of Beersheba 1917 (Movie: 40,000 horsemen or The Light Horsemen) and fantastic and glorious charge.
You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand, there's no turning back
The Bugle sounds and the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death
The horse he sweats with fear, we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall
We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We won't live to fight another day
We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below
And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan
You should read George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman at the Charge," for a better account of the Charge of the Light Brigade." If you speak and read English, you've never lived until you've read "Flashman." After that, try PG Woodhouse, and then, Shakespeare.
"The sand of the desert is sodden red, --
Red with the wreck of a square that broke; --
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed his banks,
And England's far, and Honour a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:
'Play up! play up! and play the game!'
Can 't help this .... humming the Iron Maiden tune ...... The Trooper.
Listen to souvla bay, a scots folk musician who emigrated to Oz,
Saddest war song you’ll ever listen too, ken this is feck all to do with horses, but they did eat the horses at souvla bay so it counts, and they charged for the dunny as the dysentery kicked in.
Charge of the Australian Light Horse would have been a good addition to these scenes.
they were mounted infantry and charged with bayonets. Not so stirring.
Nothing like a good Calvary charge to get the blood flowing! Figuratively and literally! 😱
OMG the close up of horse teeth was AMAZING!
1:14 Ackbar "It's a trap!"
Oh, Matt, thanks. Good video.
What about the Australian Light Horse charge at Bersheba Palestine 1917 , against Ottoman Turks, last successful charge in WWI of course the Australians thought they were charging for beer and sheilas. This made the taking of Damascus tactically possible, a few short weeks later......the Australians got to Damascus first.
Very interesting video! I have bookmarked this video in my Pretty Good Bookmarks account!
Thank you- several of my favorites-missing John Boorman’s “Excalibur” knights in shining armor charge scenes. Saw it in the theater as a kid; kinda ruined my perception of the period as far as armor goes, I must say.
Saw that, loved it and it was my first time I had ever heard "Carl Orff - O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana".
the Teutonic knights charge in Alexander Nevsky.....talk about menacing!
The charge of the light brigade..1936 film ...thought I'd mention it, mind you i remember watching all this films with my grandad! Cheers
I thought the charge of the Australian light horse at Beersheba was spectacular .
Yeah, in 40,000 horsemen, and in Lighthorsemen. But they were Aussies, not British.
You were there I suppose?
They were part of the British Commonwealth and as such were leveyed as a part of British military forces.
@@paddy864 I think David must have been, he sounds from the Palestine region.
@@douglasmiller8607 what a ridiculous thing to say.
I've seen waterloo a dozen times or more, and the Scots greys still gives me tingles. Best of all the charges.
I think this is a hint. Along with moving house Matt has bought Lucy a horse.
Have you, as a foot soldier, shared the grounds when the cavalry charges?
The closest i experienced was the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP's Musical ride's charge.
It's the same feeling as an earthquake: It shakes one to one's core.
flungingpictures Kings Troop RHA at the Royal Tournament inside the arena, Earl’s Court I think and the sound is kept in by the roof.
@@capbin146,
Ah I wrote about apples, you reply about oranges.
You are talking about the sound which travels through the air then into one's ear then eardrums.
Have you ever been in an earthquake?
I am talking about the feeling one gets from one's feet and the thumping of the hooves vibrates through one's being, like an earthquake.
..."You are outmatched...You have no heavy cavalry"
Exscuse me .
You forgot Forgot the Aussie light Horse.
Kind regards
Robert.
@CipiRipi00 I see your point brain. It's probably why the seventh cavalry got wiped
out at little big horn. Mounted infantry with
no experience of fighting horse warriors,
Cavalry: the part of an army mounted on
horseback, but now often using fast armoured vehicles, (italian cavaliere horseman).
Feeling lucky punk.
You might offer a thank you for being educated.
Have a nice day.
@CipiRipi00 Good morning brain.
For Zipper heads like you I have always found the Collins English Dictionary a good
place to start and finish as it was written for humans and machines. Where you fit in
I'm not quite sure as your statment makes absolute no sense at all, just very limited understanding of the theater of command,
Secondly my little troll friend I have always found a common name the first place to find respect unless one has something to hide maybe ones motives Zipi!
I know you will be back opinionated people like you can never adapt from a helpfull educator.
Kind regards
Robert.
P.S. Was that that charge! I heard you mention.
Just have to put you down in the useual way with yourself. lol.
@CipiRipi00 You are not getting of the hook with time waister my little troll friend.
Sucker Punch.
Why do you think they were called the Australian Light Horse and not the Australian Light Infantry. Just maybe because the could conduct a Cavalry Charge.
See I am making a good impression on you Zipi, has you bode me 'Have a good day', which it has been so far.
Kind regards.
Robert.
@CipiRipi00 So you think the Bible is the be all and end all its not, here is another. Oxford Hachette, French Dictionary. Cheval=horse to you!
Chevalier = horse + knight = warrior on horseback or foot when needed. Still think you can split hairs troll.
Kind regards.
Robert
most of the attacking indians were on foot...creeping up on them in the tall grass@@roberthiorns7584