Monday, March 11, 2024

How far can a cavalry move a day?



This certainly was a surprise to me and the inevitable animal economy also tells us that camels can outmarch horses and humans as well  but not by a lot.

In practise a horse can deliver a human rider and his kit unexhausted from a day's march..  That is good enough and reinforces the use of mobile foot soldiers.

Of course you can have a full remuda of horses allowing a couple of rotations riding swiftly  to max out the days distance.

this also explains why all through history the calvary normally stuck close to the infantry that a camel corp would.


How far can a cavalry move a day?

The Historinator
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Expert on WW2, specializing in German AFV's & tactics



This answer will surprise many people. Cavalry forces generally did NOT out march infantry troops on campaign. It was the other way around. Horses require rest, frequent grazing/water breaks and cannot sustain constant movement with a heavy load (such as a Hussar etc) for any length of time. Hence walking rate for most of the march. Napoleonic general (and my distant ancestor!) Marshall Murat was known to move his cavalry about 31 miles per day on campaign and this rate was unsustainable over any length of time. Infantry could be forced marched up to 35 miles per day over a sustained period without to much untold fatigue, as long as they had food and water of course.

Camel cavalry on the other hand could out march troops in the their desert terrain, needing much less water and food and taking a rider along for the entire ride, terrain being suitable for a trot.


If a long, fast ride was required, you could bring extra horses so as to be able to switch horses to conserve their energy by rotating, or by having ‘switch’ stations where fresh messanger horses were could be found along the route every 10-20 miles or so.

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