Using Cavalry Efficiently

[berto]

This:

Prussian cavalry grew from 1,000 sabers in the early XVII century to 6,000 by 1750. During the Seven Years War it was decisive in a number of victorious battles, both by bold charges and enveloping operations. In several occasions it even prevented disaster by covering army retreats. The cavalry was probably the most vaunted arm of the Prussian army until 1800. Under a leader as renowned as Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr von Seydlitz (1721-1773), the Prussian cavalry achieved the nearest to a state of perfection that it was ever going to. So great was its reputation in the Seven Years' War that Napoleon made a special point of warning his men at the beginning of the 1806 campaign to beware of the Prussian cavalry.



In 1757 at Rossbach the Prussian army (22,000 men) under Frederick the Great defeated the French and German armies (54,000 men) under Marshal Prince de Soubise. 
About 3,500 Prussian horsemen had defeated an entire army of two combined European superpowers. Frederick was heard to say "I won the battle of Rossbach with most of my infantry having their muskets shouldered." 
Casualties: 550 Prussians and 5,000 French and Germans ! Most of the allied cavalry in front were smashed to pieces by the initial charge and many of them trampled over their own men trying to flee.