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Louis A. DiMarco
LTC
(Ret.), US ARMY
Associate
Professor, Department of Military History
USA
Command and General Staff College
Fort
Leavenworth, KS 66027
Email:
dimarcol@aol.com
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Last Update: 09/15/2008
The
Purpose of this website is to host various writing and web page products which I
have developed, published, or are works in progress. Almost all of the
works are related to my interests in contemporary military affairs, military
history, cavalry, and horses.
It
also provides a forum where those that which to contact me to comment or ask
questions about my work have the opportunity to do so. Click
"Articles and Papers" link above to access articles, papers, and other
written products.
Click
on the "Biography" link above to learn more about me.
Working
hard to get major parts of the mechanized cavalry page back online. Should
happen over the next few weeks as I fix up and update the pages.
New
Paper posted. Its a think piece on generalship and the current state of
army general staffs --of interest to army types only I suspect:
The
U.S. Army General Staff: Where is It
in the Twenty-first Century?
War
Horse: The
History of the Military Horse and Rider
Now
available through Amazon and a variety of other book venders. If your
local store doesn't have it they can order it.
(Click
on the cover to go to Amazon link)
If
you enjoy the book put feedback in the Amazon (or other) review... thanks!
Coming
soon... I will post in the articles and papers section parts of the original
manuscript that didn't make it to the final published version due to space
limitations.
Click
Here for Some Reviews
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For more than three thousand years, the horse and rider have
been an integral part of warfare. Armed with weapons and accessories
ranging from a simple javelin to the hand-held laser designator, the horse
and rider have fought from the steppes of central Asia to the plains of
North America. Understanding the employment of the military horse is key
to understanding the successes and the limitations of military operations
and campaigns throughout history. Over the centuries, horses have been
used to pull chariots, support armor-laden knights, move scouts rapidly
over harsh terrain, and carry waves of tightly formed cavalry. In War
Horse: A History of the Military Horse and Rider, Louis A. DiMarco
discusses all of the uses of horses in battle, including the Greek,
Persian, and Roman cavalry, the medieval knight and his mount, the horse
warriors—Huns, Mongols, Arabs, and Cossacks—the mounted formations of
Frederick the Great and Napoleon, and mounted unconventional fighters,
such as American Indians, the Boers, and partisans during World War II.
The book also covers the weapons and forces which were developed to oppose
horsemen, including longbowmen, pike armies, cannon, muskets, and machine
guns. The development of organizations and tactics are addressed beginning
with those of the chariot armies and traced through the evolution of
cavalry formations from Alexander the Great to the Red Army of World War
II. In addition, the author examines the training and equipping of the
rider and details the types of horses used as military mounts at different
points in history, the breeding systems that produced those horses, and
the techniques used to train and control them. Finally, the book reviews
the importance of the horse and rider to battle and military operations
throughout history, and concludes with a survey of the current military
use of horses. War Horse is a comprehensive look at this oldest and most
important aspect of military history, the relationship between human and
animal, a weapons system that has been central to warfare longer than any
other.
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For
those of you looking for the Mechanized Cavalry Page... It is now located at the
below link.
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