Units of History - The Numidian Cavalry DOCUMENTARY

Light cavalry have always been some of the most effective military units in history. Capable of inflicting heavy damage whilst evading capture, they are not a force to be underestimated. In the medieval period, we are familiar with the destructive power of the Mongols, but in antiquity, it would be the North Africans who instilled fear in their enemies. Today we will be looking at the deadly history of the Numidian cavalry. with new content being added every month. Their history playlist is honestly amazing, and I've been working my way through their 48-part long series on the other side of history. To enrich our own content on Carthage, definitely check out Lecture 16, which explores the fascinating process of colonization in the ancient world. For me, I found it best to download the app on my phone. This allows me to swap from video to audio mode, so I can listen to the series as a podcast while going about my daily activities. Right now, The Great Courses Plus is offering a free trial, which you can start by clicking the link in the description below, or visiting thegreatcoursesplus.com forward slash Invictor. The Numidian cavalry hailed from the regions of Africa, which are today covered by Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, and Western Libya. Geographically speaking, these vast lands are quite diverse. They include regions of coastal plains, river valleys, hill country, forested highlands, and inland steppe. In antiquity, these would have been populated by a host of ancient tribal groups. Not much is recorded of their societies, but it seems that they ranged from nomadic to semi-nomadic and fully settled lifestyles. Their social structure was such that family units came together to form clans, groups of which, in turn, formed tribes. Each tribe would have a chief, who often had an advising body of leading figures, with an additional general assembly below them. The extent of their territory could be quite small or might encompass many towns and villages. At various points in history, powerful Numidian kings rose to unite numbers of tribes under one banner. By the 3rd century BC, three dominant kingdoms had emerged. The Eastern, Marsilii, the Western, Massaisilii, and the Maury in the far west. They would play important roles in the geopolitics of the region, engaging with the Carthaginians and Romans during the Punic Wars and beyond. When it came time for military action, Numidian forces could deploy powerful coalition armies with a range of skirmishers, light infantry, cavalry, and even elephants. Given the prevalence of the nomadic lifestyle, it is not surprising that the Numidian cavalry proved to be one of the main staples of such forces. Unfortunately, we don't know much about their recruitment. Generally speaking, though, it seems likely that rather than being some form of mounted nobility, the Numidian cavalry would be drawn from the various tiers of society, rallying at the local level in small groups under their officers and marshalling into progressively larger coalition forces when the need arose. With this understanding in place, let's now turn to an analysis of their equipment. Numidian horsemen are classified as light cavalry. Warriors are reported to have rode into battle bareback without a saddle or bridle. Instead, these horsemen relied only on a small rope to control their mounts. In terms of protective gear, we have similar descriptions of them being sparsely outfitted with little to no armor outside of simple tunics and ornamental animal skins. However, it is likely that wealthier riders could have sported a simple metal pectoral, or even a breastplate, as well as some kind of helmet. Besides this, they are said to have carried a round, leather-covered shield. Ultimately, though, their main form of defense was their speed, which allowed them to easily evade the claws of their enemies. For offense, their main weapons were throwing javelins, which they carried a large number of. In close quarters, these could double as stabbing spears. Otherwise, it was not uncommon for these horsemen to also carry a short slashing sword. The presence of other weapons is also likely, since warriors provided their own gear, and it would be up to the individual Numidian how they wished to ride into battle. Let's now discuss their battle tactics. The Numidian horsemen operated in a manner typical to most light cavalry, but were experts in their field. In the lead-up to battle, they would be sent ahead of the army for scouting. In this capacity, they were reported to have served as superb eyes and ears of the army. Additionally, they were used in screening actions to shield the main army from the view of the enemy. On campaign, the Numidians were frequently used to harass the enemy, engaging in lightning raids and attacks on vital supply lines. As expert light cavalry, the Numidians would frequently appear and cause mass damage, only to slip away just as quickly when threatened. In battle, they acted as skirmishers. Deployed in the front or flanks of the battle line, they would charge in to harass the enemy, loosing volleys before riding away. Polybius describes their motions as a fluid, loose order, like that of a flock of birds. According to ancient writers, they could ride over any ground. It would be hard for those subjected to this kind of an attack to just sit still and take it. More often than not, enemies would angrily charge out to meet them, but ended up swatting impotently at a swarm of flies. If the attackers were foolish enough to pursue the Numidian cavalry, they would often find that the Numidian retreat was actually a trick. By faking a retreat and then wheeling back and attacking their disorderly pursuers, the Numidians would frequently cause mass damage against an enemy army. And when the army itself was routed, it was the Numidians who would often pursue enemy soldiers far and wide in order to inflict as much damage as possible. In the Second Punic War, they were so bold as to besiege settlements that harbored Roman survivors who had fled in the aftermath of battles. If the situation called for it, the Numidians could also close the distance. While they would not have the same impact as close-order heavy cavalry and couldn't pierce a well-formed formation, they nonetheless could be used effectively to flank engaged soldiers. This was made possible by high levels of discipline and efficient command. It is likely that these tactics would have been facilitated by the years of nomadic lifestyle, which taught each warrior how to herd and hunt wild animals. This martial prowess was then honed over the years as a result of their extensive combat experience. For context, let's now take a look at their formidable service history. The history of the Numidian tribes long predated the arrival of the Carthaginians in the 9th century BC. We must therefore imagine many centuries of unrecorded inter-tribal warfare taking place. When the Carthaginians and other newcomers did start to arrive and push into the interior, they would get their first taste of Numidian warfare. It seems that this did not go so well, owing both to the skill and numbers of the North African warriors. We have evidence, for instance, that the early Carthaginians paid tribute to the surrounding Libyans and may have also been similarly subservient to the Numidians. As the Punic colony slowly expanded, however, it would learn to co-opt others into their own armies by hiring them as mercenaries or acquiring terms of service in treaties. This would have started to occur around the 4th to 5th centuries BC when we see Carthage ramp up its military expansion. Historically speaking, our first record of the Numidian cavalry riding alongside the Carthaginians would be during the Punic-Sicilian Wars. For instance, they appear in the battles of the 6th and 7th Sicilian Wars and almost certainly fought in the ensuing conflict against Pyrrhus. We next see the Numidian cavalry ride into battle during the First Punic War, excelling once again as elite skirmishing and raiding forces. In the aftermath of this conflict, however, the Carthaginians would lose their monopoly over the use of Numidian cavalry as the North African tribes increasingly used their service as leverage to achieve their political goals. For example, during the Mercenary War, many Numidians would side with the rebels, gambling on profiting from a Punic loss, while others sided with Carthage in exchange for favorable deals. In time, this flip-flopping would earn them a reputation as shifty and duplicitous forces. Nonetheless, they continued to be regarded as highly effective fighters, if you could secure their allegiance. Hamilcar Barca would see to this in the 230s BC, when he swung his army inland to subdue the Numidians and re-enroll them into the army before heading off to Spain. Here, the mounted tribesmen would see heavy fighting in many battles against the Iberian tribes. By the time Hannibal Barca finally took command, the thousands of Numidian cavalry in Spain had racked up significant combat experience. The pick of these forces would then accompany the ambitious general in his overland invasion of Italy. Along the way, the Numidians would prove critical to the army's movement, skirmishing with the Roman and Gallic forces who got in their way. Once in Italy, the Numidian cavalry immediately proved their worth once again, by drawing first blood and beating the Romans at the Battle of Ticinus in 218 BC. Soon after, at the Battle of the River Trebia, they succeeded in luring the Romans out of camp, destroying the pursuing cavalry, and later ambushing the main force from the flank as it advanced against the Carthaginians. They proved similarly devastating in the ambush of Lake Trasimene. However, their masterstroke would come in 216 BC, at the Battle of Cannae, when they swept back the Roman flanks and executed a swift encirclement of the army that led to its complete annihilation. In the aftermath, the Numidians saw further successes as well. They frequently rode out in huge parties of thousands to devastate the Italian countryside or pick off isolated Roman troops. In 208 BC, for instance, a particularly successful ambush resulted in the death of the recently elected consul Claudius Marcellus, who was impaled by a Numidian cavalryman. Meanwhile, back in Spain, the Numidians continued to hold the Romans at bay, at least until the arrival of Scipio. Back at home in Africa, however, things were breaking down. The eastern and western Numidian kingdoms were increasingly at each other's throats and saw the Second Punic War as a means to dominate the other. Both Rome and Carthage would find themselves on opposite sides of this divide, propping up and making alliances with one faction or the other to achieve their aims. When Scipio and Hannibal finally faced off at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, there would be Numidians on both sides. These clashed ferociously on the wings. The Roman ally, Massanissa, ultimately proved victorious and led his troops to hit the Carthaginians from the rear, precipitating their collapse and effectively ending the war. For this great feat, he would be helped by the Romans in the conquest of the opposing western Numidians, and was ultimately crowned as the first king of a united Numidia, reigning until the ripe old age of 90. By the middle 2nd century, the power of the Numidians had grown so large that they both instigated and won a war with Carthage, which would later be a pretext for the Third Punic War, in which Carthage was destroyed. With Rome now ascendant in North Africa, the Numidians began to offer their services to the legions. These campaigns would take them to the theatres of Iberia and Greece as Rome continued its wars of expansion in the late 3rd century BC. By the end of the 2nd century BC, however, Numidians would find themselves fighting against the Romans in the Juguthene War. Once again, the prowess of the African cavalry was on full display. It was only through the determined campaigning of Gaius Marius and a treacherous ambush that the Numidians would be defeated. However, they would continue to avoid total subjugation for another 50 years. Ultimately, it would be the Roman civil wars that spelled their doom. During these conflicts, the Numidians once again found themselves picking between sides when war came to their doorstep. Unfortunately, however, they chose Marius over Sulla, and later Pompey over Caesar, which put them on the losing side twice. These choices would be punished by retaliatory raiding and eventually annexation. Yet under Rome, life for the typical Numidian was very similar to what it had been in the past. The Numidians still largely lived in tribes and practiced a nomadic lifestyle. Their prowess on horseback was therefore maintained, and they continued to be famed as effective light cavalry who served alongside the legions for centuries to come. While eventually it becomes anachronistic to call them Numidian cavalry, such North African troops would continue to play an important military role long after the fall of Rome.