Modern Decline
As technology advanced and the firepower of infantry and foot artillery increased, the role of cavalry, and thus the horse artillery, began to decline. It continued to be used and improved into the early 20th century, seeing action during and in between both world wars. In the First World War Russia, like some other countries, equipped the artillery batteries of its cavalry divisions with the same field gun used by other units. France and the United Kingdom, however, used specialist horse guns (the Canon de 75 modèle 1912 Schneider and the Ordnance QF 13 pounder, respectively.)
Subsequently, the cavalry and horse artillery units rearmed with tanks and self-propelled artillery. As with the cavalry, though, certain artillery units, for instance the Royal Horse Artillery, retain their old designations. Among the last genuine regular horse artillery units were the Wendes Ridande Artilleri of the Swedish Army, which was finally disbanded in 1927. A form of riding artillery using heavy machine guns called tachankas were used by the Polish and Russian in World War I, the Russian Civil War and the German invasion of Poland. The German army used similar units for anti-aircraft defense throughout World War II. In the United Kingdom, the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery retains six traditional teams of six horses each and 13-pounder guns for ceremonial duties to this day.
Read more about this topic: Horse Artillery, History
Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or decline:
“O born in days when wits were fresh and clear,
And life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames;
Before this strange disease of modern life,
With its sick hurry, its divided aims,
Its head o’ertaxed, its palsied hearts, was rife—”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“Where mass opinion dominates the government, there is a morbid derangement of the true functions of power. The derangement brings about the enfeeblement, verging on paralysis, of the capacity to govern. This breakdown in the constitutional order is the cause of the precipitate and catastrophic decline of Western society. It may, if it cannot be arrested and reversed, bring about the fall of the West.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)