The development of cavalry firearms and the widespread disappearance of armour from the European battlefield saw a decline in the use of the cavalry lance in early modern warfare. However, by 1800 the lance, much changed from its medieval predecessors in both form and function, was back. During the next century the use of the lance spread to the armed forces of almost every Western country, seeing action in every major conflict from the Napoleonic Wars to World War I including the Crimean and Franco-Prussian wars and across the Atlantic in the American Civil War. The lance even reached the colonial conflicts of the Anglo-Sikh and Boer wars. It was not until the disappearance of the mounted warrior from the battlefield that the lance was consigned to history. Featuring specially commissioned artwork and drawing upon a variety of sources, this is the engaging story of the cavalry lance at war during the 19th and 20th centuries, from Waterloo to the Somme.

Author Biography

Alan Larsen graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is a historical events consultant, cavalry re-enactor and occasional television contributor. His work and his hobby have seen him study and recreate mounted warfare of all periods, and have taken him to Africa, America and the Crimea. This is his first book. Henry Yallop is Assistant Curator of Edged Weapons at the Royal Armouries Museum based in Leeds. While at the Royal Armouries he has co-curated the museum's World War I exhibition 'Bullets, Blades and Battle Bowlers' and is involved in the museum's Waterloo exhibition for the bicentenary. This is Henry's first book for Osprey. Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary magazines such as Look and Learn he studied illustration at Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to hundreds of books, predominantly on historical subjects, including many Osprey titles. A keen wargamer and modelmaker, he is based in Nottinghamshire, UK.