Happy Veterans Day to all - Vivat Poland on her Independence Day

 Salvete Omnes,

November 11 is one of the most important days in the calendar of holidays and anniversaries in my Polish-American year. 

Polish 3rd Republic celebrates her Independence Day ( commemorating the restitution of the modern Polish state in 1918). Vivat Polonia.

11th Uhlan Regiment in 1930

Nota bene probably the largest parade took place in Warsaw, where the many hundreds of thousands of Polish patriots led by the president Nawrocki finished the annual Independence Day March there. 

Veterans Day in America- all the best to all veterans of US Armed Forces. 

Polish-Lithuanian armies defeated the Ottoman-Turkish army at the fortress of Khotyn (then a border stronghold within the Turkish vassal of Moldavia, now in Ukraine, thanks to Stalin). 
Crown Grand Hetman Jan Sobieski, Janina coat of arms, won one of the greatest victories in his life.

Saint Martin at the Khotyn battle, Jan Sobieski and his army in the background

Returning to America - on this day the Iroquois - Seneca & Mohawks - in alliance with the British Crown forces and American Loyalists under Walter Butler attacked the American rebel settlement of Cherry Valley capturing it (Western New York during the American Revolution). The mayhem and massacre carried by the Iroquois followed.

Cornplanter

Joseph Brant

Bellow there are some pages from a 1901 publication - Old New York Frontier, by F.W. Halsey 

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The following year of 1779  the American side - so called the Sullivan expedition- carried the invasion of Iroquoia destroying the Iroquois villages, orchards and the whole productivity of that country. 

During the war of 1812 on this day at the Crysler's Farm the American invading Northern Army under gen, Wilkinson  suffered a defeat from the hands of in Upper Canada (Quebec) British forces aided by the local native warriors. Local Candian light dragoons distinguished themselves against the American army.  During the battle US Light Dragoon commanded by  John Baptiste de Barth Walbach distinguished themselves by charging several times the British side in order to save the American canons, which they did but suffered casualties and eventually had to withdraw.

This defeat, and the October defeat at the battle of the Chateauguay,  caused the dispirited American command to abandon the drive on Montreal and thus the so called Saint Lawrence Campaign was called off. Wilkinson withdrew the army to Plattsburg on Lake Champlain. 

enjoy

Valete

Machaira aka kopis

 Salvete Omnes,

Dioscuri armed with lances & curved sword

Classical ancient warriors and soldiers used various swords- the famous Greek infantry hoplite typically used a xiphos or two-edge straight, short sword. 

Kopis aka machaira (  μάχαιρα ) - the sword of the ancient Greek, Thracian and Achaemenid horseman,

famous Macedonian Lion hunt mosaic 

 and also very popular in the western part of the Mediterranean world with the Iberian peninsula warriors. and the 19th century later scholar called these distinctly Iberian swords a falcata. The ever changing Roman legions adopted another Iberian warrior's sword - the gladius.

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Two swords from the MET -

56,5 cm long kopis - 0.7kg weight

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Wearing chlamys & petosos, armed with machaira and javelin - a Greek horseman 

Valete

Aelbert Cuyp's paintings - Baroque horse

 Salvete Omnes.

in the past I brought up several of the Aelbert Cuyp's paintings on this blog, and perhaps it would be good to show some more - under more generic.

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enjoy

Valete

Small Horses in Warfare - a book by sir Walter Gilbey

 Salvete Omnes,

a small fine book - Small Horses in Warfare - by sir Walter Gilbey.

I strongly encourage you, fellow net traveler, to read it just for some thought on the subject of horses in war. This book was written. published in 1900AD, before the mechanization of war, when horses were still the land transportation 'vehicle' and its back the platform for combat.  Note that Horace Hayes' book on horses comes hand here, as he did a survey of the world's horses during the same time period.

Mention in this book Captain Burnaby's, long distance rider * British agent famously portrayed by James Tissot, ride to Khiva (you know, of the Great Game period that the British still practice against the Russians) is available in a book form on our trusted and completely free (libre) world library Archive..

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the book is naturally Anglocentric, written at the height of the British Empire, although breeding horses for war was not really what the British Isles were able to do in this pre-World War I period, they (the British remount services) actually were importing warm blood horses from Polish regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Importations stopped by the eruption of hostilities in the summer of 1914
enjoy your reading.
Nota bene British cavalry had to import thousands horses from Argentina (including baguales) and US (including mustangs) for their war in South Africa against the brave Boers. 

Lanceray's Bashkir horse and horseman

Valete