Powerful, spirited, and beautiful, horses have literally changed the world. -- Read about Bucephalus, the valiant horse that led Alexander the Great fearlessly into battle; the mighty Mustangs used by the Native peoples to hunt buffalo; the hard-working pit ponies that helped fuel the Industrial Revolution, and Sybil Ludington's horse, Star, an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War. Horses hold a natural fascination for many young people. What better way to introduce them to world history than through the stories of these magnificent animals.
Wild horses from all over the world are presented along with a close look at prehistoric horse-like animals and some famous horses and breeds from history and mythology.
THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 'A beautiful and thoughtful exploration of the role of the horse in creating our world' James Rebanks 'Scintillating, exhilarating ... you have never read a book like it ... a new way of considering history' Observer The relationship between horses and humans is an ancient, profound and complex one. For millennia horses provided the strength and speed that humans lacked. How we travelled, farmed and fought was dictated by the needs of this extraordinary animal. And then, suddenly, in the 20th century the links were broken and the millions of horses that shared our existence almost vanished, eking out a marginal existence on race-tracks and pony clubs. Farewell to the Horse is an engaging, brilliantly written and moving discussion of what horses once meant to us. Cities, farmland, entire industries were once shaped as much by the needs of horses as humans. The intervention of horses was fundamental in countless historical events. They were sculpted, painted, cherished, admired; they were thrashed, abused and exposed to terrible danger. From the Roman Empire to the Napoleonic Empire every world-conqueror needed to be shown on a horse. Tolstoy once reckoned that he had cumulatively spent some nine years of his life on horseback. Ulrich Raulff's book, a bestseller in Germany, is a superb monument to the endlessly various creature who has so often shared and shaped our fate.
This book assesses the impact of the horse on human society from 4000 BC to 2000 AD, by first describing initial horse domestication on the Pontic-Caspian steppes and the early development of driving and riding technologies. It traces the radiation of newly mobile equestrian cultures across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It then documents the transmission of steppe chariotry and cavalry to sedentary states, the high economic importance of the horse, and the socio-political evolution of equestrian empires, which from antiquity into the modern era expanded across continents.
The poor discipline demonstrated by the British cavalry commanded by general Slade at Maguilla in 1812 prompted the Duke of Wellington's famous remark that British cavalry officers were in the habit of galloping at everything. This work rehabilitates the reputation of the British cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo.
The story of this special battalion is vast and encompasses almost every campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia. From skirmishes in which a couple of rounds were fired to full-scale battles in which the guns went through hundreds of rounds, the horse artillery was engaged from the outskirts of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the battle at Bentonville, North Carolina. But the history of the battalion was more than just the battles it fought. The men had their own stories to tell.
The books cover what was known of the "natural sciences" at the time, including what would now be called material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as the natural history of animals.
The author recalls growing up in Mao's China as the daughter of pioneering artist Xu Beihong, describing how her family and her father's legacy survived the turbulence of Mao's ever-changing policies, which dictated the direction of art and music from 1949 to 1976.
