Caracole

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The caracole or caracol (from the Spanish caracol - "spiral") consists of a manoeuvre on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics.

[edit] Dressage caracole

In dressage, riders execute a caracole as a single half turn, either to the left or to the right.

[edit] Military caracole

The military caracole developed in the mid-16th century in an attempt to integrate gunpowder weapons into cavalry tactics. Equipped with one or two wheellock pistols, cavalrymen would advance on their target at less than a gallop in formation as deep as 12 ranks. As each rank came into range, the soldiers would turn their mount slightly to one side, discharge one pistol, then turn slightly to the other side to discharge the other pistol at their target. Since this involved presenting an almost immobile target to the enemy infantry for some time, the temptation must have been strong to fire the weapons without taking an accurate aim. The horsemen then retired to the back of the formation to reload, and then repeat the manoeuvre. The tactic was accompanied by the increasing popularity of the German Reiter in Western armies from about 1540.

Some historians associate the demise of the caracole with the name of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632). Certainly he regarded the technique as fairly useless, and ordered cavalry under Swedish command not to use the caracole and adopt the tactics of Polish-Lithuanian cavalry. However, there is evidence that the tactic was already falling out of use by 1620, before Gustavus Adolphus reached Poland and Germany.

The caracole as a military tactic ultimately proved ineffective. It sacrificed the cavalry advantages of speed and mobility, while also leaving mounted soldiers at a disadvantage to massed infantry equipped with heavier and longer-ranged weapons. The caracole gave way to close artillery support for cavalry (see Horse artillery ) - breaking up the infantry formations, forcing the soldiers to scatter and allowing cavalry the advantage in close quarters, melee combat. The last recorded use of the caracole was by the French at the Battle of Minden in 1759.