As firearms began to play a larger and broader role in European warfare, military commanders began trying to integrate them into their cavalry forces. By 1540, German heavy cavalry, called reiters, instigated a short-lived revolution in cavalry tactics by abandoning the traditional lance for wheel-lock pistols (Holmes, 175).
Soon, the practice of arming horsemen with pistols caught on with the rest of Europe, and military writers began thinking up innovative tactics to make use of this new fashion. One of the most fervent advocates for horse-mounted pistoleers was John Cruso, whose Militarie Instructions for the Cavallrie was reprinted many times in different languages across Europe. Cruso and his contemporaries wrote numerous tactical theories, many of which saw practice in battle, but none was more popular than the caracole.
The Rise of the Caracole
The caracole was a mounted formation, wherein riders would line up in a column at least six ranks deep, and anything from six to 20 files wide. Moving forward at a slow trot, the riders would wait until they were within 28 meters (30 yards) and fire first one pistol, and then another.
How exactly this was accomplished was varied. Some drill books argued that the pistols should be fired forward, either singly or together, and others "advised turning the horse first right and firing the left-hand pistol sideways, and then turning left to shoot the right-hand pistol".
Most drill books suggested that the firing be done in ranks: After the first rank fired its pistols, the riders would retire to the rear of the formation to reload. Again, how exactly this was done depended on the drill book being followed, with some advocating that the riders wheel around the sides of the formation and meet up at the back, while others suggested "riding Indian file to the rear of the block," or "counter-marching each file".
Some drill books suggested that the firing be done en masse, but because this would put the riders at the front of the formation in danger, it was unlikely that many formations followed this advice. Although "there is a reference to some rear ranks firing into the air when ordered to shoot en masse," in order to avoid hitting their allies (Jörgensen, 73).
The Decline of the Caracole
Although this formation and tactic saw widespread use for almost a century, it was never very effective. It was cumbersome, confusing and slow (caracole means "snail" in Spanish), but the major problem, some historians argue, was that "although it delivered shot it could never deliver enough to do much harm".
Against other cavalry units, it created a noisy, disruptive situation, but offered no real advantage. Against infantry, it was even less useful, because the arquebus and musket could not only outrange the cavalry formation's pistols, but they also fired heavier balls, with greater force, over a much more tightly compact area.
Sir Charles Oman, a British military historian, wrote of the caracole: "The most pernicious habit of the pistoleers was the 'caracole'...this was a cause of disorder and confusion, unless the men were extraordinarily well trained and all of good morale," while other historians have noted that the "attempt to turn the cavalry into mounted firepower succeeded only in rendering them tactically useless".
Consequently, infantry played a more important role than cavalry did during this period. It wasn't until the 1630s that the caracole wholly fell out of favor, when it was then replaced with the more effective charge with sword, popularized by Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632), who is sometimes termed the father of modern warfare.
Sources
Holmes, Richard (Editor). The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Jörgensen, Christer, Michael F. Pavkovic, Rob S. Rice, Frederick C. Schneid, and Chris L. Scott. Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World, AD1500-AD1763: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006.
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