foreign [Music] [Music] Warfare the two main images in our minds are the Titanic war elephants and the clever ambushes of the light Infantry this is generally the case for pre-colonial armies in the Burmese imagination and yet one of the most documented but the least well known are the horsemen of Burma under the name Min which means horse and Burmese these men fight with the sword Lance and javelins and later pistols and carbine rapidly sweeping past the battlefield luring enemies into ambushes and flanking their formations the Burmese cavalry the history of the Burmese Cavalry may actually precede the existence of the known historical kingdoms of Myanmar according to Nama Poncho in his book on Ancient Burmese armies the origins of the Burmese Cavalry and the begun Dynasty itself mihet came from the nomadic Horseman of Northern Tibet in his theory the final waves of the tibato bermans known as the Min were mercenary cavalrymen in the service of the nanjao Kingdom in modern day yunna during the nanjang raids into the few cities an earlier to battle birming people these Horsemen chose to stay behind and after assimilating with a local Pew would found the early began Kingdom although these people would give up their nomadic ways to become landed Farmers Cavalry and horsemenship remain important especially for the peoples of central Myanmar horse riding Cavalry exists in all the Burmese Kingdom as the 19th century Monk and historian The Monuments are the one Seattle State horses and elephants are worthy of Kings as they are excellent things of power but compared to elephants horses were a step below the social hierarchy they rank just below the noble-born ministers comparable to the Gentry and nightly classes of Europe as noted in the Burmese proverb since which means to be paraded on top of an elephant while escorted by horses Cavalry is commonly seen as the Guardians always accompanying the king by the 18th century the miensi had become a nightly class in the Kingdom there is no concrete information on the origins of the mean as an elite social cloth but it seems this was due mostly to circumstances the Burmese word me and C literally mean horse rider as it became a title the Cavalry was organized into groups called the minsu and were settled in ninmi or cavalry land compared to other people in the Kingdom the people of the myunsu were always liable to be called out for active service during wartime and peace time in fact during peacetime as many as 10 of the total number of households had to remain in the palace for service however in turn these men receive monthly wages and help the sole privilege of traveling to any part of the Kingdom without molestation and without being responsible to any other official other than a higher ranking main officer furthermore when they commit a crime no matter how bad it was they could only be punished by their own immune officials commoners could not even touch a member of the mere and even if a lower ranking misbehaves in this District all they could do is to complain to a high immune officer and hope that he is punished if you're seeing similarities to the Japanese Samurai well it's not that much different however in return Myan members were always expected to serve at a moment's notice and any meansu that was not battle worthy were punished harshly by the palace their horses in particular come under regular inspections and in some ways more so than the men in many ways the Burmese Royal dynasties were heavily reliant on the Mian settlement for its own power projection and Military role for most of Remy's history Cavalry played a supporting role and would generally under-appreciated in Pitch battles elephants filled in the role of heavy shot Cavalry and in skirmishes the dense jungles and hills and the abundance of rivers meant that smaller canoes and lightly equipped infantry were more suitable as a result horses were instead equipped for medium and light wool they would screen Skirmish raid and charge the enemy flanks but more importantly they will often use as messages between Commanders while this suit and most of the Burmese kingdom is fine those that could feel much larger horse cavalry often use them more aggressively the Ava Kingdom of the 13th and 14th century was famous for its Cavalry forces Cavalry played an increasingly important role in the tangu era it is known that the unification of most of modern Myanmar gave the towngu a large pool of fighting men but also gave the Kings a greater number of horses and Men skilled enough to ride and fight on them according to Portuguese and Siamese sources Kings davinciiti and be announced extensively used Mass Cavalry with deadly effect their larger Cavalry numbers allowed the Tango to pull off military Maneuvers than most Southeast Asian Kings were not used to and until they managed to adopt to new anti-calorie measures such as Guerrilla tactics in Lao or improve their own Cavalry like an Iota the tangu were used to dominating many of these battlefields by the 18th century especially in the Coman period after 1780s there seemed to have been an increase in Musketeers although we do not have any clear indication on how and when this actually happened but by 1824 Burmese armies were increasingly dominated by lightly equipped Musketeers among both Palace and non-powers troops tavoli was still retained although the ratio of his numbers decreased significantly it is suggested that the increase in the amount of manipuri Horsemen in the combat Cavalry was a reflection of the ma and Sean Cavalry District converted to being Musketeers following the second anglo-burmese war where komon armies reorganized equipped and trained to be European style forces while the Infantry predominantly took British and Italian influence the Cavalry looked after the French armed and equipped like 19th century dragoons and lances after the fall of Mandalay the former komban cavalrymen took part against the British during the 10-year resistance literally means horse and Muncie means horse rider as a title it actually refers to senior Cavalry leaders it also became part of several Royal titles including some of the highest ranking non-royal ones one could achieve such as literally means Cavalry Prince but it actually translates to more of grand Prince or Prince of knights in English considering that the Knight is translated in many languages as a form of horse rider such as the French Cavalier or the German Ritter this actually makes more sense in Burmese even if the Burmese Dictionary define Knight being the mounted Elite Warrior as minsi tuyegon which also literally just means mounted skill Warrior I'm not entirely sure when this system began or when and how it evolved places like treble Sakai were known cavalrymi they were part of a Burmese social group called ASU which makes up the bulk of the amutan or crown service people a Burmese Cavalry information consists of mienda which literally means basic Cavalry Trooper the niangao or head of horse who commands around 10 million Troopers and the Muncie generally is a squadron leader commanding around 5 Min gowns and a total of 50 men they are also often the head of the Deputy head of the Cavalry group the mean CA is the Cavalry click in charge of logistics feeding the men and horses and the type of horse is produced the mienta bull is translated as a regimental Commander this rank is equivalent to a modern major the memo sometimes called the Brigade Commander also another Palace appointee usually translates to a modern kernel usually heads the entire Cavalry regimen in that particular arm in charge of it all is the Memoir usually sometimes translated as the master of horse who is in charge of all Cavalry forces in the Kingdom the requirement for being any senior Cavalry officer was particularly high as they were expected to understand both mounted and dismounted warfare and the difficult Logistics of leading Cavalry the meme one was expected to quote understand and look after the horses as if they were his own children this is actually commented by British officers during the engelbert's wars where Burmese horses although small often look healthy and more well fed it seems that the Burmese Cavalry generally deployed in the hundreds similar to the British tradition but during areas of larger kingdoms they could be deployed in the thousands Vietnam's armies usually held a great number of cavalrymen due to being able to recruit among the Burmese one the Martians as well as minipor Thai and Lao people with each Army sometimes containing as high as two to three thousand cavalrymen by the kanban period the Cavalry were predominantly Bomar Shan and mitai speakers [Music] the mitai horsemen were particularly prominent in the Burmese Cavalry after Olympia's Revenge campaign for the 1730 raids into Northern Burma where he brought back thousands of mutai Who were settled around central Myanmar although mutai Osman had always been present in the Burmese Army since the tangu era these have been primarily political Exiles mercenaries and it was only during the combo period larger number of meat ties were present in Burma actual relationship with the kingdom of Burma is unknown because many poor sources heavily emphasize the negative aspect of the relationship due to the brutal compound Reigns burmesources of course often downplay the brutality of it but at the same time a large number of mutai names can be seen as seen at combound offices and many ethnic mithai served loyally to the Burmese throne in the anglo-burmese war and even against the rulers of info furthermore the palace politics of the metai kingdom was quite complicated and brutal rivalry between factions often have them allying or attempting to gain support of their neighbors including the kingdom of Burma further study is needed on this topic and one is to really analyze mitai and Burmese language sources as well as looking at chin and kitchen oral histories [Music] in war because elephants already fill in the role of heavy shock troops Horsemen became the European equivalent of light and medium Cavalry they served as Scouts screens skirmishing and transport from mounted infantry actions Burmese shuns in particular were noted for their stocky Shan Min or the Shan horse to travel through mountains and hills and then often Dismount to fight on foot in peace time the Myan Cavalry were also responsible for policing fighting criminal activities such as Bandits as well as the first to be in action against uprisings and rebellions in Pitch battles the Burmese Cavalry traditionally placed itself on the wings where they would either flank or harass the enemy or act as escorts for Cavalry and infantry units in combat they were generally armed with the meansi da a longer Cavalry variant of the Burmese star a short stabbing spear a longer charging Lance and traditionally javelas each year in the month of nador or December there is the Minkin damir a jousting competition of sorts where the elite of the Kingdom would show up their skills in sportsmanship mounted combat such as 10 pegging Javelin throws mithai Cavalry became quite popular in this competition by the late 18th and 19th century however most of the Cavalry had replaced their javelins with muskets and carbines as for horses the Burmese Cavalry would generally mounted on the local ponies with the mitai riding their mini Fury ponies Palace Cavalry and those of the nobility often rode larger imported mounts usually of Arab stock Michael Carney suggests that Cavalry mounted on smaller Ponies were either mounted infantry or skirmishes while the ones on larger Arabic charges would often serve in shark action although Ava and other Central Burmese kingdoms were mostly known for their Cavalry the most famous cavalrymen in Burmese history is the Monta Ming Bayan of the gamani Dual thing even before his duel the main Beyond was a notable Cavalry officer in the war between the kingdom of ABBA and Han bawari according to the Chronicles thumbing Beyond saved several battles through ryegaard action and out fighting the more numerous avocadoy actually if its exploits are accurate it could be read that due to the superiority of Ava's Cavalry numbers the other Burmese kingdoms were forced to develop anti-cavorary tactics or improve the quality of their own smaller Cavalry Force Hunter's Moon Cavalry despite their smaller numbers were generally able to nullify or out fight Ava's bamar Cavalry forces often use Hills and jungle terrain against them it is generally thought that the Burmese Cavalry was largely unarmored based on Coban records and British eyewitnesses and it is especially so since elephants already fill in the role of heavy shock troops however Portuguese sources of the 16th century often mentioned that the tangu Cavalry were heavy in nature with both Ryder and horses being heavily armored and armed with Lance shield and sword with no mention of the javelin unfortunately there is no archaeological evidence of Burmese armor of this era so we have no way of verifying this but the Burmese Cavalry would see its greatest glory in the hands of being now although known for being an elephant rider as immortalized in the Battle of nangyo for the Burmese and Age of Empires 2 for everyone else Vietnam was actually an extremely skilled Horseman in fact he decreed that every nobleman in the tangu empire was required to learn and fight on horseback it is drawing from his Nobles and the immune forces of his vassal Kings pianon was able to produce possibly the largest Cavalry forces in Southeast Asia which also include Elite Horsemen from Ava and Lana it is during this time the burmes possibly changed the way they fought battles in his ayotya campaign being now made full use of his Riders who were able to get better intelligence conduct deadly raids and ambushes against his opponents furthermore in Pitch battles the tanku Cavalry with their greater numbers could be matched together into a more effective charge it is the deadliness of the Burmese Cavalry that encouraged the aortian and donburi Kingdom to improve the quality of the ties on Cavalry arm like with most Cavalry forces in the world the rise of firearms brought a great decline to the Burmese Cavalry who were increasingly ineffective in direct combat in the first anglo-burmese war the ma mitai and Sean Cavalry proved itself useful against the British in skirmishes due to their familiarity with their lands but were no match for the heavier British and Indian horses in open field the British commented that the mitai in particular were too reliant on their javelins and maneuverabilities and were often just smashed by the heavier British Cavalry with Brute Force oddly enough the few notable Burmese victories of the war were actually contributed by the Burmese cavalries such as in the Battle of ramu which they charged a British unit in retreating into a complete route most of the other times however they were almost always nearly defeated during the westernization program the Cavaliers reorganized into a european-styled one based on the French they were dressed in European style tunics a vest and striped Cavalry trousers with a metal Napoleonic Greco-Roman helmets they were armed with Lance's carbine and although European style Sabers became more prominent many still carry the traditional Burmese star for formal occasions however they often want simple red or white tunics and the Cavalry trousers were worn with the Burmese basil and a leather pit helmet in the style of the British Home Service helmet in modern Myanmar the role of horses and Cavalry is largely forgotten among the Myanmar masses who mostly remember it through the mink in the bin like with many Saudis Asian States culturally elephants were the prestigious animals often cited in poems novels movies and Modern Warfare had brought up a bigger focus on light infantry due to jungle warfare but many years ago like their cousins in Europe and Northern Asia Cavalry once dominated the battlefields of Myanmar