At the beginning of the 20th century, most military theorists predicted that cavalry would become the main striking force in the coming war - unstoppable horse lavas would sweep away the enemy, pursue and cut down those fleeing, intercept rear communications, wreak havoc and panic and, ultimately, decide the outcome of hostilities... The First World War destroyed all these hopes - it was the cavalry that became the first victim of the "positional deadlock": machine guns mowed down entire squadrons in a matter of seconds, under hurricane artillery fire any attack in horse formation turned into suicide. On the Western Front, the cavalry was actually written off in the fall of 1914; on the Eastern, where the fighting was more maneuverable, the cavalry retained some combat value, but here it was also used more for reconnaissance or as traveling infantry.