Knights on Wheels: Chivalry and Horsepower in the American Ambulance Corps, by Daniel J Bowman
The significance of the First World War in the United States’ transition from horse power to horsepower can hardly be overstated. This had less to do with the incorporation of automobiles into the Army itself than the practical shortage of horses back home, combined with the devastating impact of modern warfare on the enduring image of the horse in the human psyche. The heroic symbolism of the equine body in warfare found no reflection in the material reality of the horse on the modern, mechanised battlefield. It is possible to witness the legacy…continue reading →