Comments by "" (@neutronalchemist3241) on "Black Riders | Most Sought-After Mercenaries in Europe" video.

Contrary to popular belief, in western Europe it had not been the pike formation to end the heavy cavalry. They ended togheter. The pike formation at the Bicocca, in 1522, and the heavy cavalry at Sesia, in 1524. After those two battles, the battlefield was dominated, by pike and shot formations on one side, and light cavalry on the other. The light cavalry used variations of the flexible tactics made famous by the Stradiots (attack without giving to the infantry the time to form up, during travel, at night, avoid the main formation and attack the enemy camp...). The Polish Hussars remained successful due to their high level of discipline and training. Their charges started loose (so not giving a clear target to artillery) then closed and became extremely tight just before hitting the enemy formation, so saturating the ability of the pikes and muskets right in front of them to stop them. Obviously they required a pretty open battlefield to do so, but this kind of battlefields were more common in eastern Europe.
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Giovanni Dalle Bande Nere (John of the black bands) Was an early example and the forerunner of those tactics. He used exactly that kind of armor (it's this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEjlS9WcPgI ), and used mixed formations of light cavalrymen and musketeers (carried on the field by the same cavalrymen, for better mobility). However, his signature tactic to deal with pikemen, was to attack them without giving them the time to form up, during travel, or at night, or to avoid the main formation and attacking the camp. It was the kind of warfare whose effectiveness had been first demonstrated by the Stradiots.
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And the forerunner of those tactics was an Italian, Giovanni Dalle Bande Nere. He used exactly that kind of armor (it's this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEjlS9WcPgI ), and used mixed formations of light cavalrymen and arquibusiers (carried on the field by the same cavalrymen, for better mobility). However, his signature tactic to deal with pikemen, was to attack them without giving them the time to form up, during travel, or at night, or to avoid the main formation and attacking the camp. It was the kind of warfare whose effectiveness had been first demonstrated by the Stradiots.
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