If you ever seen the movie Ben-Hur or movies about Mosses and the Red Sea one thing likely leaps to your mind – the chariot races in Ben- Hur and the Egyptians chasing the Israelites in their chariots before the Red Sea closed up to become a sea once again. Those are the imagines which came to me as the book Chariot – the astounding rise and fall of the World’s First War Machine by Arthur Cotterell published by Pimlico in 2005.

The chariot has gone through many changes in design since ancient times and its use has been for all matter of things. The invention of the war chariot relied on 3 things: the spooked wheel, the trained horse; and the composite bow. Wheels were traditionally heavy and thus drawn by oxen. For the chariot to be of use, it had to be fast and not until wheels were made which were light and sturdy could the function of the chariot begin to change.

The training of the horse is because most horses would rather run than fight or it times of battle they are temperamental and nervous. To be able to keep the horse from running away, new bridles had to be invented. Many years later the introduction of steel stirrups lead to control by the rider and less need for the chariot.

The other necessary aspect is the bow had to be changed for on the chariot – an archer released arrows. When the armies were densely packed together it did not matter on the accuracy. When the people separated, accuracy becomes important. Two horses running over a rough ground means the bow need to be secure.

With the new abilities the use of the chariot changes to become a war machine and various kings and pharaohs have used the machines to win wars. As soon as one country used it to win, other countries experimented for their uses and abilities to take out the front line troops. The chariot use went across the known empires into India and China.

When the invaders came by sea, the chariot was not very useful as a prime attack vehicle as well the rise of the mounted soldier with the introduction of the bronze bit. The shift began after a few lost battles.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the chariot is interesting to consider because as time changed, it allowed for the chariot to be a leading part of the armed forces. As time continues to change, the role changes. We all see change for we are all part of change and through our changes there was not a bad thing, it is just something came along which was more beneficial for our use. For chariot is was the role of the single horse – armies could more easily have a cavalry than chariots, but there is still a sight to behold.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.