Compared with the common light cavalry and hussars, Austria's distinctive lancers were even more terrifying when hunting down fleeing soldiers.
Armed with 2.5-meter lances, the lancers were the infantry's worst nightmare. Bayonets posed almost no threat to them.
As for trying to withstand a lance thrust and then strike back, that was pure fantasy.
With the horse's strength behind him, even a giant like Dwayne Johnson might not be able to stop a frail cavalryman's charge.
What was more, these Austrian lancers had been groomed from childhood, then put through years of training and rigorous examinations. They were scions of distinguished families and the cream of the crop.
Their tactics and physical prowess were beyond those of ordinary soldiers. With excellent horses and fine equipment besides, resisting them in the chaos was all but impossible.
These elite cavalrymen, lances in hand, gave the French soldiers a vivid reminder of how terrifying a knightly lord could be.
The Austrian cavalry cut down the fleeing French soldiers in a frenzy, while doing their utmost to drive them into trampling one another.
The human instinct to survive told the fleeing French infantry they didn't need to outrun the horses; they only had to outrun their comrades.
Driven by the will to live, they even shoved aside comrades who had fought shoulder to shoulder with them, hoping to slow the cavalry's pursuit.
They felt even less guilt about pushing down people they didn't know or recognize.
Those unlucky enough to be shoved over or to stumble would either be trampled to death by their own men or cut down by the Allied cavalry that caught up with them.
Just as the situation grew more chaotic, the French cavalry finally arrived.
The cavalry on both sides became entangled, giving the French infantry a chance to