IMPERIAL GERMAN ARMY
CAVALRY KETTLE DRUMMERS 1913
From the Schirmer Collection
The cavalry kettle drummer was probably one of the most ancient appointments in the army. There were mounted kettledrummers in the Egyptian Armies before the common era. Saracen cavalry facing the Crusaders used them, the Ottoman Turks used them and the Ethiopian army that defeated the Italians at Adwa were led by them. European armies had carried kettledrums since the seventeenth century. By the early 19th century most cavalry regiments in every army in Europe had a kettledrummer at the head of a mounted band. 1913 saw the twilight of such military splendour. Within five years they had almost disappeared and now be seen only in the cavalry of Royal Households.
These magnificent mounted Kettledrummers of the Imperial German Army certainly represent the end of an era.
THE WORLD OF MILITARY UNIFORMS
1660-1914
