A closer look
French cavalry completely captured a Dutch naval fleet in 1795 by charging at the warships on horseback across the frozen Zuiderzee. The winter was so exceptionally brutal that the waters around the Dutch Republic froze solid, trapping their mighty naval vessels right in the ice. A French general simply ordered his troops to muffle their horses' hooves with fabric and casually trot across the frozen sea in the middle of the night to surround the helpless ships. It remains the only recorded instance in military history where a naval fleet was decisively defeated by dudes riding horses, completely shattering the basic rules of tactical engagement and proving that naval superiority means absolutely nothing if the ocean suddenly decides to turn into a giant, incredibly inconvenient ice rink
