Abstract
In my contribution I would like to present the horse from a somewhat unconventional perspective - as a tool for crowd control at the end of the "long" 19th century. Based on the Prague national riots between 1897 and 1914, I will show what role the horse had, how it was perceived and shaped in the contemporary discourse.
There are basically two perspectives. The first will concern police horses as such, their training, preparation or stabling that allowed their most effective use in urban spaces during demonstrations and riots. The purpose of this section will not be to describe the historical development of police horse breeding in general, but rather to present the animal as part of a specific time and situation. The main source will be mainly police archival sources (Police Headquarters in the National Archives). For this reason, too, the preparation depends mainly on the availability of archives.
The second part, which also forms the core of my paper, will show the horse as part of the contemporary discourse. In this part, I will work mainly with the Czech and German press, contemporary memory, as well as police reports on the riots of the period. Based on a qualitative content analysis and a critical discursive analysis, I will show how the police horse was perceived when deployed during demonstrations and riots at the turn of the nineteenth century. In doing so, three distinct perspectives emerge, which relate to the chosen sources. One is the view of the demonstrators or their media representation. The second perspective will be held by those in whose 'defence' the horses were deployed. Finally, the perception of the horse by the police themselves is also significant. I believe that a contrasting analysis of these viewpoints will show the social role of the police horse during the demonstrations and its place and value in the 'politics of the street'. I will also present how the use of this animal influenced the media image of police officers.
I believe that my paper not only provides an interesting new perspective on the topic of animals in urban space, but also an unusual approach to sources, where traditional sources for the study of "street politics" will be used for the research - in particular, a combination of press and police reports.