Mounted infantry were infantry who rode horses instead of marching, but, as infantry does in general, fought on foot (in the modern era with muskets or rifles, but before that with swords, spears, bows, or crossbows). In contrast, cavalry fought on horseback. The original dragoons were essentially mounted infantry. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, "Mounted rifles are half cavalry, mounted infantry merely specially mobile infantry." Today, with motor vehicles having replaced horses for military transport, the motorized infantry are in some respects successors to mounted infantry.