THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY AND THE CAVALRY
Then came the Revolution and the Revolutionary army, which wanted to call itself new, inherited some 26 regiments of cavalry
[2] (including 2 of carabiniers) in addition to the 6 regiments of hussars, the 12 of chasseurs a cheval and the 18 of dragoons. In conjunction with the dragoons, the cavalry formed the battle cavalry which was simply called cavalry in all the official French texts. (For the ease of identification and differentiation with the light cavakry, although it does not appear in any official French text, we'll call the cavalry, battle cavalry.)
In 1789-91, the French cavalry had only a few regiments of what we consider light cavalry (18 of them) while the cavalry numbered some 44 regiments. From 179 1, a new trend took place. It was to increase significantly the proportion of light cavalry to the detriment of the battle cavalry [3]. The trend had been already started by the Ordnances of 1776, 1788 and 1791.
Heavily handicapped by the emigration of its officers, the battle cavalry went through hard times. It was a matter of resources. The light cavalry was much favored most likely because it was cheaper and much easier to maintain than battle cavalry. It attracted the pick of the recruits and they could be mounted on smaller horses [4] which were much easier to obtain.
The battle cavalry, with its relatively bigger men mounted on bigger horses, were cut off from its traditionally imported German horses, and consequently had to accommodate itself with what was left over with men and horses. As a result, it slowly dwindled to a shadow of what it had been in the King's army. As shown on the Drawing below, the Carabiniers, the grenadiers of the cavalry, fared a little better and, apparently, remained mounted on larger horses than the rest of the battle cavalry. In spite of all that, the ci-devant Cuirassiers du Roi, now renamed 8th cavalry regiment [5], managed to keep its traditions and its cuirass as shown on the following drawing.
When Bonaparte became First Consul in November 1799, he inherited from the Directory a total of 85 regiments of cavalry among which were 25 depleted regiments of cavalry which we'll call here battle cavalry. Many regiments had been neglected and were in a sorry state. Some of the best men and horses had been drawn from the regiments into the numerous units of guides. What was left was dispersed among the infantry divisions.
Bonaparte may have been an artillerymen but his genius mind understood very well the importance of a well organized, efficient battle ready cavalry and he was particularly good in organizing and reorganizing efficient armies as he did several times during his career, i.e. in 1813, 1814 and 1815. Furthermore, Bonaparte fully realized the value and tactical advantages of a well timed cavalry charge. That basic understanding was reinforced by the lesson of the Battle of Marengo in which Kellerman's [6] timely cavalry charge changed defeat into victory by cutting the Austrian army in two. Back in 1796, in Italy, he had already concentrated most of the divisional cavalry into a separate command under his personal control. This initiative anticipated his famous "Cavalry Reserve" of later years. However, the concentration of the cavalry that had taken place in the Army of Italy in 1796, had not been achieved in the other French armies. A reorganization of the cavalry was imperative.
Bonaparte's reorganization of the French cavalry was part of the greater scheme of the complete reform of the French army, one aspect of which was the general adoption of the Corps d'Armee [7] concept throughout the French army and the formal creation of the Reserve Cavalry. In fact, the new Corps d'armee system stripped the cavalry away from the Division which until then had been scattered among them. Each new Corps d'armee was to include a light cavalry brigade (or in certain cases - at the most - a light cavalry division). Thus, the battle cavalry and dragoon regiments became available to form independent larger cavalry units such as brigades and divisions rendering possible the massive cavalry attacks that had been so successful at Marengo. The consequences of that reform were obvious. Bonaparte needed more light cavalry for his army corps and had a surplus of battle cavalry and dragoons.
In the light of all that, Bonaparte ordered the War Ministry technicians to form a committee to study the reforms necessary to adapt the cavalry and especially the battle cavalry to modern warfare. For over three years, Generals Bourcier and Kellerman had constantly reiterated their plea to replace the useless cavalry bicorn by a helmet similar to that of the dragoons. In addition, with Ney, they were strong partisans of reintroducing the front cuirass that protected the earlier King's cavalrymen discarded so lightly in the previous years. As we have seen above, the cuirass had not been completely eliminated since the 8th Cavalry Regiment the ci-devant Cuirassiers du Roi regiment - was still wearing - and very proudly - their cuirasses. They had managed to keep their cuirasses through the it vicissitudes of the Revolution and I s successive changes of government, but by a very slim margin.
In early 1800, a "brilliant" report issued by the Central Administration of the War Department [8] had concluded -unilaterally - that "The cuirass kills more men that it saves because of the falls or the chest diseases it causes by reflection of the sun that renders the cuirass a real furnace. " Fortunately the War Minister was not of that opinion at a time when the cuirass incited a strong renewal of interest in Bonaparte's mind and in the army headquarters which started to understand the psychological effect of the cuirassed cavalrymen charging an infantrymen or another cavalryman.
As a first step toward reforms, Bonaparte in September 1802 wrote a letter to Berthier, Minister of War:
Effectively, Bonaparte disbanded 7 cavalry regiments of his understrength battle cavalry and amalgamated their men and horses into the remaining 18. Then the strongest men and bigger horse were transferred to the first twelve regiments. But the project was still too ambitious and Bonaparte realized he had no real need to maintain so many regiments of heavy cavalry. Consequently, he decided to keep only 12 regiments but he changed his mind once more. All the remaining 12 regiments were to become cuirassiers and the other six regiments with the smaller men and horses were to be converted to Dragoon regiments.
That was in agreement with the Reglement which calls for smaller horses for the dragoons but that difference was much smaller that many historians lead us to believe. In fact, in the French army, as well as in other armies, if we consider the size of the horses they used the dragoons were heavy cavalry and not medium cavalry as so many English language sources proclaim it. We feet that a parenthesis must be open on that point.
The practice of forming dragoon regiments out of battle cavalry was not new. So was the practice of forming chasseurs a cheval or hussars from dragoons regiments or heavy cavalry. Already in the Ordnance of 1776, the King had increased the number of dragoon regiments from 17 to 24 by converting the Cavalry Regiments Chartres, Conde, Bourbon, Conti (which became B oufflers), la Marche (which became Conti), Penthievre and Noailles. [10]
The Battle of Marengo has shown the value of the heavy cavalry charge. The cuirassier became the "shock" instrument of choice. There is little doubt that the fact of constantly facing during the Wars of the Revolution the heavier Austrian cuirassiers protected by a front cuirass and helmet influenced the partisans of reintroducing the cuirass into the French cavalry like Ney, Bourcier and Kellerman.
So, on October 10, 1801, 38 years after the steel breastplate had been discarded, Napoleon decided to form a first "new" regiment of cavalrymen in cuirass (cavaliers en cuirasse) from the I st Cavalry Regiment ci-devant Colonel-general created in 1635. So, a new tactical concept reestablished an old concept that the "1650s fashion" had rendered obsolete. Note that in the Ordnance of October 10, 1801, the new cavalry is called la cavallerie cuirassier (sic) and not Cuirassiers. The new regiment en cuirases, unlike the Austrian cuirassiers which only wore a front plate, was equipped with a full cuirass,.i.e. front and back plates and a new steel helmet with a brass crest and a flowing horsetail, obviously derived from that of the dragoons, to replace the obsolete cavalry hat. In addition, a new uniform (a habitveste) had to be designed.
However, the design of a new uniform and the manufacturing of cuirasses along with the new helmet took time. The old style pre-revolutionary armor carefully kept in the arsenals were, after reconditioning, brought back into service. They were used to equip in 1802, the 1st Regiment, then in 1803, the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th Regiments and the 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Regiments had to wait until 1804 to be armored.
The cavalry subdivision arme des cuirassiers was only created on September 1803 and on that date, anew type of cuirass, called the 1804 cuirass, was manufactured [11] and by 1806-07 had replaced the older model.
But let us go back to 1801. In June 1801, Chef de Brigade Merlin commanding the 8th Cavalry Regiment thought he had the best reasons in the world to request that his regiment be recognized as the I st Cuirassier Regiment and wrote a report on that matter to the War Ministry. Consequently, as he believes that his reasonable request could not be denied, he ordered the number 1 to be sewn up on the portmanteaus, covers etc. of his regiment and at the same time equipped his regiment with an helmet of his own design.
All that appeared fine, but our friend Merlin had forgotten his colleague Margaron [12] commanding the 1st Cavalry Regiment, who had been authorized to wear the cuirass in order to form with the 8th Cavalry Regiment a brigade of 8 squadrons of cavalrymen en cuirasse, the first of the kind in France and intended to develop the new battle techniques for the arm.
Poor Berthier was quite annoyed. He was a very good man and did not want to displease anyone. But could he find a solution to satisfy everyone? He wondered a long time and finally called his assistant Barnier. He ordered him to prepare a history of both regiments with the understanding that the number one will be given to the one who will have deserved the most from the country.
Barnier found that both regiments had a fine war record. Now he had to establish their seniority. To prepare his report he used the best source available to him. That was the Etat Militaire of 1748 and that of Roussel prepared in 1773 which give the date of creation of the Colonel-General as 1635 and that of the Cuirassiers du Roi as 1665. So, the Barnier report gave the seniority to the 1st Cavalry Regiment and was written in such a way that after Berthier read it, he simply shrugged his shoulder and did not make any decision, so the matter remained unsolved, but the 1st Regiment kept its number designation and the 8th Regiment kept the number 1 on portmanteaus, etc. Passion quieted down and in October 1802, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Cavalry Regiments also took the cuirass followed two months later by the 5th, 6th and 7th Cavalry Regiments.
In October 1803, when the subdivision of the arme of the cuirassiers ordnance was published, giving the attribution of the new cuirassier numbers to the old cavalry regiments, the 8th Regiment quietly removed the number one from its equipment. Colonel Margaron had been promoted general de brigade on August 29, 1803 and left the command of the 1st Cuirassiers in September 1803. No one spoke again of that unpleasant affair, but the facts are there and during 2 years two cavalry regiments wore the same number on their portmanteaus!
Uniformes, issue 41 and 44, articles by Rigo Le Cuirassier de 1805, and Les Cuirassiers du Premier Consul
Misc. notes from French Archives and other sources too numerous to quote.
Our thanks to Quantum Publishing for permission to use the Detaille picture on page 42, from their reprint and translation of l'Armee Francaise.
[1] 1. In 1763, the cavalry did include, the Maison du Roi, the Gendarmes, the cavalry, the carabiniers, the dragoons and the hussars. More interesting was that with the exception of the Maison du Roi and the Gendarmes, the rest of the cavalry was considered as light cavalry. Yes. that includes the hussars, the dragoons, the carabiniers and the so-called cavalry which was in fact the battle cavalry!
Note that by 1789-91, there were only 18 dragoon regiments in the French army since 6 of them became chasseurs a cheval.
During the l8th century, the French royal ordnances repeatedly stipulated that the front cuirass was to be worn by all the cavalrymen and the full cuirass by the officers of the cavalry regiments. By around 1750, at least in the French cavalry, the fashion of wearing a cuirass had passed! The cuirass was not only considered as obsolete but also, to a certain extent, wearing a cuirass was even considered as an act of cowardice. These are at least some of the arguments used by the cavalrymen of the period to get rid of that weighty and cumbersome equipment. So, in spite of the fact that the other continental armies kept the cuirass of their cuirassier regiments, the Ordnance of 1763
[1] ordered all the regiments of the French cavalry' to discard the cuirass with the notable exception of the regiment Cuirassiers du Roi', who were equipped with a full cuirass. It was to remain that way until the beginning of the 19th century and the Cuirassiers du Roi were to remain the only regiment in the French army to wear the cuirass since its creation in 1666 (or was it 1638? as we'll see later).
THE CONSULATE, BONAPARTE AND THE CAVALRY REFORM
Captain Barbu of the 8th Cavalry Regiment took the report on the wrongs of the cuirass very seriously since on January 7, 1800 he wrote a letter to the attention of the War Minister [9], in which, in a very respectful and moving tone, he brings to the attention of the Minister the reasons of the affection of his regiment for its cuirasses. Was it that letter or the war preparations for the upcoming war with Austria but the cuirass question (if there was one) remained unsolved and the 8th Cavalry regiment kept its cuirasses.
"I desire you, citizen minister, to submit me a scheme for reducing the regiments of heavy cavalry to twenty - two of which shall be of carabiniers - all four squadrons strong. The last six of now existing regiments should be broken up to furnish a squadron to each of the first eighteen proposed regiments. Of the eighteen regiments, the first five are to wear the cuirass, in addition to the 8th Regiment, which is already equipped in this manner, making in all, 6 regiments with, and 12 regiments without cuirass."
FURTHER REORGANIZATION OF THE CAVALRY OF 1803
Margaron was quite indignant and did not want a much less senior regiment to take the seniority rank of his regiment. So he wrote to General Berthier, the War Minister, explaining that the 1st Cavalry Regiment was descended from the illustrious Colonel- General Regiment formed in 1635, which displayed the famous white cornet to which all the light cavalry [13] has to give salute.... including the Cuirassiers du Roi! Margaron considered that the 8th Regiment being cuirassier was nothing new and that had not prevented the King of France to give his Cuirassiers du Roi the seventh rank. [14]
SOURCES
Les Uniformes du Premier Empire, Les Cuirassiers, Cdt. Bucquoy, reprint by Grancher, Paris, 1979.
Swords Around the Throne, Col. John R. Elting, The Free Press, New York, 1988. Napoleon's Cuirassiers and Carabiniers, Emir Bukhari, Osprey Men-at-Arms Series, New York, 1977.
Napoleon's Army, Col. H.C.B. Rogers, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1974.
Empires, Eagles and Lions, several past issues of Volume 1.
ENDNOTES
[2] i.e. Cuirassiers of the King.
[3] In 1789, the cavalry, also called battle cavalry (cavallerie de bataille) was in fact heavy cavalry. Numbering 32 regiments in 1788, it had been further reduced by changing the Bouffiers, Montmorency, DeuxPonts, Durfort, Segur and Languedoc regiments from battle cavalry to chasseurs cheval.
[4] Smaller horses were easy to get from the Auvergne, Ardennes, the Landes Normandy and Gascony. In the royal army, heavy cavalry horses beside the ones available from Normandy and elsewhere were traditionally imported from Germany.
[5] It had been the 7th cavalry regiment in the Royal army until 1791 when the cavalry regiments, like the infantry regiments, were renumbered according to their seniority i.e. date of creation.
[6] We are dealing here with Franqois Etienne Kellerman, the son of famous Valmy victor. In spite of the fact that he was not as famous as Murat, he was certainly one of the most able cavalry commanders in Napoleon's army.
[7] The Corps d'Armee system was generally adopted in the French army (with the exception of the Army of Italy) between 1802 and 1804.
[8] The French text reads: ... la cuirasse tue plus d'hommes qu'elle n'en conserve, a cause des chutes ou des maladies de poitrine occasionnes par les reflets du soled quifait de la cuirasse un veritable fourneau. That comment was not without merit. Christopher Duffy, in The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, Atheneum, New York, 1988, p. 169, says: ',..the cuirassiers were tormented by their breastplates which became very hot in the sun...'
[9] That letter has been discovered by Raoul and Jean Brunon in 1937 and the object of a well researched article in the Bulletin of A.M.A..
[10] Each regiment kept its order of seniority (i.e. date of creation), hence forcing the dragoon regiments to their order which became:
1. Colonel-General
2. Mestre de camp General
3. Royal
4. Du Roi
5. De la Reine
6. Du Dauphin
7. De Monsieur
8. D'Orleans
9. D'Orleans
10. De Chartres
11. De Conde
12. De Bourbon
13. De Conti
14. De Penthievre
15. De Boufflers
16. De Lorraine
17. De Custine
18. De La Rochefoucauld
19. De Chabot
20. De Lanau
21. De Belzunce
22. De Languedoc
23. De Noailles
24. De Schomberg
[11] The cuirass Model 1804 was an evolution of the older cuirass. It was made of steel some 2.8mm thick.
[12] Pierre Margaron was Chef de Brigade (colonel) commanding the 1st Cavalry Regiment since December 23, 1798. He left the command of his regiment in 1803 after being promoted to general de brigade on August 29, at the age of 36.
[13] As mentioned in note 1 in the Royal army, everything that was not Gendarmerie or Maison du Roi was considered as light cavalry.
[14] In 1791, as a step to eradicate the royalist tradition, regiments were deprived of their old distinctive titles and
were allotted numbers according to their date of creation and not according to the rank of their higher birth ranking of their commanding officers. Consequently, as per the Etat Militaire of 1748 and that of Roussel prepared in 1773, the Cuirasiers du Roi, allegedly created in 1665 lost a rank.
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