A dragoon helmet was an ornate style of metal combat helmet featuring a tall crest; they were initially used by dragoons, but later by other types of heavy cavalry and some other military units. Originating in France in the second half of the 18th century, it was widely imitated by other European armies and was last used in combat in 1914. Some military units continue to wear this style of helmet for parades and other ceremonial duties.
18th century European dragoon cavalry generally wore tricorn hats, but in 1762, the French Army introduced a new uniform for their dragoon regiments, featuring a crested helmet, loosely based on classical Ancient Greek and Roman styles. [1] It was made of steel with a brass crest and featured an imitation panther fur "turban" and a long black horsehair mane or plume. [2] One distinctive example of this kind of headgear used to be the Tarleton helmet. By the end of the century, it had developed a taller, more elegant shape and a removable feather plume at the side, which was only worn on parade. [3] The dragoon helmet was also adopted by the French cuirassier regiments which were first formed in 1803, [4] and by French engineers. In 1812, the French engineer corps became responsible for the Paris fire brigade, the Sapeurs-pompiers , who also adopted the dragoon helmet; [5] this was later copied and adapted by other European fire services, including the London Fire Brigade who introduced the crested Merryweather helmet in 1868 following a visit to Paris by Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw. [6]
In 1798, the Imperial and Royal Austrian Army introduced a crested helmet for nearly all their troops; [7] it was made of leather with metal fittings and had a woollen "comb" instead of the French mane. A taller version of this helmet was adopted by the dragoon regiments of the Imperial Russian Army in 1803, replacing a bicorn hat. [8] British dragoons and dragoon guards adopted a helmet of the Austrian style in 1812, but quickly replaced the woollen comb (known as a "roach" in British service) with a horsehair mane; [9] the Household Cavalry however, followed the opposite path, first adopting horsehair but rapidly replacing it with a woollen comb. [10]
In the century that followed, the dragoon helmet continued to be worn both on parade and in battle. In 1842, the Prussian Army replaced their crested helmets with one surmounted by a spike, the Pickelhaube. [11] The British heavy cavalry, who in 1817 had adopted the "Roman Pattern" helmet with a huge bearskin crest, [12] replaced it in 1847 with the "Albert Pattern", a spiked helmet with a falling horsehair plume, which could be removed when on campaign. [13] The Albert Pattern helmet was also used by cavalry raised in various parts of the British Empire, for example, The Governor General's Horse Guards, formed in Canada in 1855. [14]
As the power and accuracy of weapons increased, so conspicuous headgear like the cavalry helmet began to be discarded in favour of more practical designs. Bavaria, however, would stick to the Raupenhelm (caterpillar helmet), this unmistakable feature of many of its army's uniforms, until the adoption of prussian models only after King Ludwig's death in 1886. In France, the traditional uniform was considered to increase the esprit de corps of the heavy cavalry in their role as shock troops and the French dragoons and cuirassiers rode to war in them in 1914, the only concession to modern warfare being drab-coloured helmet covers which were first issued in 1902. [15]
Variants of the dragoon helmet are still worn for ceremonial duties by a number of horsed units:
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback. While their use goes back to the late 16th century, dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the 17th and early 18th centuries; they provided greater mobility than regular infantry but were far less expensive than cavalry.
The Pickelhaube, also Pickelhelm, is a spiked Pith helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German military officers, firefighters and police. Although it is typically associated with the Prussian Army, which adopted it in 1842–43, the helmet was widely imitated by other armies during that period. It is still worn today as part of ceremonial wear in the militaries of certain countries, such as Sweden, Chile, and Colombia.
A grenadier was originally a specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in battle. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when grenadiers were recruited from among the strongest and largest soldiers. By the 18th century, the grenadier dedicated to throwing hand grenades had become a less necessary specialist, yet in battle, the grenadiers were the physically robust soldiers who led assaults, such as storming fortifications in the course of siege warfare.
A hussar was a member of a class of light cavalry, originating in Central Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European armies during the late 17th and 18th centuries. By the 19th century, hussars were wearing jackets decorated with braid plus shako or busby hats and had developed a romanticized image of being dashing and adventurous.
The Imperial Guard was originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon I, but grew considerably over time. It acted as his bodyguard and tactical reserve, and he was careful of its use in battle. The Guard was divided into the staff, infantry, cavalry, and artillery regiments, as well as battalions of sappers and marines. The guard itself as a whole distinguished between the experienced veterans and less experienced members by being separated into three sections: the Old Guard, Middle Guard and Young Guard.
Cuirassiers were cavalry equipped with a cuirass, sword, and pistols. Cuirassiers first appeared in mid-to-late 16th century Europe as a result of armoured cavalry, such as men-at-arms and demi-lancers, discarding their lances and adopting the use of pistols as their primary weapon. In the later part of the 17th century the cuirassier lost his limb armour and subsequently wore only the cuirass, and sometimes a helmet. By this time, the sword or sabre had become his primary weapon, with pistols relegated to a secondary function.
Uhlans were a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. While first appearing in the cavalry of Lithuania and then Poland, Uhlans were quickly adopted by the mounted forces of other countries, including France, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Austria-Hungary.
A carabinier is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine. A carbiniere is a carabiniere musket or rifle and was commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is derived from the identical French word carabinier.
A military uniform is a standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations.
A shako is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with an ornamental plate or badge on the front, metallic or otherwise; and often has a feather, plume or pompom attached at the top.
The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was the technical name for this type of cavalry, though in everyday usage they were usually simply called 'cavalry' or 'horse'. In Germany they were often termed Ringerpferd, or sometimes Reiter, in Sweden they were called lätta ryttare.
The lobster-tailed pot helmet, also known as the zischägge, horseman's pot and harquebusier's pot, was a type of post-Renaissance combat helmet. It became popular in Europe, especially for cavalry and officers, from c. 1600; it was derived from an Ottoman Turkish helmet type. The helmet gradually fell out of use in most of Europe in the late 17th century; however, the Austrian heavy cavalry retained it for some campaigns as late as the 1780s.
The uniforms of La Grande Armée, the army of Napoleon I, are described in this article.
The uniforms of the British Army currently exist in twelve categories ranging from ceremonial uniforms to combat dress. Uniforms in the British Army are specific to the regiment to which a soldier belongs. Full dress presents the most differentiation between units, and there are fewer regimental distinctions between ceremonial dress, service dress, barrack dress and combat dress, though a level of regimental distinction runs throughout.
The Voltigeurs were French military skirmish units created in 1804 by Emperor Napoleon I. They replaced the second company of fusiliers in each existing infantry battalion.
The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty of Bavaria into that of the German State in 1919. The Bavarian Army was never comparable to the armies of the Great Powers of the 19th century, but it did provide the Wittelsbach dynasty with sufficient scope of action, in the context of effective alliance politics, to transform Bavaria from a territorially-disjointed small state to the second-largest state of the German Empire after Prussia.
A sabretache is a flat bag or pouch, which was worn suspended from the belt of a cavalry soldier together with the sabre.
The Empress's Dragoons of the Imperial Guard was a heavy cavalry unit formed by Napoleon I through the decree of April 15, 1806. The "dragoon" regiments of the line had distinguished themselves in the German Campaign of 1805, and therefore Napoleon decided to reorganize the cavalry of the Guard and create within it a regiment of dragoon guards. This regiment was colloquially known as the Dragons de l'Impératrice, in honor of Empress Joséphine. Following the Bourbon Restoration, they were renamed as the Royal Dragoon Corps of France but were disbanded shortly afterwards. The Empress' Dragoons were reformed during the Second Empire (1852-1870).
Armour in the 18th century was minimalist and restricted almost entirely to cavalry, primarily to cuirassiers and, to a lesser degree, carabiniers and dragoons. Armour had been in rapid decline since the Thirty Years' War, although some archaisms had lingered on into the early years of the 18th century, like Austrian cuirassiers with buff coats and lobster-tailed helmets or Hungarian warriors with mail armour and shields. With the exception of Poland-Lithuania, which still made use of hussars wearing suits of plate armour, armour in Europe was primarily restricted to a breast- and backplate, the cuirass, and a simple iron skull cap worn under the hat. By the later 18th century, there were two contradicting developments. Many cuirassier regiments were discarding their cuirasses, while helmets in the form of so-called dragoon helmets, made of brass or leather, made a comeback among the cavalry and infantry.
The Albert helmet is the current ceremonial headgear of the British Army's Household Cavalry. It was introduced by Prince Albert in 1842 and adopted by the Household Cavalry the following year. In 1847 the helmet was introduced to all heavy cavalry regiments. It remains in use as the full dress headgear of the two remaining Household Cavalry regiments, the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards. The helmet is also used by several Canadian Army cavalry units as their full dress headgear.