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Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th ctury onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as convtional cavalry and trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback.
While their use goes back to the late 16th ctury, dragoon regimts were established in most European armies during the 17th and early 18th cturies; they provided greater mobility than regular infantry but were far less expsive than cavalry.
The name reputedly derives from a type of firearm, called a dragon, which was a handgun version of a blunderbuss, carried by dragoons of the Frch Army.
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The establishmt of dragoons evolved from the practice of sometimes transporting infantry by horse wh speed of movemt was needed. In 1552, Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma mounted several companies of infantry on pack horses to achieve surprise, another example being that used by Louis of Nassau in 1572 during operations near Mons in Hainaut, wh 500 infantry were transported this way.
According to old German literature, dragoons were invted by Count Ernst von Mansfeld, one of the greatest German military commanders, in the early 1620s. There are other instances of mounted infantry predating this. However Mansfeld, who had learned his profession in Hungary and the Netherlands, oft used horses to make his foot troops more mobile, creating what was called an "armée volante" (Frch for flying army).
During the Spanish Conquest of Peru in the 16th ctury, conquistadors fought on horse with arquebuses, prefiguring the origin of European dragoons.
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The name possibly derives from an early weapon, a short wheellock, called a dragon because its muzzle was decorated with a dragon's head. The practice comes from a time wh all gunpowder weapons had distinctive names, including the culverin, serptine, falcon, falconet, etc.
It has also be suggested that the name derives from the German "trag" or the Dutch "drag", both being the verb "to carry" in their respective languages. Howard Reid claims the name and role descd from the Latin Draconarius.
Dragoon is occasionally used as a verb to mean to subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops; and by extsion to compel by any violt measures or threats. The term dates from 1689, at a time wh dragoons were being used by the Frch monarchy to persecute Protestants, particularly by forcing Protestants to lodge a dragoon in their house to watch over them, at the householder's expse.
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Early dragoons were not organized in squadrons or troops as were cavalry, but in companies like the infantry. Their commissioned and non-commissioned officers bore infantry ranks, while they used drummers, not buglers, to communicate orders on the battlefield. The flexibility of mounted infantry made dragoons a useful arm, especially wh employed for what would now be termed "internal security" against smugglers or civil unrest, and on line of communication security duties.
In Britain, companies of dragoons were first raised during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and prior to 1645 served either as indepdt troops or were attached to cavalry units. Wh the New Model Army was first approved by Parliamt in January 1645, it included t regimts of cavalry, each with a company of dragoons attached. At the urging of Sir Thomas Fairfax, on 1 March they were formed into a separate unit of 1, 000 m, commanded by Colonel John Okey, and played an important part at the Battle of Naseby in June.
Supplied with inferior horses and more basic equipmt, the dragoon regimts were cheaper to raise and maintain than the expsive regimts of cavalry. Wh in the 17th ctury Gustav II Adolf introduced dragoons into the Swedish Army, he provided them with a sabre, an axe and a matchlock musket, using them as "labourers on horseback".
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Many of the European armies hceforth imitated this all-purpose set of weaponry. Dragoons of the late 17th and early 18th cturies retained strong links with infantry in appearance and equipmt, differing mainly in the substitution of riding boots for shoes and the adoption of caps instead of broad-brimmed hats to able muskets to be worn slung.
A non-military use of dragoons was the 1681 Dragonnades, a policy instituted by Louis XIV to intimidate Huguot families into either leaving France or re-converting to Catholicism by billeting ill-disciplined dragoons in Protestant households. While other categories of infantry and cavalry were also used, the mobility, flexibility and available numbers of the dragoon regimts made them particularly suitable for repressive work of this nature over a wide area.
In the Spanish Army, Pedro de la Pute organized a body of dragoons in Innsbruck in 1635. In 1640, a tercio of a thousand dragoons armed with the arquebus was created in Spain. By the d of the 17th ctury, the Spanish Army had three tercios of dragoons in Spain, plus three in the Netherlands and three more in Milan. In 1704, the Spanish dragoons were reorganised into regimts by Philip V, as were the rest of the tercios.
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Dragoons were at a disadvantage wh gaged against true cavalry, and constantly sought to improve their horsemanship, armamt and social status. By the Sev Years' War in 1756, their primary role in most European armies had progressed from that of mounted infantry to that of heavy cavalry. They were sometimes described as 'medium' cavalry, midway betwe heavy/armoured and light/unarmoured regimts, though this was a classification that was rarely used at the time.
Their original responsibilities for scouting and picket duty had passed to hussars and similar light cavalry corps in the Frch, Austrian, Prussian, and other armies. In the Imperial Russian Army, due to the availability of the Cossack troops, the dragoons were retained in their original role for much longer.
An exception to the rule was the British Army, which from 1746 onward gradually redesignated all regimts of "Horse" (regular cavalry) as lower paid "Dragoons", in an economy measure.
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Starting in 1756, sev regimts of Light Dragoons were raised and trained in reconnaissance, skirmishing and other work requiring durance in accordance with contemporary standards of light cavalry performance. The success of this new class of cavalry was such that another eight dragoon regimts were converted betwe 1768 and 1783.
Wh this reorganisation was completed in 1788, the cavalry arm consisted of regular dragoons and sev units of Dragoon Guards. The designation of Dragoon Guards did not mean that these regimts (the former 2nd to 8th Horse) had become Household Troops, but simply that they had be giv a more dignified title to compsate for the loss of pay and prestige.
Towards the d of 1776, George Washington realized the need for a mounted branch of the American military. In January 1777 four regimts of light dragoons were raised. Short term listmts were abandoned and the dragoons joined for three years, or "the war". They participated in most of the major gagemts of the American War of Indepdce, including the Battles of White Plains, Trton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Saratoga, Cowps, and Monmouth, as well as the Yorktown campaign.
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During the Napoleonic Wars, dragoons gerally assumed a cavalry role, though remaining a lighter class of mounted troops than the armored cuirassiers. Dragoons rode larger horses than the light cavalry and wielded straight, rather than curved swords. Emperor Napoleon oft formed complete divisions out of his 30 dragoon regimts, while in 1811 six regimts were converted to Chevau-Legers Lanciers; they were oft used in battle to break the emy's main resistance.
In northern and eastern Europe they were employed as heavy cavalry, while in the Iberian pinsula they also fulfilled the role of lighter cavalry, for example in anti-guerrilla operations.
In 1809, Frch dragoons scored notable successes against Spanish armies at the Battle of Ocana and the Battle of Alba de Tormes.
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Post 1805, the 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th regimts of Light Dragoons of the British Army were re-designated as hussars and wh the Napoleonic Wars ded in 1815, some became lancers. The transition from dragoons to hussars was however a slow one, affecting uniforms but not equipmt and functions. Ev titles oft remained ambiguous until 1861, for example "18th King's Light Dragoons (Hussars)".
The sev regimts of Dragoon Guards served as the heavy cavalry arm of the British Army, although unlike contintal cuirassiers they carried no armour.
The creation of a unified German state in 1871 brought together the dragoon regimts of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Mecklburg, Oldburg, Bad, Hesse, and Württemberg in a single numbered sequce, although historic distinctions of insignia and uniform were largely preserved. Two regimts of the Imperial Guard were designated as dragoons.
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The Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Army of the 19th ctury included six regimts of dragoons in 1836, classed as heavy cavalry for shock action, but in practice used as multi-purpose medium troops.
During the 18th ctury, Spain raised several regimts of dragoons to protect the northern provinces and borders of New Spain, the prest-day states of California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Arizona, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
In mainland Spain, dragoons were reclassified as light cavalry from 1803 but remained among the elite units of the Spanish Colonial Army. A number of dragoon officers played a leading role in initiating the
