Dragoon
At a glance:
- Series: Magill’s Guide to Military History
- Categories: Military History
- Subcategories: Generals, Military Officers, Soldiers
- Curriculum: British History, French History, Worldwide
Mounted infantrymen who rode on horseback but fought dismounted, dragoons originated in mid-sixteenth century France. By the 1620’s, French and Swedish armies had organized regiments of dragoons, who donned no armor and fought with dragoons (short muskets from which they derived their name) and sabers. By the early eighteenth century, dragoons no longer fought on foot but served as medium cavalry. British light cavalry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was referred to as light dragoons. The original concept of dragoons reappeared during World War I (1914-1918), when British...
[The entire page is 111 words long]
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