I 



346 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period IV. 



good, and the traditions of the service of the highest 

 type, yet it had fallen off immensely during the years 

 that elapsed after Frederick's death, so that on the 

 outbreak of the revolutionary wars it did not produce 

 the striking results that might have been expected of it. 

 The falling off seems to have been more in the generals 

 than in the cavalry itself, for in the early campaigns of 

 this war the Prussian cavalry in small bodies proved 

 themselves more than a match for the French horsemen, 

 but there did not appear any general who could use 

 them in great masses on the battle-field, as they were 

 constantly used by Frederick. 



The Austrians had modelled their cavalry as much as 

 possible after the Prussian system, and in the last 

 campaigns in Bohemia and Turkey, under the cele- 

 brated General Loucton, the force had acquired a high 

 morale. In the year 1792 the Austrian cavalry was 

 very numerous, and comprised 12 squadrons of car- 

 bineers, 54 squadrons of cuirassiers, 42 squadrons of 

 dragoons, 36 squadrons of light horse, 74 squadrons of 

 hussars, and 8 squadrons of uhlans ; in all, 226 squadrons, 

 containing 44,000 men.' 



The revolution in America of the thirteen colonies 

 against Great Britain broke out in 1776, and the war 

 lasted for seven years, until, in 1783, peace was made by 

 the acknowledgment of the independence of the United 

 States. This was effected mainly through the assistance 

 given by the French Government to the Americans, 

 whom they aided with troops, ships, arms, and money. 

 The war, however, fought as it was in a country almost 

 covered with forests and wildernesses, did not give any 

 facilities for the' use of cavalry, nor do we find that force 

 exercising any great influence upon the fate of the war. 

 A few partisan corps were organised on both sides, and 

 did good service, but it was upon a small scale, and the 

 records do not convey any practical instruction to the 

 cavalry officer. The broken and intersected character of 

 the country had the effect of producing a system of 

 fighting from under cover with long-ranged rifles of 



' Jomim, Grand Operations, v. 17. 



