



348 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period iy. 



three arms of the service. The brigades were commanded 

 by generals of brigade, the divisions by generals of divi- 

 sion, and the corps d'armee by general officers, with a 

 commander-in-chief over all.^ By this means these large 

 numbers were more easily handled and manceuvred. 

 Three battalions of infantry made a demi-brigade, six 

 battalions made a brigade, two brigades a division, and 

 two or more divisions a corps d'armee. To each division 

 was usually attached two regiments of light cavalry, 

 dragoons or heavy cavalry, a battery of field artillery, 

 and one of horse artillery.'* 



The cavalry of the French army in 1793, while 

 numerous, were still weak in proportion to the strength 

 of the whole army. They consisted of two regiments 

 of carbineers, sixteen regiments of heavy cavalry, who 

 fought only with the straight sword and pistol, twenty 

 regiments of dragoons, twenty-five regiments of chas- 

 seurs d cheval, and twelve regiments of hussars. These 

 hussars were armed with the carbine, curved sabre, and 

 pistol, and were organised like the dragoons. There were 

 about 22,000 chasseurs, and 11,000 hussars, or in all 

 33,000 light cavalry. The hussars were seldom expected 

 to charge, and only in cases of emergency, while the 

 chasseurs were used in the charge constantly, and also 

 continually as light troops for outpost service, so that 

 they were really the most useful of all the cavalry. 

 These regiments were usually composed of four squadrons 

 of about 200 men each.' 



This system of dividing up the cavalry among the 

 divisions was soon found to be faulty, as in small bodies 

 they were unable to perform any important service. 

 General Hoche was the first to see the weakness of the 

 system, and upon his appointment to the command of 

 the army of the Sambre and Meuse, in 1797, he united 

 the hussars, dragoons, and chasseurs together in separate 

 divisions,* a measure which was a great improvement 

 upon the preceding arrangements. 



Napoleon, in Italy, found the same evil in his army, 



' Carrion, ii 412, 413, 414. 2 Rocquancourt, ii. 191. ^ Car- 

 rion Nisas, ii. 414, 415. * Rocquancourt, ii. 195. 



