CHAP, xxiii.] WARS OF THE REVOLUTION. 



368 



lolan, 



At Wurzburg, in 1796, the Austrian cavalry also con- 

 tributed mainly to the victory, and it seems to have 

 been the first general action in the Eevolutionary wars 

 in which the cavalry were employed in large bodies, and 

 exercised an important influence on the general result. 

 The Austrians won the victory through the skilful use of 

 reserves which were thrown in successively until the fate 

 of the action was decided.^ 



In the campaigns of 1796, 1797, in Italy, the cavalry 

 did but slight service. After the battle of Roveredo, 

 Napoleon sent his aide-de-camp Lamarois, with only fifty 

 dragoons, to ride through the fugitives into the defile of 

 CaUiano, by which means large bodies of infantry were 

 cut off and captured. 



The upheaval of the Revolution, and the daring ambi- 

 tion of Napoleon, led among other remarkable events to 

 the French invasion of Egypt, and to a series of battles 

 between the enthusiastic soldiery of France and the 

 dashing horsemen of the East. These actions are of 

 intense interest to the cavalry ofl&cer, as they were most 

 peculiar in their character, the army on one side being 

 composed almost entirely of irregular light horsemen of 

 wonderful skill in the individual use of the horse and 

 the sword, but without any regular discipline or capacity 

 for manoeuvring. 



The Mamelukes of Egypt were the actual rulers of 

 the country, and were composed of Circassians, Albanians, 

 Servians, and Bosnians, who, torn from their parents in 

 infancy, were sent into Egypt to occupy that province. 

 They were soldiers by profession, never engaged in any- 

 thing else, and prided themselves solely upon their 

 horses, their arms, the splendour of their accoutrements, 

 and their individual military prowess.^ 



This force consisted of 12,000 horsemen, and was 

 commanded by twenty-four beys, who each maintained 

 and equipped about 500 or 600 Mamelukes. Each 

 soldier was followed by two attendants, somewhat upon 

 the principle of the lance fournie of the middle ages, or 



^ Archduke Charles, Principes de la Stratf^gie. Chap. x. 

 2 Alison, i. 506. 



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