"Why do all Late Napoleonic light dragoons look alike?" Topic

I noticed this many years ago, during one of my abortive attempts to get interested in Napoleonics.
I was shopping at a store that had blister packs, and I noticed that the only difference between late war French, British and Prussian light dragoons was the saddle cloth.

Weren't there incidents where highlighted against the setting sun, the British mistook fashionable newly arrive Light Dragoons for French and opened fire? Had the cavalry been wearing the perfectly respectable Tarleton helmet, this would not have happened.

So, why did "all" light dragoons (well, a LOT of them) wear the shako and dark blue coat?
Were the Colonels of the regiments that adopted the French style pinheads?

In for a penny, in for a pound…
I crossposted to "Napoleonic Discussion". May God have mercy on my soul.

Lord God….I'll get my coat……

From Wikipedia article on the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars:

In 1806, four light dragoon regiments (the 7th, 10th, 15th and 18th) were converted into regiments of Hussars, with no change in their role, but a great increase in the expense of their uniforms. From 1812, the uniforms of most of the remaining British cavalry changed, following French styles. The heavy cavalry (excepting the Household Cavalry who adopted a helmet with a prominent woollen comb and the Scots Greys, who retained their bearskins) adopted a helmet with a horsetail crest like those of French dragoons or cuirassiers, while the light dragoons adopted a jacket and shako similar to those of French chasseurs a cheval. The Duke of Wellington objected to these changes, as it became difficult to distinguish French and British cavalry at night or at a distance, but without success.

Not only the ones you mention.
At Quatre Bras the Netherlandish 5th Light Dragoons were fired on by their allies. Both the 5th and the French 6th Chasseurs were in the same basic uniform – green coats with yellow facings and shako.

Maybe an example of convergent evolution of uniforms ??

Notions of a proper uniform where different then.

The Light Dragoons needed to look like Light Dragoons, and that's what Light Dragoons wore.

Artillery? Well, you'll be needing a blue coat then.

Rifles or Jaegers? Green jackets are third aisle on the right.

Ok, time for some pedantry.

Neither Prussians nor French had "Light Dragoons." Prussians and French both had dragoons, period. French dragoons wore helmets and green coatees. Prussians wore shakos and long, mid-blue coats called litewkas.

French Chasseurs a Cheval (closest thing to British Light Dragoons) did wear shakos, but the coatee was green. The only Prussian cavalry similar to this was the Jager zu Pferde (wore shakos and green coatee), but they were attached to other cavalry regiments as skirmishers and not grouped into regiments.

Also, Austrian Dragoons and Chevaux Legers (sic) wore helmets and green or white coatees. Russian dragoons wore helmets and the later regiments that were converted to Chasseurs wore shakos; both wore green coatees.

So, I would argue that you basic premise is wrong.

And even so, if one adopts a broad meaning of light dragoon, it is just military fashion. Why did later 19th c. armies adopt helmets with spikes or kepi-like hats? The leading powers were wearing those. Same for the shako in the earlier period. French were winning. French wore shakos.

If you wear the winning hat, you're more likely to win. Right?

Because the Empire was able to field a Clone army cheaper than a Droid army.

I agree with great hall games. The premise is wrong.

THE PREMISE IS WRONG??????

I suggest you take it up with Minifigs, whose blister packs way back when inspired this rant! Harrumph.

<If you wear the winning hat, you're more likely to win. Right?>

Finally! Someone speaks the truth.

Wellington said he was perfectly happy with the Tarleton helmet because British light dragoons were easy to recognize, even through smoke. Horse Guards got wind of this and replaced them with shakos that looked just like the French. So there.

Horse Guards also made sure Wellington was saddled with Uxbridge as his second in command at Waterloo. A decent cavalry commander, Uxbridge had eloped with the Duke's sister in law some years before. One suspects some bad blood.

In 'Uniforms of the Peninsular War" (Blandford) Philip Haythornthwaite comments that the 1812 introduction of the new light dragoon uniform for the British cavalry provoked intense criticism from within the army and describes a trooper wearing it being hooted at by his fellows for looking like a "damned Frenchman". Meanwhile, the author of the 'Royal Military Chronicle" (1813) complained: "I presume they (the uniforms) have been altered and altered til no English alteration remained, and it was therefore necessary to adopt French ones…"