"Heavy and Light cavalry (uniforms)" Topic

Hi All,

I don't really don't understand why only the light cavalry wore the spectacular outfits. Why not , for example, the dragoons. When you look at the pictures link
the dragoons and lancers looked quite poor comparing to the hussars. What was the reasoning behind this ?

Tradition. The Hussar uniform was based upon the Hungarian national dress back in the early C18th.
Stephen

Agree. As you say, that is even the case in the SYW. Dragoons and heavy horse, plain colors with nice facings, but not as much lace etc as hussars. Remember the quote attributed to LaSalle, "Any hussar who is not dead by the age of 30 is a (or blackguard depending upon your choice of translation)" They supposed rode by different standards.

I would suggest it was a matter of cost. Hussars are pretty, but the uniforms are expensive. Fine for a few regiments, but you wouldn't want to pay for that kind of rig for 30 regiments of dragoons.

In fact, the entire history of uniform development after the Nap wars is one of continual simplification, as armies got bigger faster than the budgets of the countries they served. So, simpler, cheaper uniforms.

While French hussars are very colourful, the Chasseus a Cheval – who were much more numerous – had a fairly plain uniform (by Napoleonic standards)

Cost is a funny thing. The heavies cost a lot too. French Carabiniers à Cheval & Cuirassiers were not cheap to maintain. I don't think the question is correctly framed as "light vs heavy".

My perspective is we should be considering this as "elite vs rank". The rank and file of the French light and medium cavalry were the Chasseurs à Cheval & Dragoons. Their uniforms were bland. The elite of the cavalry were the Hussards, Cuirassiers & Carabiniers à Cheval. Their uniforms were more dressed up.

Cheers,

The Bandit

In some respects, it was also down to the attitude of the Colonel of the regiment, the size of regimental funds, and long-standing traditions (resulting from either longevity, previous amalgamations, or conversion from one type of unit to another). For example, the low-numbered Chasseur a Cheval regiments adopted certain facets of hussar dress to highlight their longer pedigrees.