Dragoon

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A light dragoon from the American Revolution

French dragoon, 1745.

Statue of a dragoon on the Triumph Arc of the Louvres in Paris

During the 17th and early 18th centuries a dragoon was traditionally a soldier trained to fight on foot, but transport himself on horseback. In other words, he moved as cavalry but fought as infantry. The name derives from the dragoon's primary weapon, a carbine or short musket called the dragon. Sometimes, dragon carbines are said to have been so-called because they "breathed fire" — a reference to the smoke they emitted when fired.

Dragoons were organized not in squadrons or troops like the cavalry, but in companies like the foot soldier, and their officers and non-commissioned officers bore infantry ranks. The flexibility of mounted infantry made dragoons a useful arm, especially when employed for what would now be termed "internal security work" against smugglers or civil unrest. The dragoon regiments were also cheaper to recruit and maintain than the notoriously expensive regiments of cavalry. However, dragoons were at a disadvantage when engaged against true cavalry, and constantly sought to raise their horsemanship, armament and social status to the levels of the cavalry regiments. Thus, "dragoon" had come to mean medium cavalry by the time of the early wars of Frederick the Great, in the 1740s.

The term "to dragoon" dates from the earlier mounted infantry period. Dragoons were the most efficient and economical form of cavalry for police work and counter guerrilla warfare.

From the late 18th century, some regiments started to be designated as Light Dragoons, who rode faster and lighter horses and carried lighter sabres. They were trained in reconnaissance, skirmishing and other work requiring speed. In the early 19th century, the British Light Dragoon regiments converted to Lancers and Hussars. Between 1881 and 1910 all Russian cavalry other than Cossacks and Imperial Guard units were designated as dragoons, reflecting an emphasis on dismounted action in their training.

In 1914 there were still dragoon regiments in the British, French, German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Swedish, Danish and Spanish armies. Their uniforms varied greatly, lacking the characteristic features of hussar or lancer regiments. There were occasional reminders of the mounted infantry origins of this class of soldier. Thus the dragoon regiments of the Imperial German Army wore spiked helmets of the same design as those of the infantry and the British dragoons wore scarlet tunics (hussars and all but one of the lancer regiments wore dark blue). In other respects however dragoons had adopted the same tactics, roles and equipment as other branches of the cavalry and the distinction had become simply one of traditional titles.

A modern United States Army unit informally known as the 2nd Dragoons is the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. This unit was originally organized as the Second Dragoon Regiment until it was renamed the Second Cavalry Regiment in 1860. The regiment is the oldest active cavalry combat unit in the U.S. military and is equipped with Stryker infantry fighting vehicles.

In the present-day British Army, one regiment is designated The Light Dragoons and three as Dragoon Guards. In the Territorial Army, one of the five squadrons of the Royal Yeomanry, W (Westminster Dragoons) Squadron, also bears the title of a former dragoon regiment.

In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have the status of a regiment of Dragoons. The senior armoured regiment in the Canadian Forces is the Royal Canadian Dragoons.

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Dragoon

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