Comparing Napoleonic Peninsular War dragoons

[olicana]

I've been recently wondering how best to classify dragoons in the Peninsular and would like your learned thoughts.

British heavy dragoons are true heavy cavalry but, what about French and Spanish dragoons. For weight of charge, compared with each other, how would you class them?

I'm leaving British light dragoons, Spanish heavy and line cavalry and Portuguese line cavalry out of the equation. They would only serve to confuse the issue.

Personally, because they were (discounting the ad hoc regiment of cuirassier) the heaviest French cavalry in Spain, I tend to class French dragoons as shock tactics heavies but, inferior in weight to the British; for lack of anything better to go on I class Spanish dragoons as light cavalry (mostly because they had named regiments of line and heavy cavalry).

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

French Dragoons are basically medium cavalry on the spectrum. Heavier than lights but not quite as heavy as Cuirassier. Give them a slight plus when meeting vs true lights but a slight malus vs heavies. They have a straight sword so technically heavy in mission but they were such jack of trades and utilitarian they often fought as lights in the affairs of vedettes.

Some of the French dragoons later became lancier, as they did not have the great horses and big men of the Cuirassier regiments despite a straight sword. Lancers were basically always light so it’s something to consider when judging dragoons.

Elan, of course,is another thing entirely. It can makes up for size where you see a very professional light squadron chase off much heavier opponents.

Spanish dragoons were mostly awful. I wouldn’t rate them much better than poor light in straight charges. More like Portuguese cav. Too slow to be true lights but not really up to snuff to take on heavies. But Spanish horse in general had a poor reputation (but there are surely exceptions!)

British LT dragoons sometimes get called mediums, if just because of the quality of the horses. Curved swords so still light.

[Harry Faversham]

Some say, British Light Dragoons were more than capable of smartening up anything, even up to yer Curryasars!
Summat to do with better maintained, and bigger hoses?
 

[olicana]

Ian Fletcher, in his book Galloping at Everything, asserts that all British cavalry behaved like heavies when facing French cavalry in the Peninsular. This largely stemmed from their basic training which is summed up in the title his the book. It seems that charging at the gallop was the first tactical manoeuvre they learned and the thing they most practiced (at the detriment of almost everything else). It is evident that light dragoons, and hussars for that matter, only learned how to undertake the true role of light cavalry (scouting, patrolling, etc.) after they arrived in Spain.

[IronDuke596]

I think GdeBd has the classifications about right in their definition of troop types for melee. For each type the rationale is explained for the grade, ref. p.121..

Cuirassiers +5, must be wearing metalled cuirasses.

Heavy cavalry +4; includes Fr Horse grenadiers, early Fr carabiniers, British Household cavalry, Br heavy dragoons and dragoon guards, late Prussian cuirassiers and Guard du Corps units.

Dragoons +3; standard line dragoons like, French, Russian, Prussian and Austrian. Note, dragoons are classed a heavies for movement.

Lancers +3; applies to genuine lacer units, poorer quality lancers such as Landwehr are graded as light cavalry.

Light Cavalry +2; applies to all hussars, light dragoons and cheveau-leger. Exceptionally poor cavalry (heavy and or dragoons) e.g.. Spanish and Prussian landwehr cavalry should be graded as light cavalry for melee purposes. {This could be determined by each scenario as even the Spanish cavalry performed well sometimes}.

Also cavalry melee factors could be further modified by superior mounts +1 (most British cavalry) and inferior mounts -1 (some French and most Spanish cavalry) as this varied over time this factor could be determined by each scenario.

I hope this helps.

[MiniPigs]

It's also the way the cavalry fought. Cuirassiers or "Horse" (whether armored or not) could fight in column whereas most medium cavalry fought in line. Thus, in some sense, the British Household and Heavy Dragoon Guards are similar to French Cuirassiers while the French dragoons and British ordinary heavy dragoons are a lighter class.

[Harry Faversham]

Ian Fletcher, in his book Galloping at Everything, asserts that all British cavalry behaved like heavies when facing French cavalry in the Peninsular.

Once read that, the 95th when on outpost duty, never took much notice of an English Hussar galloping in, full tilt to report. It was how they did everything! But, if it was a KGL Hussar coming in at breakneck speed, they stood to, instantly. Galloping at everything even survived into WW2, till Rommel taught our cavalrymen better!