The Uniforms of the French Army under Napoleon I (1800 - 1815) - The Cavalry - Chevaulegers - Lancers

After the disappearance of the lancers already at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth retained the lance riders.

From there the lance riders = uhlans gradually, as a new type of cavalry, entered many other armies — already in the 18th century, but especially in the 19th century many other countries were inspired by the impressive achievements of the French lance riders, e.g. at the Battle of Waterloo, and adopted the lance as a weapon.

As early as 1807, Napoleon raised Polish lanciers in Poland, who, however, entered the Imperial Guard. They initially recruited from Polish nobility. The lance was only issued to the new formation after the Battle of Wagram in 1809.

In 1810 another lancer regiment was added.

The Imperial Guard finally included: 1er régiment de chevau-légers lanciers de la Garde impériale, 2e régiment de chevau-légers lanciers and Lanciers lituaniens de la Garde impériale.

The French cavalry also included 9 regiments of Chevaulegers-Lanciers.

However, these regiments only came into being relatively late, namely in 1811 (18.06.), and were inspired by the Emperor's contact with the Russian Cossacks and above all with Polish lance riders.

On this matter the Emperor in exile on the island of Saint Helena remarked to Gourgaud on 25.08.1817 as follows: "The cuirassiers and the lance riders were created by me; now all the great powers have these arms. They did not want to wear cuirasses — I demanded it, and they wore them. A head of state need only will it!" (quoted from: Napoleons Gedanken und Erinnerungen. St. Helana 1815 - 18. By General G. d. Gourgaud, Stuttgart 1901, p. 270).

The Chevaulegers-Lanciers served as light cavalry, e.g. for reconnaissance or as vanguard. They were also employed in successful battles, e.g. at the Battle of La Albuera in 1811, and furthermore supported heavy cavalry, e.g. in the fight against infantry squares.

Regarding the use of the 2.75 m long lance, Miguel Ángel and Martín Más write in La Grande Armée. The History of Napoleon's Army, 2005, p. 78: "The lance, which gained even more penetrating power from the momentum of the attack, was a terrifying weapon that usually left only dead bodies behind. It was excellently suited for pursuing fleeing infantry or for killing gun crews who hid behind their limbers and guns at the appearance of the riders. Lancers could even manage to break into a square, especially when it rained and the infantrymen therefore had difficulties firing their muskets. For fighting enemy cavalry the lance was less suitable, especially not in close combat. Therefore the lancers were also armed with sabers. Sometimes only the foremost rank of the squadron was equipped for combat with the lance — the soldiers in the rear ranks, who did not have enough room for this long weapon, relied instead on their sabers."

At the Battle of Waterloo (18.06.1815) the six regiments of Chevaulegers (Nos. 1 - 6) were involved.

At Waterloo, in particular with regard to the French lance riders, their counterattacks around 14:40 against the British cavalry under Sir William Ponsonby have remained in the historical memory. The latter had inflicted a heavy defeat on the French divisions Donzelot and Marcognet in the valley. But the British riders, who had pushed forward far and were now exhausted, faced disaster. Farine's cuirassier brigade (5th and 10th Regt.) and Gobrecht's brigade (3rd and 4th Chevaulegers) attacked them frontally and from the flank and caused enormous losses among the British particularly through the use of the lance. The aforementioned Ponsonby also fell. The French General Joseph François Durutte (14.07.1767 in Douai, Département Nord; † 18.08.1827 in Ypres) later commented on this scene: "Never was I more convinced of the superiority of the lance over the saber than on this occasion" (quoted from: Detlef Wenzlik, Waterloo II. The Campaign of 1815. Waterloo and Wavre, 2008, p. 100).

Line cavalry was augmented by the Chevaulegers-Lanciers in 1811, namely on 18.06.1811 six dragoon regiments (1st, 3rd, 8th, 9th, 10th and 29th) were converted into Chevaulegers (Nos. 1 - 6).

Another regiment of this type arose from the 30th Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval.

Furthermore, the two uhlan regiments of the Vistula Legion were converted into Lanciers.

The first six regiments are generally referred to as French Chevaulegers and the remaining three regiments as Polish Chevaulegers.

The Chevaulegers-Lanciers wore two different uniforms.

The first six regiments wore a dark green, double-breasted coat in the form of a waistcoat with skirts.

Its collar, lapels, (pointed) sleeve cuffs and skirt facings were in the respective facing color of the regiment.

The skirt flaps displayed the imperial eagles.

The buttons were yellow.

The facing color was

for the 1st Regiment scarlet, for the 2nd Regiment bright orange, for the 3rd Regiment pink, for the 4th Regiment carmine, for the 5th Regiment sky blue and for the 6th Regiment madder red.

Lapels in the facing color could also be buttoned.

Elite companies wore red epaulettes. White epaulettes are also attested (e.g. for the 9th Regiment, see below).

The headgear was a brass bearskin helmet with a trim (fur band) of brown fur. The woolen crest was black.

The trumpeters had a white crest. Furthermore they wore — as with the other cavalry branches — uniforms in reversed colors.

Later they wore the imperial livery introduced in 1812.

For legwear they wore Hungarian green (over-)trousers with a black leather insert.

The trousers showed a seam in the facing color at the side.

The cloth trousers also had decorative braiding.

The leather equipment was white. Not so for the 6th Regiment. It had ochre-colored leather equipment.

The armament consisted of the light cavalry saber, a pistol and a carbine.

According to Funcken the lance had a length of 2.75 m and was fitted with a red-and-white pennon.

Officers wore a uniform made of finer cloth and it was trimmed with gold lace.

The epaulettes were also golden, as were the saber belt and the trimming of the saddlecloths.

The helmet was adorned with a band of panther fur.

The horse equipment included a sheepskin saddlecloth with a zigzag trimming in the facing color.

The saddle roll displayed the regiment number (not always depicted).

The officers had dark green saddlecloths — like the Chasseurs à Cheval — with a golden border trim.

Three regiments of the Chevaulegers-Lanciers were uniformed in Polish style, i.e., they wore the usual uhlan uniform in a blue base color.

The buttons were white.

The headgear was the czapka with a yellow or blue top.

The czapka originally had no visor, but such a visor appears on later illustrations.

A red plume was worn on the left of the czapka. The trumpeters had white plumes.

The 9th Regiment became known as the "Red Uhlans of Hamburg", but they later also received the above-described Polish uniform.

A green transitional uniform (1811) is shown by Knötel in his Uniformenkunde (Vol. VII, Plate 16).