Black TentBlack Tent
 

Home|Online Bookshop|About Us|Contact Us|Links|Photography

Crippled Splendour: The French Cavalry from Valmy to Toulouse

 

NOW AVAILABLE!

 

 

 

ISBN  978-1-907212-17-8

   

Paperback 11" x 8.5"; 348 pages;

col. and b & w photographs, line drawings

 

Price: £26.99 + p & p:

 

UK £2.70

 

Europe £10.95

 

Rest of the world £16.35

 

 

 

 

 Crippled Splendour

 

 

 

Or send a cheque (sorry, UK currency only) made out to Black Tent Publications to: Black Tent Publications, 145 Durham Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 0DS.

 

 

Crippled Splendour: The French Cavalry from Valmy to Toulouse

 

GRACEFUL and agile, the horse combines strength, agility, and intelligence in a degree found in no other beast of burden. Used to toiling long hours in harness to plough, cart, wagon or coach, the horse could also be found beneath his master, bearing him to market or into battle. With the invention of gunpowder, and the development of weapons to use it, the horse soon found himself harnessed to heavy, cumbersome artillery pieces. With the evolution of lighter and more mobile artillery in the eighteenth century, the horse came to dominate draught work, exceeding all other work-animals in its capacity to move artillery at speed.
The armies of the nineteenth century relied almost exclusively on the horse for their transportation needs, not only to provide mounts for the cavalry and horse artillery, but the horses to pull the guns, the ammunition wagons and ration wagons. The structural limits of France’s pre-industrial economy, however, prevented too many animals being easily replaced all at the same time. Hence efforts were made to conserve and care for the horses that were serving with the armies. The cavalry, although no longer constituting the primary arm for a decision on the field of battle, fought essentially in a shock role and remained indispensable for the gathering of intelligence, for reconnaissance, screening missions and for pursuit after a victory had been won.
This book aims to outline the development and use of the cavalry and related mounted troops in the French army from 1789 to 1814. I hope to show that France, contrary to popular myth, was a horse country, and that the Peninsular war was not a grave yard of horses. Indeed, the French army from 1806 had robust systems in place to keep its horses alive.

Paul L Dawson is a post graduate of the University of Leeds holding an MA by research in History, and is also a graduate of the University of Bradford, holding a degree of Bachelor of Science. He is a professional field archaeologist and horseman. In 2003 he was made a Fellow of Honour of the International Napoleonic Society in recognition of his research into the armies of Napoleon. He is co-author of Napoleonic Artillery, published in 2008, which received praiseworthy reviews in First Empire magazine. In addition he has written over 50 academic papers on Napoleonic subjects and equine nutrition as well as writing three books on the history of West Yorkshire. Since 2000 he has been commandant of the Association Britannique de la Garde Impériale, the oldest Napoleonic re-enactment society in Europe, which specialises in the recreation and research of artillery and cavalry of the epoch. Equestrian-wise, he began riding in the early 1980s, and since 2008 he has ridden and volunteered for the Riding for Disabled Association, as well as competing in dressage within the RDA, being a class winner in 2010. He now works alongside Gwydyr Stables in North Wales, as a groom, trek leader and historical rider for film, TV work and live shows as well as concentrating on research and writing.another Waterloo Book? Waterloo is perhaps one of the most famous battles in history and one of the least researched. In this bicentennial year, is there anything new to say on the battle? Paul L Dawson thinks so. His new and often ground-breaking research shows that well-known Waterloo events are often myth and not fact, and presents the results of over a decade’s research in archives and libraries across Europe, presenting many first-hand accounts of the battle which add new insights to the battle.

Discover the role played by the French cavalry during the Waterloo campaign, from period eye-witness accounts and testimonies.

This unique series, using over 400 archival accounts of Waterloo, many not being in print before, bring the battle of Waterloo to life in a dramatic way in the two volumes that deal with the British and French cavalry forces in the battle (see the companion volume Charge the Guns! Wellington’s Cavalry at Waterloo). We see how the Allied light cavalry provided one of the hammer blows that defeated Napoleon when it rode down the Old Guard. Many cherished myths of Waterloo are also examined, for example that the Imperial Guard heavy cavalry charged under orders, contrary to Napoleon’s own take on the battle. The French training system, as demonstrated in the author’s book Au Galop! Horses and Riders of Napoleon’s Army, shows that the French were superior horsemen with a training regime that gave the French superior battlefield manoeuvrability, so that the French cavalry could charge time and time again, a trick the British only seem to have partially learned through hard fighting in Spain. It is obvious that the lack of training for the British was the death knell for the Union and Household Brigades – they had not been in action in some cases for over a decade, and this was exposed at Waterloo when the French rode over the Union Brigade and the King’s Dragoon Guards (see the companion volume Boots and Saddles: Horses and Riders of Wellington’s Army).

This series of four complementary books by Paul L Dawson, a postgraduate of the University of Leeds with an MA in historical research as well as being an noted equestrian, brings to light new ground-breaking research into the study of cavalry in the Napoleonic wars. No similar study has been undertaken since Valentine Wood’s partial study at the turn of the 20th century. The author’s work goes far deeper, and using material overlooked by Wood, primarily French as well as archive sources, overturns a lot of the received wisdom on Napoleonic cavalry, its battlefield performance and theoretical training.

 

 

Paul L. Dawson is a post graduate of the University of Leeds holding an MA by research in History, and is also a graduate of the University of Bradford, holding a degree of Bachelor of Science. He is a professional field archaeologist and horseman. In 2003 he was made a Fellow of Honour of the International Napoleonic Society in recognition of his research into the armies of Napoleon. He is co-author of Napoleonic Artillery, published in 2008, which received praiseworthy reviews in First Empire magazine. In addition he has written over 50 academic papers on Napoleonic subjects and equine nutrition as well as writing three books on the history of West Yorkshire. Since 2000 he has been commandant of the Association Britannique de la Garde Imperiale, the oldest Napoleonic re-enactment society in Europe, which specialises in the recreation and research of artillery and cavalry of the epoch.  Equestrian wise, he began riding in the early 1980s, and since 2008 he has ridden and volunteered for the Riding for Disabled Association, as well as competing in dressage within the RDA, being a class winner in 2010. He now works alongside Gwydyr Stables in North Wales, as a groom, trek leader and historical rider for film, TV work and live shows as well as concentrating on research and writing.