Officers and Soldiers of the French Cuirassiers 1801-1815

The fourteenth work in the "Officers and Soldiers" collection is dedicated to the French Cuirassiers from the Consulate to the Second Restoration.

Dating back to the Heavy Cavalry of the Ancient Re'gime, the first Cuirassier regiments were really created in France in 1801 during the Consulate. This new type of cavalry turned out to be one of the essential arms of Napoleon's tactics.

First twelve, then fourteen regiments were created to constitute the shock troops of the Napoleonic Wars, together with the two regiments of Carabiniers already formed. For more than ten years, they took part in all Napoleon's campaigns: from Austerlitz on 2 December 1805 to Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and from the valleys of Spain to the distant Russian steppes.

Andre' Jouineau, figurines maker and collector, has worked with Histoire and Collections for more than 18 years. His uniforms plates, which have been fully carried out using data processing, have made him a pioneer in this field.

Jean-Marie Mongin, previous chief editor of Uniformes and Tradition Magazine, puts all his knowledge of military history into these drawing texts and captions.