During the Napoleonic Wars the supreme battlefield shock weapon was the heavy cavalry – the French cuirassiers, and their British, Austrian, Prussian and Russ

During the Napoleonic Wars all the major combatants fielded large numbers of light cavalry. These nimble, fast-moving regiments performed a variety of vital rol

Bonaparte's Grande Armée, one of the most renowned battle-winning machines in history, evolved from a merging of the professional army of the Ancien Régime an

The British Army that faced Napoleon in the Peninsula was small by continental standards, but it consistently out-fought larger French armies, never losing a ma

In an age when infantry units manoeuvred and fought in rigid blocks, the idea of encouraging initiative and allowing a unit to 'skirmish' was regarded as revolu