DRAGOONS AND DRAGOON OPERATIONS IN THE BRITISH CIVIL WARS: 1638-1653

1-236580

Covers the following areas: the origins and role of dragoons; combined arms tactics and specialist operations; organization and composition of dragoon units; pay and quarter; arms and ammunition; standards, equipment and clothing; horses, equine care, saddlery and fodder; the Oxford Army; the Earl of Essex's Army; the Eastern Association Army; the New Model Army; and the role of dragoons in regional warfare.

Explores the concept of raising, equipping, composition, organization, and operational role of dragoons during the British Civil Wars. It also provides information about known dragoon units and their activities, across a relatively broad geographical and chronological range, and challenges previous interpretations in the light of more recent research.

These soldiers were an essential part of 17th-century armies, even if some contemporaries reflected uncertainties about their precise function. Arguably, as part of the wider context of 'military revolution' in the tactics and prosecution of war in Europe, during the Thirty Years' War in particular, the medium harquebusiers and mounted infantry continued to evolve. Although dragoons occasionally delivered mounted charges, their distinctive character dictated that they were employed in operations where mobility was essential - the seizing of bridges and strongholds, raiding, reconnaissance, patrolling and foraging. Dragoons were also used for defending hedges and passes, specialist siege operations, and in providing covering fire for both the horse of foot.