Napoleon's Cavalry and Its Leaders

Dressed in outrageously romantic uniforms, led by a flamboyant clique of aristocrats and ex-troopers, Napoleon's cavalry had a picturesque quality that belied its ruthless methods and tremendous service record.

Nothing quite like its veterans had ever been seen before, for not even a horse soldier of Imperial Rome could claim to have fought in Austria, Germany, Egypt, Italy, Poland, Belgium and Spain. Alongside these battle-scarred veterans rode inexperienced young conscripts who never acquired their senior comrades' lust for victory, though they came to share their philosophy.

The force to which they belonged was far from perfect.

The constant campaigning bred drunkenness and brutality, the levelling processes of the Revolution had already bred indiscipline.

On a score of battlefields, nevertheless, Napoleon's cavalrymen succeeded in rising above their faults, owing largely to the confidence which they placed in the most brilliant group of horse generals ever contained in one European army: generals like the handsome Lasalle, who said that no French hussar ought to live beyond the age of 30; Marulaz, who had 26 horses killed under him; and Murat, the inn-keeper's son who became a king.