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dragoon
Sign in to savethumb|Painting of two British light dragoons in 1809 during the [[Peninsular War]]
A dragoon is a type of mounted soldier who was trained to fight both on horseback and on foot, and was commonly used in European armies from the 17th century onward. Dragoons were important to military forces because their flexibility in combat—combining the mobility of cavalry with the fighting capability of infantry—made them valuable for various battlefield roles.
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39 sectionsContents
- Origins and name
- Use as a verb
- Early history and role
- British Army and Continental Army
- 19th century
- France
- Britain
- Kingdom of Prussia
- German Empire
- Austria
- Spain
- United States
- Russian Empire
- Japan
- 20th century
- Dragoner rank
- Modern dragoons
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- Denmark
- France
- Lithuania
- Mexico
- Norway
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- United States
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- General and cited sources
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Painting of two British light dragoons in 1809 during the [[Peninsular War]]
Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback. While their use goes back to the late 16th century, dragoon regiments were established in most European armies during the 17th and early 18th centuries; they provided greater mobility than regular infantry but were far less expensive than cavalry.