Guys,

Did this regiment fight at Malplaquet - or even in any of the earlier battles of the WSS?

Theo

Nope, Cuirassiers du Roy never served in Flanders. The regiment fought in Italy from 1701 until the battle of Turin in 1706, and later campaigned in Germany with the army of the Rhine, to which it belonged throughout 1709 and 1710.

Arthur,

Thank you for that information. I had just noticed, in reading Falkner's book on Marlborough's battles that were absent from any accounts of the actions of the French.

Guess I will have to omit them from my planned French army, then, as I want to include units that fought at Malplaquet.

Best Wishes

Theo

Guys,

Do you think that the French were disadvataged in Flanders by not having armoured cavalry (apart from a number of Bavarian squadrons?) in their battles against the Allies?

Theo

In a word, not really. What mattered most for heavy cavalry was horseflesh and discipline. Armor was an incremental - but not decisive - edge. Most of the coats of the era were just as effective against a sword slash as armor, while neither armor nor coat was proof against a pistol or musket ball.

Traditionally, it is assumed that the French cavalry reverted to older tactics between the Nine Years War and the Seven Years War, and that was their downfall. Lynn raises, but does not investigate, the interesting idea that French horseflesh was inferior in the WSS due to the financial exhaustion of the Bourbons and that was decisive.

The French Cavalry despite propaganda to contrary seems to have fought pretty well in most of the battles of the WSS. We only ever seem to hear of their defeat at Blenheim but never hear of their sterling work at other parts of the battle and the fact that they fought many successfull engagements against allied cavalry. to me at least it appears that the main reason French and bavarian Cavalry suffered their reverses was due to close co-operation between Allied cavalry and infantry.
I don't believe the lack of heavy cavalry made any difference. it was bad handling and manoeuvre that cost the French

AFAIK Franch cavalry were armoured - they wore breastplates under the coats. Cuirassiers du Roi were the only regiment to wear breast and backplates over the coat.


Not quite, or not by all authors. Closer examination of battles reveal that French horse were at least equal to their Allied counterpart. They won upper hand at Hochstadt, Speyerbach, Almansa, to name only a few engagements they fought.
In others they were beaten by higher tactic - cooperation of Allied infantry and cavalry (Blenheim) or numerical superiority (Ramillies), rather than by force.
At Blenheim, they fought off every effort of (armoured) Imperial cavalry ot the Prince Eugene wing. At Malplaquet they stopped the advance of the whole Allied army, and withdrew only in face of infantry holding breastworks.
The failure of Gendarmerie against English horse is famous, but it's background is unclear - maybe they were desorganized by Hessian fire. We must also remember, that after being "routed" Gendarmerie charged at least six times during the rest of battle, while on the northern wing both sides cavalry gave up after two times.

Generaly, I think that inferiority of French cavalry is a myth, equal only to alleged superiority of "Dutch school" musketry.

It may well have come down to the classic cavalry decider. He with the last reserve wins.

Gentlemen,

Again, my thanks for the information and opinion. I have wanted to collect a small Maison du Roi and I'm now convinced enough to do so with pride!

All Good Wishes

Theo

Since they served in the Army of Flanders, you should! They fit your theme.

Hi, Theo.

I think that by the time of the WSS most French Horse (as indeed many others) went without the cuirass - too heavy & offered very little added protection to sword cuts & practically nil to musket or pistol shot. Officers and perhaps some troopers (as Maciek says) still used them at times, usually under their coats.

There is debate as to when the Bavarians discarded their cuirasses (probably after Blenheim), and some doubt about the Danes as well later in the WSS. Imperial Cuirassiers tended to hang onto them as they were more useful against the Ottomans, I believe.

You can field the Maison du Roi with pride ...... and Maverick Models do the flags on paper or material - check the WSS French section (Does Flag Dude do them as well?)

Cheers, Rohan

Hi Guys,

A bit off topic I know, but Blenheim has been mentioned so I wanted to add something.

First of all Hochstadt is the Bavarian name for Blenheim also known as Blindheim.
The first battle was fought on the 20th September 1703 and the more famous second battle was fought on the 13th August 1704.
The first battle was only a minor one with 16,000 Austrians against a force of 24,000 French and Bavarians.The Austrians lost 5,000 men, mostly prisoners, 37 cannons and the entire army train. The French and Bavarians lost 1,000 men.

The tactics used by the Gendamerie de France at Blenheim 1704
The first charge of the day for these were against Rowe's brigade who were already recoiling from the casualties suffered in the first assault on Blenheim village.They turned the recoil into a rout and the survivor's were only saved by the second line of Wilken's Hessian brigade.These fired volleys into the French horsemen and forced them to retreat back to their initial positions.
While Lord Cutts rallied Rowe’s brigade, Wilken’s brigade covered Fergusson’s & St.Paul’s brigades (3rd & 4th lines) and Lumley’s cavalry crossing of the Nebel stream.
Once Fergusson’s brigade had reformed it was ordered forward to a second assault of Blenheim village.Lord Cutts this time asked Lt.General Lumley for cavalry support and Lumley replied by sending Palmes Horse brigade (5 squadrons) to cover the right flank of Fergusson’s infantry.
The Comte de Zurlauben being the first line commander of French cavalry nearest Blenheim village saw the British cavalry movement and ordered the 8 squadrons of the Gendamerie de France forward to meet them.
Palmes Charge
The Gendamerie had still not fully reformed after their attack on Rowe’s brigade.The 8 squadron’s moved off, and as they gathered speed, threatened to envelope the English Horse.As they came to within pistol shot, the Gendamerie halted and discharged a volley.This did little damage and only served to slow their momentum.Palmes reacted by ordering his wing squadrons to swing outwards, whereupon all five squadrons charged forward.The result was that eight of the finest squadrons in Europe at first recoiled and then broke.
Tallard was returning from speaking to Marsin and the Elector just in time to witness the rout of the Gendamerie.The sight of it left him profoundly shaken and he was later to attribute this incident as a major cause of his losing the battle.
I disagree with this as the Gendamerie rallied and continued right upto 7pm when the battle ended.
This encounter does show though that the French cavalry during the WSS were still using the same tactic’s they found successful in the late 17th century, so why would they change them!!!
Marlborough on the otherhand favoured the Dutch cavalry tactic of charging with sword in hand at full gallop.
The French cavalry did have some success against the centre of the battle where some Danish horse were stationed and were thrown back in confusion.
For a while this did cause a crisis, but the French cavalry had no infantry support and were caught in the flank by Maj.Gen.Fugger's brigade of Austrian cuirassiers.
I am in no way saying that French cavalry were inferior to other cavalry during the WSS.What I will say is that Marlborough used his cavalry in coordinated attacks with infantry and artillery support.

Cheers,

Ray.

Hello Ray and Rohan,

Thank you for your comments and information.

Best Wishes

Theo

What is the source of this information ?

Try reading Iain Stanford's "Marlborough Goes to War" instead of Wikipedia all the time.