Dragoon, in late 16th-century Europe, a mounted soldier who fought as a light cavalryman on attack and as a dismounted infantryman on defense. The terms derived from his weapon, a species of carbine or short musket called the dragoon. Dragoons were organized not in squadrons but in companies, and their officers and noncommissioned officers bore infantry titles. From the early wars of Frederick II the Great of Prussia in the 18th century, dragoon has referred to medium cavalry. The light cavalry of the British army in the 18th and early 19th centuries was for the most part called light dragoon. In the 20th century, dragoon regiments were converted to armoured formations; the French army also reorganized some dragoon regiments as motorized infantry (dragons portés).
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Cavalry, military force mounted on horseback, formerly an important element in the armies of all major powers. When employed as part of a combined military formation, its main duties included observing and reporting information about the enemy, screening movements of its own force, pursuing and demoralizing a defeated enemy, maintaining…
Infantry, troops who fight on foot, even though transported to the battlefield by horses, ships, aircraft, tanks and other motorized vehicles, skis, or other means. The term applies equally to troops armed with such hand weapons as the spear and sword in ancient times and with automatic rifles and rocket…
JanissaryJanissary, , (New Soldier, or Troop), member of an elite corps in the standing army of the Ottoman Empire from the late 14th century to 1826. Highly respected for their military prowess in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Janissaries became a powerful political force within the Ottoman state. The…