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    Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory
    Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory
    Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory
    Ebook147 pages1 hour

    Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory

    By Major Thomas A. Shoffner

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    About this ebook

    Napoleon’s rise to power in the late eighteenth century occurred at a time when the structure of most European armies was based on the paradigm army of Frederick the Great. Napoleon, however, changed all of this and in a few short years transformed the French army into the most powerful force on the continent of Europe. During the period of 1805 to 1813, Napoleon’s army had no equal with regard to operational effectiveness. Speed and positioning of forces were the two main characteristics that made the French army so successful. These same two characteristics were also inherent to French cavalry units. Thus, the central research question is: What influence did cavalry have upon Napoleon’s operations? To facilitate this study, two campaigns were examined that illustrate cavalry’s impact on Napoleon’s operations. The first campaign was the Jena Campaign of 1806; the second was the Saxony Campaign of 1813. The Jena Campaign demonstrated that with the employment of sufficient and well-trained cavalry, Napoleon could render his victories decisive through the complete destruction of the enemy army. Conversely, the Saxony Campaign demonstrated that without the effective employment of sufficient and well-trained cavalry, Napoleon could not obtain the complete destruction of the enemy army and thus, his victories were hollow, or at best Pyrrhic. Therefore, based on the analysis of these two campaigns, this study has concluded that Napoleon’s cavalry was a key element for Napoleon achieving complete destruction of the enemy army, thus rendering his victories decisive.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWagram Press
    Release dateNov 6, 2015
    ISBN9781786250018
    Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory

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      Book preview

      Napoleon’s Cavalry - Major Thomas A. Shoffner

      This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 2002 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY: A KEY ELEMENT TO DECISIVE VICTORY

      By

      MAJ Thomas A. Shoffner

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      ABSTRACT 5

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 5

      ABBREVIATIONS 6

      CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION 7

      The Levels of War 9

      Strategic Level of War 9

      Operational Level of War 9

      Tactical Level of War 9

      The Types of Operations 9

      Decisive Operations 9

      Shaping operations 9

      Sustaining Operations 9

      CHAPTER 2 — NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY 11

      The Beginning 11

      Light Cavalry 11

      Medium Cavalry 13

      Heavy Cavalry 14

      Employment of Cavalry 16

      Future Force Structure Considerations 18

      CHAPTER 3 — THE JENA CAMPAIGN 21

      The Road to War 21

      The Movement to Contact 25

      The Battle of Jena 32

      The Battle of Auerstädt 36

      The Chase Begins 39

      Analysis 41

      The Levels of War 42

      Strategic Level of War 42

      Operational Level of War 42

      Tactical Level of War. 43

      The Types of Operations 43

      Decisive Operations 43

      Shaping Operations 43

      Sustaining Operations 44

      Assessment of the Cavalry 44

      Campaign Insights 44

      CHAPTER 4 — THE SAXONY CAMPAIGN 46

      Strategic Setting 46

      The Grande Armée 47

      The Allied Army 49

      The Battle of Lützen 49

      The Battle of Bautzen 54

      The Armistice 57

      The Road to Leipzig 59

      The Battle of the Nations 60

      Conclusion 63

      Analysis 64

      The Levels of War 64

      Strategic Level of War 64

      Operational Level of War 64

      Tactical Level of War 65

      The Types of Operations 65

      Decisive Operations 65

      Shaping Operations 65

      Sustaining Operations 65

      Assessment of the Cavalry 66

      Campaign Insights 66

      CHAPTER 5 — CONCLUSION 68

      What contribution did Napoleon’s cavalry make towards his military operations? 68

      How did Napoleon organize and employ his cavalry forces with regard to the metric of decisive, shaping, and sustaining operations? 68

      Did Napoleon employ his cavalry differently depending on the level of war he was focused (strategic, operational, and tactical)? 69

      Are there any operational or tactical techniques that may be applied to today’s battlefield, or that should be considered for today’s force structure? 69

      What are the insights from the two campaigns that may be applied to mounted operations today? 71

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 72

      BIBLIOGRAPHY 73

      Primary Sources 73

      Secondary Sources 73

      Books 73

      Articles in Journals and Magazines 74

      ABSTRACT

      Napoleon’s rise to power in the late eighteenth century occurred at a time when the structure of most European armies was based on the paradigm army of Frederick the Great. Napoleon, however, changed all of this and in a few short years transformed the French army into the most powerful force on the continent of Europe. During the period of 1805 to 1813, Napoleon’s army had no equal with regard to operational effectiveness. Speed and positioning of forces were the two main characteristics that made the French army so successful. These same two characteristics were also inherent to French cavalry units. Thus, the central research question is: What influence did cavalry have upon Napoleon’s operations? To facilitate this study, two campaigns were examined that illustrate cavalry’s impact on Napoleon’s operations. The first campaign was the Jena Campaign of 1806; the second was the Saxony Campaign of 1813. The Jena Campaign demonstrated that with the employment of sufficient and well-trained cavalry, Napoleon could render his victories decisive through the complete destruction of the enemy army. Conversely, the Saxony Campaign demonstrated that without the effective employment of sufficient and well-trained cavalry, Napoleon could not obtain the complete destruction of the enemy army and thus, his victories were hollow, or at best Pyrrhic. Therefore, based on the analysis of these two campaigns, this study has concluded that Napoleon’s cavalry was a key element for Napoleon achieving complete destruction of the enemy army, thus rendering his victories decisive.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      I enjoyed the support and assistance of several people while writing this thesis. In particular I would like to thank Major Steven J. Rauch and Dr. Thomas Huber, from the Combat Studies Institute, who proved instrumental in drafting the initial construct for the analysis of this study, and whose words of encouragement never faltered. I would also like to thank LTC John Cantlon, from the Department of Tactics, for his assistance with collecting information on the Interim Brigade Combat Team and his guidance on how to maintain relevance to the modern Army. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the help and assistance I received from the research librarians at the Combined Arms Research Library, in particular, Mr. Mike Browne, who proved instrumental in getting the entire project started. Most of all, thanks to my wife Kim, whose sacrifice was tremendous and greatly appreciated during this best year of our life.

      ABBREVIATIONS

      BFV—Bradley fighting vehicle

      CSS—combat service support

      FM—field manual

      FCS—future combat system

      HIC—high intensity conflict

      HMMWV—high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle

      IBCT—interim brigade combat team

      LAV—light armored vehicle

      LIC—low intensity conflict

      LOC—lines of communications

      MOOTW—military operations other than war

      MRC—major regional conflict

      NBC—nuclear, biological, and chemical

      RSTA—reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition

      TTP—techniques, tactics, and procedures

      UAV—unmanned aerial vehicle

      US—United States

      CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION

      Napoleon’s rise to power in the late eighteenth century occurred at a time when the structure of most European armies was based on the paradigm army of Frederick the Great. Napoleon, however, changed all of this and in a few short years transformed the French army into the most powerful force on the continent of Europe. During the period of 1805 to 1813, the French army had no equal with regard to operational effectiveness. The two main characteristics of his army were speed and positioning of forces—two traits that are inherent to cavalry units. These two traits have recently gained renewed interest of the United States Army as it goes through a process of transformation to maintain strategic relevance during a period of redefinition of national strategy.

      Since the end of the Vietnam War, the forces of the US Army have predominantly focused on the extreme ends of the spectrum for military operations—light infantry units for low intensity conflicts (LICs) and military operations other than war (MOOTW), and heavy mechanized and armored forces for high intensity conflict (HIC), and major regional conflicts (MRCs). For today’s emerging strategy, the heavy forces have been determined to be too heavy for rapid deploy ability; and the light forces, while rapidly deployable, are lacking in lethality and survivability. To mitigate this legacy force capability gap the Army is currently undergoing a transformation process in order to develop rapidly deployable forces that span the full spectrum of military operations. This transformation process primarily deals with exploring new doctrine and equipment. Of recent interest is the introduction of the Interim Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) that is scheduled to be fielded with a wheeled, Lightly Armored Vehicle (LAV). Concomitantly, the Army is undergoing a review and examination of doctrine and techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTPs) needed to properly employ this new equipment to its maximum

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