Napoleon's Cavalry - A Key Element to Decisive Victory.pdf - Leavenworth Papers - m4a3

NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY: A KEY ELEMENT

TO DECISIVE VICTORY

A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army

Command and General Staff College in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree

MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE

Military History

THOMAS A. SHOFFNER, MAJ, USA

B.S., United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 1990

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

2002

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE

THESIS APPROVAL PAGE

Name of Candidate: Major Thomas A. Shoffner

Thesis Title: Napoleon’s Cavalry: A Key Element to Decisive Victory.

Approved by:

________________________________________, Thesis Committee Chair

Major Steven J. Rauch, M.A.

________________________________________, Member

Thomas M. Huber, Ph.D.

________________________________________, Member

LTC John R. Cantlon, B.S.

Accepted this 31st day of May 2002 by:

________________________________________, Director, Graduate Degree Programs

Philip J. Brookes, Ph.D.

The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student author and do not

necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or

any other governmental agency. (References to this study should include the foregoing

statement.)

ABSTRACT

NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY: A KEY ELEMENT TO DECISIVE VICTORY,

by MAJ Thomas A. Shoffner, 107 pages.

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.

iii

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.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

APPROVAL PAGE…………….…………………………………………………… ii

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………….………… iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…..…………………………………………………….… iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS…………………………………………………………. vi

LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………… vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………..... viii

CHAPTER

1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1

2. NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY………………………………………………. 7

3. THE JENA CAMPAIGN………………………………………………… 22

4. THE SAXONY CAMPAIGN……………………………………………. 62

5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………... 96

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...… 104

INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST………………………………………………...… 107

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