Glossary Of Terms in The Napoleonic Era
Abatis: Barricade of logs. Aide de Camp: Assistant to senior officer. Amalgame: System that mixed experienced, regular troops with conscripts in France's revolutionary armies. Ataman: Cossack senior officer. Atiradore: Portuguese sharpshooter. Banquette: A parapet's firing step. Barrelled Sash: A hussar's girdle with lace barrels. Bar-shot: A tin container, designed to split apart when fired from a cannon, filled with an iron bar packed in with musket balls. Battalion Company: Centre company in a battalion. Battery: Six or eight-gun emplacements. Blackening Ball: Nugget-like substance to blacken equipment. Breastwork: A parapet. Briquet: Infantry sabre. Brown Bess: Common name for British Long Land Pattern muskets. Cabinet: Napoleon Bonaparte's personal entourage. Cacadore: Portuguese rifleman. Cadnettes: Plaits dangling from the temples of cavalrymen. Caisson: An artillery ammunition wagon. Canister: Close-range, anti-personnel ammunition for artillery. Made up of a tin container filled with musket balls, canister was designed to break apart on leaving the cannon's muzzle. Cantoniere: Female canteen keeper accompanying army. Carabinier: A heavily armed cavalry trooper. Carbine: A short cavalry musket. Carcass: Incendiary to illuminate dark areas. Cartouche: Cartridge box. Cascabel: Knob at touch-hole end of a cannon. Case-shot: Similar artillery ammunition to canister. Charoual: Mameluke trousers. Chasseur: Light troops (hunters). Chasseurs-a-Cheval: Light cavalry. Chasseurs-a-Pied: Light infantry. Cheveux-Legers: Light cavalry including lancers, chasseurs and hussars. Chosen Man: Corporal in the 95th Rifles. Club: A short powdered queue of hair at back of head. Cockade: National colours worn on hats. Colours: Large regimental or King's flags used by British regiments. Column of Divisions: Two-company wide attack formation for battalions. Commissaries: Officials who organised supplies of food and equipment for armies. Conscription: System where able-bodied men between certain ages were called up for military service. Cornet: Cavalry equivalent of an ensign or second-lieutenant. Corps d'Armee: A balanced miniature army that contained its own infantry, cavalry and artillery. Corps d'Observation: A body of troops split from a main army to cover an opposing army. Cossack: Fierce Russian irregular cavalry. Crapaud: Derogatory British word for French troops (Toads). Czapka: Square-topped cavalry hat, mainly used by lancers. Degen: German straight-bladed infantry sword. Demi-Brigade: A three-battalion formation that replaced regiments in the French revolutionary army. In 1803 they were reverted to regiments. Dents de Loup: Wolf-teeth cloth edgings to a shabraque. Division: Infantry or cavalry body that included several thousand men. Divisional Column: A battalion-wide column of attack. Dolman: A short, tail-less jacket. Dolphin: Lifting handle on cannon. Dragoons: Medium cavalry capable of fighting on foot with carbines. Eagle: French army unit symbol. Eclaireurs-a-Cheval: Mounted scouts. The French had three regiments. Embrasure: Opening in defensive wall to fire cannons through. Enciente: Stronghold's walls. Enfilade: Flanking fire that can hit anything within an enemy position. Ensign: Infantry second-lieutenant. Facings: Colours worn on collars, cuffs and turnbacks to identify various regiments. Fascine: Wood bundles used as cover in defensive lines. Fermelet: Mameluke waistcoat. Fixed Ammunition: Artillery shell with wooden sabot still attached. Flank company: Grenadier or light company of a battalion. Flanquers: Light infantry, usually of the Middle Guard. Fleche: Arrow-head shaped earthworks. Forlorn Hope: Volunteers to conduct first attack on fortifications. Frizzen: Part of a musket's firing mechanism from which the flint strikes sparks. Frog: Looped leather belt through which a sword scabbard is hung. Fusil: Light musket. Fusiliers: General infantryman. Gabion: Dirt-filled cane basket used for defence works. Gendarmerie: Paramilitary police. Gendarmerie d'elite: Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguard. Glacis: Slope up to a fortification. Goddams: Nickname given to British troops by the French. Gorget: Small, metal crescent worn by officers around their necks. Grand-Quartier-General: General Headquarters. Grapeshot: Another close-range artillery shot made of a bag filled with large metal balls. Grasshoppers: French nickname for the green-uniformed British riflemen. Grenadier: Elite infantryman. Grenadier-a-Cheval: Heavy cavalry trooper in the Guard Cavalry. Grognard: Affectionate term for "grumblers" of the Guard infantry. Gros-Bottes: Nickname for the Grenadiers-a-Cheval (Big Boots). Guides: Bodyguards for Revolutionary generals. Guidons: Standards used by cavalry units. Halberd: Axe-headed polearm used by soldiers protecting the Colours. Half-pay: Unemployed officers (including naval lieutenants or above) were entitled to half-pay allowances despite not being on active service. Hetman: A cossack commander. Horse Artillery: Mobile, horse-drawn cannons. Imperial Guard: Napoleon Bonaparte's elite infantry. Later split into the Young, Middle and Old Guard. Kurtka: A Polish lancer jacket. Lancers: Lance-carrying, light cavalry. Landwehr: German conscript troops. Levee-en-Masse: Conscription. Light Bobs: British nickname for light infantrymen. Light Infantry: Units trained for harassing duties and skirmishing. Limber: Used to move artillery pieces. Line Infantry: Regular infantry that made up the bulk of an army. Line of Communication: An army's link to its supply base. Includes the route reinforcements and commissaries would travel to the army. Line of March: Direction an army is marching. Line of Operations: Direction an army is marching in enemy territory. Line of Retreat: An army's direction of retreat, preferably on its Line of Communication. Mamelukes: Turkey's elite cavalry. Masse de Decision: Reserve troops kept out of battle until the decisive moment of the fight. Masse de Manouevre: French force used to outflank enemy army. Mirliton: Hussar cap with flying wing. Necessaries: Personal kit issued by army. Old Trousers: British nickname for French drumbeat the Pas-de-Charge. Opolchenie: Russian militia. Ordenanca: Portuguese militia. Ordre Mixte: Flexible attack formation mixing units in column and in line. Palisade: Wooden-stakes fencing. Pallasch: German straight-bladed, heavy-cavalry sword. Parados: Rear-facing parapet. Parapet: Front-facing wall of fortification. Parole: Surrendering officer could give their word not to escape before being exchanged. Petit-Quartier-General: Small group of key subordinates who would accompany Napoleon Bonaparte. Pickers: Wire implement to clear musket touch holes. Picquets: Army outposts or patrols. Pontonniers: Engineers who could build, or improve, bridges. Queue: A soldier's powdered and tightly tied pigtail. Raupenhelm: Bavarian crested helmet. Redoubt: Independent defensive position. Roundshot: A solid metal cannonball of varying sizes and weights. Sabot: Wooden base for fixed ammunition. Sabre: A curved cavalry sword. Shabraque: Ornamental horse equipment. Shako: Cylindrical head gear for most armies. Shrapnel: Fused explosive shell filled with musketballs and pieces of metal that would rain down on troops when it burst in the air. Spontoon: A short, half-pike. Steel: Frizzen. Stovepipe: British shako without false front (Belgic). Tirailleur: A French sharpshooter. Triangle: A frame of lashed-together spontoons on which a flogging was carried out. Tricolor: The French flag of blue, white and red. Vedette: A cavalry scout. Velites: Trainee light infantry. Voltigeur: Elite French light infantry. Yeomanry: Volunteer British cavalry.