The Napoleonic Wars French Cuirass (1802-1815)

Hello and welcome to the channel. Since today marks the 210th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, I thought it would be cool to do a video about the armor of the Cuirassiers, since the last video was about their swords. And the Cuirass was a definite element that made the Cuirassiers stand out from the rest of the cavalry. Though the Carabiniers had their own brass Cuirass, they got them late in the war. So we can safely say that the Cuirass was a distinctive element or feature that belonged to the Cuirassiers. There's a lot to talk about and I want to keep this video as short as possible to keep the audience interested. So let's not waste any more The Cuirass was composed of two parts, the breastplate and the backplate, which were made of iron and not steel, and whose thickness ranged from approximately 2.5 to 2.8 millimeters thick. The breastplate's weight was approximately 4.49 kilograms and the backplate was approximately 3.26 kilograms, for a total of approximately 7.5 kilograms on average. Naturally, the backplate was made thinner because it was less exposed to musketry fire or edged weapon blows. The two were then joined together with the shoulder straps, which were made of fabric and leather, and this depended on the regiment, reinforced with brass scales that overlapped each other. Some units had the shoulder belts made entirely of leather or had chains replacing the scales, and these joined with the two front rivets that were on the area of the breast, with the means of the two fastening holes that were in the brass ends here. The thing that completed the fastening of the two parts was the waist belt, which was a waist belt. The officer's versions differed only in terms of being more elaborately decorated, especially the breast fittings, and the front had a ridge or sort of a line on the edges, and they also had red waist belts instead of being of brown leather. The inner part of the breastplate had a liner that was made of a fabric, I think it was linen, which had a pouch designed to keep documents and or other light objects inside. Finally, the sides were decorated with a fraise, which was a red and white fabric covering the shoulders and the lower waist parts to reduce chaffing, but also to conceal exposed areas. Both the fraise and the liner were secured with approximately 32 or 34 brass rivets that were distributed along the breast and the backplate. Despite what we may think, the cuirass was an unloved item. The troopers didn't like them because they were heavy, cumbersome, hard to maintain, and uncomfortable. Throughout the 18th century, many orders and regulations were sent and tried to force the troopers in wearing them, keeping them, but the number of said regulations and how they were ignored only shows only proves how vain they really were. By the time of the revolution, only one regiment of heavy cavalry kept the cuirass, and that was the 8th heavy cavalry or 8th cavalry. Aside from being heavy and hard to maintain, the cuirass had many problems, one of which was that it wasn't waterproof, and when it rained, the water leaked inside, which in turn soaked heavily the liner, which generated or benefited the propagation of rust and or rotting of the tissue. You can understand how uncomfortable the trooper was when this was completely soaked. Another problem was with the chain scales or the shoulder straps, because they were made rather fragile, and many complained that they could easily be damaged, broken, or simply pulled out, and for this many officers wanted them to be replaced with chains instead, and this complaint was heard and adopted for future models of cuirasses that came after the Cuirasses and later helmets were also expensive to produce, and they were made in many sizes, which didn't necessarily help making them cheap. Unfortunately, despite being expensive, it also wasn't terribly efficient either, and the myth that it would be bulletproof was just an effect of the propaganda. The cuirass, and especially the Mark I, issued in 1802 to 1806, was made of iron and offered mediocre protection against musket fire at a range of 40 meters and less. It would do a bit better at a distance of 200 meters and up, but that was pretty far for the time, so it could only be efficient against pistol shots and etched weapons such as bayonets, sabres, and lances, which is why enemy cavalrymen had a hard time fighting cuirassiers. It wasn't necessarily, it didn't necessarily mean that the cuirassiers were invulnerable. I recall a story in the, during the campaign, I think it was a campaign of 1812 or 1813, where the lancers, the Polish lancers, were specifically instructed to attack the Russian cuirassiers, but aiming their lances at the faces instead of the rest of the body. A total of three models of cuirass came to be, Mark I in the years 1802 to 1806, Mark II from 1806 to 1809, and Mark III from 1809 to 1850, each having a different shape and thickness that increased mobility and protection, but not that much. For example, Mark II was made more rounded at the front, but also at the lower part, because the previous version was more pointed in its angle. The Mark III cuirass, from what I recall, had a ridge in the section of the collarbone, which deflected the sabre or lance points. Another element that the Mark III cuirass brought forward, and this is a pretty interesting one, was reduced, not reduced, but it had more space for the arm to move on the sides here, and this is something that Matt Easton from Scholar Gladiatoria said in one of his videos about the cuirassier sword, that the cuirass prevented a good movement of the arm, and that was especially true for the earlier cuirassiers, and the Mark III cuirass tried to rectify this issue by having more space so that the hand or the arm could move more freely and allow for proper fencing of the sabre. At that time, however, very few actually knew of these shortcomings, and opposing soldiers truly believed that the cuirassiers wore bulletproof armor, which only made them more terrifying at the battlefield. And one must not forget that when they appeared for the first time in 1805, nobody else in Europe had heavy cavalry that looked like them. This is because when they were created, Napoleon gave strict orders to keep it a secret from other powers. And this is the end of today's video, I hope you have enjoyed it and learned a few things, and next videos will resume the French military swords with tomorrow's 1816. So until then, many thanks for your time, see you soon.