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. 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.
