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Prussian Guard Kurassier French AN IX 1802 sabre


Kanemono
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Sharing the glory of Napoleon, the cuirassiers carried many battle honors that made them famous, extremely dangerous and feared. Prussia, Russia, Austria, some German states and Spain had their own cuirassiers but most were tactically ill-spent and wasted in battles; only the Prussians and the Russians made good use of their heavy cavalry but the French cuirassiers remain the most remembered ones.

We can sometimes rate the impact & efficiency of some soldiers by the way their equipment is copied by allies and enemies and this is where French cuirassiers stand out: their cuirass, helmets and broadswords became a sort of fashion within international armies. The swords themselves were to be the core of whole generations of continental swords of the 19th century. Prussia, Russia, Spain & Bavaria all made swords for cuirassiers that were directly inspired by this French model. Very few swords have had such an enormous influence as the French AN IX sabre for Line cavalry. The Russians won the war against Napoleon and ended up with thousands of French swords captured or looted during the campaigns and equipped their cavalry with these. Just like Russia, Prussia also had thousands of French swords captured and made good use of them until 1820. After Napoleon’s first defeat in 1814 the Prussian cuirassiers were given the captured swords and cuirasses during a public parade in France. These captured swords were then distributed to the 5 senior heavy cavalry regiments under the denomination 1817 model which is nothing more than the 1802 French sword but stamped with Prussian markings. The cuirassier regiments that followed creation were given swords based on the Russian 1810 model. The Prussian 1819 cavalry sword was also obtained when the Prussians joined the Russians in their effort to overthrow French rule in 1813 and ended with large numbers of Russian swords. So in 1820's the Prussian cavalry was equipped with French and Russian based weapons, this system was kept until the 1850’s when both swords where replaced by the 1845 model which itself looks a lot like the French 1816 broadsword. This sword has Prussian Regimental markings engraved on the pommel. The first, which is crossed out, is for the Guard Kurassier Regiment. The second is for the Second Kurassier Regiment, 5th Squadron, sword number 26. This sword has two markings on the riccaso of the blade and a V in a circle on the guard. The spine of the blade is unmarked. For some reason the throat of the scabbard has a collar of silver.

 

 

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