Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry , who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat with swords and firearms from horseback. The name reputedly derives from a type of firearm , called a dragon , which was a handgun version of a blunderbuss , carried by dragoons of the French Army.
The title has been retained in modern times by a number of armoured or ceremonial mounted regiments. The establishment of dragoons evolved from the practice of sometimes transporting infantry by horse when speed of movement was needed. In , Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma , mounted several companies of infantry on pack horses to achieve surprise, another example being that used by Louis of Nassau in during operations near Mons in Hainaut , when infantry were transported this way.
There are other instances of mounted infantry predating this. During the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors fought on horse with arquebuses , prefiguring the origin of European dragoons.
The origin of the name remains disputed and obscure. It possibly derives from an early weapon, a short wheellock , called a dragon because its muzzle was decorated with a dragon's head. The practice comes from a time when all gunpowder weapons had distinctive names, including the culverin , serpentine, falcon, falconet , etc. Howard Reid claims the name and role descend from the Latin Draconarius. Dragoon is occasionally used as a verb meaning to subjugate or persecute by the imposition of troops; and by extension to compel by any violent measures or threats.
The term dates from , when dragoons were being used by the French monarchy to persecute Protestants , particularly by forcing Protestants to lodge a dragoon dragonnades in their house to watch over them at the householder's expense. Early dragoons were not organized in squadrons or troops as were cavalry, but in companies like the infantry. Their commissioned and non-commissioned officers bore infantry ranks, while they used drummers, not buglers, to communicate orders on the battlefield. The flexibility of mounted infantry made dragoons a useful arm, especially when employed for what would now be termed " internal security " against smugglers or civil unrest, and on line of communication security duties.
