Léon Hennet, L. Baudoin, Paris, 1897
This historical study focuses on the career of General Alexis Dubois and the role of French cavalry during the campaigns of 1794 and 1795 in the Revolutionary Wars. It concentrates on the operations of the Army of the North and the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, two key French formations active on the northern and Rhine frontiers.
The book examines how cavalry units were organized, deployed, and adapted during a period of rapid military transformation in Revolutionary France. It highlights the cavalry’s roles in reconnaissance, screening movements, pursuing retreating forces, and supporting combined-arms operations during large-scale campaigns across Belgium, the Rhineland, and adjacent theaters.
A major portion of the work is devoted to operational history, describing marches, engagements, and battlefield actions in which Dubois participated. It situates these events within the broader French offensives of 1794–1795, when Revolutionary armies pushed Coalition forces back across the Low Countries and toward the Rhine.
The study also discusses command structure, logistical challenges, and the evolution of cavalry doctrine during the Revolutionary period, showing how early improvisation gradually gave way to more structured and effective mounted forces.
While centered on French cavalry operations, the opposing forces include Austrian, Dutch, and various German Coalition contingents operating in the same theater. In that broader context, Hessian troops appear only indirectly as part of Coalition forces deployed in the German states, but they are not a primary focus of the narrative.
