Dragoons had originally been mounted infantry, but before the French Revolution, their uniforms had already become unsuitable for dismounted combat, even though their equipment had not changed much.
Cavalry first needed horses, yet at the Battle of the Pyramids, the cavalry had been enclosed within the square formations alongside the scholars and baggage train, because they were too valuable.
Cavalry had been used at the Battle of Marengo, and it had been a heavy cavalry charge that turned the tide. But when Napoleon crossed the Alps, he had not brought them with him. David's painting made that clear: apart from the First Consul in his splendid court uniform, the figures in the background were all infantrymen hauling cannons. The cavalry had arrived later as reinforcements.
In short, before the Battle of Marengo, Napoleon had used deception to make every spy believe that the old, weak, sick, and disabled men he had reviewed in Dijon were the army he intended to lead, while the troops he truly meant to gather had already assembled in Geneva through movements in small detachments.
This time, he had gathered another group in Brussels for a parade, but he himself had vanished. There were not many people attending the parade either—probably just one column guarding a flag-bearer. It did not look remotely as grand or imposing as a military review should have been.
Where had Bonaparte gone? That was a good question. The whole world seemed to be looking for him, especially the Prussians and the British. With Britain's ambassador to Hamburg, George Rumbold, placed under restrictions on his personal liberty, Prussia's reputation had nearly been dragged through the mud. Although French troops had not entered Hamburg, Prussia's status as a guarantor of the League of Armed Neutrality was hanging by a thread. If the Prussian