They represented the backbone of the heavy cavalry of the Grande Armée. The cavalry categories that saw them as protagonists on all the battlefields of the Napoleonic period are famous.

They are characterized by:

• the shiny breastplates
• the "minerva" helmet
• the heavy swords with straight blades

They were often led, as at Austerlitz (1805), Heilsberg (1807), Wagram (1809), and Borodino (1812) by Murat, the most skilled cavalry commander under Napoleon.