French Carabiner helmet

A uniquely rare helmet, even by the standards of France, in excellent condition. Steel, brass, leather, leopard skin. This type of helmet was used by the French mounted Carabinieri from 1810 to 1871 with minor modifications. The fact is that in 1810, mounted carabinieri did not wear any protective equipment (except for huge bear hats, which were supposed to protect their heads from chopping blows, but which constantly flew off in the heat of battle). After huge losses in the campaign of 1809, Napoleon personally ordered the introduction of a new uniform for mounted carabinieri, which also included a helmet and cuirass. Napoleon settled on the "ancient Greek" style of a brass helmet with a forehead plate, chin scales and a white metal rosette in the form of a rising sun. A narrow crest began at the back of the head, giving the helmet a classic silhouette. Along the upper edge of the comb was a scarlet woolen "caterpillar" stuffed with horsehair. The Carabinieri helmet was heavier than the cuirassier helmet, but it protected the back of the neck better. Later, a skin coating was added to the helmet. Currently, helmets of this type are practically not found on sale even in Europe, and in In Russia, this is the first sample of this headdress that we have met. Guarantee of authenticity.

Carabiniers (Spanish carabiniers or French carabinier) was originally a type of heavy cavalry that appeared in European armies by the middle of the XVI century, akin to reitars, dragoons, cuirassiers and mounted chasseurs. Later, with the same name, mounted and foot detachments created in 1829 in Spain to monitor the borders and coast of Spain, as well as to combat tax fraud and smuggling, under the name of the Royal Carabinieri Corps of the Coast and Borders, in 1814 in Italy Arma dei Carabinieri and a number of other countries, representing military police forces and the gendarmerie.

From the very beginning, the Carabinieri were one of the elite and expensive because of the expensive equipment and provision of a part of the cavalry, and initially they were recruited from the best gendarmes and cuirassiers who appeared by this time. Over time, elite guard units with different weapons, the musketeers of the military house of the King of France, were created from them. Unlike the dragoons that appeared, which at the dawn of their appearance were infantry moving on horseback, but fighting on foot, the Carabinieri were mounted riflemen.

The massive switch to firearms has affected the armor of heavy cavalry. There was a rejection of full armor, which eventually remained only in the form of a cuirass for cuirassiers, and a helmet replaced the deaf helmet, providing a cavalryman with a good view.

Despite the rearmament from carbines with wheel locks to rifle carbines, a certain standard has been fixed for the carbine. First of all, the barrel is shorter than that of an infantry rifle. This has become standard, regardless of the method of transportation of the carbine: on the belt "infantry-style", on the pantaler or in the ulster "cavalry-style". The length of the barrel was determined by the distance from the attachment point to the pantaler at the waist to the ground. The second characteristic feature of the carbine was the shoulder strap on the left side. Cavalry fittings (rifled rifles) had an even shorter barrel, which was due to two factors: more complex manufacture and the fact that even with a shorter barrel, rifled rifles fired further.

By the middle of the XIX century, the advanced armed forces had in the infantry (infantry) up to a third of shooters armed with carbines (fittings). Due to the presence of rifling carbines (fittings) provided many times better marksmanship than smoothbore rifles. The actual firing range of them was also much longer — up to 300 meters or more compared to 100-150 meters, which were the maximum distance for smoothbore rifles.

In European armies, carabinieri formations were considered heavy cavalry. In the Russian Imperial Army, for the period from 1760 to 1790, some of the dragoon regiments were reorganized into carabinieri. The Carabinieri of France received cuirasses in 1809, effectively turning into a cuirassier. By the time the rifle appeared, there was only one name left from the Carabinieri as a separate type of cavalry, and in fact they were no different from dragoons. In the future, their name was passed on to a completely different kind of troops, and they are united only by the carbine as the main weapon.

Now the word is used to refer to the police or gendarmerie of some countries, such as Italy, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and so on. In Moldova, the Carabinieri do not perform independent police functions, but are involved in cordoning off, patrolling, where the senior is a policeman. So the Carabinieri troops (ital. Arma dei Carabinieri, literally — armed with carbines) is one of the four types of the Italian Armed Forces (Italian Armed Forces) along with the Land Forces, naval and air forces. They perform police functions on the territory of Italy and military police functions during foreign operations outside its borders.