Dragoons first appeared in full form in France. Duparc attributes this achievement to Peter Stozzi, who, in 1543, made their harquebus mounted in order to spare their vigor, yet if necessary, they could dismount and fight on foot.
Later on, in the period of 1550 - 1553, Marshal de Brisaque set single regiments of his harquebusiers on horses, which gave them extra mobility and allowed them to take the most essential positions, where they dismounted and fought on foot.
Subsequently, Karl IX and Henry IV used dragoons to carry out operations. At that time, dragoons were just mounted infantry, which used horses only for swift movement. But soon, a dislike of dismounting became common and mounted combat became popular.
It was the Emperor who began to use dragoons as cavalry. He even increased the number of dragoon regiments in the Grand Army and transformed the 11th and 12th Hussar regiments into dragoon units, to the utmost discontent of the Hussars.
Dragoons were armed with a broadsword, which could be used to fight easily on foot or horseback, the same as with musket and bayonet.
In order to achieve the maximum firing density, they let the enemy's cavalry approach to twenty paces and their infantry to fifty. But in most cases, dragoons preferred not to shoot, but to slash the enemy, at which they succeeded much better.