French cuirassiers in 1887
The French still had twelve regiments of cuirassiers at the opening of World War One in 1914– still in these uniforms. However dont throw rocks at the Republic’s military ideas, the Germans, British and Russians still had cuirassiers in their Imperial/Royal Guard that fought on horseback during the war as well. Today a regiment still exists in the French Army– the 12e Régiment de Cuirassiers based at Olivet, but they are an armored unit and long ago put away their horses. The cavalry regiment of the Republican Guard, however, does still have some 500 mounted personnel with very similar uniforms.