Carabinier A Carabinier ( also sometimes spelled Carabineer or Carbineer ) ( " Carabinero " in Spanish , " Carabiniere " in Italian ) was originally a cavalry soldier armed with a carbine ( a short version of a musket ) . The word is derived from the identical French word " carabinier " . The carbine was considered a more appropriate firearm for a horseman than a full - length musket , since it was lighter and easier to handle while on horseback . The term carabinier evolved to include other units such as light infantry and gendarme s . Today the term is used by some armies , police , and gendarmerie s . Background . Carabiniers saw action during the Napoleonic wars in Europe and many other conflicts throughout the 19th century . Carabiniers differed from army to army and over time , but typically were medium cavalry , similar in armament and tactical role to Dragoon s . Napoleon inherited two French Carabinier regiments of heavy cavalry ( the two most senior cavalry regiments in the army ) , which gained some prestige in his wars . In 1810 French Carabiniers were equipped like cuirassiers with helmets and breastplates ( though these were of brass and brass - skinned iron ) , and were no longer equipped with carbines . The French army has no carabinier regiments today . The British army raised regiments of carabiniers in the late 17th century . The descendents of one such regiment survived as the 3rd Carabiniers ( Prince of Wales ' s Dragoon Guards ) until 1971 when it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Greys . Accordingly no regiment bears the title today , although the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are sub - titled " Carabiniers and Greys " . Italy has a famous force of carabiniers , a gendarmerie known by the Italian name " Carabinieri " . Chile also has a force of gendarme Carabiniers ( Spanish : " Carabineros " ) and the National Police of Colombia has mobile road - based units called Mobile Carabinier Squadrons . The Belgian Army includes a " Regiment des Carabiniers " , which saw service against the German invaders in August 1914 still dressed in its green 19th century uniform complete with a form of top hat . The Spanish Army formerly maintained a corps of " Carabineros " who served as frontier guards . This force was however disbanded following the Spanish Civil War of 1936 - 39 and replaced by units of the Civil Guard . Infantry Carabiniers . The use of carabinier to refer to infantry troops comes from the French light infantry battalion s of 1794 where it denoted troops of the elite company known as grenadier s in line infantry . Other infantry units with the title of carabiniers included : Mounted Carabiniers . Royal Spanish carabineros . Although the Spanish Crown was the first to raise carbine armed cavalry regiments , the Spanish Army is not known for its cavalry carabiniers . The " la Brigada de Carabineros Reales " , though dressed as hussar s , did however participate in several of Spain ' s wars , including the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon I ( part of the Napoleonic Wars ) , where they distinguished themselves at Sepúlveda ( 28 November 1808 ) , along with the Alcántara and Montesa cavalry regiments , against Lasalle ' s French 10th Chasseurs a Cheval and 9th Dragoons . One notable officer serving with the brigade was Carlos María de Alvear . The regiment , along with the cavalry of the Spanish Royal Guard , was reformed at Valladolid by General Gregorio García de la Cuesta by which time they were numbered scarcely more than a squadron , and were given the pick of some 5 , 000 volunteers . They later participated in the Carlist Wars , notably at Bilbao . See also the separate section on the frontier guard Carabineros of the Spanish Army below . French Carabiniers - à - Cheval . The French carabiniers are first mentioned at the battle of Neerwinden in 1693 commanded by Prince de Conti . Although their original role was that of a mounted police similar to the Gendarmes , as combat troops they first took the form of separate companies within each cavalry regiments on 29 October 1691 under Louis XIV . Only later was an independent regiment or " cavalerie de reserve " established in 1693 under the command of Duc du Maine . However at that time all French cavalry other than the gendarmes were called light cavalry , and their first name was " Corps royal des carabiniers " , organised by brigading of four squadrons commanded by a lieutenant - colonel . The Corps was enlarged to ten squadrons by the start of the Seven Years ' War . Their depot was in Strasbourg , where it remained for a century . On 13 May 1758 the Corps was renamed " Royal carabiniers de monsieur le Comte de Provence " . By 1762 the Corps was enlarged to five brigades of thirty squadrons , but was reduced to two regiments in 1788 . However , the events of the French Revolution affected all of the French Army and the cavalry Arm in particular , and the carabiniers were reduced to two regiments of four squadrons each , later serving in the Army of the Rhine . The regiments retained their distinctive bearskin headwear until 1810 when it was replaced by even more distinctive helmets with scarlet combs . They were also distinguished by Napoleon with a brass overlay on the iron cuirass es after suffering heavy casualties in the 1809 campaign , but were no longer equipped with carabines . The two Carabiniers regiments , brigaded together and as a part of General of Division Nansouty ' s 1st Heavy Cavalry Division saw action during the Napoleonic wars , including in the Battle of Austerlitz , Battle of Friedland , Battle of Wagram , Battle of Borodino ( commanded by General of Brigade Defrance ) , Battle of Leipzig , Battle of Laon and Battle of Waterloo where it was " ignominiously routed by two regiments of British light dragoons " . and restored as a single " régiment de Monsieur " after the second Bourbon restoration . Carabiniers were again raised in the form of two regiments by 1824 , with their distinctive style of helmet being temporarily adopted by the cuirassiers also . The Carabiniers were present in Paris in June 1848 for the creation of the Republic when nine regiments were brought in to maintain peace , the first time in 200 years that carabiniers were again serving as military police . From 1852 the Carabiniers were a part of the Army of the Second French Empire , but did not serve in the Crimean War . They saw service again in 1870 as a single regiment , but now as part of the Imperial Guard . Following the Franco - Prussian War the Carabiniers were amalgamated with the 11th Cuirassier regiment on 4 February 1871 . The 1 - 11e Régiment de Cuirassiers of the modern French Army can accordingly trace its origin , in part , to the 19th Century Carabiniers . By coincidence the present day regiment is stationed in Carpiagne within Provence , once the domain of their former commander . British Carabiniers . The Carabiniers ( 6th Dragoon Guards ) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army . The regiment was descended from the " Ninth Horse regiment " , raised in response to the Duke of Monmouth ' s rebellion in 1685 , the first year of the reign of King James II . Colonelcy of the Ninth Horse was given to Richard , 2nd Viscount Lumley of Waterford . In accordance with tradition of the time , the regiment became known as " Lord Lumley ' s Horse " . In 1691 , during King William ' s Irish Campaign , the regiment distinguished itself , as a result of which it was posted to London and renamed The King ' s Carabiniers . However , in 1741 the regiment became known as the 3rd Regiment of Horse , and in 1756 became the 3rd Horse . Through the Napoleonic Wars period the regiment was called the 6th Dragoon Guards , becoming 3rd Dragoon Guards ( Carabiniers ) in 1826 . In 1920 the regiment briefly became known as The Carabiniers ( 6th Dragoon Guards ) again before being amalgamated in 1922 . Although the regiment ' s first battle honour is for the Battle of Blenheim , it did not take a notable part in any major battle of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars , but did serve in the Crimean War . The regiment also served in the Boer Wars , although by far most of its battle honours come from the First World War . Known in the British Army as " The Carbs " , the regiment survived as the 3rd Carabiniers ( Prince of Wales ' s Dragoon Guards ) until 1971 when it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Greys during the Palace of Holyrood House parade in July 1971 . In attendance was Her Majesty The Queen , who is the regimental Colonel - in - Chief . At the same time the role of the regiment changed from cavalry to mechanised infantry . As a result of the amalgamation , no regiment bears the title of Carabiniers in the British Army today , although the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are sub - titled " Carabiniers and Greys " . There also existed the Hampshire Carabiniers as a Yeomanry cavalry regiment that was formed during the French Revolutionary Wars , and remained known as the Carabiniers late in the Victorian era . The regiment served in the Boer Wars , and the First World War after which the Hampshire Yeomanry was re roled as an Artillery Regiment and they amalgamated with the Hampshire Royal Horse Artillery to become the 95th ( Hampshire Yeomanry ) Field Brigade , Royal Artillery . Saxon Carabiniers . The Saxon Carabiniers were formed after the reorganisation of the Royal Saxon Army in 1765 , and survived in the Imperial German Army until 1918 . The regiment was known to have used lance s in its pre - First World War service . Netherlands karabiniers . The Dutch mounted karabiniers date back to 2nd ( Heavy ) Cavalry regiment raised in the 1680s , however they briefly ceased to exist during the period of the Batavian Republic . The Allied order of battle at the Battle of Waterloo included the Netherlands Cavalry Division ( Divisie Cavalerie ) commanded by Luitenant - Generaal Jean Alphonse Baron de Collaert which in turn included a brigade of three Karabinier regiments newly raised from the cuirassiers of the Dutch contribution to the Napoleonic La Grande Armée : All three regiments along with the dragoons of the Guard became dragoons in 1849 . Russian Karabinery . Carabiniers first appeared in the Russian Army during the reign of Catherine II in 1763 , and eventually numbered sixteen regiments . However , Emperor Paul I , who intensely disliked any reminder of his grandmother , renamed six into dragoons and the remaining into cuirassiers . The carabiniers did return to the Russian cavalry after 1803 as the four select marksmen called flankers in each platoon armed with carbines in all cavalry regiments . Swedish Carabiniers . Swedish Kungliga Skånska Karabinierregementet ( " Cavallerie de Scanie " ) were created in 1791 before the Napoleonic Wars by renaming the Skånska Kavalleriregemente and numbered eight squadrons of about 1 , 000 officers and troopers organised in two battalions serving in the 4th Swedish Division of the Walmoden Corps for the 1813 - 1814 campaign . The regiment was renamed into the Skånska Hussars by 1914 . Westphalian Carabiniers . The short - lived Westphalian army of 1807 – 14 created by Napoleon as an allied force for service with the " Grande Armée " , included a unit of the Royal Guard designated as the " Jäger Carabiniers Battalion " . Piedmont - Savoy Carabinieri . The Carabinieri corps was created by King Victor Emmanuel I of Savoy , with the aim of providing Piedmont with a police corps similar to the French Gendarmerie , which was both a combat regiment and a mounted military police force . After French soldiers had occupied Turin at the end of the 18th century and later abandoned it to the Kingdom of Piedmont - Savoy , the corps of " Carabinieri Reali " ( Royal Carabiniers ) was instituted under the " Regie Patenti " ( Royal Patents ) of July 13 , 1814 within the Kingdom of Sardinia Guard . Naples Carabiniers . The Carabiniers of the Kingdom of Naples were a cavalry regiment formed in the early 1820s . South African Carabiniers . Originating from the 1st and 2nd Royal Natal Carabiniers , the South African Carabiniers served during the Boer Wars as mounted infantry , and infantry during the First World War ' s German South West Africa campaign , and later the as the 1st Royal Natal Carbineers in the Second World War , notably participating with the 8th Army at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 as part of the Commonwealth Union Defence Force contingent ' s 1st South African Division and later in the Italian Campaign . The Natal Carbineers saw service in a counter - insurgency capacity in northern Namibia ( South West Africa ) for three months from August 1976 , and thereafter in numerous modular deployments over the next decade until 1989 . Australian Carbineers . The Bushveldt Carbineers ( BVC ) were a short - lived , multinational mounted infantry regiment of the British Army , raised in South Africa during the Second Boer War . The BVC is recognized as the worlds first modern Special forces , for the use of counter insurgency tactics . The 320 - strong regiment was formed in February 1901 and commanded by an Australian , Colonel R . W . Lenehan . It was based at Pietersburg , 180 miles north of Pretoria , and saw action in the Spelonken region of the Northern Transvaal during 1901 - 1902 . About forty percent of the men in the BVC were Australians , and the regiment also included about forty surrendered Boers who had been recruited from the internment camps . The unit was made infamous by the trial and execution of Harry ' Breaker ' Morant and Peter Handcock , who were serving members of the unit at the time of their arrest and who were charged with alleged war crimes committed while they were in the unit . Law enforcement carabiniers . Italian Carabinieri . The Arma dei Carabinieri ( literally " Arm of Carabiniers " or " Arm of Carabineers " ) was formerly called the " Corpo dei Carabinieri " as a branch of the Italian Army , but is usually known simply as the Carabinieri performing gendarmerie role . It originates from the amalgamation of the Piedmont - Savoy and Naples Carabinieri corps after unification of Italy , and although they remained a combat cavalry regiment , they were not numbered with the " Cavalleria di Linea " ( Cavalry of the Line ) after 1871 . Both a military and a police corps , the " Carabinieri " have fought in every conflict in which Italy has been involved in since 1871 , suffering heavy losses and being awarded many decorations for gallantry . The " Carabinieri " is currently a branch of armed forces ( alongside the Army , Navy and Air Force ) , thus ending their long standing role as the " Prima Arma dell ' Esercito " ( First Corps of the Army ) . It is likely that antonomasia by which the Carabinieri will continue to be referred will remain the " Arma " . In recent years " Carabinieri " units have been dispatched on peacekeeping missions , including Kosovo , Afghanistan , and Iraq . In 2003 twelve " Carabinieri " were killed in a suicide bomb attack on their base in Nasiriyah , near Basra , in southern Iraq , in the largest Italian military loss of life in a single action since the Second World War ( see 2003 Nasiriyah bombing ) . Spanish Carabineros under the Monarchy and Republic . This para - military force was created in the 19th century under the Spanish monarchy , performing the role of frontier guards especially in the Pyrenees . They were distinguished by dark blue uniforms with shako s or round forage cap s . Under the Spanish Republic the Carabineros were subordinated to the Finance Department of the Home Ministry , and consisted of customs and excise officials numbering some 15 , 000 by the Spanish Civil War of 1936 – 39 . They remained an armed force subject to military discipline . About 8 , 750 carabineros remained loyal to the Republican Government , providing a core of trained manpower for the Republican forces . After the war the victorious Nationalist Government disbanded the Carabineros and replaced them for frontier duties with units of the Civil Guard . Chilean carabineros . Carabineros de Chile are the uniformed Chilean national police force and gendarmery . The first policing organization with the name " Carabiniers " was the Corps of Carabiniers , in Spanish " Cuerpo de Carabineros " , formed in 1903 to bring law and order to the Araucanía Region of Southern Chile ( then much larger than is geographically denoted today ) . In 1908 the Carabiniers ' School ( " Escuela de Carabineros " , currently located in Providencia ) was created . On April 27 , 1927 , President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo merged the Fiscal Police ( " Policía Fiscal " ) , the Rural Police ( " Policia Rural " ) , and the " Cuerpo de Carabineros " into the Carabiniers of Chile , one unified institution under the direction of the national government . The organization still carries the name given to it by Ibáñez , who became the Carabiniers ' first Director General . In 1973 the Carabiniers , headed by General Cesar Mendoza Duran , later appointed Director General , joined the Chilean coup of 1973 under the lead of the Army , Navy and Air Forces leaders , that overthrew President Salvador Allende . As such , the Carabiniers ' commander was a formal member of the Military Government Junta ( 1973 – 1990 ) . Colombian carabineros . National Police of Colombia has mobile units called Mobile Carabinier Squadrons or Escuadrones Móviles de Carabineros in Spanish ( EMCAR ) . These are specialised units of the Colombian National Police , part of its Directorate of Carabineers and Rural Security ( Dirección de Carabineros y Seguridad Rural ) The mission of these mobile squadrons is to provide highway security , control traffic and prevent accidents . Among their objectives is to interact and socialize with civilians to create neighborhood watch and collaboration . Bolivian Carabineros . The Bolivian National Police became institutionalized on the national level in 1937 with the creation of the National Corps of Carabineers ( Cuerpo Nacional de Carabineros ) and its professional training school , the Police School ( Escuela de Policía ) , later renamed the National Police Academy ( Academia Nacional de Policías ) . The carabineers constituted a post - Chaco War merger of the Military Police , the Gendarmerie Corps ( Cuerpo de Gendarmería ) , the paramilitary Security Police ( Policía de Seguridad ) , and the army ' s Carabineer Regiment ( Regimiento de Carabineros ) . Today , the 5 , 000 - member paramilitary National Guard ( Guardia Nacional ) , a branch of the Bolivian National Police , is still referred to as the Carabineros .