8th Hussar Cavalry

A cavalry unit in the British Army, the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was established in 1693. It served during the First and Second World Wars and lasted over three centuries. The regiment survived the early post-war drawdown in forces and went on to make a name for itself in the Korean War conflicts, although Duncan Sandys' 1957 Defence White Paper proposed amalgamating the unit. In order to create the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars, the regiment merged with the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1958.

As the French Revolutionary Wars raged, Holland and France were at war on January 22, 1795. Around fifty miles north of Amsterdam, a fleet of fourteen Dutch ships froze in the waters around Hexel Island. The ships were well-armed and prepared for an assault by ships from frozen waters or by an artillery barrage.

So, in order to combat the gunboats, General Jean-Charles Pichergu ordered a cavalry attack on the ships, which was a more uncommon armament. In one of the more extraordinary episodes in military history, the 8th Hussar Cavalry caught the ships completely off guard, causing them to surrender far more quickly than the French had dared hope.

Active; 1693–1714, 1715–1716, 1719–1958
Country: Kingdom of Ireland (1693–1800), United Kingdom (1801–1958)
Branch: British Army
Type: Cavalry of the Line/Royal Armoured Corps