CARABINIERS  , originally mounted troops of the

French army, armed with the carabine (carbine) . In 1690 one company of carabiniers was maintained in each regiment of cavalry . Their duties were analogous to those of grenadiers in infantry regiments—scouting, detached work, and, in general, all duties requiring special activity and address . They fought mounted and dismounted alike, and even took part in siege warfare in the trenches . At the battle of Neerwinden in 1693 all the carabinier companies present were united in one body, and after the action Louis XIV. consolidated them into a permanent regiment with the name Royal Carabiniers . This was one of the old regiments which survived the French Revolution, atwhich time the title was changed to " horse grenadiers "; it is represented in the French army of to-day by the iith Cuirassiers . The carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) of the British army date from 1685, and received the title from being armed with the carabine in 1692 . Regimentally therefore they were one year senior to the French regiment of Royal Carabiniers, and as a matter of fact they took part as a regiment in the battle of Neerwinden . Up to 1745 their title was " The King's Carabiniers "; from 1745 to 1788 they were called the 3rd Irish Horse, and from 1788 they have borne their present title . In the German army, one carabinier regiment alone (2nd Saxon Reiter regiment) remains of the cavalry corps which formerly in various states bore the title . In Italy the gendarmerie are called carabinieri .