The 2nd Dragoons trace their lineage to the formation of a 'compagnie d'ordonnance' by Louis de Bourbon, head of the House of Condé, in 1556. At the time it numbered 50 lances fournies - 50 knights, plus about 5 supporting men-at-arms each, for a total of about 300 men In 1635, this company became the Régiment d'Anguien-Cavalerie, after its proprietor Louis, Duke of Enghien (the future Grand Condé), one of twelve regiments formed by a royal order of 16 May to fight in the war against the Holy Roman Empire. Enghien appointed the Chevalier de Tavannes as the commander (mestre de camp) of the regiment. It immediately was sent to serve in the Italian peninsula, where it probably operated as a collection of independent light cavalry companies. During the Second French Empire, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment was given orange as a distinguishing colour, until all of the dragoon regiments lost their distinguishing colours in 1862. In January 1854, while the Crimean War was ongoing, a detachment of half a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons was sent to the Kingdom of Greece, where it attempted to control the local "bandits" for about a year. In 1865, Baron Joachim Ambert was appointed the colonel of the regiment, a role in which he served until 1873. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the regiment was part of the 2nd Brigade of General of Division Georges Eugène Blanchard's III Corps. After its arrival at the front on 8 August, it protected baggage trains in the retreat to Metz following the Battle of Forbach-Spicheren, before serving in a reconnaissance role, and facing the Prussians at the battles of Borney–Colombey, Mars-la-Tour, and Noiseville. Following the defeat of the Second Empire, the remaining troops of the regular army were called upon by the Government of National Defense to defend Paris from the Prussian siege, but they were scattered and disorganised, and had to be organised into provisional regiments (regiments de marche). The troops who had not been captured, including the depot and a squadron of new recruits, were in the 4th and 6th dragoon and 11th mixed cavalry regiments de marche. By the time peace with Prussia was reached in May 1871, most of the 2nd Dragoon Regiment's complement was gathered together, as the 2nd dragoon regiment de marche, and was called upon to aid in the government's suppression of the Paris Commune.