Napoleon's Mercenaries

Foreign Units in the French Army Under the Consulate and Empire, 1799 to 1814

Guy Dempsey

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781853674884
• eBook ISBN: 9781784380199
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This superb and comprehensive book details the foreign units which formed such an important part of Napoleon's forces. It examines each non-French unit in turn, giving an overview of the unit's origins, its organizational and combat history, its uniforms and standards, and details of the unit's eventual fate. Colourful accounts, taken from contemporary reports and memoirs, emphasize the qualities of the unit and throw light on what life was like for many of the foreign soldiers recruited into the Grande Armée. In total more than 100 different foreign units that served in the French Army are investigated in detail in this ambitious publication. Some foreign units fought and flourished throughout the Consulate and Empire, whilst others lasted for just a few months. Covers Polish, German, Swiss, Italian, Spanish, and other units in the French Army and presents a combat history and details uniforms for each regiment. Napoleon's Mercenaries is the best single-volume study of this aspect of Napoleon s army and a vital reference for every Napoleonic enthusiast. Little can be found on the foreign units that were an integral part of the French army ... For a long time a gap has existed, but now Napoleon s Mercenaries fills this gap. Robert Burnham, Napoleonic Series

Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword
	Author’s Note
Napoleon’s Mercenaries: An Overview
Unit Descriptions
	Artillerie Septinsulaire
	Artillerie Suisse
	Bataillon Allemand
	Bataillons de Déserteurs Allemands
	Bataillons de Déserteurs Autrichiens
	Bataillon de Patriotes Piémontais
	Bataillon de Piombino
	Bataillon du Prince de Neufchatel
	Bataillon Expéditionnaire Piémontaise
	Bataillon Italique
	Bataillon Polonais
	Bataillon Septinsulaire
	Bataillon Valaisan
	Bataillons des Déserteurs Étrangers (Nos 1–3)
	Bataillons Étrangers (Nos 1–4)
	Bataillons Francs de l’Île d’Elbe
	Bataillons Liguriens
	Chasseurs à Cheval Aragonais
	Chasseurs à Cheval Helvétique
	Chasseurs à Cheval Ioniens
	Chasseurs à Pied Grecs
	Chasseurs Catalans
	Chasseurs Croates
	Chasseurs de L’Ampurdan
	Chasseurs d’Orient
	Chasseurs Illyriens (Nos 1–6)
	Chevau-légers Belges du Duc d’Arenberg
	Chevau-légers Lanciers de la Garde (No 1)
	Chevau-légers Lanciers de la Garde (No 3)
	Chevau-légers Polonais de la Garde
	Compagnies de Déserteurs Étrangers
	Compagnies Franches Cantabres
	Demi-brigades Helvétiques (Nos 1–6)
	Demi-brigades Polonaises (Nos 1–3)
	Éclaireurs de la Garde Impériale (No 3)
	Fusiliers Aragonais
	Gardes d’Honneur de Turin et de Florence
	Gardes d’Honneur Polonaises
	Gendarmerie de Prusse
	Gendarmes Aragonais
	Gendarmes Catalans
	Gendarmes Septinsulaires
	Guides Catalans
	Guides d’Omar
	Hussards Croates
	Hussards Polonaises
	Janissaires
	Janissaires Syriennes
	Krakus
	Lanciers de la Légion de la Vistule
	Lanciers Polonaises (1st Formation)
	Lanciers Polonaises (2nd Formation)
	Légion Copte
	Légion de la Vistule
	Légion du Danube
	Légion du Midi
	Légion du Nord
	Légion Franco-Hessoise
	Légion Grecque
	Légion Hanovrienne
	Légion Helvétique
	Légion Irlandaise
	Légion Italique
	Légion Maltaise
	Légion Polacco-Italienne
	Légion Polonaise d’Italie
	Légion Portugaise
	Légion Syrienne
	Légions des Francs du Nord
	Légions Piémontaises
	Mamelouks (1st Formation)
	Mamelouks (2nd Formation)
	Miqueletes Catalans
	Pandours Albanais
	Pandours de Dalmatie
	Pionniers Blancs
	Pionniers Espagnols
	Pionniers Étrangers
	Pionniers Noirs
	Pionniers Volontaires Étrangers
	Régiment Albanais
	Régiment de Catalogne
	Régiment de la Tour d’Auvergne
	Régiment de Prusse
	Régiment de Westphalie
	Régiment d’Illyrie
	Régiment d’Isembourg
	Régiment Joseph-Napoléon
	Régiments Provisoires Croates
	Régiments Suisses (Nos 1–4)
	Sapeurs Espagnols
	Sapeurs Ioniens
	Sbires
	Serezaners
	Tatares Lithuaniens
	Tirailleurs du Po
	Vélites de Turin et de Florence
	Vétérans Espagnols
	Vétérans Ioniens
Appendices
	A. Organisation of Piedmontese Troops, 1798–1801
	B. Organisation of Lithuanian Forces, 1812
	C. Foreign Troops in 1815
Bibliography
Index

Illustrations

Between pages 160 and 161

1. Captain de Brun of the Bataillon du Prince de Neufchatel.

2. A portrait of Chef de Bataillon Pierre Joseph Blanc of the Bataillon Valaisan, 1808.

3. Cheveau-léger Polonais de la Garde, 1810.

4. One of the Hussards Croates, 1813.

5. A Lancier de la Légion de la Vistule in Spain, 1809.

6. An 8th Light Horse Lancer (Lanciers de la Légion de la Vistule), 1813.

7. A man of the Légion Copte, 1800.

8. Infantrymen of the Légion de la Vistule, 1813.

9. A drum major of the Légion de la Vistule with a female admirer, 1808.

10. A sapper of the Légion de la Vistule, 1812.

11. A grenadier of the Légion du Midi, 1808.

12. A man of the Légion Grecque, 1799.

13. Colonel Evers of the Mounted Chasseurs of the Légion Hanovrienne, 1806.

14. A mounted chasseur of the Légion Hanovrienne, 1810.

15. An infantryman of the Légion Hanovrienne, 1804.

16. A officer of the Légion Irlandaise, 1813.

17. An infantryman of the Légion Italique, 1800.

18. A grenadier of the Légion Maltaise, 1799.

19. An officer of the Légion Polonaise, 1804.

20. A lancer and a grenadier of the Légion Polonaise, 1800.

21. An infantryman of the Légion Portugaise, 1812.

22. A cavalryman of the Légion Portugaise, 1809.

23. A Mamelouk of the Imperial Guard, 1805.

24. An adjutant-major and fusilier of the Régiment de la Tour d’Auvergne in Naples, 1806.

25. A flag of the Régiment de Prusse captured in 1812.

26. An NCO, officer and musician of the Régiment de Prusse, 1806.

27. A voltigeur, fusilier, subaltern and field officer of the Régiment de Westphalie, 1808.

28. A drummer of the Régiment de Prusse, 1807.

29. An infantryman of the Régiment d’Illyrie, 1812.

30. A voltigeur of the Régiment d’Isembourg with a company fanion, 1809.

31. A voltigeur of the Régiment d’Isembourg in Naples, 1806.

32. A carabinier of the 1st Régiment Provisoire Croate, 1812.

33. A grenadier from the 1st Régiment Suisse, 1812.

34. A watercolour of a sapper, musician and cantinière of the 3rd Régiment Suisse, 1808.

35. A voltigeur officer of the 3rd Régiment Suisse, 1808.

36. An NCO of the 3rd Régiment Suisse, 1813.

37. An officer of the 3rd Régiment Suisse, 1810.

38. A Tatare Lithuanien, 1813.

39. A Tirailleur du Po (with a foot hussar), 1800.

40. A standard of the Vélites de Turin.

Foreword

I began writing this book more years ago than I care to remember when I first had the perverse thought that it might be more interesting and challenging to study the identifiable units of foreigners that served in Napoleon’s armies rather than the Emperor’s more mundane French troops. I have subsequently amassed a vast amount of information on my chosen topic by work in some of the great libraries of the world, including the Library of Congress, the British Library, the London Library, the New York Public Library and the Sterling Library at Yale University. I also tackled relevant primary sources at the National Army Museum in London, the Museum of the Army in Paris, the French National Archives in Paris, the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection in Providence, Rhode Island, and, most importantly, the French Army Archives at Vincennes. The great challenge in finishing this book has been to put aside the thrill of the hunt for new information in favour of the less obvious pleasure of organising and synthesising the information I already have in hand. (Since one can never have too much information, however, I encourage readers to contact me via the publisher of this work if they have relevant primary source information to contribute.)

I have been fortunate to have had many informal collaborators for this work, but unlucky in that two of the most important of these are no longer with us—Andrew Zaremba and John Elting. At the risk of naming too few of the others, I would particularly like to thank the following individuals for the contributions, large and small, that they have made over many years to my knowledge of Napoleon’s foreign troops: Giancarlo Boeri, Piero Crociani, Manfred Ernst, Massimo Fiorentino, Markus Gärtner, Peter Harrington, J.-P. Loriot, Yves Martin, George Nafziger, Jonathan North, Frédéric Pouvesle, Albert Rigondaud, Dr Jean Sarramon, Edmund Wagner and all the patient individuals who work on interlibrary loan requests at the Rye Free Reading Room and in the Westchester County Library System. I would also like to acknowledge the debt I owe to Alain Pigeard, whose superb research, refelected in his many published books and articles, has made completion of this work easier than would otherwise have been the case. The present work has also benefited in innumerable ways from the existence of the two Napoleon Series on the Internet (www.napoleonseries.org and www.napoleon-series.org), so I would also like to express my thanks to the founder of the first one, Fons Libert, the people who keep them running and those who contribute to their content.

As for the largest debts of gratitude I owe with respect to this book, my publisher, Lionel Leventhal, has earned a close second place by giving me a chance to write on this somewhat rarified topic and then enduring patiently a plethora of missed deadlines. First place, however, goes to my wife, Nancy, and my three daughters, Katie (a fellow night owl), Elizabeth and Laura, whose lives have been disrupted in many small ways by my avocation.

Guy C. Dempsey, Jr

Author’s Note

This volume uses the accepted French spelling for all personal and unit names because it is written from the point of view of the French military establishment. It should be pointed out, however, that these French versions were often far from accurate, particularly in the case of individual names in non-Romance languages, such as those of Polish soldiers.

The sources cited in shorthand form in the text are all listed, with full details, in the Bibliography.

G.C.D.

Napoleon’s Mercenaries: An Overview

This book is about the mercenaries who served in the French armies of the Napoleonic wars, the distinctive units of foreign soldiers of fortune who fought for money (and a variety of other motives) alongside the regiments of native Frenc...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Full Title
• Copyright Page
• Contents