This volume covers the last horse troops of the French Imperial Guard: gendarmes, honor guards and horse artillery, not forgetting the Lithuanian tartars, last proof of Napoleon's will to make out of his Guard a model of a Greater Europe.
Napoleon's Imperial Guard was the elite corps of the French Army. The Guard differed from the guard corps of other European sovereigns of the period, in that its function was rather functional than ceremonial, and its expansion was such that it came to represent a considerable portion of France's military establishment. By supplying personnel to other units, it functioned as a training school for the remainder of the army, yet the elite status of the guard did little to protect its soldiers from the rigours of combat in the brutal Napoleonic Wars.
The third volume in this successful series detailing the elite phalanx of Emperor Napoléon, puts an end to the study of the Guard cavalry. The troops depicted in Vol. 3 are the Mamelucks in their oriental dress, the famous Polish lancers, the red lancers (Dutch) and the guards of honor. (A fourth and last volume will subsequently describe the other mounted troops of the Imperial Guard: horse artillery, supply train and gendarmerie).
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
The fifth and final volume of this rich saga of the French Imperial Guard, André Jouineau presents the last troops in the Garde: the Horse Artillery, the Health Service, the crew trains, the artillery and artillery trains. A chapter about the headquarters staff closes the story of these glorious units. André Jouineau has been contributing to Histoire & Collections for more than 16 years. His uniforms plates, which are fully designed using data processing, have made him a pioneer in this field. In the "Officers and Soldiers Series" (OAS) he is also co-author of American Civil War (vols. 1 and 2), The Imperial Guard (vol. 1, 2, 3 and 4), and French Hussars (vol. 1, 2 and 3).
In a series of wonderful, full-color plates, this superb book conveys the glory of soldiers of a military era surpassing the splendor of any others. 91 illustrations.
Europe was forged out of the ashes of the Napoleonic wars by means of a collective fight against revolutionary terror. The Allied Council created a culture of in- and exclusion, of people that were persecuted and those who were protected, using secret police, black lists, border controls and fortifications, and financed by European capital holders.
The Napoleonic Wars saw almost two decades of brutal fighting, from the frozen wastelands of Russia to the wilderness of the Peninsula, and from Egypt to the bloody battlefield of Waterloo. Fighting took place on an unprecedented scale across Europe, and over the entire period of the wars Napoleon led his Grand Armée and his allies against almost every European nation, and against varying coalitions. This book provides a comprehensive guide to all the major armies of the Napoleonic Wars, of France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Portugal. Covering the changes experienced by the armies over the period, the author details the organization, infantry, cavalry, and artillery of each. With stunning original artwork of the often glorious uniforms worn into battle, period illustrations of the equipment used, and photographs, this is a beautiful and in-depth study of the armies that fought in the Napoleonic campaigns.