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120-654: Created by King Louis Philippe I on 13 June 1832, shortly after the French Foreign Legion , the Bat' d'Af' were part of the Army of Africa and were stationed in Tataouine , Tunisia , in one of the most arid and hostile regions of the French colonial empire . The original Ordonnance royale (Royal order) creating this corps provided for 2 battalions, each of 8 companies. A third battalion

240-689: A British prison hulk during the American Revolutionary War . In 1839, while reflecting on his visit to the United States, Louis Philippe explained in a letter to François Guizot that his three years there had a large influence on his political beliefs and judgments when he became king. In Boston, Louis Philippe learned of the coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) and of the exile of his mother to Spain. He and his brothers then decided to return to Europe. They went to New Orleans , planning to sail to Havana and thence to Spain. This, however,

360-458: A boys' boarding school. The school, owned by a Monsieur Jost, was in Reichenau , a village on the upper Rhine in the then independent Grisons league state, now part of Switzerland. His salary was 1,400 francs and he taught under the name Monsieur Chabos . He had been at the school for a month when he heard the news from Paris: his father had been guillotined on 6 November 1793 after a trial before

480-679: A death sentence by fleeing to London. While he was well known for his caricatures in France, he gained a reputation in England as a fashion designer, society portrait painter and theatre costume designer. He has work in the National Portrait Gallery , the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum . Adrien Lejeune was famously the last surviving communard when he died at 94 years' old in

600-497: A dinner at which they dispersed a small amount of money to all who attended. Offers of employment were made, overcoats were given out, and temporary housing was offered. Some Communards chose never to come back to France after having built successful lives in New Caledonia or adopting other countries, such as Australia , as home. Many Communards who did come back returned to public life, such as Louise Michel . However, many found

720-634: A fortified place, and deportation with forced labor . A simple deportation sentence was given to about two-thirds of the Communards. These people were sent to live in small villages on the Isle of Pines . Those sentenced to deportation to a fortified place were sent to the Ducos peninsula . About 300 Communards were sentenced to deportation with forced labor; these were the people convicted of crimes such as arson in addition to their political crimes. They were sent to be with

840-419: A fuck" than "we don't care" (**) in other versions "soldier" (soldat) . The Bat' d'Af was a separate corps from the French Foreign Legion . Formed in 1832 ; disbanded in 1940 Formed in 1832 ; disbanded in 1927. Created by order of 3 June 1832 at Birkhadem, stationed at Bougie, then at Laghouat (Algiers) in 19005. On 1 January 1849, the 2nd BILA, under the command of battalion commander Etienney,

960-479: A king rendered the bourgeoisie enthusiastic. He had, with his own hands, demolished the iron cage of Mont-Saint-Michel , built by Louis XI , and used by Louis XV . He was the companion of Dumouriez, he was the friend of Lafayette ; he had belonged to the Jacobins' club; Mirabeau had slapped him on the shoulder; Danton had said to him: "Young man!" What is there against him? That throne. Take away Louis Philippe

1080-466: A monastery by monks who believed them to be young vagabonds. Another time, he woke up after spending a night in a barn to find himself at the far end of a musket, confronted by a man attempting to keep away thieves. Throughout this period, he never stayed in one place more than 48 hours. Finally, in October 1793, Louis Philippe was appointed a teacher of geography, history, mathematics and modern languages, at

1200-572: A reserve of cannons. The detachment was gathering the guns when units of the Paris national guard surrounded them, and killed two French army generals. By the end of the day, the insurgent soldiers of the national guard controlled the city. They declared a new government called the Paris Commune, which lasted from March 18 to May 28, 1871. Thiers refused to bargain with the Communards, despite their attempts to do so. He taught newly released French soldiers

1320-532: A series of lectures that were published in the New York Herald Tribune while staying in the United States after his escape from New Caledonia. They were highly critical of the French government for denying its citizens liberty. His 1884 novel L’Évadé: roman canaque helped shape the legend of the deportation. It offered a portrayal of the deportation and the policies of the government in New Caledonia that

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1440-553: A short dark blue jacket ( veste ) was authorised with the battalion number in yellow on the collar. The medium blue greatcoat of the French infantry was worn on the march. A full dress uniform of dark blue tunic and red trousers (white trousers in hot weather) could be worn on parade or for off-duty wear. From World War I onwards the Bat' d'Af' were distinguished by "violet" (light purple/red) collar patch braiding and numbers on their khaki drill uniforms. From 1915, in common with other units of

1560-465: A stronger declaration of total amnesty. Petitions were passed around in all Paris neighborhoods to try and influence the government. A bill calling for total amnesty was introduced into the Chamber of Deputies by Louis Blanc and into the senate by Victor Hugo . The legislation that was eventually pushed through ensured full civil rights to those not convicted of crimes beyond political, and officially ended

1680-742: A term with the BILA before continuing their careers with other regiments. The cadres noirs ("black cadres") were former bataillonnaires who chose to remain with the Bat' d'Af' on promotion, after finishing their original terms of service. The Bat' d'Af' should not be confused with the compagnies d'exclus ("companies of the excluded" i.e. thieves) of the French Army, which were stationed at Aîn-Sefra in Southern Algeria. These penal units consisted of military convicts condemned to five years or more hard labour and were judged unworthy to carry weapons. By contrast

1800-457: A volunteer who enlisted in the Train (Army Transport Corps) during the 1880s where he was condemned for insubordination , was sent for 33 months in the Bat' d'Af'. In 1890, he published a novel named Biribi where he described, in possibly exaggerated terms, the harsh treatment and corporal punishments which he endured in the Bat' d'Af' . Many Bataillonnaires displayed tattoos covering much of

1920-559: A wood, and retreated in disorder. Lt. General Louis Philippe rallied a group of units, dubbing them "the battalion of Mons", and pushed forward along with other French units, finally overwhelming the outnumbered Austrians. Events in Paris undermined his budding military career. The incompetence of Jean-Nicolas Pache , the new Girondist appointee of 3 October 1792, left the Army of the North almost without supplies. Soon thousands of troops were deserting

2040-784: A year he stayed in Muonio , a remote village in the valley of the Tornio river in Lapland . He lived in the rectory under the name Müller, as a guest of the local Lutheran vicar. While visiting Muonio, he supposedly fathered a child with Beata Caisa Wahlborn (1766–1830) called Erik Kolstrøm (1796–1879). Louis Philippe visited the United States ( c.  1796 to 1798), staying in Philadelphia (where his brothers Antoine and Louis Charles were in exile), New York City (where he most likely stayed at

2160-506: The Armée d'Afrique , a more practical khaki uniform was adopted for service on the Western Front . Khaki pith helmets appeared during the 1920s and 30s as an alternative to the kepi, which itself could be worn with khaki or white covers according to the occasion. White dress uniforms were reserved for cadres . A peculiarity of the BILA was that until 1952 the various battalions did not have

2280-718: The Bats d'Af when called up for military service. However those who distinguished themselves "in the face of the enemy", or who had concluded more than eight months of service with good behaviour in the Light Infantry of Africa, had the option of transferring to regular units of the army to complete their term of enlistment. "Yesterday, they were " Apaches " (gangsters), anarchists, professional antimilitarists and thieves, delinquents filled with hatred of bourgeois society, men contemptuous of all morality, shirkers, pimps, knife-handlers, pickpockets... Today, they are soldiers." Georges Darien ,

2400-529: The Bats d'Af . In opposition to prevailing assumptions about criminality at the time, influenced by Cesare Lombroso 's eugenistic theories, the disciplinary battalions of the French Republic were supposed to show that criminals could be redeemed through hard work and combat. Legislation dated 21 March 1905 specified that individuals sentenced to prison terms of six months or more, or who had been convicted of any offence twice or more, should be drafted into

2520-688: The Crimean war plus the Mexican Intervention ; and won honours during the First World War and in the various colonial wars. They also assumed the role of construction troops, building not only desert forts but also roads and bridges. "Biribi" reached a peak between the 1880s and 90s, when it played its most conspicuous role. In May 1888 the corps was enlarged to 5 battalions, each of 6 companies. Three battalions (3rd, 4th and 5th) were based in Tunisia while

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2640-650: The French Revolution looming, the young Louis Philippe showed his liberal sympathies when he helped break down the door of a prison cell in Mont Saint-Michel , during a visit there with the Countess of Genlis. From October 1788 to October 1789, the Palais Royal was a meeting-place for the revolutionaries. Louis Philippe grew up in a period that changed Europe as a whole and, following his father's strong support for

2760-533: The Girondists moved to arrest him and the two younger brothers of Louis Philippe, Louis-Charles and Antoine Philippe ; the latter had been serving in the Army of Italy . The three were interned in Fort Saint-Jean (Marseille) . Meanwhile, Louis Philippe was forced to live in the shadows, avoiding both pro-Republican revolutionaries and Legitimist French émigré centres in various parts of Europe and also in

2880-609: The House of Bourbon under the Ancien Régime , caused friction between him and Louis XVIII, and he openly sided with the liberal opposition. Upon his return to Paris in May 1814, the Duke of Orléans was restored to the rank of lieutenant-general in the army by Louis XVIII. He was denied the title of Altesse Royale ( Royal Highness ), although it was accorded to his wife. Louis Philippe had to settle for

3000-652: The Po Valley . During this time, he finally gave up on marrying Princess Elizabeth and unsuccessfully lobbied the Bourbons of Sicily to obtain the Ionian Islands as a principality for himself. On 25 November 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily , daughter of King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Maria Carolina of Austria , in Palermo. The marriage was controversial because her mother's younger sister

3120-639: The Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI . He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France's monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité), fell under suspicion and was executed during the Reign of Terror . Louis Philippe remained in exile for 21 years until the Bourbon Restoration . He was proclaimed king in 1830 after his cousin Charles X

3240-555: The Rhine . Dumouriez praised Louis Philippe's performance in a letter after the battle. Louis Philippe was recalled to Paris to give an account of the Battle at Valmy to the French government. He had a rather trying interview with Georges Danton , the Minister of Justice, which he later told his children about. Shortly thereafter, he was made Governor of Strasbourg. While in Paris, he was promoted to

3360-593: The Somerindyck family estate on Broadway and 75th Street with other exiled princes), and Boston . In Boston, he taught French for a time and lived in lodgings over what is now the Union Oyster House , Boston's oldest restaurant. During his time in the United States, Louis Philippe met with American politicians and people of high society, including George Clinton , John Jay , Alexander Hamilton , and George Washington . His visit to Cape Cod in 1797 coincided with

3480-510: The Soviet Union in 1942. By the summer of 1878, the concern of amnesty for the Communards had become a significant political issue for France. In January 1879, the prime minister, Dufaure , granted mass pardons for the Communards in an attempt to stop the calls for amnesty . The pardons excused the convictions of the Communards. This was a problem for many people, however, who had never actually been convicted, only indicted . On January 16,

3600-549: The Vendôme Column in 1833, and the Arc de Triomphe , a monument to Napoleon's victories, was inaugurated in 1836. Louis Philippe also commissioned the creation of a national history museum at the Palace of Versailles , where famous Napoleonic battles were painted by important artists. In parliament, the narrow, property-qualified electorate of the time (only about 1 in every 170 citizens

3720-770: The battle of France . A single company of the BILA was re-established in April 1944, becoming a full battalion in September 1948. It was based at Tataouine, the original garrison of the Bat' d'Af'. This formation provided a marching battalion, renamed the Bataillon d'Infanterie légère d'Outre-Mer (BILOM) which participated in the First Indochina War by manning a number of posts in the Bencat sector. Upon returning to Tunisia in November 1952 it

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3840-456: The fourragères of the following medals : After 1952 (see above) the Regimental flag of the Bat' d'Af' were embroidered those battle honours : The difficult task of obtaining sufficient non-commissioned officers for the Bat' d'Af' was resolved by creating two categories of sous-officiers . The cadres blancs ("white cadres"), like the officers, were professional soldiers who served

3960-516: The regent for the young Henri. Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in the United Kingdom . The young ex-king, the Duke of Bordeaux, in exile took the title of Comte de Chambord . Later he became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists . Louis Philippe was sworn in as King Louis Philippe I on 9 August 1830. Upon his accession to

4080-406: The "evils" of the Communards as the government prepared for a battle. The Commune responded by building barricades in the Paris streets. Starting on May 21 and continuing through May 28, the French army entered Paris and gradually recaptured the city. Around eighteen thousand communards were killed in combat, more were executed afterwards. The violence of The "Bloody Week" became a rallying cry for

4200-686: The 1914-1918 war, the 2nd BILA remained stationed in North Africa, but contributed to the formation of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd BMILA, which were called up to fight in Belgium and in metropolitan France. It was disbanded in 1927, after the end of the Rif war. In 1939, it was reconstituted in embryonic form (a single company) in Corsica. Formed in 1833 ; disbanded in 1972 Formed in 1888 ; disbanded in 1927 Formed in 1888 ; disbanded in 1925 Those units received

4320-522: The Austrian army. He first moved to Switzerland under an assumed name, and met up with the Countess of Genlis and his sister Adélaïde at Schaffhausen . From there they went to Zürich , where the Swiss authorities decreed that to protect Swiss neutrality, Louis Philippe would have to leave the city. They went to Zug , where Louis Philippe was discovered by a group of émigrés . It became quite apparent that for

4440-585: The Austrian camp. They were intercepted by Lieutenant-Colonel Louis-Nicolas Davout, who had served at the Battle of Jemappes with Louis Philippe. As Dumouriez ordered the Colonel back to the camp, some of his soldiers cried out against the General, now declared a traitor by the National Convention. Shots rang out as the two men fled toward the Austrian camp. The next day, Dumouriez again tried to rally soldiers against

4560-457: The BILA, while strictly disciplined, were considered as armed and serving soldiers with a generally good combat record. Upon completion of their sentences the convicts of the disciplinary companies might however be required to complete their military service in the Bat' d'Af' . Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King ,

4680-464: The Communards), 6,000 transportés ( common-law criminal convicts), and 1,280 criminal convicts who had served their sentences but were still living on the island. There were four main penitentiary sites on the island, one of which, Isle of Pines (1870–1880), was for the Communards deportees exclusively. There were three sentences given out to the déportés : simple deportation, deportation to

4800-470: The Ducos peninsula in 1874. François Jourde was the main planner of the escape, which he developed while living in the port town of Nouméa. He had developed connections with a ship's captain, John Law, who was paid for his participation. The escapees, who included Jourde, Henri Rochefort , Paschal Grousset, Olivier Pain, Achille Ballière, and Bastien Grandhille, boarded the boat under the cover of darkness and hid in

4920-574: The Duke of Biron, along with several officers who later gained distinction. These included Colonel Louis Alexandre Berthier and Lieutenant Colonel Alexandre de Beauharnais (husband of the future Empress Joséphine ). After the Kingdom of France declared war on the Habsburg monarchy on 20 April 1792, Louis Philippe first participated in what became known as the French Revolutionary Wars within

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5040-559: The French minister of foreign affairs, Jules Favre , decided that France would hold national elections. Adolphe Thiers , who had been loyal to the Second Empire, was elected head of the new republic. During the war, the capital had moved from Paris to Bordeaux. When the war ended, the government moved temporarily to Versailles . In the early morning of March 18, the government stationed in Versailles sent military forces into Paris to collect

5160-581: The French-occupied Austrian Netherlands at Boussu on about 28 April 1792. He was next engaged at Quaregnon on about 29 April 1792, and then at Quiévrain near Jemappes on about 30 April 1792. There he was instrumental in rallying a unit of retreating soldiers after French forces had been victorious at the Battle of Quiévrain (1792) two days earlier on 28 April 1792. The Duke of Biron wrote to War Minister Pierre Marie de Grave , praising

5280-403: The Kanak youth for guidance and inspiration, and offered them moral support when they joined the 1878 insurrection. She ran a school for the Kanak and encouraged a local theater to perform a Kanak drama. She fully expected the achievements of the Kanak to match those of the French, though she wrote about them in very paternalistic terms that were common for her time period. Henri Rochefort gave

5400-400: The Orléans family. Philippe Égalité spoke in the National Convention , condemning his son for his actions, asserting that he would not spare his son, much akin to the Roman consul Brutus and his sons. However, letters from Louis Philippe to his father were discovered in transit and were read out to the Convention. Philippe Égalité was then put under continuous surveillance. Shortly thereafter,

5520-451: The Restoration and the Revolution, to have that disquieting side of the revolutionary which becomes reassuring in governing power ... He had been proscribed, a wanderer, poor. He had lived by his own labor. In Switzerland, this heir to the richest princely domains in France had sold an old horse in order to obtain bread. At Reichenau, he gave lessons in mathematics, while his sister Adelaide did wool work and sewed. These souvenirs connected with

5640-512: The Revolution, he involved himself completely in those changes. In his diary, he reports that he took the initiative to join the Jacobin Club , a move that his father supported. In June 1791, Louis Philippe got his first opportunity to become involved in the affairs of France. In 1785, he had been given the hereditary appointment of Colonel of the Chartres Dragoons (renamed 14th Dragoons in 1791). With war imminent in 1791, all proprietary colonels were ordered to join their regiments. Louis Philippe

5760-460: The Revolutionary Tribunal. After Louis Philippe left Reichenau, he separated the now sixteen-year-old Adélaïde from the Countess of Genlis, who had fallen out with Louis Philippe. Adélaïde went to live with her great-aunt the Princess of Conti at Fribourg , then to Bavaria and Hungary and, finally, to her mother, who was exiled in Spain. Louis Philippe travelled extensively. He visited Scandinavia in 1795 and then moved on to Finland. For about

5880-406: The abdication of Napoleon, Louis Philippe, known as Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans , returned to France during the reign of his cousin Louis XVIII , at the time of the Bourbon Restoration . Louis Philippe had reconciled the Orléans family with Louis XVIII in exile, and was once more to be found in the elaborate royal court. However, his resentment at the treatment of his family, the cadet branch of

6000-409: The adjustment to freedom difficult. Meetings between Communards and their former jailers occurred in the streets, at times leading to minor skirmishes. In December 1879, an investigative committee was formed to look into charges of torture in New Caledonia. The inquiry lasted two years, collecting the results of previous government studies, more than forty depositions , and testimonials to parliament by

6120-515: The administration. Hunting for food became part of the daily routine. Some even traded their clothing for food with the Kanak. Not every part of life on the island was bad, however. Those living on the Isle of Pines and Ducos peninsula had freedom of movement, allowing them to live where they wanted and swim and fish at their leisure. They lived in simple wood huts that formed small, face-to-face communities that were intended to be self-governing. Those sentenced to forced labor often endured abuse at

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6240-416: The army. Louis Philippe was alienated by the more radical policies of the Republic . After the National Convention decided to put the deposed King to death, Louis Philippe began to consider leaving France. He was dismayed that his own father, known then as Philippe Égalité , voted in favour of the execution. Louis Philippe was willing to stay to fulfill his duties in the army, but he became implicated in

6360-438: The blue and red kepi , yellow collar numbers, and for full dress, red epaulettes with green woollen fringes. As light infantry the Bat' d'Af' wore silver buttons and rank braiding rather than the bronze or gold of the line regiments. A bugle horn appeared on buttons and other insignia. Prior to 1914, the most commonly worn uniform of these units was white fatigue dress with white covered kepi and blue waist sash. In colder weather

6480-419: The body, as was customary in the French criminal underworld of the early 20th century ( see examples here ). Their bad reputation and doubts about their efficiency as a mean of rehabilitation led to the dissolution of most Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa during the interwar period . Following the disbandment of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, serving personnel were transferred to the 3rd Battalion in 1927. In

6600-408: The considerations behind the creation and expansion of the French army's disciplinary battalions was the need to resolve a seeming contradiction: men whose crimes in civilian life had resulted in the loss of civil rights gained an undeserved privilege in being exempted from military service . As their enlistment in regular units could have spread indiscipline among young serving soldiers, the solution

6720-448: The convention; however, he found that the artillery had declared itself in favour of the Republic. He and Louis Philippe had no choice but to go into exile when Philippe Égalité was arrested. At the age of nineteen, and already ranked as a Lieutenant General, Louis Philippe left France. He did not return for twenty-one years. The reaction in Paris to Louis Philippe's involvement in Dumouriez's treason inevitably resulted in misfortunes for

6840-413: The corps and was subsequently commemorated in all battalions by memorial ceremonies on 6 February each year. In 1870 the BILA provided a temporary régiment de marche to serve in France during the Franco-Prussian War . On two occasions detached companies suffered heavy casualties during this campaign. A platoon of the Bat' d'Af' served at the Battle of Taghit in 1903, when the French fort of Taghit

6960-490: The course of France's general mobilisation in 1939, 12 additional Battalions of Light Infantry (BIL) were created but the historic title of Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa (BILA) was retained only by those units continuing to serve in French North Africa. During 1939-40 both the BIL and the BILA served primarily as construction units, working on fortifications, railways and roads in France, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. All were disbanded between July and October 1940 following

7080-458: The criminal convicts on the main island ('Grande Terre'). Some prisoners’ sentences were changed by the local penal administrators, and some were changed by the French government after petitions for leniency. The government did not give out enough food, clothing, or shelter for all of the déportés . Some were assigned housing in rickety structures, but others had to find their own materials to build huts. Construction tools could be bought from

7200-442: The decadence of the Second Empire and the Franco-Prussian War . The Prussians besieged Paris in September 1870, causing suffering among Parisians. The poor ate cat or rat meat or went hungry. Out of resentment from this situation grew radical and socialist political clubs and newspapers. While Paris was occupied, socialist groups tried twice to overthrow the provisional government . In January 1871, Otto von Bismarck and

7320-451: The division of the town of Eastham into two towns, one of which took the name of Orleans, possibly in his honour. During their sojourn, the Orléans princes travelled throughout the country, as far south as Nashville and as far north as Maine . The brothers were even held in Philadelphia briefly during an outbreak of yellow fever . Louis Philippe is also thought to have met Isaac Snow of Orleans , Massachusetts, who had escaped to France from

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7440-537: The domaine of Chantilly . However, Louis Philippe's opposition to the policies of Joseph de Villèle and later of Jules de Polignac caused him to be viewed as a constant threat to the stability of Charles' government. This soon proved to be to his advantage. In 1830, the July Revolution overthrew Charles X, who abdicated in favour of his 10-year-old grandson, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux . Charles X named Louis Philippe Lieutenant général du royaume , and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to

7560-415: The escape. New rules forbade the prisoners from approaching the sea without permission, subjected them to daily roll calls, and banned them from entering the forests, even to collect firewood. There are clearly documented examples of friendships between the Communards and the Kanak . Achille Ballière and his friends visited the Kanak in their homes, shared meals with them, and played with their children. In

7680-483: The first few years of the deportation there were at least two marriages between the Kanak and Communards. However, the separation of the groups enforced after the 1874 escapes prevented any more such relationships from forming. During the eight-month-long Kanak insurrection in 1878, the Communards displayed a solidarity with their effort in the local press. This solidarity did not last long, however, as beliefs of racial differences soon took over. Louise Michel looked to

7800-403: The first time during the conquest of Algeria. They participated in operations at Bougie in 1835 and took part in the siege of Constantine the following year. Between 3 and 6 February 1840 at the Battle of Mazagran in Algeria, a detachment of 123 chasseurs of the 1st BILA, under Captain Lelievre, held off repeated assaults by several thousand Arabs. This action won the first battle honour for

7920-416: The government published a list of déportés whose sentences were pardoned. These people were allowed to return to France. More than one thousand Communards, however, were not included in this list. Men who had been convicted of crimes other than political or whose political opinions were considered too dangerous were left behind. After the announcement of the pardons, many people in France were hoping for

8040-635: The hands of their jailers. They were habitually mistreated while imprisoned, with whippings and the use of thumbscrews as common punishments for minor infractions. The National Assembly passed legislation that gave the wives and children of déportés freedom to go to New Caledonia . It also gave wives a much greater right to property than they had in France, giving them half the property rights over any grant given to their husbands. Through this legislation, 174 families making up 601 people were reunited by 1877. The relatively 'laid back' period of deportation ended when six déportés successfully escaped from

8160-447: The hopelessness of the situation soon became apparent and he was back in the capital by the 12th. Thereafter, Louis XVIII made him commander of the Army of the North . In the days after Napoléon entered Paris (March 20), Louis XVIII fled to Belgium and Louis Philippe resigned his commission, choosing to join his family in exile in England. This brought him further scorn from royalists because he did not join Louis XVIII in Belgium. Napoléon

8280-485: The king, there remains the man. And the man is good. He is good at times even to the point of being admirable. Often, in the midst of his gravest souvenirs, after a day of conflict with the whole diplomacy of the continent, he returned at night to his apartments, and there, exhausted with fatigue, overwhelmed with sleep, what did he do? He took a death sentence and passed the night in revising a criminal suit , considering it something to hold his own against Europe, but that it

8400-514: The left, class oppression of the poor and rule in the interests of the rich." In foreign affairs it was a quiet period, with friendship with Great Britain. In October 1844 he paid a visit to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle . This made him the first reigning French king to set foot on English soil since Jean II was imprisoned there after the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. Throughout his reign, Louis Philippe faced domestic opposition from various factions, ranging from Legitimists , who supported

8520-410: The lesser Altesse Serenissime ( Serene Highness ). Less than a year after returning to France, he and his family were uprooted by the return of Napoléon from Elba, known as the Hundred Days . On 6 March 1815, after the news of Napoléon's return to France reached Paris, Louis Philippe was dispatched to Lyon with the Comte d'Artois (the future Charles X) to organize a defense against the Emperor, but

8640-446: The new king defined the manner in which his children, as well as his "beloved" sister, would continue to bear the surname "d'Orléans" and the arms of Orléans, declared that his eldest son, as Prince Royal (not Dauphin ), would bear the title Duke of Orléans , that the younger sons would continue to have their previous titles, and that his sister and daughters would be styled Princesses of Orléans , not of France . His ascent to

8760-842: The news of the outbreak of the Peninsular War reached Sicily in July 1808, he sailed for Gibraltar of his own initiative with the prince, but was directed to London and prohibited entry into Spain on pain of losing his allowance. He passed the winter in Malta and returned to Sicily in March 1809 upon receiving British authorisation for a military campaign in Italy against Joachim Murat , but instead he spent two months in Cagliari (from April to June 1809) trying to persuade Victor Emmanuel I to launch an attack against Napoleon in

8880-539: The next fifteen years. During these years, Louis Philippe taught mathematics and geography at the now-defunct Great Ealing School , reckoned, in its 19th-century heyday, to be "the best private school in England". He and his brothers were not officially received as royals at the British court, but they were able to blend in socially with the English aristocracy, and by November 1801 Louis-Philippe admitted to his brothers that he

9000-616: The pay of the British Foreign Office until the Bourbon First Restoration in 1814 (he was last remunerated at the discretion of Lord A'Court , the British representative in Palermo, after July 1814 ). In his role as a British agent, he initially prepared for a mission in Mexico , where he was to act as the military adviser to Leopold, Prince of Salerno in inciting an anti-French rebellion with British naval support. After

9120-470: The people. An industrial and agricultural depression in 1846 led to the 1848 Revolutions , and Louis Philippe's abdication. The dissonance between his positive early reputation and his late unpopularity was epitomized by Victor Hugo in Les Misérables as an oxymoron describing his reign as "Prince Equality", in which Hugo states: [Louis Philippe had to] bear in his own person the contradiction of

9240-655: The plot Dumouriez had planned to ally with the Austrians, march his army on Paris, and restore the Constitution of 1791 . Dumouriez had met with Louis Philippe on 22 March 1793 and urged his subordinate to join in the attempt. With the French government falling into the Reign of Terror about the time of the creation of the Revolutionary Tribunal earlier in March 1793, Louis Philippe decided to leave France to save his life. On 4 April, Dumouriez and Louis Philippe left for

9360-410: The popularly elected Chamber of Deputies . Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession. As a consequence, because the chamber was aware of his liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon . For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as

9480-464: The principal destination of convicts transported from France after French Guiana was deemed too unhealthy for people of European descent. Thereafter, convicts from France made up the largest number of arriving residents. During the busiest time of deportation , there were estimated to be about 50,000 total people on the island. This included 30,000 Kanak, 2,750 civilian colonists, 3,030 military personnel, 4,000 déportés ( political criminals , including

9600-492: The prosecution of Communards in military courts . In July 1880, parliament finally voted for total amnesty. Nine ships brought the déportés back to France. The first arrived in August 1879 and the last arrived in July 1880. Large crowds greeted the ships with celebrations. Donations of money were collected for the Communards and festivals were held to raise money. A committee of aid, headed by Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo, planned

9720-555: The rank of lieutenant general. In October Louis Philippe returned to the Army of the North, where Dumouriez had begun a march into the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium ). Louis Philippe again commanded a brigade, even though he held the rank of lieutenant general. On 6 November 1792, Dumouriez chose to attack an Austrian force in a strong position on the heights of Cuesmes and Jemappes to the west of Mons . Louis Philippe's division sustained heavy casualties as it attacked through

9840-626: The remaining units served in the southern districts of Algeria. A detachment of the 4th Btn. was posted to Indochina before 1914. On the eve of the First World War two battalions were on active service in Morocco. During 1914-18 3 bataillons de Marche (temporary "marching battalions" formed for particular purposes) served on the Western Front with distinction (see Battle Honours and Fourragères below). The permanent units remained in French North Africa, providing garrisons and mobile columns. One of

9960-655: The right to carry standards, although this was a universal privilege accorded to other French army regiments. Entitlement to this and other distinctions was persistently argued by the "Association of Former Officers of the Joyeux" chaired by General Alfred Maurice Cazaud. The march of the Bat d'Af is Les Bataillonnaires : 1er couplet: Refrain 2ème couplet: (Refrain) 3ème couplet: (Refrain) 1st verse: Chorus: 2nd verse: ( Repeat Chorus: ) 3rd verse: ( Repeat Chorus: ) (*) note that "on s'en fout" would be more accurately translated into "we don't give

10080-510: The same day, another crowd threatened to harm the priests. Louis Philippe put himself between a peasant armed with a carbine and the priests, saving their lives. The next day, Louis Philippe dived into a river to save a drowning local engineer. For this action, he received a civic crown from the local municipality. His regiment was moved north to Flanders at the end of 1791 after the 27 August 1791 Declaration of Pillnitz . Louis Philippe served under his father's crony, Armand Louis de Gontaut

10200-523: The senior branch of the Bourbons over the Orléans branch, to Republicans . This opposition, however, was weak and fragmented. In the spring of 1832, a terrible outbreak of cholera in Paris fueled resentment against the July Monarchy and reignited revolutionary fervor. Many Parisians blamed Louis Philippe and his government for their perceived inaction in the face of the epidemic. This resentment culminated in

10320-515: The ship's hold until they cleared the harbor. Law dropped them off in Sydney, Australia, where crowds gathered to see them. Reports of their escape and the strict conditions they had lived under were printed in newspapers in Australia, the United States, and Europe. While the escapees attempted to publicize the plight of those still on the island, the déportés who remained had to deal with the repercussions of

10440-458: The short-lived Republican uprising called the June Rebellion , in which insurrectionists took over a portion of central Paris. The rebellion was quickly crushed by a huge force of soldiers and National Guards who descended on the city. Louis Philippe showed a cool resolve throughout the crisis, coming to Paris as soon as he was informed of the disturbances, greeting the troops, and going amongst

10560-710: The summer of 1807, he moved his residence from Twickenham to the Duke of Kent 's Castle Hill Lodge . In 1808, Louis Philippe proposed to Princess Elizabeth , daughter of King George III . His Catholicism and the opposition of her mother Queen Charlotte meant the Princess reluctantly declined the offer. On 15 April 1808, he departed from Portsmouth for Palermo in the then British protectorate of Sicily via Gibraltar , Cagliari , Valletta (where his sole surviving brother died) and Messina , arriving on 20 June. He remained in Sicily in

10680-687: The three brothers spent a year in Cuba (from spring 1798 to autumn 1799), until they were unexpectedly expelled by the Spanish authorities. They sailed via the Bahamas to Nova Scotia , where they were received by the Duke of Kent , son of King George III and (later) father of Queen Victoria . Louis Philippe struck up a lasting friendship with the British prince. Eventually, the brothers sailed back to New York, and in January 1800, they arrived in England, where they stayed for

10800-744: The throne of France should the senior branch die out. Louis Philippe's father was exiled from the royal court, and the Orléans confined themselves to studies of the literature and sciences emerging from the Enlightenment . Louis Philippe was tutored by the Countess of Genlis , beginning in 1782. She instilled in him a fondness for liberal thought; it is probably during this period that Louis Philippe picked up his slightly Voltairean brand of Catholicism. When Louis Philippe's grandfather died in 1785, his father succeeded him as Duke of Orléans and Louis Philippe succeeded his father as Duke of Chartres. In 1788, with

10920-451: The throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French , a title previously adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791 . Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre ) was aimed at undercutting the Legitimist claims of Charles X and his family. By an ordinance he signed on 13 August 1830,

11040-557: The title of King of the French was seen as a betrayal by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia . Nicholas ended their friendship. In 1832, Louis' daughter, Princess Louise-Marie , married the first ruler of Belgium, King Leopold I . Their descendants include all subsequent Kings of the Belgians, and Empress Carlota of Mexico . Louis Philippe ruled in an unpretentious fashion, avoiding the pomp and lavish spending of his predecessors. Despite this outward appearance of simplicity, his support came from

11160-444: The wealthy bourgeoisie . At first, he was much loved and called the "Citizen King" and the "bourgeois monarch", but his popularity suffered as his government was perceived as increasingly conservative and monarchical. Because he owed his elevation to a revolution in Paris and a faction of liberal deputies in the parliament of Charles X, Louis Philippe's rule "lacked...the mystical appeal of its Divine Right predecessor. Support for it

11280-532: The week has long been disputed— Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray put the number at 20,000, but estimates by more recent historians put the probable number between 10,000 and 15,000. 7,500 were jailed or deported under arrangements which continued until a general amnesty during the 1880s; this action by Adolphe Thiers forestalled the proto-communist movement in the French Third Republic (1871–1940). The working class of Paris were feeling ostracized after

11400-451: The women to settle peacefully anywhere, they would have to separate from Louis Philippe. He then left with his faithful valet Baudouin for the heights of the Alps , and then to Basel , where he sold all but one of his horses. Now moving from town to town throughout Switzerland, he and Baudouin found themselves very much exposed to all the distresses of extended travelling. They were refused entry to

11520-513: The working classes; some politicians would later proudly brag about their participation with the Commune. After Bloody Week, the government asked for an inquest into the causes of the uprising. The inquest concluded that the main cause of the insurrection was a lack of belief in God , and that this problem had to be corrected immediately. It was decided that a moral revival was needed, and a key part of this

11640-525: The young colonel, who was promoted to brigadier general ; he commanded the 4th Brigade of cavalry in Nicolas Luckner 's Army of the North . In the Army of the North, Louis Philippe served with four future Marshals of France: Étienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald , Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier (who would later be killed in an assassination attempt on Louis Philippe ), Louis-Nicolas Davout and Nicolas Oudinot . Charles François Dumouriez

11760-479: Was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France . He abdicated from his throne during the French Revolution of 1848 , which led to the foundation of the French Second Republic . As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the French Revolutionary Wars and was promoted to lieutenant general by the age of nineteen, but he broke with

11880-604: Was "putting down roots in the country". By October 1803, his new loyalties led to a clash with Charles Philippe, Count of Artois (the future king Charles X), when he wore the Hanoverian black cockade in place of the French white cockade on inspecting French royalist volunteer troops in London. In July 1804, he wrote to the Bishop of Llandaff that global security and the future of humankind depended on England's resistance to Napoleon . In

12000-533: Was Queen Marie Antoinette , and Louis Philippe's father was considered to have a role in Marie Antoinette's execution. The Queen of Naples was opposed to the match for this reason. She had been very close to her sister and devastated by her execution, but she had given her consent after Louis Philippe had convinced her that he was determined to compensate for the mistakes of his father, and after having agreed to answer all her questions regarding his father. After

12120-416: Was a model officer, and demonstrated his personal bravery in two famous instances. First, three days after Louis XVI's flight to Varennes , a quarrel between two local priests and one of the new constitutional vicars became heated. A crowd surrounded the inn where the priests were staying, demanding blood. The young colonel broke through the crowd and extricated the two priests, who fled. At a river crossing on

12240-559: Was a still greater matter to rescue a man from the executioner. Communard The Communards ( French: [kɔmynaʁ] ) were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards were taken prisoner, and 6,500 to 7,500 fled abroad. The number of Communard soldiers killed in combat or executed afterwards during

12360-627: Was a troubled journey, as Spain and Great Britain were then at war . While in colonial Louisiana in 1798, they were entertained by Julien Poydras in the town of Pointe Coupée , as well as by the Marigny de Mandeville family in New Orleans. They sailed for Havana in an American corvette , but a British warship intercepted their ship in the Gulf of Mexico . The British seized the three brothers, but took them to Havana anyway. Unable to find passage to Europe,

12480-507: Was appointed to command the Army of the North in August 1792. Louis Philippe continued to command his brigade under him in the Valmy campaign. At the 20 September 1792 Battle of Valmy, Louis Philippe was ordered to place a battery of artillery on the crest of the hill of Valmy. The battle was apparently inconclusive, but the Austrian- Prussian army, short of supplies, was forced back across

12600-690: Was besieged by 4,000 Moroccan tribesmen, who were eventually repelled. All three battalions in existence in 1907 were assigned to active service in Morocco during the French occupation of that country. By 1914 the corps had been expanded to five battalions with depots in Oran , Morocco and Tunisia. As discipline and living conditions in the Bat' d'Af' were harsh, Bataillonnaires , colloquially named Zéphyrs or Joyeux ("Joyous ones"), usually nicknamed their unit l'Enfer ("the Hell") or, ironically, Biribi (a game of chance of that period). However, they fought creditably in

12720-567: Was born in the Palais-Royal , the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres ( Duke of Orléans , upon the death of his father Louis Philippe I ), and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon . As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon , he was a Prince of the Blood , which entitled him the use of the style " Serene Highness ". His mother was an extremely wealthy heiress who

12840-448: Was created in September 1833. According to the order the rank and file of these units were to be drawn from: (i) serving soldiers who had been sentenced to existing disciplinary companies and who had not completed their period of army service upon release; and (ii) civilian convicts who upon completing terms of imprisonment had still to meet their obligations for compulsory military service. The newly raised Bat' d'Af' saw active service for

12960-459: Was deporting 4,500 Communards to New Caledonia . There was a two-part goal in this, as the government also hoped that the Communards would "civilize" the native Kanak people on the island. The government hoped that being exposed to the order of nature would return the Communards to the side of "good." New Caledonia had become a French colony in 1853, but just ten years later it still only had 350 European colonists. After 1863, New Caledonia became

13080-447: Was descended from Louis XIV through a legitimized line. Louis Philippe was the eldest of three sons and a daughter, a family that was to have erratic fortunes from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration . The elder branch of the House of Bourbon, to which the kings of France belonged, deeply distrusted the intentions of the cadet branch, which would succeed to

13200-408: Was different from what the governmental propaganda was promoting. George Pilotell (1845–1918) was the son of a Judge but pursued art and moved to Paris in 1862. As a prolific political caricaturist he was frequently imprisoned and became an active member of the commune in which he appointed himself 'Directeur des Beaux Arts' but later properly appointed a 'commissaire special'. In 1874 he escaped

13320-417: Was disbanded on 31 March 1972. Between 600,000 and 800,000 men served in the Bat' d'Af' from 1832 to 1970, mostly from the working class of Paris and Marseille . Throughout most of their history the Bat' d'Af' wore the uniform of the French line infantry, modified according to the overseas conditions under which they had to serve and with some regimental distinctions. The latter included yellow piping on

13440-502: Was enfranchised at the beginning of the reign) provided Louis Philippe with consistent support. Under his management, the conditions of the working classes deteriorated, and the income gap widened considerably. According to William Fortescue, "Louis Philippe owed his throne to a popular revolution in Paris, he was the 'King of the Barricades', yet he went on to preside over a regime which rapidly gained notoriety for political repression of

13560-650: Was forced to abdicate after the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1848 . He lived for the remainder of his life in exile in the United Kingdom. His supporters were known as Orléanists . The Legitimists supported the main line of the House of Bourbon, and the Bonapartists supported the Bonaparte family . Among his grandchildren were the monarchs Leopold II of Belgium , Empress Carlota of Mexico , Ferdinand I of Bulgaria , and Queen Mercedes of Spain . Louis Philippe

13680-617: Was forced to abdicate by the July Revolution . The reign of Louis Philippe is known as the July Monarchy and was dominated by wealthy industrialists and bankers. During the period 1840–1848, he followed conservative policies, especially under the influence of French statesman François Guizot . He also promoted friendship with Great Britain and sponsored colonial expansion, notably the French conquest of Algeria . His popularity faded as economic conditions in France deteriorated in 1847, and he

13800-672: Was garrisoned at Miliana in Algeria. On 28 November 1870, during the Franco-Prussian war, the battle of Beaune-la-Rolande took place where two companies of the 2nd BILA, which made up the African Light Infantry Regiment, were engaged. From 1887 to 1896, the battalion was commanded by Antoine Léonor de Perier, father of general Pierre-Étienne de Perier . In operation in Morocco, with depots in Mcheyda and El Hadjeb in 19146. During

13920-474: Was merged with the depot detachments of the BILA. Now designated as the 3rd BILA, the unit was transferred to Algeria following Tunisian independence in November 1956. The battalion was reduced to one company in October 1962, which was stationed near the French nuclear testing facilities in the Sahara from 1963 to 1966. This last remaining component of the Bat' d'Af' was then transferred to French Somaliland where it

14040-470: Was not punishment but segregation in what were officially described as "redemptive combat units" ( corps d'epreuve ). In addition to petty criminals and military offenders, the rank and file also included a number of soldiers suspected of Communard sympathies during the 1870s and the ringleaders of several mutinies in metropolitan regiments in the early 1900s. Finally, there were also some volunteers who chose for reasons of promotion or other motives to serve in

14160-603: Was soon defeated in the Battle of Waterloo and Louis XVIII was restored to power, but Louis Philippe and his family only returned to France in 1817, after the wave of repression and recriminations had faded. Louis Philippe was on far friendlier terms with Louis XVIII's brother and successor, Charles X, who acceded to the throne in 1824, and with whom he socialized. Charles X granted him the Altesse Royale title, and permitted Louis Henri, Prince of Condé to make Louis Philippe's fourth son, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale , heir to

14280-408: Was to a much greater degree conditional." Unlike his predecessor, he did not have a dynastic legacy to draw on, so he turned to the glories of Napoleon I to prop up his own regime. He supported the return of Napoleon's remains to France and his son, the Duke of Joinville , brought the remains from Saint Helena for reinterment at Les Invalides . The statue of Napoleon was returned to its spot atop

14400-447: Was to draft them into separate disciplinary battalions. The distinctive nature of these units meant that the average age of bataillonnaires was often older than that of the conscripts of metropolitan units called to do service at 20 years old. Where possible the Bats d'Af were garrisoned separately from regular French and colonial troops to prevent brawling. Although the Bats d'Af are commonly described as penal units, their purpose

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