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129-508: It was formed on 8 October 1796 by Napoleon Bonaparte , then commander of the Armee d'Italie . Its theoretical full strength was 3740 men made up of a hussar company, an artillery company and seven 500-man infantry cohorts (3 from Milan , 1 from Cremona and Casalmaggiore , 1 from Lodi and Pavia , 1 from Como and 1 miscellaneous cohort of Italian nationalists, mainly from the Papal States and

258-513: A Senate and Council of State which were effectively nominated by the executive. The new constitution was approved by plebiscite on 7 February 1800. The official count was over three million in favour and 1,562 against. Lucien, however, had doubled the count of the "yes" vote to give the false impression that a majority of those eligible to vote had approved the constitution. Historians have variously described Bonaparte's new regime as "dictatorship by plebiscite," "absolutist rule decked out in

387-401: A drummer . A garrison company had a captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants, a corporal, two lance-corporals, 44 privates and a drummer. A colonel's company in garrison had an additional ensign , while a grenadier company in garrison had an additional sub-lieutenant. The tactical formation was the field battalion of 16 companies with an authorized strength of 800 men. A garrison battalion had

516-420: A mestre de camp and a lieutenant-colonel with company and a major without a company. Each company had a captain, a lieutenant, a cornet , a quartermaster, two brigadiers, two carabineers and 35 troopers. In addition each regiment had a company of carabineers outside the squadrons, filling the same elite role as the grenadier company of a foot regiment. In 1767 the cavalry contained 35 regiments. One of these

645-421: A tricorn like the fusiliers , rather than a mitre or a bearskin . Bearskins came into full use by about 1770. During the 18th century a series of revised dress regulations made for repeated changes in the facing colours of individual infantry regiments. The Swiss and Irish mercenary regiments retained their red coats throughout this period, while other foreign units generally wore medium blue. Cavalry wore

774-400: A trumpeter . The carabineer regiment had a different organization. In 1690 the dragoons contained 33 regiments, of which two were foreign, as well as 50 independent dragoon companies. Each regiment had three squadrons; each squadron had four companies . The regimental staff included a colonel and a lieutenant-colonel with companies, and a major without company. Each company had a captain,

903-412: A Corsican accent and his French spelling was poor. In May, he transferred to the military academy at Brienne-le-Château where he was routinely bullied by his peers for his accent, birthplace, short stature, mannerisms, and poor French. He became reserved and melancholic, applying himself to reading. An examiner observed that Napoleon "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics. He

1032-782: A French invasion of the Electoral Palatinate , the Nine Years' War broke out in 1689 and pitted France against the League of Augsburg and other European states. The war ended with no major territorial gains or losses for either side, and the two alliances were at war again by 1701. Despite initial French successes at Friedlingen and Hochstadt , the allied armies under the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy inflicted major defeats on French troops at Blenheim , Ramillies , and Oudenarde . In Spain (the succession to that nation's throne

1161-776: A French presence in the Middle East and join forces with Tipu Sultan , the Sultan of Mysore , an enemy of the British. Bonaparte assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions". The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to the Indian subcontinent . In May 1798, Bonaparte

1290-735: A brig, landed in France with a thousand men, and marched on Paris, again taking control of the country. His opponents responded by forming a Seventh Coalition , which defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon was exiled to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821, aged 51. Napoleon is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history and Napoleonic tactics are still studied at military schools worldwide. His legacy endures through

1419-596: A campaign the artillery train and the siege batteries . Otherwise the gunnery cadre contained a number of ordinary commissaires (captains), extraordinary commissaries (lieutenants) and officier-pointeurs (sub-lieutenants). At the disposal of the artillery stood in 1690, a fusilier regiment , a bombardier regiment, two companies of miners , three of galiots and two of boatmen on the Rhine . The King's Fusiliers contained 88 companies with 272 officers and 4,720 men. There were five battalions and twelve gunnery companies outside

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1548-489: A captain, a lieutenant and a sub-lieutenant, as well as four quartermasters, one fourier, eight brigadiers, eight lancepessades (lance-corporals), 24 dragoons and a drummer. Of a troops 46 members, 16 served on foot. In 1690 the artillery consisted of a cadre of gunnery officers stationed at the fortresses. The organization was under the Grand Master of Artillery and contained two lieutenant-generals of artillery commanding

1677-680: A civil ceremony. Bonaparte now habitually styled himself "Napoleon Bonaparte" rather than using the Italian form "Napoleone di Buonaparte." Two days after the marriage, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of the Army of Italy. He went on the offensive, hoping to defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia in Piedmont before their Austrian allies could intervene. In a series of victories during the Montenotte campaign , he knocked

1806-526: A coastal battery. In July 1793, he published a pamphlet, Le souper de Beaucaire (Supper at Beaucaire ), demonstrating his support for the National Convention which was now heavily influenced by the Jacobins. In September, with the help of his fellow Corsican Antoine Christophe Saliceti , Bonaparte was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces sent to recapture the port of Toulon which

1935-736: A colonel and a lieutenant-colonel with companies and a major without. Each company had a captain, a lieutenant and a sub-lieutenant and contained four sergeants, one fourier, eight corporals, eight lance-corporals, 40 fusiliers and two drummers. In 1767 the French army also had five mixed legions of light troops. Each legion had eight dragoon companies, eight fusilier companies and a grenadier company. In 1690 there were 112 cavalry regiments, including 105 French and seven foreign. There were also 43 independent companies of horse. 27 regiments had two squadrons and eight companies, and 85 regiments had three squadrons and 12 companies. The regimental staff included

2064-460: A difficult crossing over the Alps, the French captured Milan on 2 June. The French confronted an Austrian army under Michael von Melas at Marengo on 14 June. The Austrians fielded about 30,000 soldiers while Bonaparte commanded 24,000 troops. The Austrians' initial attack surprised the French who were gradually driven back. Late in the afternoon, however, a full division under Desaix arrived on

2193-584: A genius at siege warfare, oversaw the building or improvement of many fortresses in Flanders and elsewhere. In 1688, the Catholic King of England, James II , was overthrown and William of Orange , the Dutch Stadtholder and old enemy of Louis, was installed as the next king. James fled to France, which he used as his base for an invasion of Ireland in 1690. As a result of James' ouster and, more directly,

2322-662: A hussar company and at the end of that year the Cisapadane Legion merged into it - that unit had been made up of 6 cohorts of 1,000 men and became the Lombard Legion's third demi-brigade. By then the Legion had been moved to Verona in support of French forces fighting in the Veneto before being divided up between Corfu , Peschiera and Friuli - the elements of the Legion still in Italy on

2451-408: A lieutenant, a cornet, a quartermaster, two brigadiers, 37 dragoons and a drummer. There were 17 dragoon regiments in 1767. The seven oldest were known by their title; the others by the name of their commanders. Each regiment had four squadrons; each squadron had two troops. The regimental staff included a mestre de camp and a lieutenant-colonel with troops, and a major without a troop. Each troop had

2580-677: A lieutenant-colonel and five chef de brigades (majors). During the 17th and 18th centuries twelve regiments of Swiss mercenaries were employed in the French Royal Army, notably the Swiss Guards . During the 10 August riot of 1792, supporters of the French Revolution , including members of the radical-leaning National Guard marched on the Tuileries Palace . King Louis XVI escaped with his family, but, after fighting broke out in

2709-517: A major victory at Denain in 1712, the war had turned into a stalemate and ended in peace that somewhat favored the French in 1714. Louis XV , the great-grandson of Louis XIV, was the only direct heir alive when the elderly king died in 1715. His reign was much more peaceful than his great-grandfather's, although three major wars occurred. First was the War of the Polish Succession of 1733. The second,

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2838-557: A position with the Bureau of Topography where he worked on military planning. On 15 September, Bonaparte was removed from the list of generals in regular service for refusing to serve in the Vendée campaign. He sought a transfer to Constantinople to offer his services to Sultan Selim III . The request was eventually granted, but he never took up the post. On 3 October, royalists in Paris declared

2967-555: A promise to defend private property, raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol and salt, and extracting levies from France's satellite republics. Bonaparte believed that the best way to secure his regime was by a victorious peace. In May 1800, he led an army across the Swiss Alps into Italy, aiming to surprise the Austrian armies that had reoccupied the peninsula when Bonaparte was still in Egypt. After

3096-637: A rebellion against the National Convention. Paul Barras , a leader of the Thermidorian Reaction , knew of Bonaparte's military exploits at Toulon and made him second in command of the forces defending the convention in the Tuileries Palace . Bonaparte had seen the massacre of the King's Swiss Guard during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792 there three years earlier and realized that artillery would be

3225-720: A springboard to political power. In November 1799, Napoleon engineered the Coup of 18 Brumaire against the Directory , and became First Consul of the Republic. He won the Battle of Marengo in 1800, which secured France's victory in the War of the Second Coalition , and in 1803 sold the territory of Louisiana to the United States . In December 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French, further expanding his power. The breakdown of

3354-478: A varied number of companies, mostly from different regiments and was commanded by the senior company commander. The French line infantry contained 69 regiments in 1767. The regiments had terrirorial or otherwise permanent titles. The nineteenth most senior regiments had four battalions, most regiments had two battalions while the junior regiments had one battalion. Each battalion had nine companies, eight of fusiliers and one of grenadiers. The regimental staff included

3483-481: A variety of green, blue or red regimental uniforms, largely according to the whim of individual colonels. The regiments of the Royal Household were similarly variegated, although dark blue dominated. The change from the white or off-white uniforms, traditionally associated with the line infantry of the royal army, to dark blue was completed in 1793 after the overthrow of the monarchy. White uniforms were restored after

3612-609: A war of movement. In 1765 it was replaced by the Gribeauval system , which revolutionized the French artillery; improving its cannons , howitzers , and mortars , by making them lighter, without sacrificing range. The new guns contributed to French military victories even during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars . The Royal Army during the Ancien regime was recruited through volunteer enlistment . Almost 90% of

3741-477: Is fairly well acquainted with history and geography ... This boy would make an excellent sailor". One story of Napoleon at the school is that he led junior students to victory against senior students in a snowball fight, which allegedly showed his leadership abilities. But the story was only told after Napoleon had become famous. In his later years at Brienne, Napoleon became an outspoken Corsican nationalist and admirer of Paoli. In September 1784, Napoleon

3870-682: The Battle of Friedland . Seeking to extend his trade embargo against Britain , Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula and installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain in 1808, provoking the Peninsular War . In 1809, the Austrians again challenged France in the War of the Fifth Coalition , in which Napoleon solidified his grip over Europe after winning the Battle of Wagram . In summer 1812, he launched an invasion of Russia , which ended in

3999-634: The Battle of Rossbach in 1757. At the same time as the fighting in Europe, raiding parties composed of French-Canadian militiamen and Indians attacked English settlements in North America. This war, known as the French and Indian War , was the last of four wars that occurred in North America at the same time as a European conflict. However, by 1759, the British had gone onto the offensive in America and captured Quebec ,

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4128-614: The Battle of Tarvis in March 1797. Alarmed by the French thrust that reached Leoben , about 100 km from Vienna, the Austrians sued for peace. The preliminary peace of Leoben , signed on 18 April, gave France control of most of northern Italy and the Low Countries , and promised to partition the Republic of Venice with Austria. Bonaparte marched on Venice and forced its surrender , ending 1,100 years of Venetian independence. He authorized

4257-476: The Bourbon Restoration , although modified for a more modern appearance, introducing trousers rather than breeches, taller shakos, and Fleur-de-lis insignia. Dark blue coatees were adopted in 1819. Pikes appeared in France at the beginning of the 16th century. They were used by the army until the end of the 17th century when the pike and shot tactics were abandoned. The matchlock musket (mousquet)

4386-573: The Bourbon dynasty from the reign of Louis XIV in the mid-17th century to that of Charles X in the 19th, with an interlude from 1792 to 1814 and another during the Hundred Days in 1815. It was permanently dissolved following the July Revolution in 1830. The French Royal Army became a model for the new regimental system that was to be imitated throughout Europe from the mid-17th century onward. It

4515-521: The Constitution of the Year VIII , under which three consuls were appointed for 10 years. Real power lay with Bonaparte as First Consul, and his preferred candidates Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun were appointed as second and third consuls who only had an advisory role. The constitution also established a Legislative Body and Tribunate which were selected from indirectly elected candidates, and

4644-588: The Council of Five Hundred and Directory: Lucien Bonaparte, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès , Roger Ducos and Joseph Fouché to overthrow the government. On 9 November 1799 ( 18 Brumaire according to the revolutionary calendar), the conspirators launched a coup, and the following day, backed by grenadiers with fixed bayonets, forced the Council of Five Hundred to dissolve the Directory and appoint Bonaparte, Sieyès and Ducos provisional consuls. On 15 December, Bonaparte introduced

4773-670: The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He was the leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then of the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported

4902-495: The Kingdom of Sicily ). It was commanded by the former Milanese nobleman, general Trivulzio and included Ugo Foscolo and Vincenzo Cuoco among its soldiers. 2720 had been recruited by 18 October and on 6 November 1796 it and several other units were ceremonially presented with their standards in the piazza outside Milan Cathedral - they were in red, white and green, which would become the national colours of Italy . The Lombard Legion

5031-507: The Kings of France following the conflict. Upon the outbreak of a conflict, an ordonnance would be issued to govern the length of service, composition and payment of units. The Compagnies d'ordonnance formed the core of the Gendarme well into the 16th century, and were stationed throughout France and summoned into larger armies as needed. There was also provisions made for francs-archers , which

5160-562: The Knights Hospitaller . Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men. Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at Alexandria on 1 July. He fought the Battle of Shubra Khit against the Mamluks , Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped

5289-514: The National Assembly , which also authorized the creation of the National Guard , which was intended to be used as a counterweight to the royal army. The regular army was weakened by the flight of many aristocratic officers. Faced with the creation of soldiers' clubs ( Jacobin committees), erosion of discipline, loss of their privileges as nobles and political mistrust, perhaps two thirds of

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5418-744: The Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise two months later, gave him a pretext to arrest about 100 suspected Jacobins and royalists, some of whom were shot and many others deported to penal colonies. After a decade of war, France and Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing the Revolutionary Wars to an end. Under the treaty, Britain agreed to withdraw from most of the colonies it had recently captured from France and her allies, and France agreed to evacuate Naples. In April, Bonaparte publicly celebrated

5547-644: The Treaty of Amiens led to the War of the Third Coalition by 1805. Napoleon shattered the coalition with a decisive victory at the Battle of Austerlitz , which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire . In the War of the Fourth Coalition , Napoleon defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806, marched his Grande Armée into Eastern Europe, and defeated the Russians in 1807 at

5676-532: The Treaty of Campo Formio . Bonaparte returned to Paris on 5 December 1797 as a hero. He met Charles Maurice de Talleyrand , France's Foreign Minister, and took command of the Army of England for the planned invasion of Britain. After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval strength was not yet sufficient to confront the British Royal Navy. He decided on a military expedition to seize Egypt and thereby undermine Britain's access to its trade interests in India . Bonaparte wished to establish

5805-401: The Treaty of Lunéville in February 1801. The treaty reaffirmed and expanded earlier French gains at Campo Formio. Bonaparte's triumph at Marengo increased his popularity and political authority. However, he still faced royalist plots and feared Jacobin influence, especially in the army. Several assassination plots, including the Conspiration des poignards (Dagger plot) in October 1800 and

5934-505: The Triple Alliance , Louis returned much of the French conquests in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , with the exception of eleven towns and their surrounding areas. Lille , Armentières , Bergues and Douai were considered essential to reinforce France's vulnerable northern border and remain French to this day. The retention of Tournai , Oudenarde , Courtrai , Veurne , Binche , Charleroi and Ath made future offensives much easier, as demonstrated in 1672. From 1672 until 1678, France

6063-513: The War of the Austrian Succession , began when Maria Theresa inherited the Habsburg monarchy in 1740. Her father Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor had appointed her as his heir, and other European countries agreed to respect his wishes. However, the new Prussian king, Frederick II , ignored the agreement, known as the Pragmatic Sanction , and annexed Habsburg Silesia . Britain allied itself with Maria Theresa, while Louis XV forged an alliance with Frederick. Louis provided military support in

6192-439: The army of Rome sent to attack the Kingdom of Naples under General Domenico Pino . It broke up after the Republic's fall in 1799, but some survivors from the unit moved to France, where they joined veterans from the armed forces of the Roman Republic and the Neapolitan Republic to form the Italic Legion ( Legione Italica ), also known as the Italian Legion ( Legione Italica ). This formed part of Bonaparte's reserve force for

6321-401: The second Italian campaign and fought the Austrians at Lecco . Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte ; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I , was a French military officer and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of successful campaigns across Europe during

6450-422: The treaty of Campo Formio of 17 October 1797 returned to Lombardy . The Lombard Legion became part of the Cisalpine Army in April 1798, then made up of eight demi-brigades, though this had fallen to four by the following November. The Legion's fourth cohort was attached to General Jean Étienne Championnet 's army to fight in Naples in 1798 and the following year the Legion's second demi-brigade formed part of

6579-403: The 'Bandes' (Militia) were combined to form temporary 'Legions' of up to 9000 men. The men would be paid, contracted to fight and receive military training. Henry II further regularised the French Army by forming standing infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure. The first of them (regiments Picardie , Piedmont, Navarre and Champagne) were called Les vieux corps (The Old Corps). It

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6708-508: The 1780s, the political balance in France had shifted. The aristocracy had become despised by many lower-and-middle-class citizens who faced famine in the winter of 1788/89 and had almost no political freedom. At an earlier stage in his reign Louis had succumbed to pressure from the nobility and banned promotion to officer status from the lower ranks of the Royal Army. This measure served to embitter long serving non-commissioned officers who could no longer aspire to reach commissioned rank, although

6837-410: The American victory in the Battle of Saratoga , Louis XVI authorized an expeditionary force under the Count de Rochambeau to sail to America and aid the revolutionaries. The expeditionary force participated in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781, which resulted in the colonies' independence. In 1784, Jean-François Coste was appointed Chief Consulting Physician of the Camps and Armies of the King. By

6966-406: The August 1673 Treaty of the Hague which Denmark joined in January 1674. But following English defeat and withdrawal, the French armies from 1674 to 1678, with Sweden as their only effective ally, managed to advance steadily in the southern (Spanish) Netherlands and along the Rhine, defeating the badly coordinated forces of the Grand Alliance with regularity. Eventually the heavy financial burdens of

7095-480: The Austrian position in Italy. At Rivoli, Austria lost 43% of its soldiers dead, wounded or taken prisoner. The French then invaded the heartlands of the House of Habsburg . French forces in Southern Germany had been defeated by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen in 1796, but Charles withdrew his forces to protect Vienna after learning of Bonaparte's assault. In their first encounter, Bonaparte pushed Charles back and advanced deep into Austrian territory after winning

7224-557: The Council of State recommended a new plebiscite asking the French people to make "Napoleon Bonaparte" Consul for life. (It was the first time his first name was officially used by the regime.) About 3.6 million voted "yes" and 8,374 "no." 40%-60% of eligible Frenchmen voted, the highest turnout for a plebiscite since the Revolution. France had regained her overseas colonies under Amiens but did not control them all. The French National Convention had voted to abolish slavery in February 1794, but, in May 1802, Bonaparte reintroduced it in all

7353-411: The French National Convention outlawed him. In early June, Bonaparte and 400 French troops failed to capture Ajaccio from Corsican volunteers and the island was now controlled by Paoli's supporters. When Bonaparte learned that the Corsican assembly had condemned him and his family, the Buonapartes fled to Toulon on the French mainland. Bonaparte returned to his regiment in Nice and was made captain of

7482-410: The French . When Austrian , British, Prussian, and Russian armies invaded France in 1814, Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Louis XVI's brother, the Count of Provence , was declared King Louis XVIII. Under Louis XVIII, no major changes were made to the army, beyond the recreation of several regiments of the pre-revolutionary maison militaire du roi . However, when Napoleon returned from exile in 1815,

7611-472: The French Revolution in 1789, and promoted its cause in Corsica. He rose rapidly through the ranks after winning the siege of Toulon in 1793 and defeating royalist insurgents in Paris on 13 Vendémiaire in 1795. In 1796, Napoleon commanded a military campaign against the Austrians and their Italian allies in the War of the First Coalition , scoring decisive victories and becoming a national hero. He led an invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798 which served as

7740-497: The French colonial capital. Fighting also occurred on the Indian subcontinent during Louis XV's reign. During the War of the Austrian Succession , French troops captured several settlements in India, but its allies were defeated by British troops in 1756. On the whole, the Seven Years' War went badly for the French, who were forced to sign an unfavorable treaty in 1763. When Britain's North American colonies rebelled in 1775, France initially offered limited support. However, after

7869-452: The French conquest of much of the Austrian Netherlands possible; however, this territory was returned to Austria at the end of the war. The situation after the war was almost the same as before, but it set the stage for the Seven Years' War , which officially began in 1756, when Prussia and Austria again went to war. This time, however, France and Austria were allied and Britain and Prussia formed an alliance. French forces were defeated at

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7998-477: The French fleet in the Battle of the Nile , preventing Bonaparte from strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean. His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings. In early 1799, he moved an army into the Ottoman province of Damascus (Syria and Galilee ). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of Arish , Gaza , Jaffa , and Haifa . The attack on Jaffa

8127-436: The French governor Charles Louis de Marbeuf , who became his patron and godfather to Napoleon. With Mabeuf's support, Carlo was named Corsican representative to the court of Louis XVI and Napoleon obtained a royal bursary to a military academy in France. The dominant influence of Napoleon's childhood was his mother, whose firm discipline restrained a rambunctious child. Later in life, Napoleon said, "The future destiny of

8256-448: The French practise their defensive tactic for the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July, about 24 km (15 mi) from the pyramids . Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the French army's morale. On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson captured or destroyed all but two vessels of

8385-468: The French revolutionary cause. Paoli returned to the island in July 1790, but he had no sympathy for Bonaparte, as he deemed his father a traitor for having deserted the cause of Corsican independence. Bonaparte plunged into a complex three-way struggle among royalists, revolutionaries, and Corsican nationalists. He became a supporter of the Jacobins and joined the pro-French Corsican Republicans who opposed Paoli's policy and his aspirations to secede. He

8514-511: The French to loot treasures such as the Horses of Saint Mark . In this Italian campaign, Bonaparte's army captured 150,000 prisoners, 540 cannons, and 170 standards . The French army fought 67 actions and won 18 pitched battles through superior artillery technology and Bonaparte's tactics. Bonaparte extracted an estimated 45 million French pounds from Italy during the campaign, another 12 million pounds in precious metals and jewels, and more than 300 paintings and sculptures. During

8643-409: The Fronde ended and Mazarin was permitted to return and appointed chief minister for a second time. The leader of the anti-Mazarin faction, the Prince de Condé , escaped to Spain, which soon, with the Royalists of the British Isles , went to war against France and its new ally, Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England . Under the command of Marshal Turenne , the Anglo-French army decisively defeated

8772-412: The Piedmontese out of the war in two weeks. The French then focused on the Austrians, laying siege to Mantua . The Austrians launched offensives against the French to break the siege, but Bonaparte defeated every relief effort, winning the Battle of Castiglione , the Battle of Bassano , the Battle of Arcole , and the Battle of Rivoli . The French triumph at Rivoli in January 1797 led to the collapse of

8901-440: The Ramolinos, descended from a noble family from Lombardy . Napoleon's parents, Carlo Maria Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino , lived in the Maison Bonaparte home in Ajaccio , where Napoleon was born on 15 August 1769. He had an elder brother, Joseph , and, later, six younger siblings: Lucien , Elisa , Louis , Pauline , Caroline , and Jérôme . Five more siblings were stillborn or did not survive infancy. Napoleon

9030-452: The Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris. The army was left in the charge of Jean-Baptiste Kléber . Unknown to Bonaparte, the Directory had sent him orders to return from Egypt with his army to ward off a possible invasion of France, but these messages never arrived. By

9159-430: The Spanish in Flanders , part of which was a province of Spain. In 1660, Louis married the Spanish princess Marie-Thérèse . In 1667 he claimed the Spanish Netherlands as her dowry, starting another conflict with Spain known as the War of Devolution . Turenne and Conde, who had been pardoned and allowed to return to France, commanded the French army. Their forces seized much of the Spanish Netherlands but, pressured by

9288-597: The army was known as the French Revolutionary Army , and from 1804 to 1814, the Imperial Army , and during the Hundred Days in 1815, was reconstituted before being officially disbanded. Louis XVI was guillotined in 1793. By 1800, the First Republic, at war with much of Europe, had adopted a weak form of government that was overthrown by General Napoleon Bonaparte , who later proclaimed himself Emperor of

9417-424: The army, for the most part, went over to his side, and Louis fled. Napoleon was defeated by a combined Allied army in 1815 at Waterloo , and Louis XVIII was returned to the throne. Realizing that the remains of the existing army had no loyalty to the restored monarchy, the government of Louis XVIII undertook a wholesale disbandment of what had been Napoleon's regiments. In their place a system of Departmental Legions

9546-453: The artillery formed the Royal Corps of Artillery which ranked as the 47th among the foot regiments of the line. It contained seven regiments. Each regiment had five battalions of four companies each, to a total of 20 companies; two of sappers , four of bombardiers and 14 of gunners. Outside the brigades there was a company of artificers in each regiment. The regimental staff included a colonel,

9675-426: The battalions. The 1st and 2nd battalions each had two companies of artificers , one of grenadiers and twelve of fusiliers. The 3rd and 4th battalions had each a grenadier company and 15 fusilier companies. The 5th battalion had 14 fusilier companies. The King's Bombardiers served the mortars and other heavy siege artillery and formed one battalion containing two bombardier companies and 13 fusilier companies. In 1767

9804-569: The campaign, Bonaparte became increasingly influential in French politics. He founded two newspapers: one for the troops in his army and one for circulation in France. The royalists attacked him for looting Italy and warned that he might become a dictator. Bonaparte sent General Pierre Augereau to Paris to support a coup d'état that purged royalists from the legislative councils on 4 September—the Coup of 18 Fructidor . This left Barras and his republican allies in control again but more dependent upon Bonaparte who finalized peace terms with Austria by

9933-648: The catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition , in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig . The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba and restored the Bourbons to power . Ten months later, Napoleon escaped from Elba on

10062-549: The child is always the work of the mother." Napoleon's noble, moderately affluent background afforded him greater opportunities to study than were available to a typical Corsican of the time. In January 1779, at age 9, Napoleon moved to the French mainland and enrolled at a religious school in Autun to improve his French (his mother tongue was the Corsican dialect of Italian). Although he eventually became fluent in French, he spoke with

10191-453: The commissioned ranks emigrated after June 1791. They were largely replaced by experienced non-commissioned officers. In July 1791, twelve foreign regiments of mostly German mercenaries were amalgamated into the line, followed by the disbanding of the Swiss regiments a year later. Major reorganizations of the army took place in 1791 and 1792. New officers were elected and the structure of the army

10320-453: The demands of regimental discipline and training still fell heavily upon them. Some of the now almost entirely aristocratic officer corps were still dedicated professionals but many neglected their responsibilities, preferring to spend excessive periods of leave as courtiers at Versailles or on their country estates. Many French soldiers sympathised with the masses from which they were drawn, and increasing numbers deserted in 1789. The bulk of

10449-504: The early 1660s but not completed until the late 1670s. Cavalry wore buff leather coats and breeches without specific uniform features until "grey cloth lined in the same colour" and dark blue for royal mounted units was ordered in November 1671. During the 1680s there was a movement towards more standardised dress, although dragoons and foreign infantry still wore coats in a wide range of regimental colours The guards regiments wore blue,

10578-472: The entry of blacks and mulattos into France, reduced the civil rights of women and children in France, reintroduced a hereditary monarchy and nobility, and violently repressed popular uprisings against his rule. Napoleon's family was of Italian origin. His paternal ancestors, the Buonapartes, descended from a minor Tuscan noble family who emigrated to Corsica in the 16th century and his maternal ancestors,

10707-476: The expense of religious authorities. His conquests acted as a catalyst for political change and the development of nation states . However, he is controversial due to his role in wars which devastated Europe, his looting of conquered territories, and his mixed record on civil rights. He abolished the free press, ended directly elected representative government, exiled and jailed critics of his regime, reinstated slavery in France's colonies except for Haiti , banned

10836-519: The field and reversed the tide of the battle. The Austrian army fled leaving behind 14,000 casualties. The following day, the Austrians signed an armistice and agreed to abandon Northern Italy. When peace negotiations with Austria stalled, Bonaparte reopened hostilities in November. A French army under General Moreau swept through Bavaria and scored an overwhelming victory over the Austrians at Hohenlinden in December. The Austrians capitulated and signed

10965-673: The first Corsican to graduate from the École militaire . Upon graduating in September 1785, Bonaparte was commissioned a second lieutenant in La Fère artillery regiment . He served in Valence and Auxonne until after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, but spent long periods of leave in Corsica which fed his Corsican nationalism. In September 1789, he returned to Corsica and promoted

11094-495: The form of detachments from France's Irish Brigade , in support of Charles Edward Stuart during the Jacobite rising of 1745 . The Pragmatic Allies initially defeated the French in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 but the battle had little effect on the wider war and has been described as "a happy escape, rather than a great victory". A series of French victories (including Marshal de Saxe 's great triumph at Fontenoy in 1745) made

11223-490: The fortress of Acre , so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. Bonaparte was alleged to have ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium to speed the retreat. Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir . Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Second Coalition . On 24 August 1799, fearing that

11352-488: The highest standard. Under Louis' two Secretaries of War Michel Le Tellier and his son the Marquis de Louvois , the French Royal Army was restructured into a highly disciplined and professional force made up of permanent regiments under central control. Weapons, promotion, drill, uniforms and organisation were improved or introduced and the army nearly doubled in size. When Louis' father, Louis XIII , died, Anne of Austria ,

11481-484: The key to its defence. He ordered a young cavalry officer, Joachim Murat , to seize cannons and Bonaparte deployed them in key positions. On 5 October 1795— 13 Vendémiaire An IV in the French Republican calendar —he fired on the rebels with canister rounds (later called: "a whiff of grapeshot "). About 300 to 1,400 rebels died in the uprising. Bonaparte's role in defeating the rebellion earned him and his family

11610-662: The king of France, was the military part of the French royal household or Maison du Roi . The term only appeared in 1671, though such a gathering of military units pre-dates this. Two large foot regiments of the military household participated in the campaigns of the army; the French Guards Regiment and the Swiss Guards . Another well known unit was the Musketeers of the Guard . There were 90 French line infantry regiments in 1690. The companies were not distributed equally between

11739-488: The middle and lower nobility and the higher bourgeoisie and one exceptional for promoted sergeants. The high nobility quickly reached high rank, the mean age of promotion to colonel being 36 years. The standard career path was based on seniority and was rather inert; the mean age of promotion to captain was 45 years. Promoted sergeants could normally not reach higher than to substantive lieutenants and captains by brevet although their social background significantly deviated from

11868-531: The modernizing legal and administrative reforms he enacted in France and Western Europe, embodied in the Napoleonic Code . He established a system of public education, abolished the vestiges of feudalism , emancipated Jews and other religious minorities, abolished the Spanish Inquisition , enacted the principle of equality before the law for an emerging middle class, and centralized state power at

11997-614: The mountains. From Ormea, it headed west to outflank the Austro-Sardinian positions around Saorge . After this campaign, Augustin Robespierre sent Bonaparte on a mission to the Republic of Genoa to determine the country's intentions towards France. After the Fall of Maximilien Robespierre in July 1794, Bonaparte's association with leading Jacobins made him politically suspect to the new regime. He

12126-680: The name of their proprietary colonels. The Swiss and German regiments had two battalions, the Irish one. The guard regiments of the Maison du Roi adopted complete uniforms in the early 1660s as a substitute for the cassocks with civilian clothing worn previously. As an example the Garden Francais were reported as wearing grey and red uniforms with silver embroidery shortly after 1661. The line infantry adopted clothing in various regimental colours decided on by their colonels, in an extended process starting in

12255-831: The palace courtyard, the Swiss Guards were massacred by the mob. Some Guards, including the commander, were captured, jailed, and later guillotined. In 1690 there were ten Swiss line regiments in French service; six with 16 companies each in three field battalions and one garrison battalion, and four with twelve companies each in three field battalions. Royal-Roussillon was a Catalonian foreign regiment with 18 companies in two battalions. There were also six German foreign regiments, seven Italian foreign regiments, five Walloon foreign regiments and three Irish foreign regiments . There were 23 foreign line regiments in 1767; eleven Swiss, seven German and five Irish. German regiments had permanent titles. The Swiss and Irish regiments were known by

12384-779: The patronage of the new government, the French Directory . On 26 October, he was promoted to commander of the Army of the Interior, and in January 1796 he was appointed head of the Army of Italy. Within weeks of the Vendémiaire uprising , Bonaparte was romantically involved with Joséphine de Beauharnais , the former mistress of Barras. Josephine had been born in the French colonies in the Lesser Antilles , and her family owned slaves on sugar plantations The couple married on 9 March 1796 in

12513-528: The peace and his controversial Concordat of 1801 with Pope Pius VII under which the Pope recognized Bonaparte's regime and the regime recognized Catholicism as the majority religion of France. In a further step towards national reconciliation (known as "fusion"), Bonaparte offered an amnesty to most émigrés who wished to return to France. With Europe at peace and the economy recovering, Bonaparte became increasingly popular, both domestically and abroad. In May 1802,

12642-482: The queen, became regent. She and her chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin , ordered the arrest of legislative opponents, causing the enmity of many nobles and common citizens. When the bloody Thirty Years' War , in which France had sided with Protestant -governed countries against other Catholic nations in Europe, concluded, the Fronde civil war broke out and Mazarin was forced to flee. When Louis XIV came of age in 1652,

12771-678: The rank and file of the Gardes Françaises : the largest regiment of the maison militaire du roi de France and the permanent garrison of Paris, refused to obey their officers at a crucial point in the early stages of the Revolution . Some Gardes joined with the Parisian mob on 14 July 1789 and participated in the storming of the Bastille , the medieval fortress-prison thought of as a symbol of governmental repression. King Louis' powers were regulated by

12900-453: The rank and file; over two thirds came from the petty bourgeoisie or higher classes. The different career paths created a lack of social homogeneity in the officer corps. The military reforms after the Seven Years' War attempted to create a professionalized officer corps built on the petty nobility. However, the privileged career of the high nobility being retained caused the failure of

13029-407: The recovered colonies except Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe which were under the control of rebel generals. A French military expedition under Antoine Richepanse regained control of Guadeloupe and slavery was reintroduced there on 16 July. French Royal Army The French Royal Army ( French : Armée Royale Française ) was the principal land force of the Kingdom of France . It served

13158-433: The recruits came from the peasantry and the working class , while about 10% came from the petty bourgeoisie . Privates were usually promoted directly to the rank of sergeant and bypassed the rank of corporal . At the time of the French Revolution , a third of the sergeants came from the petty bourgeoisie or higher classes. Three career paths existed for officers; one privileged for the high nobility, one standard for

13287-651: The regiments in existence, leaving only the Vieux and a handful of others, which became known as the Petite Vieux and also gained the privilege of not being disbanded after a war When Louis XIV came to the French throne in 1661 he inherited a large but loosely organized force of about 70,000 men. Like the other European armies of the period, it consisted of a mixture of mercenaries, guard units, local militias and levies conscripted only for specific campaigns and then disbanded. Organization, cohesion, training and equipment were not of

13416-523: The regiments; the weakest, the Périgueux, had only 15 companies, while the Picardie had 210. The regimental staff included a colonel and a lieutenant colonel both of which also nominally commanded a company , and a major without company. A field company had a captain, a lieutenant, a sub-lieutenant (or ensign in the colonel's company), two sergeants, three corporals, five lance-corporals, 39 private soldiers and

13545-451: The regular infantry wore gray-white, and the Swiss mercenary regiments in French service wore red. In 1690, during the Nine Years' War , each regiment was given a uniform. Eighty-eight regiments wore gray uniforms with red facings , and fourteen princely regiments wore blue. The first regulations detailing specifics of uniforms is dated to 1704. Unusually, grenadiers for most of the part wore

13674-470: The spirit of the age," and "soft despotism." Local and regional administration was reformed to concentrate power in the central government, censorship was introduced, and most opposition newspapers were closed down to stifle dissent. Royalist and regional revolts were dealt with by a combination of amnesties for those who lay down their arms and brutal repression of those who continued to resist. Bonaparte also improved state finances by securing loans under

13803-457: The time that he reached Paris in October, France's situation had been improved by a series of victories. The Republic, however, was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular. Despite the failures in Egypt, Bonaparte returned to a hero's welcome. The Directory discussed Bonaparte's desertion but was too weak to punish him. Bonaparte formed an alliance with Talleyrand and leading members of

13932-459: The two most important territorial divisions and during the campaign season also the artillery of the French armies in Germany and Flanders respectively; twelve lieutenants of artillery (rank as colonels of infantry) commanding the other territorial divisions including the arsenals ; a number of provincial commissaries (rank as lieutenant-colonels of infantry) commanding the fortress artillery, and during

14061-712: The war, along with the imminent prospect of England's reentry into the conflict on the side of the Dutch and their allies, convinced Louis to make peace despite his advantageous military position. The resulting Peace of Nijmegen between France and the Grand Alliance left the Dutch Republic intact and France generously aggrandized in the Spanish Netherlands. The famed engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban designed his intricate fortifications during Louis XIV's reign. Vauban,

14190-477: The younger brother of Maximilien Robespierre , a leading Jacobin. He was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of defences on the Mediterranean coast. In February 1794, he was made artillery commander of the Army of Italy and devised plans to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia. The French army carried out Bonaparte's plan in the Second Battle of Saorgio in April 1794, and then advanced to seize Ormea in

14319-493: Was a carabineer regiment and four were hussars . All regiments were known by their titles; not by the name of their commanders. Each regiment had four squadrons; each squadron divided into two troops . The regimental staff included a mestre de camp and a lieutenant-colonel, both of which had troops, and a major without a troop. Each troop had a captain, a lieutenant and a sub-lieutenant, as well as four quartermasters, one fourier, eight brigadiers, eight carabineers, 31 troopers and

14448-435: Was a militia of bowmen and foot soldiers raised from the non-noble classes, but the units were disbanded once war ended. Meanwhile, the bulk of infantry was still provided by urban or provincial militias, which were raised from an area or city to fight locally and that were named for their recruiting grounds. Gradually, the units became more permanent, and in the late 15th century, Swiss instructors were recruited, and some of

14577-478: Was admitted to the École militaire in Paris where he trained to become an artillery officer. He excelled at mathematics, and read widely in geography, history and literature. However, he was poor at French and German. His father's death in February 1785 cut the family income and forced him to complete the two-year course in one year. In September he was examined by the famed scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace and became

14706-465: Was arrested on 9 August but released two weeks later. He was asked to draw up plans to attack Italian positions as part of France's war with Austria and, in March 1795, he took part in an expedition to take back Corsica from the British, but the French were repulsed by the Royal Navy. From 1794, Bonaparte was in a romantic relationship with Désirée Clary whose sister Julie Clary had married Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph. In April 1795, Bonaparte

14835-603: Was assigned to the Army of the West , which was engaged in the War in the Vendée —a civil war and royalist counter-revolution in the Vendée region. As an infantry command, it was a demotion from artillery general and he pleaded poor health to avoid the posting. During this period, he wrote the romantic novella Clisson et Eugénie , about a soldier and his lover, in a clear parallel to Bonaparte's own relationship with Clary. In August, he obtained

14964-527: Was baptized as a Catholic , under the name Napoleone di Buonaparte . In his youth, his name was also spelled as Nabulione , Nabulio , Napolionne , and Napulione . Napoleon was born one year after the Republic of Genoa ceded Corsica to France. His father fought alongside Pasquale Paoli during the Corsican war of independence against France. After the Corsican defeat at the Battle of Ponte Novu in 1769 and Paoli's exile in Britain, Carlo became friends with

15093-470: Was changed. Battalions of volunteers were authorized and subsequently merged with surviving units of the former royal army, to form amalgamated demi-brigades. This force underwent its first test during the Battle of Valmy in 1792, when an Austro-Prussian army invaded to restore the King's full powers. By now, the army was considered to be loyal to the First Republic , not to the king. From then until 1804,

15222-573: Was created with no historic connections to empire, republic or even the pre-1792 monarchy. His government appointed many aristocratic officers to the new army, which lost much of its morale, much as it had in 1789. In 1823, a French expeditionary force, the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis , aided Spanish troops loyal to the Bourbon King Ferdinand VII when his regime was threatened by an uprising . In 1830, King Charles X ,

15351-567: Was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences . His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, and geodesists among them. Their discoveries included the Rosetta Stone , and their work was published in the Description de l'Égypte in 1809. En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached Hospitaller Malta on 9 June 1798, then controlled by

15480-518: Was embroiled in the Franco-Dutch War , with England and its Royal Navy as an ally (from 1672 to 1674). The war began in May 1672 when France invaded the Netherlands and nearly overran it, an event still referred to as het Rampjaar or 'Disaster Year'. By late July, the Dutch position had stabilised, with support from Emperor Leopold , Brandenburg-Prussia and Spain ; this was formalised in

15609-458: Was forced to abdicate in the July Revolution . The army participated in little fighting, and the king's cousin, the Duke of Orléans was installed as Louis-Philippe I in what was supposed to be a constitutional monarchy. The army transferred its allegiance to Louis-Philippe's House of Orléans until his overthrow in 1848, when the short-lived Second Republic was established. The military household of

15738-472: Was given command over a battalion of Corsican volunteers and promoted to captain in the regular army in 1792, despite exceeding his leave of absence and a dispute between his volunteers and the French garrison in Ajaccio. In February 1793, Bonaparte took part in the failed French expedition to Sardinia . Following allegations that Paoli had sabotaged the expedition and that his regime was corrupt and incompetent,

15867-501: Was introduced in France after the battle of Pavia in 1525. The French army abandoned the musket in 1700 with the appearance of the flintlock musket (fusil) . Different models of the Charleville musket , a .69 caliber standard French infantry musket was made from 1717 and into the 1840s. The Vallière artillery system of 1732 standardized the artillery pieces. The Valliere guns proved good in siege warfare but were less satisfactory in

15996-463: Was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost-saving measure with the vieux corps and the French Royal Guard being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so be called after the region in which they were raised or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. When Louis XIII came to the throne, he disbanded most of

16125-406: Was occupied by British and allied forces. He quickly increased the available artillery and proposed a plan to capture a hill fort where republican guns could dominate the city's harbour and force the British to evacuate. The successful assault on the position on 16–17 December led to the capture of the city. Toulon brought Bonaparte to the attention of powerful men including Augustin Robespierre ,

16254-470: Was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, so he ordered the garrison and some 1,500–5,000 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning. Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days. Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men. 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly bubonic plague . He failed to reduce

16383-463: Was regarded as Europe's greatest military force for much of its existence. The first permanent army of France , which was paid with regular wages instead of being supplied by feudal levies , was established in the early 15th century under Charles VII . It was formed due to the need for reliable troops during the Hundred Years' War , though the Army was not disbanded because it saw continued use by

16512-517: Was the first Italian military department to equip itself, as a banner, with a tricolor flag. It fought at the battle of Arcole on 15 November 1796 and then against papal forces on the river Senio . The Legion's fourth cohort joined Cisalpine troops to put down insurrections at Pesaro then at Urbino . By February 1797 it was stationed in Brescia and on 26 February 1797 it was reorganised into two demi-brigades of three cohorts, an artillery company and

16641-426: Was the war's cause), Spanish forces allied to the French lost Gibraltar . However, the heavy casualties suffered at Malplaquet in 1709 provided an opening for Marlborough's political opponents and after their victory in the 1710 British general election , he was removed from command and Britain sought to end the war. France's fortune returned under the leadership of Marshal Villars and Marshal Vendôme but despite

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