Download or read book Napoleon s Swiss Troops written by David Greentree and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the 15th century Switzerland had been exporting professional soldiers to serve as mercenaries for foreign monarchies. Napoleon, therefore, was not the first to make full use of the martial qualities of the Swiss and obtained Swiss agreement to expand the recruitment of regiments for service in the French Army. Napoleon would use Swiss troops on the battlefields of Italy and Spain, and in 1812 re-organize the four original regiments into a single division for the invasion of Russia, with each regiment having three full-strength battalions. In November of 1812, meeting up with Napoleon's main force retreating from Moscow at the Berezina River, the Swiss on the west bank guarded the approaches to the pontoon bridges from the Russian attack to the south. Just 1,200 Swiss out of the approximately 8,000 that entered Russia were left to face, along with 8,000 other remnants of other units, the 30,000-strong Russian army. The Swiss held their ground and when their ammunition ran out they charged the Russians with bayonets. This book reveals the proud combat history of the Swiss troops of Napoleon's army as well as the colourful uniforms they wore.
Download or read book Napoleon s Swiss Troops written by David Greentree and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the 15th century Switzerland had been exporting professional soldiers to serve as mercenaries for foreign monarchies. Napoleon, therefore, was not the first to make full use of the martial qualities of the Swiss and obtained Swiss agreement to expand the recruitment of regiments for service in the French Army. Napoleon would use Swiss troops on the battlefields of Italy and Spain, and in 1812 re-organize the four original regiments into a single division for the invasion of Russia, with each regiment having three full-strength battalions. In November of 1812, meeting up with Napoleon's main force retreating from Moscow at the Berezina River, the Swiss on the west bank guarded the approaches to the pontoon bridges from the Russian attack to the south. Just 1,200 Swiss out of the approximately 8,000 that entered Russia were left to face, along with 8,000 other remnants of other units, the 30,000-strong Russian army. The Swiss held their ground and when their ammunition ran out they charged the Russians with bayonets. This book reveals the proud combat history of the Swiss troops of Napoleon's army as well as the colourful uniforms they wore.
Download or read book Napoleon s Swiss Troops written by David Greentree and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2012-03-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever since the 15th century Switzerland had been exporting professional soldiers to serve as mercenaries for foreign monarchies. Napoleon, therefore, was not the first to make full use of the martial qualities of the Swiss and obtained Swiss agreement to expand the recruitment of regiments for service in the French Army. Napoleon would use Swiss troops on the battlefields of Italy and Spain, and in 1812 re-organize the four original regiments into a single division for the invasion of Russia, with each regiment having three full-strength battalions. In all theatres where they were engaged, Swiss contingents would often be relied upon to act as rearguards so other forces caught in a tight situation could escape. Time and again they would be asked to save the day for the French soldiers with whom they fought, in Italy and Spain and most famously for Napoleon himself, in Russia. In November of 1812, meeting up with Napoleon's main force retreating from Moscow at the Berezina River, the Swiss on the west bank guarded the approaches to the pontoon bridges from the Russian attack to the south. 1,200 Swiss, out of approximately 8,000 that entered Russia, were left to face, along with 8,000 men from other units, the 30,000-strong Russian army. The Swiss held their ground and when their ammunition ran out they charged the Russians with bayonets. This book reveals the proud combat history of the Swiss troops of Napoleon's army as well as the colourful uniforms they wore.
Download or read book The Swiss in French Service written by Didier Davin and published by Histoire & Collections. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That association of mountainous territories shut in among the European powers, Switzerland solved part of its financial problems as early as the Renaissance by developing a truly mercenary industry. Each canton could sign a contract (a capitulation) to recruit military units with their own officers and regulations in exchange for pay and equipment for a neighboring state. On the eve of the Revolution there were therefore Swiss units in the government guards or the troops of the Line in France, the Italian States, Spain and the United Provinces. The revolutionary process in France ran up against their loyalty to their employer: the King, and the sad events of the massacre of the Swiss Guard on 10 August 1792 whereas the Swiss regiments of the Line were disbanded. During the vast European reorganization led by France between 1793 and 1813, Switzerland was politically and geographically transformed and furnished its big neighbor whether it liked it or not with troops of great worth who upheld their favorite motto "Honneur et Fidélité". A lot has already been written on the Swiss regiments. The book skims over the Swiss troops in service with the King on the eve of the Revolution to concentrate on those who served the Republic, the Consulate and then the Empire, focusing on less well-known aspects.
Download or read book Napoleon s Mercenaries written by Guy Dempsey and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superb and comprehensive book details the foreign units which formed such an important part of Napoleon's forces. It examines each non-French unit in turn, giving an overview of the unit's origins, its organizational and combat history, its uniforms and standards, and details of the unit's eventual fate. Colourful accounts, taken from contemporary reports and memoirs, emphasize the qualities of the unit and throw light on what life was like for many of the foreign soldiers recruited into the Grande Armée. In total more than 100 different foreign units that served in the French Army are investigated in detail in this ambitious publication. Some foreign units fought and flourished throughout the Consulate and Empire, whilst others lasted for just a few months. Covers Polish, German, Swiss, Italian, Spanish, and other units in the French Army and presents a combat history and details uniforms for each regiment. Napoleon's Mercenaries is the best single-volume study of this aspect of Napoleon s army and a vital reference for every Napoleonic enthusiast. Little can be found on the foreign units that were an integral part of the French army ... For a long time a gap has existed, but now Napoleon s Mercenaries fills this gap. Robert Burnham, Napoleonic Series
Download or read book One Million Mercernaries written by John McCormack and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1993-09-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the Swiss soldiers of fortune who plied their trade in the foreign regiments of European militaries and even the American Civil War. The white mercenaries who attracted the world’s attention in the Congo during the early 1960s were never more than a few hundred in number. In contrast, no fewer than a million Swiss troops served as mercenaries in the armies of Europe during the preceding 500 years. Swiss mercenaries form a significant strand in the rope of European military history, and this book draws on many French and German-language sources to describe how the Swiss emerged from the isolated valleys of the Alps with a new method of warfare. Their massed columns of pike-carrying infantry were the first foot-soldiers since Roman times who could hold their own against the cavalry. For a brief period at the end of the fifteenth century the Swiss army appeared unbeatable, and after Swiss independence had been ensured they were hired out as mercenaries throughout Europe. Kings and generals competed to hire these elite combat troops. Nearly half of the million served with the French, their centuries of loyal service culminating with the massacre of the Swiss Guards during the French Revolution. Marlborough, Frederick the Great and Napoleon all hired large numbers of Swiss troops, and three Swiss regiments served in the British Army.
Download or read book Swiss Regiments in the Service of France 1798 1815 written by Stephen Ede-Borrett and published by From Reason to Revolution. This book was released on 2019-05-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the uniforms and organization of the numerous Swiss units that served in the armies of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.
Download or read book Swords Around A Throne written by John R. Elting and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 1997-03-22 with total page 786 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This authoritative, comprehensive, and enthralling book describes and analyzes Napoleon's most powerful weapon—the Grande Armée which at its peak numbered over a million soldiers. Elting examines every facet of this incredibly complex human machine: its organization, command system, logistics, weapons, tactics, discipline, recreation, mobile hospitals, camp followers, and more. From the army's formation out of the turmoil of Revolutionary France through its swift conquests of vast territories across Europe to its legendary death at Waterloo, this book uses excerpts from soldiers' letters, eyewitness accounts, and numerous firsthand details to place the reader in the boots of Napoleon's conscripts and generals. In Elting's masterful hands the experience is truly unforgettable.
Download or read book Stories of the French Revolution written by Walter Montgomery and published by Ozymandias Press. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About eight miles from Paris is the town of Versailles, which was but a poor little village when a great king took a fancy to it and built there a palace. His son was passionately fond of state and grandeur, and he resolved to add to the palace, room after room and gallery after gallery, until he had made it the most superb house in all the world. It is said the cost was so frightful that he never let anyone know what the sum total amounted to, but threw the accounts into the fire. This was Louis XIV., called by Frenchmen "Le grand Monarque." He reigned seventy-two years, having been a mere child when called to the throne.
Download or read book Nationalizing France s Army written by Christopher J. Tozzi and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2016-05-30 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the French Revolution, tens of thousands of foreigners served in France’s army. They included troops from not only all parts of Europe but also places as far away as Madagascar, West Africa, and New York City. Beginning in 1789, the French revolutionaries, driven by a new political ideology that placed "the nation" at the center of sovereignty, began aggressively purging the army of men they did not consider French, even if those troops supported the new regime. Such efforts proved much more difficult than the revolutionaries anticipated, however, owing to both their need for soldiers as France waged war against much of the rest of Europe and the difficulty of defining nationality cleanly at the dawn of the modern era. Napoleon later faced the same conundrums as he vacillated between policies favoring and rejecting foreigners from his army. It was not until the Bourbon Restoration, when the modern French Foreign Legion appeared, that the French state established an enduring policy on the place of foreigners within its armed forces. By telling the story of France’s noncitizen soldiers—who included men born abroad as well as Jews and blacks whose citizenship rights were subject to contestation—Christopher Tozzi sheds new light on the roots of revolutionary France’s inability to integrate its national community despite the inclusionary promise of French republicanism. Drawing on a range of original, unpublished archival sources, Tozzi also highlights the linguistic, religious, cultural, and racial differences that France’s experiments with noncitizen soldiers introduced to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French society. Winner of the Walker Cowen Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Work of Scholarship in Eighteenth-Century Studies
Download or read book Uniforms of Napoleon s Army written by Carle Vernet and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2002 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Napoleonic armies went into battle dressed in resplendent, brilliant uniforms. None were grander than those worn by Napoleon's own soldiers and the troops of imperial France dazzled Europe with their elegant and colorful turnout. In 1812 Napoleon was at the height of his powers and the uniform regulations issued in that year reflect the empire's power and prestige. Carle Vernet, a leading French military artist, was commissioned to paint the regulations so they could be published and circulated to military tailors. His paintings both reflect the brilliant elegance of the time and show the uniforms that were to be adopted in detail. Uniforms of Napoleon's Army has selected the best of Vernet's elegant images and covers the full range of French Army units: heavy cavalry, light cavalry, line infantry, light infantry, artillery, engineers and support troops. An Introduction charts the evolution of French military uniforms, examines the 1812 regulations in detail and places the images in context. Published for the first time in an accessible format, these brilliant images offer a unique insight into the art of the military tailor during the Napoleonic period.
Download or read book La Place de la Concorde Suisse written by John McPhee and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: La Place de la Concorde Suisse is John McPhee's rich, journalistic study of the Swiss Army's role in Swiss society. The Swiss Army is so quietly efficient at the art of war that the Israelis carefully patterned their own military on the Swiss model.
Download or read book Incomparable written by Terry Crowdy and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of people who were caught up in the blazing trail of Napoleon's epic career. It describes the Napoleonic war machine from within, shedding light on the lives and feats of soldiers on whose toil a spectacular Empire was built and lost. This is far more than a regimental history, as it depicts a time of epic change spent in proximity to the greatest commander of their time. France's 9th Light Infantry regiment was created as an elite battalion in Louis XVI's Royal Army. After the aristocratic officers fled from the Revolution, command of the battalion fell to a close-knit group of grizzly ex-NCOs, idealistic revolutionaries and a young, battle-scarred captain, Mathieu Labassée. In 1799, as First Consul of the Republic, Napoleon needed a military victory to cement his political power. He drove a hastily gathered army across the Swiss Alps to recapture northern Italy from the Austrians. It was a risky gamble which very nearly failed. At Marengo Napoleon is taken by surprise. His army were in open retreat when the Ninth arrived late on the field. As Napoleon's last hope they were launched forward to stop the Austrians and give the rest of the army time to recover. Their charge was so ferocious it breaks Austrian morale and precipitates their headlong flight from the battlefield. With the crown of France within his reach, Napoleon was generous in his praise for the Ninth, dubbing them 'Incomparable'. They were feted as celebrities in Paris, but success went to their heads, some officers turned to drink, others fought duels against rivals in Napoleon's Guard. A new commander, Claude Meunier was brought in to bring about change: The Ninth's prestige was now at its peak. From such heady heights, the fear of failure became a powerful motivator. Through successive campaigns in Austria, Prussia, Poland and Spain, the regiment proved its worth. Eventually the strain began to show. The misery of guerrilla war sucked the life and soul out of the regiment. By the time the Allies reached Paris in 1814, the regiment could muster only a handful of men capable of holding their place in the line. They fought on, regardless. In 1815 Napoleon returned from exile in Elba. The Ninth immediately acclaim his return and take their cherished Eagle out of hiding, promising once again to conquer or die. The climax of the book comes ten miles from Waterloo on a bridge over the River Dyle. The Ninth spearheaded the charge to rejoin Napoleon. Like Marengo, their late arrival might save the day. Unlike Marengo, they fail. Even in defeat their story is extraordinary - even by the standards of the dramatic and turbulent years in which they lived.
Download or read book Napoleon s Campaigns in Italy 1796 1797 and 1800 written by R. G. Burton and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2013-05-31 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating and in-depth history of one of the often forgotten wars that Napoleon fought. The campaign for Italy involved French, Prussian, Russian, Swiss and Italian soldiers including mercenaries from every corner of Europe.
Download or read book Napoleon and the Campaign of 1814 written by Henry Houssaye and published by . This book was released on 1914 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Fine Corps and Will Serve Faithfully written by Alistair Nichols and published by From Reason to Revolution. This book was released on 2023-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries Swiss regiments served France, including in Napoleon's armies. Less recognition has been given to the British Army's three Swiss regiments during the Napoleonic Wars. This is the story of the Regiment de Roll, the first to be raised by Britain, and its extensive service throughout the wars.
Download or read book Napoleon s Swiss Regiments written by D. Greentree and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
