Napoleon’s army presented by Bertrand Malvaux expert CNES arms, armours, uniforms and militaria

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Musique:
- La marche des cuirassiers
- La victoire est à nous
Collecting military objects is a passion that requires time, patience, modesty and reliable sources. Being demanding is all the more important as with time, objects become more rare and more and more difficult to have access to. However, military objects are a collection theme that still enables people, according to their possibilities, to find first choice historical objects, without their being over expensive. I always feel thrilled when, after carrying out some historical research, I become aware that an apparently insignificant yet history-laden object turns out to be sometimes more telling than a very prestigious object. That is a unique opportunity for potential collectors or for those who had rather have not too costly a passion to develop an interest in military curios.
Contrary to what people could generally think, militaria still offers a few objects available to a majority of collectors, provided we know how to walk off the beaten tracks of highly valued periods or objects. The July Monarchy brass items, the military buttons of the second part of the 19th century, the Third Republic uniforms, the National Guard headgear ; the miniature portraits of the reigns of Louis-Philippe and of Napoleon III, military photographs, some brass items of the National Guard during the French Revolution, epaulettes from the Restoration to the Third Republic, regimental souvenirs, some town swords of the Louis XVI era… All of these can be the opportunity to make up series of authentic, interesting, aesthetic and historical objects with usual means. That is the reason why we have decided to present on an equal footing prominent historical objects like the glaive which was given to general d’Armagnac by Bonaparte First Consul ; unique items like the standard pole of Penthièvre-Cavalerie, Louis XVI era (1760-1776) ; objects readily accessible to anyone like engravings or brass items of the late 19th century ; but also curios like a dog’s collar of the 4th Infantry Regiment or Line Cavalry, probably of the 2nd part of the 19th century.
CONSULATE - FIRST EMPIRE
On 2nd December 1804, Bonaparte became Emperor of the French people under the name Napoleon I. The Emperor wanted to enlarge his country and to conquer Europe. He went to war with neighbouring countries. Although the French fleet was defeated in 1805 in Trafalgar, in Spain, France won great battles among which the best-known are: in Austria, Ulm and Austerlitz (1805) ; in Germany, Iena (1806), Eylau (1807), Friedland (1807) and Eckmühl (1809). After a short period of peace, Napoleon launched the Grande Armée into the campaign of Russia in 1812, which was a dramatic disaster for the Napoleonic epic. The battle of Borodino, on 7th September, was the most fatal of all the Napoleonic campaigns ; 51,000 Russians and 30,000 Frenchmen were killed or wounded ; seven days later, on 14th September 1812, the Emperor, in front of deserted and blazing Moscow, was forced to beat a retreat, during which 400,000 men died! In 1813 in Leipzig, the ‘battle of the nations’ was lost by Emperor Napoleon. Although the Grande Armée won many battles during the campaign of France in 1814, Paris was captured and the Emperor abdicated on 6th April ; he was sent on exile on Elba.
Napoleon’s army was a national army ; enrolment was based on draft, which grew larger and larger (60,000 men in 1803 ; 857,000 in 1813!). Conflicts constantly required new recruits, so that Napoleon integrated a lot of troops from annexed countries in his army. Out of the 2,400,000 men drafted under the Empire, 600,000 men came from allied European countries. Because of the large number of troops, one of the key problems was supplying the troops, as we can read in the soldiers’ letters ; getting something to eat remained the most important worry for them during the campaigns of the Empire. Officers learnt their job in military schools which Napoleon went on developing. Soldiers merely got very basic teaching, which they had to learn directly on the job. The organisation of infantry did not evolve much ; regiments were gathered in divisions and united in army corps. The Cavalry fulfilled numerous roles. The Artillery developed a lot ; at its height it consisted of 1,200 cannons and 55,500 gunners.
The most spectacular innovation of Napoleon I for his army was the creation of an Imperial Guard, in 1804, which represented the elite of the troops, somehow like the Maison du Roi (the King’s Household) of the previous century. But it was much larger since it included about 80,000 soldiers. This Guard was selected, better paid, better equipped and very well organized. It was composed the same way as the line army, the infantry, the cavalry, the artillery, the navy, etc.

[@gilloj6331]

C'est magnifique !

[@mail9353]

si vous êtes passionner des drapeaux et costumes 1er empire, allez voir aux invalides(juste à coté du Louvre) vous ne serez pas déçu, c'est par centaines, que l'on peut en voir !
enfin c'était en l'état à mon époque, peut être que cela à changer depuis...

[@ralphmuller7567]

Vive Le Empereur!

[@Jagaimo16]

Fort...!

[@emileduboudin419]

elle est ou Caroline de Rivoli ?

[@Jagaimo16]

Le nom des musiques s'il vous plait. Merci。

[@psychopates]

C’est dans la description

[@_boney]

vive la napoleo