Each soldier carries a marshal's baton in his backpack.

Jackets with short skirts, loose trousers, on which leather leggings were sewn to the middle of the calves, boots, light helmets with a woolen transverse roll and a double cloth cap at the back of the head were introduced. For the summer - light linen tunics. The color of the uniform depended on the type of troops: green and red - in the infantry; blue and red - for dragoons; red and black for artillery, etc. Bloomers in almost all branches of the military are red. This form of clothing was not only comfortable, but also practical and was many decades ahead of the uniform of European armies.

Paul I, who ascended the throne in 1796, a fan of the Prussian system of army training, introduced military uniforms of the Prussian model. The military personnel were forced into tight, uncomfortable uniforms, and complex hairstyles with braids and curls were again introduced. The army, instead of preparing to defend the Fatherland, began to prepare for reviews and parades. The traditions of the Russian military uniform as a symbol of honor and valor began to be lost.

Hairstyles became a particular torment for the soldiers. The hair was braided and secured with a special ribbon. To give the braid the desired shape, wire was inserted. It was allowed to tie an artificial braid. At the temples, the hair was styled in curls. The hair was greased with lard and sprinkled with powder or flour.

Leading Russian generals and officers could not put up with the situation in the army, which, with the loss of national traditions in the form of clothing, was also losing its offensive spirit. During this period, A.V. Suvorov said: “Powder is not gunpowder, letters are not cannons, a scythe is not a cleaver, and I am not a German, but a natural hare. I don’t know the Germans, I only saw them from the back.” He believed that the uniform should be the pride of military personnel and reflect the spirit of the nation.

All this gave rise to a response: 7 field marshals, about 300 generals, and more than two thousand staff and chief officers were dismissed, demoted or exiled. When a military leader was needed not to host parades, but to lead the army in a difficult war, Paul I brought Suvorov back from disgrace. On the very first day of the Italian campaign, A.V. Suvorov ordered the soldiers to unbutton their uniforms and take off their Pavlovian braids.

The military reforms of Paul I caused heavy damage to the Russian army, but they could not completely erase the spirit of Rumyantsev and Suvorov from it. Since 1801, after the accession of Emperor Alexander I to the throne, significant changes began in the army, including the improvement of uniforms. Complex hairstyles were abolished. The military uniform became more comfortable, but it was still far from being like Catherine’s. Since 1802, the Russian army introduced an overcoat made of thick gray cloth. The lower ranks wore an overcoat with a high stand-up collar and shoulder straps. The overcoats of officers and generals did not have shoulder straps; they were worn with a cape (long collar).

The military uniform, as a symbol of military honor and national dignity, acquired particular significance during the wars with Napoleon of 1805–1807, the Patriotic War of 1812, and subsequent foreign campaigns. During this period, soldiers and infantry officers wore short tailcoat-type uniforms with tails. Guards regiments differed from army regiments in a special sewing pattern on the collar and sleeve cuffs. Everyday headdress was a shako - a cylindrical leather or cloth hat, slightly flared at the top, with a small visor and a special chin strap. An oval burdock was attached to the top of the shako - a cockade, which had its own color for each company. A white or multi-colored plume of feathers was inserted behind the burrs. Etishket - wicker pendants with tassels - were put on the shako. The coat of arms on the guards' shakos was in the form of an eagle, on the army ones - grenada, on the artillerymen - crossed cannon barrels.

Instead of trousers, trousers were introduced: cloth with hemmed leggings in winter, linen in summer. Officers could wear elk suede trousers instead of cloth ones.

Hussars - light cavalry - wore a short dolman jacket with a low stand-up collar, embroidered with woolen cords. A warm mentik jacket, similar in appearance to a dolman, but trimmed with fur, was worn saddle-stitched on the left shoulder in warm weather, and in winter it was worn in the sleeves. The uniform was complemented by chakchir leggings, which were embroidered with colored cords, and low boots. Instead of epaulettes and shoulder straps, the hussars wore special tourniquets. The ranks of the hussars were determined by the galloon lining of the dolman and mentik. In bad weather they wore a raincoat, and in winter a sheepskin coat. The hussars' uniforms, embroidered with twisted cords, were the brightest and most colorful in the cavalry.

Lancers are also light cavalry, but unlike the hussars, armed with pikes, they wore a dark blue jacket with red lapels. A special feature of their uniform were long, tight trousers with stripes, which were worn over boots. On the head they wore a ulanka hat up to 22 cm high with a square top, decorated with silver etiquette cords with two tassels and a plume of feathers. Instead of shoulder straps, officers and soldiers have epaulets.

Cuirassiers - heavy cavalry, wore a blackened iron cuirass, officers - polished copper, helmets with a horsehair plume, usually black. The cuirassier's uniform consisted of a white suede jacket, an overhead black tie, tight trousers or leggings and high boots. On the hike, they wore gray leggings and short boots.

Dragoons - riders of the medium cavalry, wore a uniform similar in cut to the infantry: a double-breasted jacket with tails, white trousers, and on a campaign - gray, leather-trimmed leggings over boots. On the head there are high helmets made of pumpkin leather with a hair comb.

All soldiers wore greatcoats, and only infantrymen, artillerymen, dragoons and cuirassiers wore shoulder straps on their uniforms. Officers (except hussars) were given epaulettes on their uniforms. When out of formation, during this period they began to wear caps (soldiers had caps), which were initially introduced into the cavalry, and then into individual branches of the military.

In this form, the Russian army defeated the hordes of Napoleon and covered its banners with unfading glory.

This material continues the series of articles devoted to Russian military uniforms:

At the beginning of the 19th century, overcoats became uniforms for combat.

actions in winter not only in the Russian army, but also in other European armies, including

including French. French overcoat of the 1812 model, like the Russian overcoat

soldier, was made from factory cloth, but with a differentiating feature,

necessary to distinguish between “friends” and “foes” during the battle was the color of clothing.

yes. Unlike Russian soldiers, the French wore blue overcoats: “

He looked at

an Armenian family and two French soldiers who approached the Armenians. One of

these soldiers, a small, fidgety man, was dressed in a blue overcoat, belted

with a rope. He had a cap on his head and his feet were bare

"[Tolstoy, 2010, 2, 393];

A little behind, on a thin, thin Kyrgyz horse with a huge tail and mane,

howling and with bloody lips, a young officer in a blue French tire rode

whether

[Tolstoy, 2010, 2, 522]. The blue color of the overcoat was associated exclusively with

soldiers of the French army, even the commander-in-chief and marshals wore uniforms

the same color - "

Napoleon stood somewhat ahead of his marshals on a small

a swarm of Arabian horses, in a blue overcoat, the same one in which he did the Italian

campaign

"[Tolstoy, 2010, 1, 334]. It is noteworthy that before the campaign of 1812 the French

Tsuz overcoats were beige and dark brown in color. In January 1812

regulations approved by Napoleon for uniforms and equipment of troops pre-

wrote gray overcoats for line regiments, and dark blue for the guards, but

only a few regiments of the French army managed to receive new uniforms the day before

campaign in Russia, thereby being forced to use the gray uniform of the old

sample. Due to a shortage of overcoats, soldiers of the French army sewed their own

manually or put on the uniforms of soldiers of defeated armies, so often

the overcoats were gray-brown and did not comply with the regulated

flowers [Gorshkov]; [Napoleon's Army 1812]

Those who imagine the French infantry of the Napoleonic Wars era constantly operating in bright uniforms, snow-white trousers, culottes with black leggings, shakos decorated with colored plumes, etiquettes, etc., fall into a beautiful but deep misconception. Unlike the “immortal” Guard, which practically did not fight and received the nickname “immortal” Guard for this in the linear units, army soldiers rarely took out their ceremonial uniforms from their backpacks. The uniform was an expensive part

uniforms, and they tried to protect it by wearing it on special occasions or before battles, and even then, only if Napoleon himself commanded the troops. As a rule, the outerwear of an infantryman in the camp and on the march was a cloth overcoat, which the soldier received in the regiment, purchased with his own funds, “borrowed” from the local population, or took from the enemy as a trophy. It's this thing

determined the general appearance of the French infantry during numerous campaigns.

For the first time in the years of the French Republic, the army was content with what it confiscated or could find on the “terrain.” In the engravings of those years, quite often among the infantry uniforms one can see the redingotes of officers and the greatcoats of soldiers, which at that time were not yet mandatory elements of the uniform. Often, overcoats, along with forage hats, were the only items of uniform for infantrymen and presented a very colorful sight. Judging by modern iconographic sources, outer clothing was not only arbitrary in cut, but also in color - there could even be striped patterns! (see, for example, the “Dutch” manuscript of Gauk) One should also not forget the peculiar “fashion” of the French infantry, which they borrowed from the British troops in the North American colonies - sewing overcoats from old blankets. But if the British had blankets that were uniform in size and gray in color, then one can imagine what happened in war-torn France...

..."...As for the units of the Old Guard, the grenadiers were first issued overcoats in December 1804, that is, two years before their official recognition as statutory outerwear for the rest of the army. The surviving samples are sewn from dark blue cloth , double-breasted and fastened with brass buttons of the guard type, 8 pieces in each row, on the back of the overcoat there are two pocket flaps (two buttons on each) and a two-piece strap fastened with a button, on each cuff there are two small buttons.

The grenadiers of the Old Guard, starting around 1809, began to sew scarlet edging onto the collars of their greatcoats. Epaulets on overcoats are similar to those on uniforms; they are fastened with braided counter-epaulets and a small button. Dutch Grenadiers (3rd Grenadier Regiment) in 1806-1809. continued to wear their dark blue overcoats, issued to them in the Royal Dutch Army. The same color was confirmed by decree in April 1811. Guards rangers received overcoats only in December 1805. They are similar to the grenadier samples, with the exception of the epaulettes corresponding to the unit ... "

So the guys - the reenactors followed this data and...

At first, an overcoat was sewn to participate in the reconstruction of the Borodino battles in the style of a coat-redingote:

(naturally, my work is 90% manual labor. Thin cloth, linen.)

But subsequently, uniform reenactors began to adhere to the strictest rules for sewing and wearing overcoats on the field.

Overcoat: cloth with round cuffs, collar and shoulder straps of the main color; fastens on the chest with 5 cloth-covered 22 mm buttons; The bottom of the overcoat is cut at a distance of 324 mm (12 Parisian inches) from the floor, the cut at the back is 202.5 mm (7.5 inches).

In the center of the back and along the seams there are two large pocket flaps with covered buttons along the edges; two tabs are sewn horizontally at the level of the top button of the pocket flaps - one has a button, the other has a loop. A horizontal pocket was made on the left side of the overcoat's side lining. At the bottom of each overcoat there are loops at an angle

crowbar 45° for fastening on the go to the bottom buttons of pocket flaps. Straight shoulder straps, rounded at the shoulder, made of a double layer of cloth. The buttons and loops are located so that a soldier can fasten his overcoat on both the right and left sides (at the historical period under study, there was no difference in fastening on the so-called “female” and “male” sides). According to the regulations, the straps are rectangular with a rounding at the button, but in the drawings of Karl Berne, which accompanied the official text of the regulations, they are depicted in the form of an shoulder strap with a “trefoil” at the end.

Cloth-covered buttons could be replaced with wooden, bone, horn, or simply arbitrary civilian samples or wooden crutch sticks. It was extremely rare to sew on large uniform buttons with the regiment number. The official text of the regulations does not say anything about the fact that grenadier epaulettes were fastened with tight buttons to the shoulders of the overcoat. A possible explanation for this is the logic of this situation. The uniform color of overcoats was also stipulated in the regulations - beige. But often overcoats were made from gray cloth of various shades - from steel to dark gray. It is likely that at first the new overcoats were worn along with the old overcoats of random designs, made in 1809-1811..."

After the Russian campaign, fragments of Napoleon's once great army scattered across the vast expanses of Russia. Some of the soldiers returned home, but many wished to stay in a foreign country forever.

Where did the army go?

In 1869, the retired French engineer Charles-Joseph Minard, with his characteristic painstaking work, did a unique job: he created a diagram in which he reflected the change in the number of Napoleonic troops during the Russian campaign.

According to the figures, out of 422 thousand Napoleonic soldiers who crossed the Neman, only 10 thousand returned.

The French engineer did not take into account about 200 thousand more people who joined Napoleon's army during the war. According to modern data, out of the 600 thousand strong Great Army, no more than 50 thousand people crossed the Russian border in the opposite direction. It is estimated that about 150 thousand people died in six months of fighting, but where are the other 400 thousand?

The summer of 1812 in Russia turned out to be unusually hot. Napoleonic soldiers languished from the scorching sun and dust: many died from heatstroke and heart attacks. The situation was aggravated by intestinal infections, which, in unsanitary conditions, mercilessly mowed down the conquerors. Then came the time of cold showers, which gave way to severe frosts...

The historian Vladlen Sirotkin estimates the number of captured Napoleonic soldiers (French, Germans, Poles, Italians) at 200 thousand people - almost all who survived in inhospitable Russia.

Many of them were not destined to survive - famine, epidemics, frosts, massacres. Still, about 100 thousand soldiers and officers remained in Russia two years later, of which about 60 thousand (most were French) accepted Russian citizenship.

After the end of the war, King Louis XVIII of France asked Alexander I to somehow influence his compatriots stuck in Russia and force them to return to their homeland, but the Russian government did not do this.

French trace

Traces of the French presence in Russia can be seen throughout the country. Today in Moscow there live about one and a half dozen families whose ancestors once did not want to return to France - the Autzes, Junkerovs, Zhandrys, Bushenevs. But the Chelyabinsk region occupies a special place here. Why? More on this later.

In the first half of the 19th century, on the outskirts of Samara there was a toponym “French Mill”. This is evidence that French prisoners worked at the once working mill.

And in modern Syktyvkar (formerly Ust-Sysolsk, Vologda province) there is a suburb of Paris. According to legend, its foundation was also the work of captured Frenchmen.

The French also left their mark in the Russian language. Hungry and frozen Napoleonic soldiers, begging for shelter and bread from Russian peasants, often addressed them as “cher ami” (“dear friend”). And when they needed a horse, they pronounced this word in their native language - “cheval”. So the great and mighty one was replenished with slang words - “sharomyzhnik” and “trash.”

The famous Russian economist, the son of a Smolensk landowner, Yuri Arnold, left us memories in which he told us about a Napoleonic soldier named Grazhan, who became his teacher. The boy doted on the “uncle” who taught him to make a fire, pitch a tent, shoot and drum. In 1818, the parents sent their son to the Moscow noble boarding school. The teachers were shocked. Not so much from Yuri’s fluency in French, but from the slang expressions that the teenager “spilled”: “Eat, assholes!” or “Crawls like a pregnant louse through shit,” that’s how they sound when translated into Russian.

From Napoleons to Cossacks

Napoleon, who uttered the famous phrase “Give me some Cossacks, and I will go with them all over Europe,” could not even imagine that his soldiers would soon join this formidable army. But adaptation occurred gradually. Historians are collecting information bit by bit and reconstructing the picture of the assimilation of former Napoleonic soldiers in Russia.

For example, Professor Sirotkin in the Moscow archives came across a trace of a small Napoleonic community in Altai. The documents say how three French soldiers - Vincent, Cambrai and Louis - voluntarily went to the taiga (Biysk district), where they received land and were assigned to the peasants.

Historian Vladimir Zemtsov discovered that at least 8 thousand captured Napoleons visited the Perm and Orenburg provinces, several dozen of them were imperial officers. About a thousand died, and many, after peace was concluded, wished to return home.

The French were received with all hospitality. Those dressed out of season were equipped with short fur coats, cloth trousers, boots and mittens; the sick and wounded were immediately sent to military hospitals; the hungry were fattened. The Russian nobles took some captured officers into their custody.

Non-Commissioned Lieutenant Rüppel recalled how he lived in the family of the Orenburg landowner Plemyannikov, where, by the way, he met the historian Nikolai Karamzin. And the Ufa nobles organized endless dinners, dances and hunts for the captured French officers, disputing the right to invite them to their place first.

It should be noted that the French accepted Russian citizenship timidly, as if choosing between a shameful return to their homeland and complete obscurity.

In the entire Orenburg province there were 40 such people - 12 of them wished to join the Cossack army.

The archives have preserved the names of 5 daredevils who, at the end of 1815, applied for Russian citizenship: Antoine Berg, Charles Joseph Bouchain, Jean Pierre Binelon, Antoine Vikler, Edouard Langlois. Later they were ranked among the Cossack class of the Orenburg army.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were about two hundred Cossacks with French roots in the Orenburg army.

And on the Don at the end of the 19th century, local historians found 49 descendants of Napoleonic soldiers who enlisted as Cossacks. It was not so easy to discover them: for example, Zhandre turned into Zhandrov, and Binelon into Belov.

To protect new frontiers

The district town of Verkhneuralsk (now Chelyabinsk region) at the beginning of the 19th century was a small fort that guarded the southeastern borders of Russia from raids by Kazakh warriors. By 1836, there was a need to strengthen this bridgehead, for which the construction of the New Line began: soon a chain of Cossack settlements - redoubts - grew from Orsk to the village of Berezovskaya, four of which received French names: Fer-Champenoise, Arcy, Paris and Brienne. Among others, all French Cossacks and their families were resettled to the New Line.

In response to the increase in the number of Cossack troops, the Kazakh Sultan Kenesary Kasymov launched large-scale military operations. Now the gray-haired Napoleonic veterans were again forced to return to the half-forgotten military craft, but now to protect the interests of their new fatherland.

Among the volunteers on the New Line was the elderly and Russified Napoleonic soldier Ilya Kondratievich Autz, who moved here from Bugulma with his entire large family, as well as the Orenburg Cossack Ivan Ivanovich Zhandre, born from a Frenchman and a Cossack woman. The latter eventually rose to the rank of centurion and received land in the village of Kizilskaya, Verkhneuralsk district.

Another colorful Frenchman has taken root in Orenburg - a young officer from the ancient knightly family Desiree d'Andeville.

For some time he taught French. When the Neplyuev Cossack Military School was established in Orenburg in 1825, d'Andeville was accepted into its staff and included in the Cossack class with the rights of a nobleman.

In 1826, his son was born, Victor Dandeville, who continued his father’s Cossack work. From the age of 18, Victor served in the military horse artillery and was noted in campaigns to the Aral and Caspian Sea. For his military distinctions, he was appointed to the post of ataman of the Ural Cossack army. Subsequently, Victor Dandeville reaches new heights - he becomes an infantry general and commander of an army corps. He, like his crusading ancestors once did, demonstrates his military prowess in battles with Muslims - in Turkestan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia and Bulgaria.

Many captured soldiers of the Great Army ended up in the lands of the Terek Cossacks. These were almost exclusively Poles, who were traditionally called French.

In 1813, about a thousand Poles were transported to Georgievsk, the main city of the Caucasus province. Now the newly minted Cossacks had to carry out military service in one of the hottest spots of the Russian border. Some of the Cossack Poles survived the heat of the Caucasian War, as evidenced by the Polish surnames that are still found in the villages of the North Caucasus.

From the brilliant victories at Marengo and Hohenlinden in 1800 to the crushing defeat at Waterloo in 1815, 1,600,000 men took arms in France, of whom barely 600,000 survived. Of course, in the 20th century, wars claimed much more lives, but how many Does the person who is being drafted into a soldier care about statistics? Whether a soldier is armed with a spear, a musket, or a grenade launcher, the ugly face of war is the same. In 1803, the toy Peace of Amiens between France and Great Britain came to an end and the French again had to go to war. At this time, the law on conscription was already in force in France. First adopted by the Convention on February 14, 1793, the law was significantly expanded by the Directory 8 of Fructidor VIII. According to this version of the law, all single men between the ages of twenty and twenty-five years old had to bear the obligation. All conscripts were obliged to report to the nearest regiment, where out of every seven people one was selected to become a soldier.

The service life of the soldiers was not precisely determined. A soldier could leave the ranks of the army only when he reached old age, was injured, died, or was subject to demobilization. However, the soldiers were not threatened with demobilization, since all of Europe was up in arms against the young French Republic. In turn, France also did not waste time and, using the eleven legs of the world, strengthened its army. Conscripts went to serve, realizing that France belonged to its citizens, and that soldiers were no longer toys in the hands of snickering aristocrats. This significantly increased the morale of the troops.

The French army was not an army of forced recruits. French soldiers were born under the monarchy, but grew up during the republic, so they knew that they were going to die for their freedom. The French believed that neighboring rulers were trying to protect their thrones from the philosophy of freedom that came to Europe from America.

The outbreak of war with England only served as confirmation for the French that the fooled peoples of Europe were being sent into battle to destroy the state from which salvation could come to them. Therefore, the French soldiers were ready to fight for their homeland and freedom, and were not a bunch of men dutifully serving military service. All recruits received a smallpox vaccination and were sent to the barracks. A few days later they received weapons and equipment, and then uniforms.

Claude Defre's pay book lists the items of uniform and equipment issued to him: one jacket, one work jacket and hat, one pair of linen trousers, one white and one black collar, four handkerchiefs, two pairs of cotton and one pair of woolen socks, three pairs of boots , one gray and one white pair of gaiters, one cloth bag and one leather satchel, and finally two cockades. This soldier's equipment consisted of a cartridge bag, a screwdriver, a needle for piercing cartridges and clearing the seed hole in the blunderbuss, and a device for removing bullets from the blunderbuss. All of the listed items came into the full possession of the soldier, and he was responsible for their safety. If an item failed or was lost, the soldier had to repair it or purchase a new one at his own expense. The service life of a soldier's equipment was estimated at twenty years - obviously this was too high. Therefore, soldiers had to incur additional costs for the repair and maintenance of their uniforms and equipment. As an example, we can cite the expenses of Private Clavier from the 28th Dragoon Regiment (see table).

Thus, Private Clavier spent 46.08 francs in twenty-six weeks on equipment alone. If we add fines for the loss of things, the soldier’s expenses reached 126 francs, despite the fact that during the same time he received a salary of 54.60 francs!
Below is an extract from the pay book of Private Defre, already familiar to us, which talks about the established service life of items of uniform and equipment:

• Kamzol 2 years
• Quiver 4 years
• Work jacket 2 years
• Overcoat 3 years
• Pants 1 year
• Work cap 2 years
• Fur hat 6 years
• Waist belt 20 years
• Musket belt 20 years
• Cartridge bag 20 years
• Drum and sticks 20 years
• Sling 20 years
• Horn and trumpet 20 years

Yes, life was not easy for the French recruits. Poor Clavier at least had one consolation - he served in the cavalry. The barracks or stables, as they were more accurately sometimes called, were cold, damp and dim, as they were usually housed in buildings confiscated from the church (following the Act of Denial of Papal Power passed in 1790). Approximately a quarter of the area in the barracks was allocated to stables, where horses were kept, the care of which was entrusted to the dragoons.

The French cavalry obtained horses in two ways: either through direct purchases from horse breeders or through requisition in return for future compensation. Using the second method, the French army managed to obtain up to 150 horses per year. In exchange for the requisitioned horse, the person received a piece of paper, the bearer of which was promised to pay 400 francs if the French Republic was able to meet this amount. Considering the sums that were spent on the purchase of horses, horses were considered a more valuable material in the French army than people. Therefore, recruits had to spend most of their time in the stables, caring for their horses. However, the horse stock in the French army did not always meet the standards, so the Flemish and Norman horses ridden by the dragoons, although they had sufficient strength, were often slow and too heavy.

Dragoons were not cavalry in the full sense of the word. Rather, they can be called mounted infantrymen, since the dragoons were equally proficient with both the blunderbuss and the saber, which, by the way, they were proud of. Although the role of the dragoons over time coincided more and more with the role of the heavy cavalry, differences still remained. Initially, dragoons in battle acted mainly on foot, and they needed horses only to increase mobility. But later the dragoons had to use a saber no less often than a blunderbuss. Thanks to these features, in the French army the dragoons were classified not as heavy or light cavalry, but as medium cavalry.

Non-commissioned officer of the 3rd Lancer Regiment in battle. His green jacket and leggings are trimmed in pink. Red epaulettes indicate that this is a soldier from an elite company. Two red chevrons on the left sleeve mean 16-20 years of service. The lancer's helmet is decorated with leopard skin. Usually only officers wore such helmets; the non-commissioned officer probably picked up an officer's helmet on the battlefield.

The name of Napoleon has gone down in history. Agree, today we do not speak of “the era of Kutuzov” or “the times of Wellington,” that is, we do not associate that time with the victors of the Emperor of France, but without any strain we speak about the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, “the Napoleonic era” or “the era of the Napoleonic wars” . There are many reasons for this person’s popularity, and I will try to explain in a small series of posts why this happened. Without claiming to be the ultimate truth, this is just my personal opinion. In addition, we are now actively preparing for the next Archipelago expedition of our club, which will be dedicated mainly to Napoleon, so such posts will be useful.

And I would like to start with Bonaparte’s army, or rather with one of the reasons for his, the emperor, and her, the army, success on the battlefield. And this reason is the amazing devotion of the soldiers of the “great army” (Grande Armée) to their leader. The illustrations will be photographs of real veterans who served in the French army at the Battle of Waterloo. The photographs were probably taken in 1858. The exact date of this photo session has not been preserved, but most of the veterans have a St. Helena medal on their chest, issued in 1857, and the date can be judged from this detail. Perhaps a later year, but not very much, because the former soldiers in the photographs are already 70-80 years old, a respectable age, you see.

Sergeant Tarja, 3rd Grenadier Regiment of the Old Guard

Every year on May 5, the day of Napoleon’s death, veterans came to Place Vendôme in Paris, the same place where, according to Napoleon’s decree, they began to build the “column of victories” back in 1806. In honor of the victories of their army. In honor of their victories. And they came until the end of their days, most often in the very uniform that most veterans lovingly kept throughout their lives.

Monsieur Verlande, 2nd Lancers

Of course, Napoleon's star rose largely thanks to the French Revolution. The young artillery officer, of dubious birth and also of Corsican origin, would hardly have had any successful career in Louis’s army. Having become a revolutionary general, Bonaparte gained respect for his personal courage, on the one hand, and his confident and thoughtful personal PR, on the other. He differed favorably from other military commanders primarily in that he always emphasized innovation in matters of tactics and organization of battle, which his subordinates liked, and he also cultivated a completely new attitude towards ordinary soldiers.

Monsieur Viti, Elite Gendarmerie Legion

The Bonapartist army retained the main achievements of the revolution in military affairs - attracting the masses into the army through conscription, eliminating the class distinction between officers and soldiers, fighting in loose formation, and using local means. General conscription was not easy for the French. Confirmed in 1798 by the Directory, it caused numerous protests. In 1800, it underwent a significant addition: wealthy citizens received the right to appoint deputies. Military conscription extended to men aged 20 to 25 years. A soldier who had reached the age of 25 could either be demobilized or remain for long-term service. The number of young people reaching conscription age in France averaged 190 thousand. During the period of peace, from 1801 to 1804, Bonaparte established a very moderate recruitment figure - 30 thousand were called up annually for active service, and, in addition, 30 thousand were enlisted to reserve When, from 1805, a period of continuous wars began, and emergency conscription had to be resorted to, the population's resistance to conscription began to grow. Campaigns 1805 - 1807 required the mobilization of 420 thousand people, and in 1813 and the first quarter of 1814 the recruitment reached 1,250,000 people.

Monsieur Dupont Fourier, 1st Hussars

A big problem in all European armies of that time was desertion. Almost everywhere they fought this phenomenon with a system of police measures (overnight only in bivouac, internal security, movement even for water only in formation and under the command of an officer...). Napoleon turned to the moral forces of the army itself, directly to the soldiers, who themselves had to influence those who did not take part in the labors, dangers and victories. Desertion is a crime against the remaining comrade, onto whom the deserter pushes his share of combat work. After the Ulm operation, a large number of “backward” soldiers who were engaged in looting were collected in Braunau and returned to the regiments. In the companies, the soldiers first of all took away all the loot from them and divided it among themselves. After each battle, the platoons faced jury trials; a soldier who avoided battle or sat behind a bush in battle was tried by his comrades, who listened to his explanations. The platoon either justified or sentenced to fraternal flogging, which was carried out immediately.

Quartermaster Fabry, 1st Hussars

The discipline of the Bonapartist army was primarily based on the fact that the soldier did not see in the officer a representative of another social class - the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the intelligentsia. In the soldier environment, where after the revolution the principles of equality were firmly grasped, neither nobility, nor wealth, nor high education could be the basis for creating authority. Officers and generals were supposed to be the same soldiers, but older, more experienced, more capable of understanding the combat situation. And an example of soldier's virtues. Every soldier had to feel the opportunity to rise to the top of the military hierarchy, so Napoleon pointedly emphasized that officer ranks were not closed to the illiterate. Meneval's memoirs describe a scene when, during the distribution of awards, the regiment commander pointed to his best non-commissioned officer in combat, who, unfortunately, could not be promoted to officer due to a significant drawback - he could neither read nor write. Napoleon immediately promoted him to the rank of officer.

Monsieur Schmidt, 2nd Regiment of Mounted Chasseurs

There was no place for an intellectual hero in the Bonapartist army. Emphasized soldierly virtues, a soldier's appearance, and kinship with the mass of soldiers were necessary for all of Napoleon's main comrades-in-arms. Such was the hero of the First Empire - Marshal Ney, and such was the hero of the Second Empire - Marshal Bazin. Most of the senior officers came from a soldier's environment and were of mature age.

Monsieur Bourg, 24th Grenadier Regiment

Napoleon spared neither effort nor time to capture the hearts of soldiers. He sometimes entered into correspondence with a distinguished soldier who approached him with a request. When promoting officers, before the formation, he rejected young candidates without mustaches and demanded that “his terrorists” be presented to him, i.e. old republican soldiers 1793. At palace dinners on the occasion of the presentation of awards, soldiers were seated mixed with generals and court officials, and lackeys were instructed to treat the soldiers with particular respect.

Monsieur Mayor, 7th Hussars

The merits, virtues and power of the image of the old soldier were glorified in literature and art. A whole cult of the old soldier was created in society, which, by the way, subsequently became a serious obstacle to the transition of the French army to short terms of service. In addition to the “home for the disabled,” which received much attention, the state provided retired military personnel with a significant number of positions. The living embodiment of the cult of the old soldier was the imperial guard, which was staffed by soldiers who had distinguished themselves in battle and was called old in contrast to the young, which was recruited by recruiting. Napoleon's charm among the guards was endless - even after the Leipzig disaster, the guards wildly greeted Napoleon.

Quartermaster Sergeant Dolignon in the uniform of mounted chasseurs

Old soldiers received better material support, and during battle they were kept as the main reserve for emergencies. The authority of the veterans had an infectious effect on newcomers, awakening young energy in them. In the campaign of 1813, troops overflowing with recruits fought successfully only when some Guards division was nearby - the presence of the Guards produced a moral turning point.

Monsieur Ducel, Mameluke Guards Company

Since 1805, the dismissal of soldiers from the army due to length of service practically ceased. Constant campaigns did not allow the troops to take root in the garrisons they occupied. During the period of peace (1802-1805), Napoleon did not leave his troops scattered throughout the cities, but gathered them on the deserted shores of the Atlantic Ocean, in camps near Boulogne, where they were preparing to land in England. Over a long period of military service, the peasant, torn from the land, who was initially hostile to military service, was completely transformed. The camp and the barracks became his homeland, the concept of the fatherland began to be personified with Bonaparte, patriotism degenerated into chauvinism, the desire for glory and distinction drowned out the idea of ​​​​freedom on which the revolutionary army had previously been created.

Monsieur Lauria, 24th Cavalry Regiment of Chasseurs, Knight of the Legion of Honor

In order for the soldiers in the regiment to stop yearning for their home, it was necessary for the barracks to cease being a place of moral “bone-setting.” The discipline acquired an unusual character for that time: the soldier in his superiors, up to and including the marshal, saw equals to himself, only standing higher in the order of giving orders. Drill was completely banished; there was almost no excessive demands in everyday trifles. “Don’t be picky,” Napoleon repeated more than once, and he himself turned a blind eye to many things. Punishments, and very severe ones - execution - took place mainly to set an example, to confirm that the government, which rewards the worthy, imposes punishment on the guilty. But, in general, cases of punishment were almost isolated and did not completely cover the masses of looters, robbers and rapists in the ranks of the army. Discipline was based on the unconditional authority that Napoleon enjoyed in the army, and on his ability to take advantage of every opportunity in order to weld the soldiers into one moral whole.

Mosbe Muban, 8th Dragoons

Ordinary soldiers were convinced that Napoleon's first concern was the soldier's happiness. When in 1807, after the end of the war, every French infantryman dreamed of returning to France from East Prussia as soon as possible, entire corps were transported on crossroads, although for this they had to force a significant part of the Germans to do the transport. Napoleon did not forget that he gained popularity in the army and among the people in 1797 not so much for his victories as for the peace in Campo Formio that he concluded. And Napoleon, who achieved power as a peacemaker, but who dragged France into an endless war, understood that even veterans, amid the labors and dangers of the campaign, flashed the thought of the delights of a quiet, calm, peaceful life. And the emperor took advantage of this craving for peace, demanding in his orders before large battles energetic efforts to immediately break the enemy, and then, they say, there will be a peaceful rest.

Monsieur Lefebvre, 2nd Engineer Regiment

Napoleon reminded the soldiers of victories won, thanks to his art, with little bloodshed - Ulm, where Mack was forced to surrender without a fight, or Austerlitz, where French losses were 8 times less than those of the Russian-Austrian army.

Monsieur Moret, 2nd Hussars

And in conclusion, there is one legend that has become quite widespread on the Internet and in literature. Once, while checking the guards, Napoleon discovered a sentry sleeping at his post. According to the laws of war and according to the military regulations, the soldier had to appear before the tribunal, he was threatened with execution. Napoleon made an original decision: he did not wake up the sleeping soldier, but picked up the gun that had fallen from his hands, threw it over his shoulder and took over the post of the sleeping sentry. When a change of guard arrived some time later, the amazed sergeant saw that the sentry was sleeping, and the emperor was standing at his post. Having handed over his post in full to the newly arrived sentry, Napoleon ordered the fallen soldier not to be punished. They say the man was tired, so I replaced him. Let him rest.

One can imagine how quickly such stories spread throughout the army, and what feelings of devotion they awakened in the soldiers.

Monsieur Dreux, 2nd Lancers Guards Regiment