French Émigré Armies of the Revolutionary Wars Volume 1

Auteur

Alistair Nichols is a retired police officer. His interest in military history emerged after the realisation that he was not very good at painting models. He has studied in particular the history of the foreign units in the British Army during the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His published works include histories of the Chasseurs Britanniques and the Watteville Regiment and his most recent is They Turned Out So Ill! The Independent Companies of Foreigners 1812-1814.

Texte du rabat

French Émigré Armies of the Revolutionary Wars tells the story of these counter-revolutionary forces for the first time in English. Their origins, organisation, uniforms, and fates are described in detail by drawing on primary documents, testimony and recently discovered artwork and illustrated with specially commissioned color images.

The French Revolution emerged from a period when recognised norms within and among nations were pushed to breaking point and beyond. Nevertheless, there were Frenchmen who sought to stop and even reverse the unfolding events. After they had been forced to seek sanctuary in neighbouring territories, they formed military units so that their opposition could become an armed counter-revolution. In some cases, the effort was to be short-lived, but for others, it was to last for more than a decade.

Conventional historiography has, for the most part, left this story unheeded or marginalised. In French Émigré Armies of the Revolutionary Wars, the authors set out to provide an authoritative but concise guide to these units for military historians and enthusiasts, modelmakers, and wargamers. As well as giving a differently nuanced account for general readers interested in the French Revolution.

This, the first volume, is focused on the Armée des Princes (1791-1792) while the second is on the Armée de Condé (1793-1801).