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Uniform of the French army 1660-1845 - Vernier Ch.

Vernier Sh., Villing P. The uniform of the French army 1660-1845 - M .: Eksmo, 2002. - 128 p.
ISBN 5-699-00901-9
Download(direct link) : uniformafrancuskiy2002.pdf Previous 1 .. 43 > .. >> Next
'Here a part of the deputies of the States General vowed not to disperse until the Constitution was worked out, and proclaimed themselves the Legislative Assembly. The main merit of the guards was that they took this meeting, not sanctioned by the king, under protection, thus recognizing it as legal. (Ed. note)
SHEETS 56
1700 1750
(Board (Board
Louis XIV) Louis XV) Horse patrol Horse patrol
1785
(Reign of Louis XVI) Prevost Guard
1806
(Empire) Aragoons of Paris
1816-1830
(Restoration)
Royal
gendarmerie
1841
(Governing body
Louis Philippe)
Municipal
guard
The history of the French National Guard goes back to feudal times. Provide
ladies, led to the creation of parish associations and local militias. A special role in the formation
Zhdansky militia, militia from the townspeople.
In 1688 the minister Louvois decided to reinforce the royal army with a provincial militia. This undertaking was, in essence, only the restoration of a very old institution, which never truly died. Indeed, in this era there were still, although in some decline, the civilian militia units that once guarded the walled cities. Some provinces continued to maintain special detachments, recruited from the townspeople, who, in case of emergency, could participate in the defense of their area and, at the end of military affairs, return home.
In 1726, Louis XV decided to draw by lot 60,000 militia men, divided into 100 battalions. In 1771, these militia formations begin to be called provincial troops, but because of the peace that reigned in Europe for a while, most of the provincial regiments remained inactive, and in 1783 the people were sent home. Finally, in 1784, an eight-day muster of twenty provincial regiments was held. Nothing like this happened again under the Old Regime.
declaration of independence to the communes in the reign of Louis VI Tolstoy, between 1108 and 1137
The formation of civil self-defense was played by the struggle between the feudal lords and the cities. The threat of attacks caused the townspeople to understand that they would have to defend themselves. I had to defend myself against the lords of neighboring possessions, and against robber gangs; At the same time, the inhabitants also became guardians, protecting the city from internal violators of the order. Such was the original National Guard of medieval France, which for a long time was called gra-
120
SHEETS 57
1789-1795 1813-1815 1816-1827 1830-1843 1830-1843
(Reign of Louis XVI (Empire) (Restoration) (Reign (Reign
and Republic) Grenadier Grenadier Louis-Philippe) Louis-Philippe)
Grenadier Chasseur Chasseur Corporal Grenadier
national guard ^infantry prod*
ar 14zh is the cradle of the French National Guard in the proper sense of the word. You-y; the arrow of a cannon aimed at the Bastille became something like a call to mobilization for the nation. Although in the decree of the Legislative Assembly of July 13, 1789, the National Guard was still called by its former name - "civil guard", - this decree to some extent can be considered a certificate of its birth. Very soon these detachments received their real name - the National Guard.
The National Guard of Paris consisted of battalions, one for each of the 60 metropolitan districts (about 40,000 people). The first commander of these troops was the legendary General de Lafayette, the hero of the American Revolutionary War. All cities, wanting to be like Paris, immediately acquired their own national guard. At the same time, everywhere the guardsmen initially wore their own uniforms. However, after the Federation holiday on July 14, 1789, all units were ordered to wear a uniform, tricolor, like a cockade, uniform.
The revolutionary anarchy of 1791 virtually annihilated the provincial militias and disorganized the National Guard, which at the end of the year were for the most part sent to the frontiers, as happened with Lafayette. In 1793, the National Guard turns into a bunch of mercenaries in clogs and red Phrygian caps and armed with pikes.

"...1812-1815: On January 19, 1812, the Emperor approved an extensive regulation on the uniform and equipment of the troops. As noted above, for the first time since 1786, the uniform of all parts of the French army was described strictly and accurately to the smallest detail. In addition, according to the developers of the regulations, the new uniform should have become practical and uniform, which made it possible to establish its inexpensive and centralized production.
Instead of the long-skirted “French-type uniform” for the regiments of the line and light infantry, a new, shortened uniform was introduced that did not have a cut on the chest, the so-called “Spencer”. From now on, the coat tails were very short, and the decorations on their lapels were strictly regulated: the Fusiliers had the blue letters “N” (the light infantry rangers had white), topped with crowns, the grenadiers (light infantry carabiniers) had burning “grenades” of red color, voltigeurs - yellow hunting horns. Many decorative elements of uniforms were canceled.
The wearing of the etiquette on the shako pattern 1809 was canceled again. The forehead plaque of the new sample was an eagle hoisted on top of the shield, with the number of the regiment. The pompom at the top of the shako is flat, “lentil” shaped, with the number of the battalion on a white field. The color of the pompom, or rather its edging, varied by company.
High leggings were replaced by meek ones, up to the knee. The marching uniform provided for the wearing of long trousers tucked into short leggings.
A new type of non-combatant headgear was introduced - “Pokalem”. It was a blue cloth peakless cap with a high band and a “soft” crown. A cloth valve was sewn to the lower edge of the band, which could be lowered in bad weather. On the front, the band had the number of the regiment in the fusilier companies, and the burning “grenada” or hunting horn in the elite companies.
In addition to the above, the regulations described overcoats, cartridge bags with bandages and infantry packs. All these items of equipment remained almost the same as before, but from now on everything was painted down to the smallest detail.
Only a few regiments of the French army managed to get a new form on the eve of the campaign in Russia. Apparently, these were only units that were part of the 1st Army Corps of Marshal Davout, stationed in Germany.
Most of the troops of the Great Army went to the Russian campaign in the uniform of the 1806 model. As for the regiments that fought in Spain and stationed in Italy, they, at best, learned about this regulation, but did not have any opportunity to put it into practice. Thus, the uniforms and equipment described in Barden's document actually entered the troops only at the beginning of 1813. In this uniform, the Grand Army took part in the hostilities in Germany in 1813. In the campaign of 1814, due to the need to hastily equip and uniform the incoming replenishment, apparently, there is no need to talk about observing any kind of regulation at all. The troops fought in what they had, receiving old stocks of uniforms from warehouses, or they were given urgently made items of uniforms and equipment that only approximately corresponded to the new rules.
During the First Bourbon Restoration in April 1814, there were minor changes to the uniforms of the line and light infantry. First of all, this affected the replacement of the “tricolor” shako with a white cockade, and an oval plate with the emblem of the Bourbons. From the uniforms and equipment of the infantryman, such attributes of the Empire as the eagle and the monogram “N” were to disappear. However, most of the measures to “bourbonize” the army were not carried out, with the exception of replacing the shako plate of the 1812 model: as a temporary measure, only a shield was left, without an eagle, with a new regiment number.

In the first half of 1700, 29 infantry regiments were formed, and in 1724 their number increased to 46.
A uniform regiments of the army (field) infantry in their cut did not differ in any way from the guards, but in the colors of the cloth from which the caftans were sewn, there was an extreme variegation. In some cases, soldiers of the same regiment were dressed in uniforms of different colors.
Until 1720, a cap was a very common headdress (see the figure below). It consisted of a cylindrical tulle and a band sewn to the tulle and cut at the sides so that in cold weather it could be lowered down.
A fabric visor, of the same color with a band, was sewn to the front of the crown.

The color of caftans, camisoles, trousers often depended on the desire of the regiment commander and could be: dark or
light green, blue, blue or cornflower blue, red, yellow, white, gray and homespun.
Camisole trousers were sewn not only from cloth, but also from deer and goat skins, and sometimes from leggings. The stockings were plain - green, red, white, blue or striped using the indicated colors.

Ties were sewn from black or red fabric. Buttons could be close-fitting cloth, horn, pewter or copper.
In many field shelves, the color of certain items uniforms depended on the desire of the regiment commander or was not installed at all.

A uniform non-commissioned officers of the field infantry differed from the soldier's with a gold galloon on the cuffs of the sleeves and, in some regiments, on the brim of hats.
Officers of army infantry regiments in the first quarter of the 18th century. did not observe uniformity in uniforms and, often, in color and cut, the uniforms were strikingly different from the soldiers of their regiment.
Like the guards uniform, the caftan, camisole and the edges of the hat fields were sheathed with gold galloon. At the same time, just as in the guards, the officers of the army regiments were given scarves and badges.

From their formation in 1700, the infantry regiments of the army consisted exclusively of fusilier companies. But during 1704-1705. one grenadier company was formed in the regiments, and by 1711 five special infantry grenadier regiments were created.
The army grenadiers, unlike the guards, wore high pointed cloth hats with a band and a tassel at the top of the forehead (see the figure below). Officers' grenadier hats were made of velvet, and the tassel was gold or silver.

The ammunition and weapons of the Fusiliers and the grenadier of the field regiments generally corresponded to the weapons of the Life Guards, differing only in a more modest finish. For example, there were no decorations on the cartridge bag, carcass and grenade bag.
However, in the first half of the XVIII century. a variety of samples of fuzey guns, made in Russia, purchased in Holland or inherited as war trophies during the war with Sweden, was preserved.

The weapons of the officers were even more colorful. The swords could be with silver or gold hilts, in some cases the brushes of the protazans were made simply from colored silk. Officer badges could also be of arbitrary shape. Uniformity with the guards was preserved only in the lanyards of swords and officer scarves.
The garrison troops, formed by 1711 in the amount of 43 regiments from the archery, soldier and reiter regiments of the old model, were divided into three categories: the first was the garrisons - Moscow, Smolensk, Arkhangelsk, Kazan and Siberian provinces; the second - St. Petersburg, and the third - the Azov and Kyiv provinces.
A uniform and the armament of the garrison regiments was no different from the army.

military uniform in the modern sense of the word, it is a fixed and officially approved uniform for military personnel. Introduced relatively recently, it establishes the fact that its carrier belongs to a certain army, unit and branch of service. True uniforms appeared at the same time as the creation of standing armies. It is very difficult to give the championship in the invention of a uniform to any particular country, even more difficult - to any particular person. The idea was born more or less spontaneously in several countries at once.

Since ancient times, military clothing has tended towards a certain uniformity, but has not yet been a uniform in the full sense of the word. There were many reasons for this. So, for example, in the Roman legions, uniformity could be the result of the fact that the equipment of soldiers was manufactured and issued to them by the state. The need to distinguish one's own soldiers from the enemy also played a significant role.

The traditions of the country had a strong influence on military clothing - this factor remained constant for all eras and cultures. As in ancient times, the current uniform resembles something familiar for a long time. For a long time after the original function of any item of equipment is lost, it is still preserved on military clothing as a symbol of tradition.

Uniforms are also influenced by general civilian fashion. Sometimes uniforms are kept against the general trend of fashion, or some combination of military and civilian dress trends is adopted. The difference between a uniform and a civilian suit is much smaller than one might think.

To distinguish an enemy from a friend, already in the early Middle Ages, some methods of identification began to be used. So, at the beginning of the 15th century, English troops wore a red cross on their chest and back, the French and Swiss wore white crosses, the Germans wore the red crosses of St. Andrew, or Burgundian crosses. The latter were soon replaced by a sash around the chest or over the shoulder. The colors of these baldrics, or field emblems as they came to be called, were set by the commander, who often chose his ancestral color for this.

Frederick II, King of Denmark, in the Military Code of 1563, established that every soldier of the royal army must wear on his headdress, or on his clothes, or on his weapons, a sign in the form of a red and yellow ribbon. These colors belonged to the hereditary Oldenburg royal house. They are still found today, for example, on a small gilded lanyard attached to the hilt of an officer's saber.

In addition to these invariable emblems, there was often a need for additional distinctive signs, such as a bunch of straw or a branch with leaves attached to the headdress, especially in the main battle. Even when the uniform came into widespread use, this need persisted, especially if the armies were formed from a contingent of various nationalities.

Of course uniforms evolved gradually, step by step, and their introduction gave rise to various problems. Initially, a uniform or a set of other equipment was part of the salary of soldiers and remained after use in their property. Special regulations arose, specifying exactly what items a soldier should have. Usually the compilation of such a list was the responsibility of the regimental commander. He also passed this list to the warehouse - and not always to the benefit of his subordinates. Every coin "saved" by paying the bill ended up in his pocket.

When a regiment was disbanded or merged with another, used and new equipment passed to this other military unit, therefore, a certain centralization in the supply of troops arose. At an early stage in the development of the uniform, the regimental commander naturally had a certain influence on the clothing of his subordinates. With the strengthening of the power of civil administration and the development of a centralized state, the influence of regimental commanders gradually decreased. Precise and specific instructions were issued regarding the introduction and wearing of uniforms and equipment.

At first, attempts were made to give each regiment its own uniform, but later it became apparent that it was much more practical to dress units of one branch of service, or even the entire army, in uniforms of one basic color. Regiments can be identified by collars, lapels, cuffs, buttons of different colors, so that each regiment received its own combination of colors. At the same time, the style of the uniform remained the same for the entire army.

At the beginning of the 19th century, most armies, usually all infantry, had identical uniforms., while individual regiments differed only in numbers or badges on buttons or hats. This trend can be traced in all armies throughout the century, although at times it came into conflict with persistent attempts to preserve some traditions. At the beginning of the 20th century, most armies wore uniforms of the same style with color variations for different branches of service. Only the guards and cavalry still retained a particularly elegant uniform.

In the era of muzzle-loading guns and black powder, the color of the uniform did not really matter - because of the short range. However, with the advent of breech-loading guns and smokeless powder, the firing range increased significantly, which led to the choice of uniforms in dark, camouflage colors so that the soldiers did not stand out against the background of the terrain, and their movements were as stealthy as possible.

Based on the materials of the book Preben Kannik "Military Uniform", M., Tsentrpoligraf, 2003, p. 5-121.

1. Organizational events. Acquisition

In March 1791, the provincial regiments were disbanded, instead of them the National Guard began to form in the summer (decree of 1.06.90), where all active citizens and their children capable of bearing arms were enrolled. The guardsmen were equipped and armed at their own expense and were called upon to serve as a support for the new political regime, but their combat value was not great. In Paris, the National Guard began to be created already in July 1789. According to the regulations of 1790, it was to consist of 6 divisions of 10 battalions; 60 battalions in total, according to the number of sections in Paris; in the battalion 1 permanent and 4 militia companies, all 100 people each; in total, 6,000 people served in the National Guard of Paris on a permanent basis and 24,000 in the police, in addition, 8 horse companies were recruited from the townspeople. The entire officer corps was elected for a period of 1 year without the right to re-election and consisted of 1000 people. Only the commander-in-chief was appointed by the National Assembly. They became General Marquis Lafayette.

The national guardsmen had a uniform of national colors and a black hat with plumes of various colors:

• 1st division - blue;
• 2nd division - red;
• 3rd division - white;
• 4th division - blue-red;
• 5th division - red-white-blue;
• 6th division - blue and white.

Guardsmen who served on a permanent basis were housed in the former barracks of the Garde Francais, which were bought by the government for 1,030,000 livres.

But the national guard was called, first of all, "to maintain order, protect freedom and inner peace", while the functions of external defense belonged to the regular army, the decline in combat effectiveness of which is becoming more and more obvious. Therefore, in August 1791, the Constituent Assembly adopted a decree on the creation of battalions of volunteers who, in case of war, should go to the frontier and support the regular army. The organizational structure of these new formations was similar to the organization of the National Guard. The command staff was also elected and the combat value is just as low. In total, 169 battalions were created during that period.

In itself, the principle of recruiting volunteers was not something new, created by revolutionary practice, conscription was also carried out on a voluntary contract basis in the royal army, but if in the old army recruits were trained in regular regiments, and in combination with veterans, this young infantry gave good results (as Napoleon did in 1813, adding newly recruited recruits to veteran battalions), then in 1791 they acted differently: they began to create separate battalions from volunteers, which, in the absence of a core of veterans, were poorly trained and poorly disciplined mass. With the beginning of the war, these battalions joined the active army. The soldiers of the line battalions reacted without much sympathy to the appearance of this undisciplined mass on the fronts, giving them the nickname "cornflowers" - after the color of their uniforms; the volunteers, on the other hand, considered the line infantry to be devoid of the spirit of patriotism and were nicknamed "white-backed". This state of affairs could not continue for long. In February 1793, Dubois-Cranset makes a report to the Convention, where he proposes to carry out an "amalgam" - the merger of line and volunteer battalions, but the Convention greatly valued independent volunteer units and did not trust the old royal army, so this measure, although it was adopted in February 1793, came into force only in December, and its implementation was delayed until 1796-98. The last battalion of volunteers was reorganized only in 1811.

* footnote. The number of battalions is set at 1067 people, semi-brigades - 3201; however, it rarely exceeded 1500-1700 people.*

The latter even retained their right to choose commanders. Considering that it was the battalion at that time that was a tactical unit, it is clear how little the amalgam changed. So, even this, generally correct, measure was nullified by the interests of political groups.

The same political considerations influenced the fate of the guards: from the combat elite corps, which it was before the revolution, in an atmosphere of universal equality, the guards turned into a parade unit and performed only a security function. So we see that in reality only and precisely the Outer Guard was abolished, while the Inner Guard, which had no military significance, somewhat modified, continued to exist under different names: from September 1791 - the Constitutional Royal Guard in 1200 foot and 600 horse gardes (disbanded in May 1792), then the Guards of the National Assembly, from 1792 - the Guards of the Convention, from 1795 - the Guards of the Legislative Assembly and the Guards of the Directory; and only the First Consul changed the character of the guard, turning it again into a formidable legendary squad. But all these units could not fulfill the duties assigned to them: neither on August 10, 1792, nor on May 31, 1793, nor on October 5, 1795, when only Bonaparte's guns saved the Convention, nor on November 9, 1799, when he Bonaparte, without resistance, dispersed the legislature.

After the end of the campaign of 1792, the volunteers, who were promised a return home after the expulsion of the enemy, began to leave the ranks, desertion swept the entire army. Under these conditions, the National Convention on February 24, 1793, announced the recruitment of 300,000 "volunteers" on the basis of military service. To carry it out, 82 deputies with unlimited powers were sent to the departments. But recruitment met with resistance from the peasants, especially in the western departments, where it was from the spring of 1793 that the flames of the Vendée flared up. In total, out of 300,000, only 180,000 people were able to gather.

But appetite comes with eating - once embarking on the path of replacing quality with quantity, the Convention could no longer turn off: on August 23, 1793, a decree was adopted on a new set, now universal: all men from 18 to 25 years old, able to bear arms, single and childless are obliged to take up arms. But even this was not enough: in September a decree was issued according to which everyone who did not defend the country was declared a traitor and sentenced to death. This recruitment was more rigid than the first, and gave 425-450 thousand people, of which 543 battalions of 9 companies were formed (86-100 people in a company). The army gradually increased: at the end of December 1793, it numbered 642,000 people; the figures called by the deputies in the Convention - 1.2 - 1.5 million bayonets - were only propaganda. According to the lists, by April 15, 1794, the armies of the Republic consisted of:

Army	infantry	kav.	art.	Total
Northern	212.063	24.257	9.502	245.282
Ardennes	27.190	8.168	2.272	37.630
Moselle	82.190	16.562	4.494	103.323
Rhine	82.711	10.932	4.747	98.390
Alpine	36.616	2.877	3.509	43.042
Italian	58.291	550	1.780	60.551
Vost. — Pyrenees	64.919	2.758	2.831	70.508
Zap. — Pyrenees	46.217	2.110	2.455	50.782
Western	16.576	1.936	4.007	22.519
Brest Coastal	30.538	625	3.216	34.379
Cherbourg coastal	25.244	321	1.828	27.388
Total	682.633	71.096	40.641	794.344

In total, by the summer of 1794, 1,630,000 people were called up, for the period 1792-1800 this figure was 2,800,000 people, of which 720,000 were killed and died from wounds, 600,000 people died from diseases. Mass appeals entailed a general deterioration of human material and huge casualties.

Along with the numerical growth of the armies, the number of military units also grew.

shelves	1791	1792	1793	1794
horse rangers	12	15	23	22 (1)
hussars	6	9	12 (2)	13
cavalry	13	24	29	28 (3)
carabinieri	2	2	2	2
dragoon	18	18	21	21
total	62	73	86	86

1. Created 24th; 17th and 18th are dissolved.
2. Emigrated 4th; 8-11th regiments were created; there were two 7th regiments: 7th and 7th bis hussars.
3. The 15th regiment emigrated.

In addition, there were countless volunteer cavalry legions and regiments: poacher hussars, the American Legion cavalry, the Brussels Chasseurs, the Hussars of Death, the Hussars of Liberty, the volunteer Chasseurs of Bayonne, the Chasseurs of the Mountain, etc. All these "new formations at the beginning of the war turned out to be almost unusable."

In the infantry, after the amalgam, semi-brigades were created, each with 3 battalions, in a battalion 9 companies: 1 grenadier (in the light p / br. - carabinieri) and 8 fusiliers (in the light p / br. - chasseurs). The number of companies is 65-90 people. First, 165 linear and 14 light semi-brigades were created, then another 17 linear and 21 light temporary ones. A total of 238 p / br. This number was considered excessive, and then in 1796 another amalgam was carried out, reducing the number of semi-brigades by 2 times. Regimental artillery was abolished and reorganized into 8 foot and 8 cavalry regiments, engineers were reduced to 6 miner and 9 engineer battalions.

Higher military administration was characterized by excessive centralization. At the beginning of the revolution, the General Staff was abolished, but in 1792 it was restored, and by 1799 its number reached 850 people. * Footnote. For comparison: there were 160 people at Napoleon's headquarters. * In the summer of 1793, the Committee of Public Salvation concentrates the highest military administration in its hands, the commanders of the armies are approved by the Conventions on the proposal of the KOS. In August 1793, the Committee included Prieur and Carnot, who headed the organization of military affairs: Prieur was engaged in technical supply and management, Carnot developed plans of operations, supervised the senior command staff, recruitment. KOS was afraid to trust the generals to command large armies and kept 2-3 armies in one theater, independent of each other, thereby violating one of the most important forces in one theater in the hands of one commander.

In KOS, plans for military operations were drawn up and sent as directives to the commanders. So in December 1793, near Toulon, a plan was sent for the siege of the rebellious city, which assumed that the besiegers had 60,000 people and abundance, while there were 14,000 and a lack of everything.

Wanting to put the generals more under control, the Convention established the offices of commissioners (representans du peuple). The first commissars (12 people, 3 for each army) were poisoned into the army as early as August 1792 in order to explain to the soldiers the essence of the events that took place in Paris. On April 4, 1793, the institute of permanent commissars was created for the armies, who were engaged in the supply of troops, approved appointments and interfered in every possible way in military operations.

So, we see that political interests often dominated military expediency when the Convention decided on issues of organizing the Armed Forces. When picking, the emphasis was on quantity, which led to an excessive consumption of human material. The organization of the highest military administration met the interests of KOS rather than each of the country's defenses.