"Honour and fidelity" Very early on, Switzerland set up a real mercenary business. By capitulations each canton could recruit military units on behalf of a neighbouring state with their own officers and rules. The French Revolution encountered the loyalty of the Swiss in the service of the King of France. The infamous massacre of the Swiss Guard on 10 August 1792 in the Tuileries was the bloodiest. After that the Swiss regiments in the infantry of the Line were disbanded. France, reorganised Europe between 1793 and 1813, and transformed Switzerland which supplied, not always in the best...

Pour Napoleon, "l'infanterie est l'ame de l'armee". Elle regroupe effectivement la majeure partie des combattants presents sous les drapeaux. Nous etudierons de pres ces "poussecailloux", qui parcourent l'Europe en tous sens pendant pres d'un quart de siecle. Hormis le cas particulier de la Garde imperiale, l'infanterie francaise, sous l'Empire, est partagee en deux grandes categories : l'infanterie de ligne et l'infanterie legere. La premiere forme le gros bataillon de cette masse combattante. Cet ouvrage - compilation des deux dossiers, qui seront publies dans les numeros 15 et 16 de la...

This army of the Kingdom of Italy started during Bonaparte's first campaign with the creation of the Lombard and Cisalpine Legions. This army especially featured a greater number of enrolled troops, instead of volunteers. The Italian Royal Guard, from the beginning of the century, was the hub around which the Army of the Kingdom of Italy was formed. It took part in the great campaigns of the Empire. The transalpine uniforms often recalled those worn by their French brothers-in-arms. The Army of the Kingdom of Naples (from 1806 to 1815, commanded in succession by Joseph Bonaparte then...