This volume covers the infantry units of Napoleon’s Imperial Army, during the crucial years 1800-1815. When the future Emperor assumed control of France, the infantry of his army was disorganized and poorly equipped; it lacked discipline and was trained in a quite old-fashioned way. Napoleon acted very rapidly to resolve the major problems of his foot troops, by giving them a new structure and by teaching them new tactics. By 1805, the French infantry was without a doubt the best in the world in terms of combat capabilities. The book will cover all the categories of units that were part of Napoleon’s infantry: line regiments, light regiments, foreign corps and special corps. It is not always realized that the French infantry of 1800-1815 included large numbers of foreign soldiers and even an Irish Legion; all these little-known corps are taken into consideration, together with several special corps like Corsican light infantry and mountain infantry. Gabriele Esposito provides a complete guide to the French infantry of Napoleon, illustrated with rare contemporary uniform plates that have never been published before. AUTHOR: Gabriele Esposito is an Italian researcher and a long-time student of military history, whose interests and expertise range widely over various periods. Most of his recent studies have been dedicated to the reconstruction of the organisation, functioning and tactics of the armies across history; in each of his publications there is always some relevant space dedicated to the ‘material culture'of the various armies taken into account and - more in particular - to the empirical science known as 'uniformology’. Gabriele is the author of numerous books on armies and uniforms and is a regular contributor to many specialized magazines in Italy, France, Netherlands and UK. His many previous works include the following in this series: Wellington’s Infantry 1800-1815; Napoleon’s Imperial Guard and Wellington’s Cavalry and Technical Corps, also published by Pen & Sword. He lives in southern Italy, near the ancient battlefield of Beneventum.
84 colour illustrations