Army
The army of the kingdom, inserted into the Grande Armée, took part in all of Napoleon's campaigns. In the course of its existence from 1805 to 1814 the Kingdom of Italy provided Napoleon with roughly around 200,000 soldiers.
In 1805 Italian troops served on garrison duty along the English Channel, during 1806-1807 they took part in the sieges of Kolberg and Danzig and fought in Dalmatia. From 1808 to 1813 whole Italian divisions served in Spain, especially distinguishing themselves under Suchet at Tarragona and Saguntum.
In 1809 Eugène's Army of Italy formed the right wing of Napoleon's invasion of the Austrian Empire, winning a considerable victory at Raab and having a respectable share in the victory at Wagram.
In 1812, Eugène de Beauharnais marched 27,000 troops of the Kingdom of Italy into Russia. The Italian contingent distinguished themselves at Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, receiving the recognition:
"The Italian army had displayed qualities which entitled it evermore to take rank amongst the bravest troops of Europe."
Only 1,000-2,000 Italians survived the Russian campaign, but they returned with most of their banners secured. In 1813, Eugène de Beauharnais held out as long as possible against the onslaught of the Austrians (Battle of the Mincio) and was later forced to sign an armistice in February 1814.
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Troop Uniforms of the
Kingdom of Italy 1805-14 -
Military parade of the
Kingdom of Italy 1812 -
Troop Uniforms of the
Kingdom of Italy 1805-14
Infantry:
- Line infantry: five regiments from the Italian Republic, with two more later raised, in 1805 and 1808.
- Light infantry: three regiments from the Italian Republic, plus another one raised in 1811.
- Royal Guard: two battalions from the Italian Republic (Granatieri and Cacciatori), plus other two (Velites) raised in 1806, plus two battalions of young guard raised in 1810, and another two raised in 1811.
Cavalry:
- Dragoons: two regiments from the Italian Republic.
- Cacciatori a Cavallo (light horse): one regiment from the Italian Republic, plus three others, raised in 1808, 1810, and 1811.
- Royal Guard: two squadrons of dragoons, five companies of Guards of Honour.
Read more about this topic: Kingdom Of Italy (Napoleonic)
Famous quotes containing the word army:
“A poor widow, by the name of Baird, has a son in the Army that for some offence has been sentenced to serve a long time without pay, or at most, with very little pay. I do not like this punishment of withholding pay—it falls so very hard upon poor families.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Twenty or thirty years ago, in the army, we had a lot of obscure adventures, and years later we tell them at parties, and suddenly we realize that those two very difficult years of our lives have become lumped together into a few episodes that have lodged in our memory in a standardized form, and are always told in a standardized way, in the same words. But in fact that lump of memories has nothing whatsoever to do with our experience of those two years in the army and what it has made of us.”
—Václav Havel (b. 1936)
“It is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for the purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results.”
—Sun Tzu (6–5th century B.C.)