Armée des Émigrés

Army of the Émigrés
Armée des Émigrés
Leader
Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé
Dates active1792–1814
Allegiance Kingdom of France
IdeologyMonarchism
Size20,000 men
WarsFrench Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

The Armée des Émigrés (English: Army of the Émigrés) were counter-revolutionary armies raised by French royalist émigrés with the aim of overthrowing the French First Republic and restoring the Kingdom of France. These were aided by royalist forces within France, such as the Chouans, and by allied countries such as Great Britain and Spain. They fought in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars, but were ultimately unable to challenge the French Revolutionary Army, though they their goal of the Bourbon Restoration in France was realized by Napoleon's downfall.

They were formed from:

In 1802, First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte decreed a general amnesty for all remaining French émigrés, though he excluded approximately 1,000 people who had served as officers in the Armée des Émigrés or European armies at war with the French Republic. Napoleon once said of the Armée des Émigrés that "True, they are paid by our enemies, but they were or should have been bound to the cause of their King. France gave death to their action, and tears to their courage. All devotion is heroic".[citation needed]

Main units

Royalist cavalryman of the Armée des Émigrés
The capture of François de Charette in 1796

Armée de Condé

Armée des Princes

Raised in Germany in 1792, at Trier, and commanded by marshals de Broglie and de Castries, under the aegis of Louis XVI's brothers, the Count of Provence and Count of Artois. 10,000 strong, it returned to France beside the army of Duke of Brunswick and was dismissed on 24 November 1792, two months after the French victory at Valmy.

Armée de Bourbon

The short-lived Armée de Bourbon was formed by French Émigrés in Madrid and Seville, forming a small standing force of 2000 men, briefly participating in the War of the Pyrenees. Remnants of the force remained in the Spanish Royal Army as the Bourbon Regiment and other legionary formations until well after 1815, when King Louis XVIII, after the Second Defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, recalled them from Spanish service.

Other units

Légion des Pyrénées

Légion de Panetier

Légion du Vallespir

Royal Roussillon

Régiment de Bourbon

See also


References

  1. ↑ "Decree on Émigrés 1802". www.napoleon-series.org. Retrieved 22 August 2022.