Uniforms of Napoleon's Army

review by Paul Chamberlain

Carle Vernet Greenhill Books, 2002 ISBN 1-85367-520-2 Hardback £16.95

Prior to 1812, the uniform regulations of the French Army were at the whim of individual Colonels. In July 1811, Napoleon set up a commission to clear up the confusion surrounding what his troops should be wearing. This commission was presided over by Bourcier, a councillor of state, and the committee laid down the principles of how each individual item of dress should be produced as well as commenting upon those items of equipment not yet regulated. Their draft findings were sent to the Ministry of War for approval and then issued as regulations. The draft drawings illustrating the regulation uniforms were done by artists working in the Depot de la Guerre, while Carl Vernet was employed to paint miniatures of an officer and soldier of each of the Army’s Line units.

An Imperial decree made in 1812 adopted these regulations and stipulated that the replacement of existing items would take place in 1813. It is probable that relatively few of the regiments received the new regulation uniforms that year, as a large part of the Army was in Spain, and much of the rest was reorganising in Germany. The complete collection of illustrated regulations was published in four volumes. Volume 1 was the overall intention of the regulations for all branches of service (infantry, cavalry and staff); Volume 2 consisted of detailed working drawings that were to be engraved and issued along with the text of the regulations; Volume 3 contained draft drawings intended for presentation to the Emperor; and Volume 4 had the illustrations of Carle Vernet, representing on foot the officers and soldiers of the different branches of service in different uniforms - full dress, full dress service, society dress and campaign dress. There were also two volumes of text to accompany these main volumes.

Material from the fourth volume has been reproduced in this new book from Greenhill, which contains 76 of the 244 original plates. This work does not pretend to be exhaustive or to contain all of Vernet’s images. The published plates however, cover a cross-section of the French Army, including Marshals and Generals; Officers, men and Musicians; Cavalry; Veterinary Surgeons; and Engineers. The evocative illustrations show the minutiae of the uniforms of the French Army, such as the fastenings of greatcoats. The pictures are superb to look at and study, and should prove to be of great value to uniform enthusiasts, modellers, Wargamers and re-enactors. Uniforms of Napoleon's Army shows in detail the uniforms worn for a variety of occasions, such as Service Dress, Society Dress and Ball Dress, all of which were to be regulated. In this respect, the book is very much a social history of the French Army, showing Napoleon's soldiers dressed for every occasion.

However, this book is honest in that the introduction does admit the images are not free from error and contain examples in which the regulations have been misinterpreted or misrepresented, or portrayed in the wrong colour. My one criticism is that there is no text to accompany each illustration. While the point is made in the introduction that the uniforms are not examined in detail or commented upon, I feel that this is an omission.

An explanatory text or commentary with each picture would be useful. A comparison is Wellington's Army, containing plates by Charles Hamilton-Smith and published by Greenhill only a month prior to the Vernet book. This contains an authoritative text by Philip Haythornthwaite to accompany each plate, and I feel that such a treatment would have enhanced Uniforms of Napoleon's Army. However, this does not detract from its value to students of Napoleonic uniforms, and these pictures have been published for the first time in an accessible format. As such, this book is recommended.

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