The amalgames,
or embrigadements,
of the French Army
during the French Revolution

by Scott Bowden


The troops that comprised Napoleon's Armee d'Italie were a combination of the old revolutionary formations that had been shaped by the first amalgame, or embrigadement, of 1793 and by the second amalgame, or embrigadement of 1796. Following the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy on 10 August, 1792, the young French Republic was, by 1793, under attack from the First Coalition -- an alliance of European nations bent on the restoration of the French monarchy, the destruction of the Revolution, the preservation of the ancien regime, and the partitioning of Poland. Not surprisingly, the coalition was primarily the work of England which allied itself with Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia, Spain, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Portugal, Baden, Hanover, and the two Hesses.

While the coalition could have overwhelmed France in 1793 and in early 1794 had it comprised a unity of purpose and command, the major continental powers were so consumed with their greed to partition Poland that they gave the Revolutionary government time to reorganize its forces into an effective national army.

Embridgement

The historic reorganization was known as the first embrigadement -- the combining of the old Royal army line units with the new volunteer battalions into a single, uniform fighting force. Before this amalgame, the Republic possessed two distinctly different armies -- the old Royalist army of the Bourbons and the new battalions of Revolutionary national volunteers. (Some historians consider that there were actually three French armies: the former Royalist and two Republican armies, one drawn from the volunteers of 1791, and the other being the sans-culottes formations raised in 1792 that were replaced by the levee en masse in 1793).

These military formations were separated by a wide gulf of social order, pay, discipline, promotion, training and professionalism. In order to standardize the army, to increase the effectiveness of the larger volunteer battalions by having them stand beside the regulars in order to better learn the profession of arms, and to convey the Revolutionary spirit to the soldiers of the old aristocratic army units, the embrigadement brought these units together by forming new organizations called demi-brigades.

The forerunner of the Napoleonic regiment, each demi-brigade consisted of three field battalions with no depot battalion to maintain the field battalions' strength while on campaign. The three field battalions of line infantry carried a number and the title demi-brigades de bataille, whereas three light infantry battalions also carried a numeric designation and were titled demi-brigade legere.

The 1st and 3rd battalions of each demi-brigade (line and light) were formed from volunteers who had joined the tricolor as early as 1791, or in 1792 or 1793, whereas the 2nd battalion of each demi-brigade was from the old Royalist army.

Although the amalgamation was not uniformly implemented in 1793, the process was ordered to begin in earnest in early 1794 with the intent to complete the process by the following year. When finished, the first embrigadement included the melding of volunteers, conscripts and old soldiers down to the company level in over 230 demi-brigades de bataille and legere.

The historic amalgamation helped create a formidable war machine because it provided, under the aegis of the Jacobins who politicized the army, the means of unifying the different battalions of the French people, who until then had been divided by politics, class and custom.

Second Needed

The first embrigadement had hardly been completed when a second was needed. According to Col. John Elting in his classic Swords Around a Throne:

    "The 1793-94 amalgamation had partially miscarried. Authorized demi-brigades had not been activated. The light infantry occasionally found it had two or three demi-brigades claiming the same number. 'Auxiliary' and 'Provisional' demi-brigades had been formed along with new legions and independent companies; by 1795 things were again in utter confusion....losses from action, sickness (much of it brought on by hunger and lack of clothing), and desertion had reduced many demi-brigades from their original 2,400 officers and men to around 300; some had only 50."

Thus, hard campaigning for two years had reduced many demi-brigades to mere skeletons of their former established strengths, especially in a secondary theater like Italy. To consolidate the veterans and to bring the battalions up to strength, the second amalgame was initiated out of necessity in January of 1796. The number of demi-brigades was reduced some 40% to 140, consisting of 110 demi-brigades de bataille and 30 demi-brigades de legere. This amalgamation had a monumental effect in that it also opened the door for a new selectivity in the appointment of officers, many of whom would have long and distinguished careers in the armies commanded by Napoleon.

[Editor's Note: A detailed discussion of the amalgames may be found in Chapter 1 of Scott Bowden's Napoleon and Austerlitz, to be released this summer.

More Army of Italy 1796-1797:

The 200th Anniversary Series on Napoleon in Italy

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