"Soldiers without a Country: Foreign Veterans in the ..." Topic

…Transition from Empire to Restoration.

" Despite the French state's long history under the Old Regime and during the Revolution of favorable treatment toward foreign troops who served it, many of the foreign veterans present in France at the Napoleonic wars' conclusion were ignored by the Restoration government. Meanwhile, some foreign troops were proscribed in their native countries for serving Napoleon. The experiences of these foreigners highlight three trends: the exclusion of foreign veterans from the program of social healing that the Restoration Bourbons undertook, the limits of the modern French state's care for veterans, and the ambiguity of national identity after the revolutionary era…"
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Amicalement
Armand

'Faithful to our oath, we have not abandoned your eagles, and we are now without a country!…Sire, I beg of you, give us back our weapons.' -Jose Fernando, Colonel of the Regiment of Castille. This is cited in Paul Boppe's Les Espagnoles a la Grande Armee.

The study of foreign troops who served in and with the Grande Armee is fascinating, as is the Bourbons shabby treatment of the French army after both of Napoleon's abdications.

Indeed – the French as noted had a very long history of foreign troops serving with the armies of the Ancien Regimen and First Empire (Irish Brigade, all those Swiss, lots of Germans) although as noted the Bourbons certainly didn't seem to remember it

I am shocked to hear that veterans were abandoned when no longer useful to the regime, and that the Bourbons weren't much interested in foreigners who served their mortal enemy well. (Anyone care for an article on the subsequent treatment of foreigners who served Germany in WWII? How about ex-Confederate officers following the ACW? Cromwell's troops following the Restoration? End of war and regime change are usually a rough combination when you're on the losing side.)

That said, I seem to recall in material on the origins of the FFL that the Bourbons maintained about four contingents of foreign soldiers who had no homes to return to. Other regimes have done worse. I could name at least two which sent inconvenient foreigners to be buried in Hispaniola. (Would you rather be a Napoleonic loyalist Pole in 1816 France or a Moreau loyalist Pole in 1800 France?)

For more than a century, the French Foreign Legion served well as a sort of political shock absorber. I wish it were larger today, or that the US had one.

The US doesn't need one. And the US has no tradition, contrary to the French model, of employing units foreign troops as part of the regular armed forces.

The closest to that are the two Canadian regiments of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution.

(Would you rather be a Napoleonic loyalist Pole in 1816 France or a Moreau loyalist Pole in 1800 France?)

The former would be more honorable. Moreau stupidly involved himself in the Pichegru plot and then turned against his own when he served the allies in 1813 and was deservedly mortally wounded by French artillery fire at Dresden.

What happened with his dog…? (smile)

Moreau has an offerd to command USA troops… but he decided to return to Europe… bad move.

Amicalement
Armand

His first 'bad move' was to get hooked up with Pichegru…

What happened with his dog…?

From page 250 of Captain Charles Parquin's memoirs:

'…It was on that day that General Moreau, who rode among a group of the general officers of the allies, was struck dead a few feet from Czar Alexander. A Saxon peasant, to whose cottage the General was carried with both legs shattered by a cannon-ball, brought to the Emperor about five o'clock a splendid Danish dog, bearing around its neck a wide copper band engraved with the words: 'I belong to General Moreau.'

'This peasant it was also who first gave news of Moreau's death, and offered to sell the dog for ten napoleons. The Emperor had the amount paid him, and ordered him to take away the dog.'

So it looks like a Saxon peasant ended up with Moreau's dog…

Many thanks Kevin!!!

Amicalement
Armand