Skip to content
Vestes Bellica Military history archive

Vestes Bellica

French troops in Alsace in the 19th century.

The Garrisons of Alsace in the 19th Century. Illustrated work of 100 plates in color. Strasbourg 1911.

The following plates were taken from the original work. It comprised 100 plates. The plates that follow are primarily those from the Restoration period onward.

Recommended Articles

Uniformierung & Ausrüstung

French Uniforms (Imperial Guard) in 1859

Modeled on the Imperial Guard of his uncle, Napoleon III (b. April 20, 1808 in Paris; d. January 9, 1873 in Chislehurst near London) established a similar guard formation in 1854 in the form of a mixed division. This initially comprised 2 infantry brigades, 1 cavalry brigade, gendarmerie, artillery and engineers. From 1855 an additional transport squadron, 1 foot artillery regiment and 1 Zouave regiment were added. In that year the Imperial Guard was also reorganized into two infantry divisions together with 2 cavalry brigades. In 1865 a regiment of Carabiniers was added. The Imperial Guard also took part in combat, e.g. in the Crimean War (1855, 1853–56), in the Italian campaign (1859) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870/71). It suffered heavy losses in places. Also to be mentioned are the Hundred Guards (Cent-Gardes), which were established on March 24, 1854. They were intended for escort duty with the Emperor and for guarding the imperial palaces and gardens. Thus they were a purely court guard.