Napoleon's army is illustrated through Henry Boisselier's 1943 plates depicting uniforms from 1792 to 1799.
Napoleon's army was born from the multiple French revolutionary armies. These were a merger of the old royal troops and a mix of volunteer and conscripted units. Raw recruits filled with patriotic enthusiasm marched forward alongside royal veterans and rogue adventurers eager for loot. By 1799, the French armies had been battle-tested and hardened. They provided the human material with which Bonaparte put an end to the revolutionary wars and prepared for his future imperial successes.
The bewildering array of uniforms worn by the revolutionary soldiers is much less documented than those of their imperial successors. In 1943, Henry Boisselier produced a series of 56 plates providing a broad coverage of the troops which fought from 1792 to 1799.
