Imperial Guard (Napoleon III)

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The Imperial Guard of Napoleon III was a military unit in the French Army formed by Napoleon III as a re-establishment of his uncle Napoleon I's Imperial Guard, with an identical uniform and almost the same privileges. It was formed by a decree of the emperor on 1 May 1854[1], and was made up of 17 regiments of cavalry, artillery and infantry, squadrons of workmen and mounted gendarmes, and a division taken from the corps of military engineers. The emperor added a regiment of Zouaves to the Guard in 1855, cherry-picked from the 3 regiments of Zouaves which he had created in 1852. This fourth Imperial Guard Zouave regiment had their uniform trimmed in yellow rather than the red of the other 3 Zouave regiments, and yellow instead of blue tassels.[2]

A row of houses in the English style were built in Rue Alquié, Vichy for the officers of this unit, which would accompany Napoleon III to Vichy.[3] The American officer Philip Kearny was a member of the unit at the 1859 Battle of Solferino.

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ A decree of 24 March that year had formed a specially- picked personal bodyguard for the emperor and his palace which, despite its name - the "cent garde", or 100 guard - grew to 221 by 1859.
  2. ^ "Les Zouaves" - Co. A, 5th New York Volunteer Infantry
  3. ^ http://www.vichy-tourisme.com/gb/d-architecture.html

[edit] Sources

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