THE ARMY OF THE KINGDOM OF WESTPHALIA 1807-1813

1-197170

Another terrific, well-illustrated book from Partizan Press.

The Kingdom of Westphalia lasted for just over six years and was one of the countries that Napoleon formed so as to make up a 'cordon sanitaire' to the east of France. It was created from areas that had a tradition of fighting on the English or Prussian side in war and would therefore not necessarily take to changing sides. Napoleon placed his brother Jerome on the throne and recommended that French personnel be used in key positions to counter this. However Jerome attempted to trust his subjects and succeeded to some degree. After a shaky start, the Kingdom produced some troops with good fighting spirit and was amongst the best of the German client armies. It was only really let down when the regiments simply dissolved when the Allies over-ran the country, but this is very understandable.

The Army was not large, consisting of, at most, nine infantry and six cavalry regiments, four light infantry battalions, six artillery companies, and a Royal Guard. It was used to form the complete VIII Corps of the Grande Armee in 1812. Jerome was a bit of a dandy and loved to create 'showy' uniforms and so some of the uniforms described in this book are very elaborate and some of the nicest from the period.