THE EMPEROR'S ITALIANS — The Armies of the Italian Peninsula 1800–1815

The Italian Royal Guard from the outset of the century forms the nucleus around which the army of the Kingdom of Italy was built. It took part in the great campaigns of the Empire. The uniforms of the transalpine troops often recall those worn by their French brothers-in-arms.

The army of the Kingdom of Naples, from 1806 to 1815, commanded successively by Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, is heir to a military tradition forged by the Bourbons. The Neapolitan army, numerous but unreliable, was tasked alongside the French with defending southern Italy against the Bourbons and the British — which did not prevent it from being mobilised alongside the French in Spain or as divisions within the Grande Armée during the Russian campaign.

This work is entirely new to France. The approximately 120 plates drawn by André Jouineau and annotated by Jean-Marie Mongin present, principally, the infantry, cavalry and specialist troops of the armies of the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Naples, and the most representative of the Guards of the major cities of the Peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century.

Practical, compact, precise, clear, logical and visual, this genuine vade mecum for enthusiasts of a lesser-known chapter of imperial history is aimed equally at history buffs of the period and figure painters.