The Kingdom of Italy

The army of the Kingdom of Italy was generally regarded as being the best Italian army of the period. Napoleon, ruling as King of Italy but directing matters through his step-son Eugene as Viceroy, took particular care with regards to the creation of the army and unsurprisingly it followed the French model very closely - organisation, conscription, training and equipment were all essentially identical; uniforms and flags were also of identical design, though colours were green, red and white. The Kingdom was declared in 1805 by converting the republics that revolutionary France had created and inherited their armies:

• The Royal Guard - 1 Grenadier Battalion, 1 Cacciatori battalion, a small dragoon regiment and a horse artillery battery.

• 2 light infantry regiments

• 5 line infantry regiments

• 1 Polish infantry regiment

• Battalion of Bersaglieri di Brescia - sharpshooters recruited from the mountains

• 2 dragoon regiments (converted from 2 very flashy hussar units)

• 1 Cacciatori a cavallo regiment

• 1 foot artillery regiment (13 batteries)

• 1 horse artillery regiment (6 batteries)

• Sapper battalion

• A national guard, including departmental reserve companies, and a gendarmerie were also built on the French model

These units had been in existence for several years and were regarded very highly - Eugene thought his Italian infantry on par with the French and the two dragoon regiments were regarded as excellent, though a lack of horses (and men with experience handling them) hampered the cavalry and artillery. The Royal Guard was built up slowly from picked men and remained a high quality corps unlike the larger and flashier units in other Napoleonic satellite states.

Seeking to more closely tie the local elites to the Kingdom 4 (later 5) companies of heavy cavalry Honour Guards and 12 infantry companies of Velites were recruited form aristocratic youths as junior members of the Royal Guard. Several regiments also received new titles - the Cacciatori a Cavallo became the "Royal Italian" and the Dragoons became the "Napoleone" and "Regina" regiments (the identity of the Queen in question is somewhat vague - Jospehine was never crowned Queen of Italy and Eugene's wife was the vice-reine).

Increasing demand for troops in Spain and the Poland campaign led to an expansion of the army, however the increasing demands for men meant that massive avoidance of conscription became an issue and the quality of units began to suffer:

• The 6th Line Infantry was raised in 1808 from deserters and draft-dodgers, following similar units raised by France. A Colonial battalion (later a regiment) was created for especially recalcitrant men and was used to garrison Elba.

• The 7th Line infantry was raised from the remnants of the army of the Papal States after it was annexed. The Papal cavalry was spread amongst the Cacciatori regiments.

• The 2nd Cacciatori a Cavallo was created from a provisional cavalry regiment sent to Spain that had been formed from the depots squadrons of the other cavalry regiments.

• The 3rd and 4th Cacciatori were raised in 1810 from cadres of the other cavalry regiments

• A garrison battalion for Venice (later a regiment) as local troops were seen as more suited to local conditions - the surrounding marshes meant outsiders suffered from disease. Milan also received a guard battalion.

• The 3rd Light Infantry was raised by converting the Bersaglieri di Brescia, later absorbing the battalion of Istrian Chasseurs - a somewhat unreliable unit that had been raised to garrison that peninsula. The 4th Light Infantry was created in 1810

• The Polish regiment passed into French service, but a light infantry regiment was recruited from the Dalmatian coast of modern day Croatia.

• A regiment of Guard Conscripts was crated, on the model of the French Young Guard, and a battery of foot artillery added to the guard.

• The number of battalions in each regiment was also increased, following the French model

The Austrian invasion of 1809 caught the Kingdom with most of its army engaged in Spain. The inexperienced Eugene initially reacted poorly and his army was beaten at Sacile, however the arrival of French reinforcements and with the French General MacDonald to guide him Eugene retrieved the situation and defeated the Austrians at Piave. He pursued them into Hungary and reunited with Napoleon in time for Wagram, where the Italians acquitted themselves well. The army of Italy formed IV Corps during the invasion of Russia, led by Eugene. This included the Royal Guard division, an infantry division (1st, 2nd and 3rd Light regiments, 3rd Line and Royal Dalmatian), a cavalry brigade (2nd and 3rd Chasseurs, Regina Dragoons) plus artillery and engineers along with 2 French divisions. Eugene commanded well and the Italians were well regarded for their service - their conduct at Malojaroslavets being particularly singled out. Only 2,000 men returned from Russia, a quarter of them being from the Royal Guard. Italy was now in a precarious position especially after most of the remaining units in the Kingdom were dispatched to Germany in 1813. 3 new infantry regiments were formed from conscripts and the departmental reserve companies but the Italian units were becoming increasingly unreliable. Faced with an Austrian invasion and the Kingdom of Naples switching sides Eugene fought a skillful defensive campaign, but the Italian units (excepting the Guard and cavalry) were so unreliable they were useful only as garrison troops. Eugene surrendered undefeated after Napoleon fell, refusing an allied offer of a throne if he changed sides - the Italian Royal burnt their flags rather than handing them over.

Principality of Lucca and Piombino

The tiny Principality, ruled by Napoleon's sister Elisa, had its own small army built along French lines. The new state inherited an infantry battalion in September 1805, which was renamed the Cacciatori Lucchesi and reorganised with 1 carabinier and 4 cacciatori companies, a batter of artillery a corps of invalids and a small Swiss guard of 50 men. The battalion was quickly reduced to a single company which became a guard unit, eventually forming a second company of grenadiers before being combined and reduced in 1810. A company of veterans was quickly set-up to incorporate physically fit men form the invalids and was united with the Swiss to from a stabilising force in the new state. Napoleon's need to defend Elba meant that he requested a full-strength battalion to guard the coast. A new "Principe Felice" light infantry battalion (after Elisa's husband) was formed and filled out with mainly Corsican recruits. An engineer company was later added to the battalion and the elite carabinier company was converted to an artillery company. The battalion was noted as having a large amount of officers, mainly of foreign origin. A militia of 16 regiments was created, with several companies being activated at various times to guard cities - a permanent Cacciatori Company of the City of Lucca was created in 1807 to guard the capital. A plan to create an infantry regiment by conscription in 1813 to send to the Italian army failed due to unpopularity of conscription.

Napoleon also recruited several units within the French Imperial Guard to try and improve the quality of local Italian officers. The "Velites of Florence and Turin" was a battalion sized unit recruited from the young nobility around a cadre from the Imperial Guard with the promise of passing into the army as sergeants after 2 years service. They saw hard service in 1813 and 14. Similarly there were 2 Guard of Honour cavalry companies who went into Russia and were absorbed by the French Guards of Honour in 1813.