Austrian Army Regimental Names

[Prince of Essling]

First thread now consolidates the info provided by Didz (though I have not included all of his expanded background) & myself.

[Heiro de Bodemloze]

Er, shouldnt the 47th Infantry Regiment be the Czech Regiment? sorry if I am stupid but in the game it`s 47th Czech Regiment.

[Prince of Essling]

Er, shouldnt the 47th Infantry Regiment be the Czech Regiment? sorry if I am stupid but in the game it`s 47th Czech Regiment.

You will see "German - Bohemia" in the table in the first post of this thread. The unit wears the
German style of uniform & Bohemia (part the old Czechoslovakia) was it recruiting area. Regiments were named after their Inhaber (i.e. Colonel in Chief) not their ethnicity.

[Didz]

Er, shouldnt the 47th Infantry Regiment be the Czech Regiment? sorry if I am stupid but in the game it`s 47th Czech Regiment.

Infantry Regiment Nr47 was Regiment Graf F. Kinsky. It was a German Regiment with Steel Green facings, and white metal buttons based in Bohemia.

There were no Czech regiments in the Austrian army of the period as Czechoslovakia didn't exist at the time. However, it is possible that IR Nr47 may have contained a larger than usual number of ethnic Czech's in its establishment, although there is no way of knowing for sure as the Austrian's never distinquished them as a distinct ethnic group.

Unfortunately, a lot of the units in the game are incorrectly named, and uniformed particularly the Elite Units which have been tailored to appeal to specific player groups.

The current Czech Repulblic traces its historical origins back to the Kingdom of Bohemia which can trace its origins back to the 11th and 12th Century. However, in reality the Kingdom of Bohemia was a fuedal state and covered a much larger area than the region of Bohemia established by the Austrian Empire.

[Heiro de Bodemloze]

Prince of Essling,
you really know this stuff Austrian, Russian and Prussian Regiments!! You must have a lot of spare time . Could you please do one on the French too. Please.

[Prince of Essling]

Prince of Essling,
you really know this stuff Austrian, Russian and Prussian Regiments!! You must have a lot of spare time . Could you please do one on the French too. Please.

HeirofAlexander

Many thanks.

Your request is noted. But the French list will not be as exiciting as mainly regimental numbers..... but happy to produce such a list once I complete the Russians. Am still trying to decide how to present 1812 & whether to roll the work on to the 1813-15 period.

I just have a very good selection of books & websites to refer to, as well as having read an awful lot on the Napoleonic Wars over the years! (My wife would probably say too much....)

[Prince of Essling]

Expanded Insurrection section (using info from Hollins "Austrian Auxiliary Troops 1792-1816")

Insurrection Troops

1800

Hungarian Insurrection
Infantry:
Above the Danube: Pest (Pesther); Bacs; Trencsin; Hont/Gran; Neograd; Pressburg; 1st Neutra; 2nd Neutra; Thuroczar/Zala (Szala);
Below the Danube: Odenburg/Raab/Weiselburg; Vesprim (Wesprimer)/Komorn (Comorner); Weissenburg; Szalad; Sϋmegh;
Above the Thiess: Borsod/Unghvar; Abaujvar/Zips; Hewes/Gömor;
Below the Theiss: 1st Bihar, 2nd Bihar; Arad/Bekes; Temess/Torontal; Krasso-Svency;

Hussar Regiments:
Above the Danube: Pest (Pesther); Pressburg; Gran;
Below the Danube: Eisenburg; Weissenburg; Stuhl; Sϋmegh (1 squadron);
Above the Thiess: Jazygiec; Kumanier & Hayduck (became 12th Palatinal Hussars in 1802); Zemplin; Borsod/Szongrad;
Below the Theiss: Szathumar; Bihar (includes Arad/Krasso-Svency); Bekess/Szongrad;

Croatian Insurrection
Personal (Nobles); Portal (massed levy); Banderial (bands led by wealthy nobles)
Infantry:
Agram/Warasdin/Kreuz; Poserga/Syrmien; Banderial of Agram/Kreutz;
Hussars:
Banderial of Agram/Kreutz; Agram/Warasdin/Syrmien;


1805

Insurrection failed to muster (infantry battalions of 700 to 900 men, Hussar regiments 1,150 to 1,260men)
Hungarian Insurrection
Infantry:
Above the Danube: Pressburg; 1st Neutra; 2nd Neutra; 1st Trencsin; 2nd Trencsin; Bars; Arva; Sohl; Gran; Neograd; Pest (Pesther); Ofen; Bacs;
Below the Danube: Weiselburg; 1st eisenburg; 2nd Eisenburg; Szalad; Vesprim (Wesprimer); Komorn (Comorner); Weissenburg; Tolna; Baranya; Sϋmegh;
Above the Thiess: Heves; Gömor; Borsod; Zips; Saros; Zemplin;
Below the Theiss: Szatmar; Szalolcs; Bihar; Bekes; Csongrad; Arad; Torontal; Krassova;

Hussar Regiments:
Above the Danube: Pest (Pesther); Pressburg; Trencsin;
Below the Danube: Eisenburg; Baranya; Szalad;
Above the Thiess: Zemplin; Zips;
Below the Theiss: Bihar; Temes;

May 1809


Hungarian Insurrection
Infantry –
Above the Danube: Pressburg; Pest (Pesther); Neutra; Neograd;
Below the Danube: 1st Eisenburg; 2nd Eisenburg; 1st Komorn (Comorner); 2nd Komorn; Zala (Szala); Vesprim (Wesprimer); Stuhl Weissenburg;
Above the Thiess: Heve; Borsod; Gömor; Zemplin; Abaujvar;
Below the Theiss: 1st Szatmar; 2nd Szatmar (3 companies); Mararos; Bihar (3 companies);

Hussar Regiments
Above the Danube: Pest (Pesther); Bars; Neograd; Pressburg;
Below the Danube: Sϋmegh; Vesprim (Wesprimer); Zala (Szala); Eisenburg; Odenberg (2 squadrons);
Above the Thiess: Heve; Zemplin;
Below the Theiss: Szabolacs; Bihar; Torontal; Szatamar; Arad;

Croatian Insurrection
10 battalions - Banderial (2 battalions – 1,644 men); Personal (2 battalions – 1,042 men); Portal (? Battalions – 10,000 men); Littoral (?battalions – 2,450 men)
12 squadrons - Banderial Hussars (601 men); Portal (866 men); Personal (182 men); Volunteers (162 men);

Slavonian Insurrection
5 battalions - totalling5,000 troops.

Siebernberg Insurrection
4 infantry regiments – 7,000 men
1 Hussar regiment – 1,000 men

[l'Ajudant]

Hi Prince of Essling. Very comprehensive post on the Austrian Army. I have a problem, though, regarding the Infantry Regiment ‘Graf Bellegarde’ which you give as Nr. 45. Did the numbers change from time to time? I'm doing major research on la Legion irlandaise (Regiment irlandais, 3e Regiment etranger (irlandais) etc. One officer served in Bellegarde before returning to France in 1806 and gives the number as 44. In addition, his commander, in a testimonial, also gives 44. The documents are in the archives at Service historique de la Defense (ShD), Vincennes. I have jpegs.
My research has identified more then 300 officers of the IL, of 19 nationalities, and I have dossiers on most of them, from ShD and Archives nationales de France (AnF), the Irish National Archives (INA) in Dublin and several archives around France. I am writing up the biographies of these officers. I occasionally come across a problem such as this one.
Though I have amassed a great deal of information, I would be interested in anything any members of this forum come across. I have digitized 20k documents (jpegs) and have transcribed and translated many. I have also published several articles and have several forthcoming.

[Prince of Essling]

Hi Prince of Essling. Very comprehensive post on the Austrian Army. I have a problem, though, regarding the Infantry Regiment ‘Graf Bellegarde’ which you give as Nr. 45. Did the numbers change from time to time? I'm doing major research on la Legion irlandaise (Regiment irlandais, 3e Regiment etranger (irlandais) etc. One officer served in Bellegarde before returning to France in 1806 and gives the number as 44. In addition, his commander, in a testimonial, also gives 44. The documents are in the archives at Service historique de la Defense (ShD), Vincennes. I have jpegs.
My research has identified more then 300 officers of the IL, of 19 nationalities, and I have dossiers on most of them, from ShD and Archives nationales de France (AnF), the Irish National Archives (INA) in Dublin and several archives around France. I am writing up the biographies of these officers. I occasionally come across a problem such as this one.
Though I have amassed a great deal of information, I would be interested in anything any members of this forum come across. I have digitized 20k documents (jpegs) and have transcribed and translated many. I have also published several articles and have several forthcoming.

Many thanks, l'Adjutant, for this - + Rep for noticing my non-deliberate typo! You will note the bold entry says no. 44, but the last entry says No.45, when as you point out it should say 44 Will correct asap.

On Legion Irlandaise - have you looked at the 2 volume work "Histoire des Troupes étrangères au service de France depuis leur origine jusqu'à nos jours et de tous les leves dans les pays Regiment conquis sous la Première République et le'Empire" by Eugene Fieffe which of course covers all the Foreign troops? It is downloadable from Googlebooks & has some very nice plates.
Also have you seen this review http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/military/c_irishlegion.html about John G Gallaher "Napoleon's Irish Legion" &http://www.napoleonicassociation.org...h%20Legion.pdf which is a good article by Captain Frank Foorde on the Legion.

[hazan55]

Please disregard

[ordoprinceps]

Regiments were named after their Inhaber (i.e. Colonel in Chief) not their ethnicity.[/QUOTE]

Thanks POE thats excellent info, the game would lead you to belive otherwise. This is good to know.

[ordoprinceps]

Infantry Regiment Nr47 was Regiment Graf F. Kinsky. It was a German Regiment with Steel Green facings, and white metal buttons based in Bohemia.

There were no Czech regiments in the Austrian army of the period as Czechoslovakia didn't exist at the time. However, it is possible that IR Nr47 may have contained a larger than usual number of ethnic Czech's in its establishment, although there is no way of knowing for sure as the Austrian's never distinquished them as a distinct ethnic group.

Unfortunately, a lot of the units in the game are incorrectly named, and uniformed particularly the Elite Units which have been tailored to appeal to specific player groups.

The current Czech Repulblic traces its historical origins back to the Kingdom of Bohemia which can trace its origins back to the 11th and 12th Century. However, in reality the Kingdom of Bohemia was a fuedal state and covered a much larger area than the region of Bohemia established by the Austrian Empire.

So the game designers should have called Nr47, but I think it was good marketing for them to say Czech. Few people I have ever met like or know history including that of their own countries. Personally I love history! So the game designers could have compromised and called it a Bohemian rather than Czech regiment. Czechoslovakia was an artificial country created by the Versailles Treaty, as part of the breaking up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; certainly it did not exist in the Napoleonic era. There are those today who may not even remember (because of their ages) that there was a Czechoslovakia, but think there was always a Czech Republic and a Slovak republic
Thanks again for pointing out historical accuracy POE.

[ordoprinceps]

Prince of Essling,
you really know this stuff Austrian, Russian and Prussian Regiments!! You must have a lot of spare time . Could you please do one on the French too. Please.

Yes POE does... We can rely on his info. I wish more people would show their appreciation by giving him +Rep for his hard work. Rep shouldn't only go to modders

[Steph]

The French régiments were mostly numbered, with a few having some "nicknames", so I think making a full list like for the other factions (Prussia, Austria, Russia, England) for which all régiments had a name would not be very productice I think.

[Didz]

The French régiments were mostly numbered, with a few having some "nicknames", so I think making a full list like for the other factions (Prussia, Austria, Russia, England) for which all régiments had a name would not be very productice I think.

French regiments were deliberately depersonalized by the revolutionary goverment. The old Bourbon regiments were stripped of their identities and merged with new conscript battalions to form demi-brigades which deliberately tried to disquise their original hisotrical lineage. Foriegn regiments were particularly distrusted as many had fought loyaly for the King during the rebellion, and they were deliberately disbanded and reformed using large influxes of native french conscripts, who complained bitterly that the old coloured jackets they were issued with still got them pelted with rotten fruit in the streets by citizens who assumed they were German.

By the time Napoleon took charge of the French Army very little vestige of the proud regiments of the Bourbon army still existed, and the new regiments were merely numbered sequentially.

So, for example the 1er Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne was formed in 1803, from the former 1er Demi-Brigade d'Infanterie de Ligne, which in turn was formed around a cadre from the Picardie Regiment in 1790. In 1814 it briefly became the Regiment du Roi, during the restoration, before reverting to it's former name after Napoleons return from exile.

As Steph said above some regiments tried to add a bit more spice by adopting nicknames, but I've yet to see a definitive list and they seem to vary over time.

I'm pretty sure PoE has already posted an extensive history of French Army regiments on this forum.

[Prince of Essling]

French regiments were deliberately depersonalized by the revolutionary goverment. The old Bourbon regiments were stripped of their identities and merged with new conscript battalions to form demi-brigades which deliberately tried to disquise their original hisotrical lineage. Foriegn regiments were particularly distrusted as many had fought loyaly for the King during the rebellion, and they were deliberately disbanded and reformed using large influxes of native french conscripts, who complained bitterly that the old coloured jackets they were issued with still got them pelted with rotten fruit in the streets by citizens who assumed they were German.

By the time Napoleon took charge of the French Army very little vestige of the proud regiments of the Bourbon army still existed, and the new regiments were merely numbered sequentially.

So, for example the 1er Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne was formed in 1803, from the former 1er Demi-Brigade d'Infanterie de Ligne, which in turn was formed around a cadre from the Picardie Regiment in 1790. In 1814 it briefly became the Regiment du Roi, during the restoration, before reverting to it's former name after Napoleons return from exile.

As Steph said above some regiments tried to add a bit more spice by adopting nicknames, but I've yet to see a definitive list and they seem to vary over time.

I'm pretty sure PoE has already posted an extensive history of French Army regiments on this forum.

Indeed for listing of French units see http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=408864

[ordoprinceps]

This is excellent!

Everything P of E does is excellent, you should Rep him, I already did.

[ordoprinceps]

P of E,
Fabulous work as always. It is major labor to try to find some of this material. My hats off to you.
I have a question since you are the sites leading historical expert. My question isn't directly about the Napoleonic era, but it leads back to it. I have been trying in vain to find any depiction of the original Hussars from the Black Army of Hungary. The first Hussar regiments were created in 1458 by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary as part of the famous “Black Army of Hungary”. They were a well trained professional army that conquered parts of Austria (Vienna) and defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Breadfield. Like the later Austrian army the Black Army included many ethnic groups not just Hungarians.

Do you have any ideas on where I can look? I am looking because I think that the Prussian 5th Hussars as well as the French Hussard de la mort (formed in 1792) may have been attempting to follow the Hungarian style uniform. What do you think?
Reference "Mátyás király idegen zsoldos serege" [King Matthias' multinational mercenary army]. matyaseve.hu (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Municipality of Budavár. 2008.

[Prince of Essling]

P of E,
Fabulous work as always. It is major labor to try to find some of this material. My hats off to you.
I have a question since you are the sites leading historical expert. My question isn't directly about the Napoleonic era, but it leads back to it. I have been trying in vain to find any depiction of the original Hussars from the Black Army of Hungary. The first Hussar regiments were created in 1458 by King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary as part of the famous “Black Army of Hungary”. They were a well trained professional army that conquered parts of Austria (Vienna) and defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Breadfield. Like the later Austrian army the Black Army included many ethnic groups not just Hungarians.

Do you have any ideas on where I can look? I am looking because I think that the Prussian 5th Hussars as well as the French Hussard de la mort (formed in 1792) may have been attempting to follow the Hungarian style uniform. What do you think?
Reference "Mátyás király idegen zsoldos serege" [King Matthias' multinational mercenary army]. matyaseve.hu (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Municipality of Budavár. 2008.

As to the Hungarians you might want to have a look at "Magyar Uniformsok - A Honfoglalastol Napjainkig" by Sagvari Gyorgy which covers Hungarian Uniforms from the early days to 1990. There doesn't appear to be a picture of uniforms circa 1458 though there is a later painting which may attempt to depict the uniform. They are certainly not dressed flamboyantly.

In another book "Magyar Hadizaszlok" by Sagvari Gyorgy which covers Hungarian flags there are 2 pictures of Hussars circa 1550 which shows them with large funny shaped shields - unfortunately it is not possible to discern the full uniform!

Copies of the pictures attached.

But I am sure there are others who are better placed to answer your query.

[Dracula]

1814-1825: Infantry Regiment ‘Kaiser von Russland’ Nr. 2

Infantry Regiment Nr. 4 (German - Lower Austria)
1792-1804: Infantry Regiment ‘Deutschmeister’ Nr. 4
1804-1814: Infantry Regiment ‘Deutschmeister’ Nr. 4
1814-1835: Infantry Regiment ‘Hoch und Deutschmeister’ Nr. 4

I wonder whom "Keiser von Russland" designates ?! The Tsar at the time or an austrian pretender ? Also what are the two "deutschmeister" regiments translated as ? Otherwise very fresh, especially with a Bourbon Legion pour la France.