The Bourbon Army, 1815–1830
Richard Holroyd
In: Warfare in Europe 1815-1914
ed. by Peter H Wilson
Ashgate, 2006

On 23 March 1815 Louis XVIII disbanded the French army. In June Napoleon lost Waterloo and abdicated, and the Bourbons returned to Paris to complete the destruction of the army. It had proved itself loyal only to Napoleon and over half of the 70,000 men of Davout’s command preferred desertion to the white cockade. The country at large was hostile and in the royalist south returning officers were arrested and several were killed. In August the King published an ordinance ‘concerning the organization of a new army’. The army was ‘to be formed according to the principles which constitute a truly national army to form a military force in harmony with the liberal nature of our charter … avoiding the separation of the army from the interests of the country’. It was not an easy task. Financial circumstances placed limitations on size, the Charter forbade conscription, the allies wanted reprisals and the royalists claimed rewards for their loyal service.

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