Hello everyone,
one of the most famous (military) historical periods is the Napoleonic Wars. Napoléon Bonaparte, who gained control of the republic and turned it into a glorious empire, gave his name to this period as it started and ended with him. Although there had already been campaigns in Italy, the Netherlands, Egypt, etc. Napoléon was truly considered to be a powerful strategian and enemy at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Here he crushed the united army of Austria and Russia. The conflicts kept on raging throught Europe, going from hot Spain to the freezing Russian winters. Eventually, the returned emperor (he had been banned to the island of Elba) gathered his forces to attack during the Hundred days campaign in Belgium. There, the 'grande armée' found its demise at the hands of an allied army consisting of many different states and countries at the battle of Waterloo on the 18th of July 1815. The emperor died in exile on the island of St. Hélène in 1821.
In this thread, I'll be posting various Napoleonic troops, both French and... non-French.
Sadly though, Playmobil hasn't really produced much of the specific headgear of this period such as various type of shakos (with the exception of the Redcoat shako and the Victorian one.) but I'll try to give it a shot!
Up first is a French cuirassier (curassier) from 1812-1815:
The French cuirassiers were feared and respected amongst foes. Their name comes from their steel armour, a curass, which was worn in combination with the helmet. The armarment consisted of a meter long straight sabre (much longer than the enemy's) and either pistols or carbines. The carbine, a shorter model of the infantry musket, which issued in 1812. It wasn't very accepted by the troops though, and many still used their old pistols until the end of the wars. Inspections at the time also showed that a lot of cuirassiers didn't carry their ammo pouches. They would carry a few cartouches in their pockets since they didn't need them that much. A fully armoured cuirassier weighed in at approx 150 kg, allowing only the strongest of horses to be used. These horses could endure a brief charge, but needed to rest afterwards to regain their strength again.
Cuirassiers were selected on height and experience, using the tallest men on the tallest horses. The cuirassiers served as shocktroops, and charged right into enemy lines, using their weight to their advantage.
CHARGEZ!
construction of the helmet:
I used the Roman helmet, yellow crest, a black LEGO minifig hand, a black cuff at the end and black feathers.
When I have new customs, I'll update this thread, thanks for looking!
