POLISH VOLTIGEURS 1810-1815

The Duchy of Warsaw was established under the provisions of the Treaty of Tilsit concluded in 1807 between Napoleon I Bonaparte and the Tsar of Russia Alexander I. Its constitution was truncated by Napoleon on July 22, 1807. The entire armed forces of the Duchy initially numbered approx. 30 thousand. people, but in 1812, on the eve of the Russian campaign, this number had reached approx. 100,000. soldiers. The minister of war, and later the commander-in-chief of these armed forces was Prince Józef Poniatowski - the nephew of Stanisław August Poniatowski. In numbers, the most important formation in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw was the infantry, which consisted of 17 regiments. The first 12 regiments were formed between 1806-1807, and the remaining five during the war with Austria in 1809. As in the Napoleonic army of France, the Polish infantry of that time was divided into grenadiers, voltchers, fusiliers and sappers. It is worth adding that the infantry of the Duchy of Warsaw did not have de facto uniform uniforms until 1810. It is worth noting that in the formations of fusiliers and voltairers a typically Polish military headgear was used - a horn.