Consular Guard


The Consular Guard, also known as the Guard of the Consuls, was a French elite military unit responsible for counterintelligence, maneuver warfare, support raiding operations, and the protection of the members of the Consulate, the executive government of France during the late First Republic. It was created by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799, after the Coup of 18 Brumaire, and renamed the Imperial Guard in 1804, when Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French.

Origins

The Consular Guard traced its origins to the various units in charge of the security of the legislative and executive bodies created during the French Revolution. The first of these units was a company of the Provost Guard of the Royal Household raised at the start of the Revolution in 1789 to provide security to the deputies of the National Assembly, which was renamed as the Guard of the National Assembly on 20 June 1789. A decree issued on 10 May 1791 changed its name to the National Gendarmerie, and another on 15 May renamed it as the Grenadier Gendarmes of the National Assembly. In 1792, the company became responsible for protecting the National Convention, and was commonly referred to as the Guards of the Convention.
On 26 October 1795, the National Convention was replaced by a bicameral legislature, and the unit was renamed as Guard of the Legislature, comprising 1,200 men selected by the French Directory. A Guard of the Directory was also raised that year. On 28 November 1799, eighteen days after seizing power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and establishing the Consulate, Bonaparte reorganized both units into the Consular Guard. The new formation also included Bonaparte's Corps of Guides, who had served under him since the Italian campaign of 1796–1797. Within the Consular Guard, the Guard of the Legislature became the Foot Grenadiers, while the Corps of Guides became the Mounted Chasseurs. On 2 December 1799, Bonaparte appointed Divisional-general Joachim Murat as commander-in-chief and inspector of the Consular Guard, with Chef de brigade Jean-Baptiste Bessières as second-in-command.

Composition and numbers

On its formation, the Consular Guard consisted of 2,089 men, including:
The Guard was expanded over the following years, with the creation of an Artillery Train Company on 14 July 1800, a Veterans Company on 28 June 1801, an Elite Gendarmerie on 31 July 1801, a Marine Battalion on 20 December 1803, and two corps of velites on 21 January 1804. The Guard's general staff was reorganized by decree on 14 November 1801; the posts of commander-in-chief and second-in-command were abolished and replaced by four general officers, each commanding one of the Guard's branches.
On 8 March 1802, a decree of the Consuls reorganized and expanded the Consular Guard. The total contingent was increased to 281 officers and 5,043 troopers, for a total 5,324 men. The decree reorganized the Guard as follows:
Unlike the Imperial Guard during the Napoleonic Wars, the Consular Guard only saw action on rare occasions, generally when the situation urgently demanded its intervention. It was thus deployed on 14 June 1800, at the Battle of Marengo, where, from the start of the battle, the disproportion of forces played against the First Consul. Bonaparte found himself engaged in combat after having ordered several divisions to scout. The Consular Guard assumed a square formation in the center of the French army and repelled the Austrian cavalry under General Peter Ott. Numbering 800 against several thousand Austrians, the Guard resisted for five hours, giving time for General Louis Desaix's troops to arrive on the battlefield. It only withdrew after five hours of combat and was reduced to 200 men. The Battle of Marengo was Bonaparte's first victory as head of state, and his Consular Guard, which he spoke of as a "fortress of granite", had covered itself with glory.