From the 1st to the 8th regiment, 1804-1812

Officers and Solders. French Hussars, 1786-1815

Volume 2. From the 1st to the 8th regiment, 1804-1812

Just over a century separates the creation of the first Hussar unit and this study. The first royal Hussars regiment was formed in Strasburg in 1693, after the good behaviour of « these Hungarian deserters » whom the Maréchal of Luxemburg used to give the rear of the enemy troops a hard time. Disbanded in 1697, the regiment was reformed four years later. It was offered by the Elector of Bavaria to Louis XIV and took the name of Saint-Genies Hussars in 1707,

In the same way as the other cavalry corps of the Ancien Régime, the Hussars survived the Revolution, the Directoire and the Consulate without their uniforms changing substantially.

During the Empire, fashion changed and the look of the horseman evolved. The dolman and the pelisse became shorter, raising the Hussar's waist.