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- After the Revolution it was Napoléon Bonaparte, the First Consul and de facto sole ruler, who created a reward to commend civilians and soldiers that became the Légion d'Honneur, a body of men that was not an order of chivalry like the old nobility system, but an order of Merit.
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It was the wish of Napoleon Bonaparte, the First Consul, to create a reward to commend civilians and soldiers. From this wish was instituted a Légion d'honneur, [2] a body of men that was not an order of chivalry, for Napoleon believed that France wanted a recognition of merit rather than a new system of nobility.
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Legion of Honour, premier order of the French republic, created by Napoleon Bonaparte, then first consul, on May 19, 1802, as a general military and civil order of merit conferred without regard to birth or religion provided that anyone admitted swears to uphold liberty and equality.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Légion d'Honneur is currently the oldest existing order in France, since those of the Ancien Régime disappeared definitively in 1830 and no other imperial order survived events of 1815.
- Statues
- Uniforms
- Decorations
- Talking Up Bravery
- Individual Nicknames
- Unit Nicknames
- Highlighting The Potential in All Soldiers
A cult of great men and women was central to the propaganda of Napoleon’s government. This extended to all areas of life, from the government to the arts, with statues and memorials being raised to great men, and more rarely women. In a militarised nation, soldiers were among those who became central to the cult. Statues were raised to French heroe...
Napoleon wanted his best soldiers to stand out in life as well as in death. He encouraged his marshals, the men he held up as paragons of courage, to wear elaborate uniforms covered in gold brocade. He wanted them to be a symbol of inspiration to his men, the smartest and most courageous French soldiers standing out on the field of battle.
If Napoleon had only ever celebrated the success of leaders then he would have provided little inspiration to common fighting men, those whose courage mattered the most. But he took pride in celebrating their achievements too and making sure that their comrades saw this happen. He awarded decorations while visiting the men in camp. An officer was m...
Talk can be cheap, but when the emperor of a nation talks people listen, and Napoleon talked about courage a lot. When granting decorations, he would speak about how the recipient was “the bravest officer” or “the bravest soldier” in their unit. He said that any French soldier who survived the Battle of Austerlitz would be known as “a brave man”. T...
A medal was prestigious, a cash reward important to a soldier’s life. But sometimes the little things could make a difference, especially when they were little things that would crop up every day in a soldier’s life. Napoleon used nicknames to draw attention to the quality of soldiers, and not just those he interacted with regularly like his marsha...
Units, as well as individuals, could earn inspiring nicknames. Napoleon labelled his grenadiers as the Immortals. This was a nickname with a long history of heroism behind it. The Immortals were originally an ancient Persian unit described by the Greek historian Herodotus, and renowned as the elite of the Persian fighting forces. The Byzantines re-...
Napoleon made sure that the potential for courage, tenacity and fierce fighting in all of his men was acknowledged. He made a great public display of supporting the meritocratic ideals of the French revolution – that all men, however humble their origins, were capable of greatness. In military terms, this meant showing that he believed every man un...
The Légion d'honneur or Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour) is a French order established by Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul of the First Republic, on May 19, 1802.
After the abolition by the Revolution of the ancient orders of chivalry in the name of égalité, the Légion d'honneur (Legion of Honour), instituted on 29 Floréal, An X (19 May, 1802), was created as an honour of a completely different type.
It was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte as part of a reward system for good service and its inductees received the Legion's small white-enamelled cross, which hung on a red-silk ribbon, as a public show of gratitude.
