Armée des Émigrés

The Armée des Émigrés (English: Army of the Émigrés) were counter-revolutionary armies raised by French royalist émigrés with the aim of overthrowing the French First Republic and restoring the Kingdom of France. These were aided by royalist forces within France, such as the Chouans, and by allied countries such as Great Britain and Spain. They fought in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars, but were ultimately unable to challenge the French Revolutionary Army.

They were formed from:

• Volunteers from the French nobility, either descendants of the royal family, and other refugees who had fled France
• Troops raised by the refugees through covert subsidies from other European monarchies, or through their own means
• Units of the French Royal Army which had also emigrated, such as the Saxe Hussar Regiment and the Irish Brigade

In 1802, First Consul Napoleon decreed a general amnesty for all remaining French émigrés, though he excluded approximately 1,000 people who had served as officers in the Armée des Émigrés or European armies at war with the French Republic. Napoleon once said of the Armée des Émigrés that "True, they are paid by our enemies, but they were or should have been bound to the cause of their King. France gave death to their action, and tears to their courage. All devotion is heroic".