TRANSFORMING A PIEDMONTESE NIZZA CAVALRY INTO AUSTRIAN (HUNGARIAN) RADETZKY HUSSAR

 I have to admit, I consider my Piedmontese Cavalry as my best papersoldier ever done. They really look super in their fighting pose. So I decided to use this Piedmontese unit as sample to make an Austrian (Hungarian) Hussar of the 5th Regiment Radetzky that took part (a little to be sincere) in the Battle of Santa Lucia.

I was curious indeed  to check the possibilities of this sample as base for future units on horse.

Nizza Cavalleria - Sergeant

(Copyright Michele L. Savasta Fiore)

et voila! trasformed in Austrian ... sorry Piedmont!

Hussar Radetzky Regiment nr 5

(Copyright Michele L. Savasta Fiore)

Hussar Radetzky Regiment nr 5

(Copyright Michele L. Savasta Fiore)

For the uniforms of this very colourful unit I used the sample of the book "The Honvéd Army 1848-1849 -  A Honvédsereg 1848 - 1849 by Gyozo Somogyi, oublished by A Millenium in the Military" (just for your knowledge "Honvéd" means in Hungarian - language that I speak and I love very much Hon = Homeland (Heimat) and véd (litteraly "it defends" from the verb vedélni = to defend, so the "Defense of Homeland")

It is important to note that the 5th Hussar Regiment (included in the Hungarian Army of the Austrian Empire) remained loyal (together with just another one Hussar Regiment) to the Habsbourg Dinasty during the "Szabadsàgharc" (it means the "Fight for liberty", i.e. the Hungarian War in 1848-1849).

It is a very detailled book and a must for everyone that loves the Szabadsagharc. For this I do reccomend by the way to buy the version in Hungarian with all the needed informations on the units. The English version is just with little text. I am not crazy for the proportion of the hussar on horse but nonetheless this book is really very beautiful. 

Having in mind this uniforms I found not correct the shako as I did in my previous plate. In fact the shako until 1845 was identical to the Napoleonic period. After that date it became almost cylindrical. Here the plate with modified shako

(Copyright Michele L. Savasta Fiore)

(Copyright Michele L. Savasta Fiore)