Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard

The Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard (French: Mamelouks de la Garde impériale) were a light cavalry unit of Egyptian origin that served in Napoleon’s Imperial Guard from 1801 to 1815. It was the third cavalry formation integrated into the Guard and its first foreign component. Initially recruited during the Egyptian campaign, the Mamelukes were repatriated with the French troops to metropolitan France where they were organized into a squadron, later reduced to a simple company. The various spellings of the squadron's name include Mamelukes, Mamluks, Mamelouks and Mameloucks.

During the First French Empire, the Mamelukes were attached to the regiment of mounted chasseurs of the Imperial Guard. Their first major engagement took place during the Battle of Austerlitz, where they contributed to the rout of the cavalry of the Russian Imperial Guard. After distinguishing itself several times in Poland, the company left for Spain in 1808 and took an active part in the suppression of the Dos de Mayo Uprising, during which fierce fighting pitted the Mamelukes against insurgents in the streets of Madrid. Still attached to the mounted chasseurs, the unit took part in the Austrian campaign of 1809, then in the Russian campaign of 1812. The following year, having become the 10th Chasseur Squadron, the Mamelukes distinguished themselves at Reichenbach, Hanau and in the French campaign of 1814.

After Napoleon's first abdication, a few Mamelukes accompanied the deposed Emperor to the island of Elba, while most of the unit's personnel joined the Bourbon Restoration's Royal Corps of Chasseurs of France. The squadron was re-established during the Hundred Days and was present at Waterloo alongside the mounted chasseurs of the Guard. On the king's return, the so-called "true" Mamelukes were finally sent back to the Marseille depot: many of them were murdered there in a massacre during the White Terror of 1815. In 1830, a handful of survivors accompanied the French troops at the start of the conquest of Algeria as interpreters.