Editing Freikorps (section)

== Napoleonic era ==
 [[File:Kersting - Vorposten.jpg|thumb|upright|Painting of three famous Free Corps members in 1815: [[Heinrich Hartmann]], [[Theodor Körner (author)|Theodor Körner]], and [[Friedrich Friesen]]]]{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
During Napoleon's 1812 [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]], the hussar [[Denis Davydov]], a [[war poet|warrior-poet]], formed volunteer partisan detachments functioning as ''Freikorps'' during the French [[retreat from Moscow]]. These irregular units operated in conjunction with Field Marshal [[Mikhail Kutuzov]]'s regular [[Russian Imperial Army]] and Ataman [[Matvei Platov]]'s [[Cossacks|Cossack]] detachments, harassing the French supply lines and inflicting defeats on the retreating [[Grande Armée]] in the battles of [[Battle of Krasnoi|Krasnoi]] and the [[Battle of Berezina|Berezina]].

{{lang|de|Freikorps}} in the modern sense emerged in Germany during the course of the Napoleonic Wars. They fought not so much for money but for patriotic reasons, seeking to shake off the French [[Confederation of the Rhine]]. After the French under Emperor [[Napoleon]] had either conquered the German states or forced them to collaborate, remnants of the defeated armies continued to fight on in this fashion. Famous formations included the [[King's German Legion]], who had fought for Britain in [[Kingdom of Spain under Joseph Bonaparte|French-occupied Spain]] and mainly were recruited from Hanoverians, the [[Lützow Free Corps]] and the [[Black Brunswickers]].

The {{lang|de|Freikorps}} attracted many nationally disposed citizens and students. {{lang|de|Freikorps}} commanders such as [[Ferdinand von Schill]], [[Ludwig Adolf Wilhelm von Lützow]] or [[Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]], known as the "Black Duke", led their own attacks on Napoleonic occupation forces in Germany. Those led by Schill were decimated in the [[Battle of Stralsund (1809)]]; many were killed in battle or executed at Napoleon's command in the aftermath. The {{lang|de|Freikorps}} were very popular during the period of the [[German War of Liberation]] (1813–15), during which von Lützow, a survivor of Schill's {{lang|de|Freikorps}}, formed his Lützow Free Corps. The anti-Napoleonic Freikorps frequently conducted operations behind French lines, functioning as a form of commando or guerrilla force.

Throughout the 19th century, these anti-Napoleonic {{lang|de|Freikorps}} were greatly praised and glorified by German nationalists, and a heroic myth built up around their exploits. This myth was invoked, in considerably different circumstances, in the aftermath of Germany's defeat in [[World War I]], then misused by the [[Nazi Germany|The Third Reich]].

France later raised its own free corps. On 5 January 1814, at the start of the invasion of France, Napoleon decreed the formation of ''corps francs'' for territorial defense in the border departments.<ref name=CorpsFrancs>{{cite book|lang=fr|first1=Jean-Marie|last1=Thiébaud|first2=Gérard|last2=Tissot-Robbe|title=Les Corps francs de 1814 et 1815 - La double agonie de l'Empire - Les combattants de l'impossible|date=July 2011 |publisher=SPM|location=Paris|isbn=978-2-901952-82-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-Iv12eS-WUC}}</ref> They were dissolved by an ordinance of [[Louis XVIII]] on 15 April 1814.<ref name=CorpsFrancs/> The ''corps francs'' were restored on 22 April 1815, following Napoleon's return to power, and participated in the defense of France during the [[Hundred Days]].<ref name=CorpsFrancs/> They were again dissolved by Louis XVIII on 20 July 1815.<ref name=CorpsFrancs/>

=== Freikorps poetry ===
The anti-Napoleonic guerrilla movements in Germany, Russia and Spain in the early 1810s also produced their own style of poetry, ''hussar poetry'' or ''Freikorps poetry'', written by soldier-poets. In Germany, [[Theodor Körner (author)|Theodor Körner]], [[Max von Schenkendorff]] and [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]] were the most famous soldier-poets from the Freikorps. Their lyrics were for the most part patriotic, republican, anti-monarchical and anti-French. In Russia, the leader of the guerrilla army, Davydov, invented the genre of hussar poetry, characterised by hedonism and bravado. He used events from his own life to illustrate such poetry. Later, when [[Mikhail Lermontov]] was a ''junker'' ([[cadet]]) in the Russian Imperial Army, he also wrote such poetry.