WI: A female brigade in the French Revolution

Having seen recently the anime Chevalier d'Eon, I read a little about him over at that place where they claimed he offered to lead a female brigade in the early stages of the Revolution. Whether he did or not, my question is--things were desperate at the beginning and there was a spirit of LEF in the air.

What effect if the French gov. decided to create an actual combat brigade of women led by a soldier of some experience?
 
Well its known women did serve openly as defensive troops, but from what I know, this is a far cry from a "female brigade". Though I'm going to explore this in my TL, but this comes about out of sheer necessity in regards to my POD.
 
Not a lot, militarily, except they'd be at a major disadvantage in close-quarter fighting, which tended to happen a lot: one side tended to leg it first, after opening volleys and ensuing charge, and I reckon it'd be them.

Culturally? Some sentimentalism about Revolutionary Sacrifice of Womanhood. Or whatever.
 

Nikephoros

Banned
Not a lot, militarily, except they'd be at a major disadvantage in close-quarter fighting, which tended to happen a lot: one side tended to leg it first, after opening volleys and ensuing charge, and I reckon it'd be them.

Well, standard French doctrine of the time was to unleash a massive barrage, then time a charge when the enemy was weakest. Pretty effective actually, because France had a lot of manpower.

I'm not saying the French are stupid, and those tactics worked pretty damn well.
 
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Well, standard French doctrine of the time was to unleash a massive barrage, then time a charge when the enemy was weakest. Pretty effective actually, because France had a lot of manpower.

Unless they were facing British infantry, of course. Who tended to sit out the barrage, fire a few quick shots at very close range, and then use their huge bayonets.
 
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