One of several émigré field armies, it was the only one to survive the War of the First Coalition; others had been formed by the Comte d'Artois (brother of King Louis XVI) and Mirabeau-Tonneau.

[1] The insistence of the officers on the same pay to which they were entitled in France created problems for their funders, which included Spain, Portugal, and Naples, and Britain, and finally, Russia.

However, the various nations who funded the army were less interested in restoring order in France than in gaining new territory for themselves and keeping the Revolution confined within French borders.

This army participated in the War of the First Coalition from 1792 to 1797 alongside Austria, initially sharing in the unsuccessful invasion of France by the Allies under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick.

Expecting the fortress to surrender without a fight, the Austrians and émigrés under command of the Prince of Bourbon, did not bring any siege cannon.

In October 1796, at the Battle of Schliengen, the Corps made a spirited attack on the village of Steinstadt, which they took with a bayonet charge and remained there under severe artillery and musket fire for the rest of the daylight hours.

In 1800, when Russia left the Second Coalition, the English agreed once again to pay the Conde's army and it fought in Bavaria until 1801, when the Corps was disbanded.