This headdress developed initially as a square-topped variant of a shako. In its early, compact form from 1784 onwards the Czapka was introduced by Austrian uhlans, during the time Galicia was under Habsburg rule. Its use was spread from eastern Europe by the Polish Legion, fighting for the French in the Napoleonic Wars, and became popular not only among Napoleon's French and allied forces, such as Westphalia, Bavaria, Saxony and Naples, but also among the armies of his enemies. The Grand Duchy of Warsaw used them for infantry and artillery units, but otherwise they were only ever used for uhlan units.