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Military histories of the struggle against the French armies of the Revolution and Napoleon often focus on the exploits of elite units and famous individuals, ignoring the essential contribution made by the ordinary soldiers the bulk of the British army. Carole Divall, in this graphic and painstakingly researched account, tells the story of one such hitherto ignored group of fighting men, the 30th Regiment of the Line. She takes their story from one of the opening clashes of the long war, the Siege of Toulon in 1793, to the decisive Battle of Waterloo in 1815. She gives us a fresh perspective on key events the men took part in Massenas retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, the bloody storming of Badajoz, the retreat from Burgos, the ordeal of the troops holding the centre of Wellingtons Waterloo position. The regiments history which she describes using some hitherto unpublished and vivid memoirs left by the men themselves and those they fought alongside offers a fascinating insight into the life of British soldiers two centuries ago.
What was a British soldiers life like during the Napoleonic Wars? How was he recruited and trained? How did he live on home service and during service abroad? And what was his experience of battle? In this landmark book Philip Haythornthwaite traces the career of a British soldier from enlistment, through the key stages of his path through the military system, including combat, all the way to his eventual discharge. His fascinating account shows how varied the recruits of the day were, from urban dwellers and weavers to plowboys and laborers, and they came from all regions of the British Isles including Ireland and Scotland. Some of them may have justified the Duke of Wellingtons famous description of them as the scum of the earth. Yet these common soldiers were capable of extraordinary feats on campaign and on the battlefield that eventually turned the course of the war against Napoleon.
The British troops who fought so successfully under the Duke of Wellington during his Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon have long been branded by the duke’s own words—“scum of the earth”—and assumed to have been society’s ne’er-do-wells or criminals who enlisted to escape justice. Now Edward J. Coss shows to the contrary that most of these redcoats were respectable laborers and tradesmen and that it was mainly their working-class status that prompted the duke’s derision. Driven into the army by unemployment in the wake of Britain’s industrial revolution, they confronted wartime hardship with ethical values and became formidable soldiers in the bargain These men depended on the king’s shilling for survival, yet pay was erratic and provisions were scant. Fed worse even than sixteenth-century Spanish galley slaves, they often marched for days without adequate food; and if during the campaign they did steal from Portuguese and Spanish civilians, the theft was attributable not to any criminal leanings but to hunger and the paltry rations provided by the army. Coss draws on a comprehensive database on British soldiers as well as first-person accounts of Peninsular War participants to offer a better understanding of their backgrounds and daily lives. He describes how these neglected and abused soldiers came to rely increasingly on the emotional and physical support of comrades and developed their own moral and behavioral code. Their cohesiveness, Coss argues, was a major factor in their legendary triumphs over Napoleon’s battle-hardened troops. The first work to closely examine the social composition of Wellington’s rank and file through the lens of military psychology, All for the King’s Shilling transcends the Napoleonic battlefield to help explain the motivation and behavior of all soldiers under the stress of combat.
What if, on September 11, 1814, the United States had lost the close-run battle that Winston Churchill called the "most decisive" of the War of 1812? With a victory at Plattsburgh, would the British have eventually been able to regain control of their former colonies? Only one fleeting moment on Lake Champlain might have been needed to forever alter the young country's history and return it to the grip of King George III. Redcoats' Revenge brings the most successful field commander in history, the Duke of Wellington, to North America in 1814. A coalition of eight European countries has recently defeated Napoleon. With the emperor's threat to England eradicated, Wellington releases the most powerful military juggernaut for service in the Western Hemisphere. His audacious plan sends him and his avenging veteran redcoats plunging straight south from Lake Champlain toward New York City. In Washington, the streets crackle with tension at the news of British ships on the Chesapeake. The White House is promptly evacuated and the capital left undefended when a diversionary force approaches the city and chokes off Baltimore. President James Madison must now decide which of his generals is capable of successfully facing off with the Iron Duke. No friend of the tyrannical Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson, Madison finally agrees that he may be the only commander with any hope of matching Wellington. Redcoats' Revenge is a vivid montage of the personalities and battles--real and quite possible--of the War of 1812. With its clever and compelling premise, this exciting alternate history will enthrall readers and reveal just how close the United States was to becoming a British colony once again.
The American Revolution from a unique perspective--as seen through the eyes of a redcoat regiment. From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one British regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Their story, and that of all the soldiers England sent across the Atlantic, is one of the few untold sagas of the American Revolution, one that sheds light on the war itself and offers surprising, at times unsettling, insights into the way the war was conducted on both sides. Drawing on a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, and with compelling narrative flair, Mark Urban reveals the inner life of the 23rd Regiment, the Fusiliers-and through it, of the British army as a whole-as it fought one of the pivotal campaigns of world history. Describing how British troops adopted new tactics and promoted new leaders, Urban shows how the foundations were laid for the redcoats' subsequent heroic performance against Napoleon. Fighting the climactic battles of the Revolution in the American south, the Fusiliers became one of the crack regiments of the army, never believing themselves to have been defeated. But the letters from members of the 23rd and other archival accounts reveal much more than battle details. Living the Revolution day-to-day, the Fusiliers witnessed acts of kindness and atrocity on both sides unrecorded in histories of the war. Their observations bring the conflict down to human scale and provide a unique insight into soldiering in the late eighteenth century. Fusiliers will challenge the prevailing stereotypes of the enemy redcoats and offer an invaluable new perspective on a defining period in American history.
Providing a unique glimpse into the experiences of regular British and French infantry during the French and Indian War, Stuart Reid reveals what it was like to fight in three battles at the height of the struggle for Canada: La Belle-Famille, the Plains of Abraham and Sainte-Foy. In 1755, Britain and France both decided to escalate a low intensity frontier war that had started the previous year by dispatching regular troops to their respective colonies in North America. Far from home, both sides' equipment and tactics were initially more suited to the European theatre. As the war ground on, however, combat doctrine evolved as both armies learned lessons that would be utilized by succeeding generations of soldiers. Packed with first-hand accounts, dramatic illustrations and a technical analysis of the changing nature of warfare on the American continent, this book puts readers in the shoes of the combatants who played a pivotal role in shaping the future of North America.
"Carole Divall tells the fascinating inside story of a typical infantry regiment during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Rather than focusing on the history of the 30th Regiment of the line in action and on campaign, she explores its organization, traditions and hierarchy, its personnel, and the ethos that held it together. Using primary source material, in particular surviving regimental records, War Office documents, letters and journals"--Jacket.
An examination of the lifecycle of soldiers, including enlistment, experiences of military life, the soldier's place in society and in politics, and military identity, memory and representation.
This military history reveals the untold story of a British general’s dramatic victory against Napoleon in Southern Italy. In The Battle of Maida, 1806, historian Richard Hopton has uncovered a significant yet long-overlooked defeat of Napoleon’s forces by General Sir John Stuart at Maida in 1806. For many years the only hint that there had been a triumph there was the residential area of North West London that derives its name from the battle. Now Stuart corrects this oversight with this rousing and authoritative account. Following the battles of UIm and Austerlitz, Napoleon’s reputation for military genius was becoming a morale problem for his opponents. But the Allied victory at Maida offered significant proof that the Grande Arméewas not invincible. In this enlightening history, Hopton brilliantly describes the cast of colorful yet highly improbable characters whom fate and circumstances brought together. Arguably pride of place must go to Ferdinand II, Ruler of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose eccentricity was only exceeded by his abject incompetence.
"Thomas Henry Browne obtained an ensign's commission in the 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1805. Some twenty-one months later he began a long service overseas for most of nine years from 1807 to 1816. During this period Browne participated in the seizure of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen in 1807, the Capture of Martinique from the French in 1809, and the ebb and flow of the campaign against Napoleon's army in the Iberian Peninsula, 1810 to 1814. During this latter period he served on Wellington's Headquarters staff in the Adjutant-General's office, and was privileged to observe the great commander from a close point of vantage." "During the period of his overseas service, Browne kept a journal in which he noted in a vivid and trenchant style the day-to-day events occurring in his own and other units, whether in camp, on the march, or in the heat of battle. His staff position enabled him to see the broad sweep of tactical decisions, while his remarkable gifts as an observer bring to life the officers and men who composed the armies of the day, depicting them in a succession of graphic images. Few military journals of any period have captured the soldier's life with such immediacy, like a first-rate war correspondent's report from the battle front." "After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Browne continued to rise in the military hierarchy, retiring with a knighthood and the rank of Lieutenant-General. He died in 1855 aged 68." "In this edition the Journal has been faithfully reproduced by Professor Roger Buckley, who has written a full introduction placing Thomas Henry Browne in the context of his times, evoking the customs and disciplines of the British regular army in the age of Wellington, and sketching in the historical background to the conflicts in which the army was engaged. Each section of the Journal is similarly introduced by the editor, who has also supplied a detailed biographical appendix, full notes and bibliography and a representative selection of illustrations."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved