Author: Michael J. WattsPublisher:
ISBN: 9781903462997
Category : Armies
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
My Ancestor was in the British Army
Author: Michael J. WattsPublisher:
ISBN: 9781903462997
Category : Armies
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
All for the King's Shilling
Author: Edward J CossPublisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806185457
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400
Book Description
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.
The Changing of the Guard
Author: Simon AkamPublisher:
ISBN: 9781922310279
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
A revelatory, explosive new analysis of the British military today. Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, Britain has changed enormously. During this time, the British Army fought two campaigns, in Iraq and Afghanistan, at considerable financial and human cost. Yet neither war achieved its objectives. This book questions why, and provides challenging but necessary answers. Composed of assiduous documentary research, field reportage, and hundreds of interviews with many soldiers and officers who served, as well as the politicians who directed them, the allies who accompanied them, and the family members who loved and -- on occasion -- lost them, it is a strikingly rich, nuanced portrait of one of our pivotal national institutions in a time of great stress. Award-winning journalist Simon Akam, who spent a year in the army when he was 18, returned a decade later to see how the institution had changed. His book examines the relevance of the armed forces today -- their social, economic, political, and cultural role. This is as much a book about Britain, and about the politics of failure, as it is about the military.
The Military in British India
Author: T. A. HeathcotePublisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783830646
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
T.A. Heathcotes study of the conflicts that established British rule in South Asia, and of the militarys position in the constitution of British India, is a classic work in the field. By placing these conflicts clearly in their local context, his account moves away from the Euro-centric approach of many writers on British imperial military history. It provides a greater understanding not only of the history of the British Indian Army but also of the Indian experience, which had such a formative an effect on the British Army itself. This new edition has been fully revised and given appropriate illustrations.
The English People at War in the Age of Henry VIII
Author: Steven J. GunnPublisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198802862
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Book Description
War should be recognised as one of the defining features of life in the England of Henry VIII. Henry fought many wars throughout his reign, and this book explores how this came to dominate English culture and shape attitudes to the king and to national history, with people talking and reading about war, and spending money on weaponry and defence.
Redcoat
Author: Richard HolmesPublisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393052114
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 542
Book Description
Based on the letters and diaries of the British soldiers who served as the backbone of the army from 1760 to 1860, this illuminating book is rich in the history of a fascinating era. of illustrations.
Familiar History of British India ...
Author: Joachim Hayward StocquelerPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : India
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
Futile Exercise?
Author: Simon BattenPublisher: Wolverhampton Military Studies
ISBN: 9781911512851
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Examines the exercises and manoeuvres conducted by the British Army in the years leading up to the First World War.
Army Records
Author: William SpencerPublisher: A&C Black Business Information and Development
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
Concerns the records in the Army of Great Britain.
Disease, War, and the Imperial State
Author: Erica ChartersPublisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022618014X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 300
Book Description
The Seven Years’ War, often called the first global war, spanned North America, the West Indies, Europe, and India. In these locations diseases such as scurvy, smallpox, and yellow fever killed far more than combat did, stretching the resources of European states. In Disease, War, and the Imperial State, Erica Charters demonstrates how disease played a vital role in shaping strategy and campaigning, British state policy, and imperial relations during the Seven Years’ War. Military medicine was a crucial component of the British war effort; it was central to both eighteenth-century scientific innovation and the moral authority of the British state. Looking beyond the traditional focus of the British state as a fiscal war-making machine, Charters uncovers an imperial state conspicuously attending to the welfare of its armed forces, investing in medical research, and responding to local public opinion. Charters shows military medicine to be a credible scientific endeavor that was similarly responsive to local conditions and demands. Disease, War, and the Imperial State is an engaging study of early modern warfare and statecraft, one focused on the endless and laborious task of managing manpower in the face of virulent disease in the field, political opposition at home, and the clamor of public opinion in both Britain and its colonies.