A history of the common British soldier, from c.1760 to c.1860, this text is filled with anecdote and humour as well as historical analysis. Solidly based on the letters and diaries of the men who served and the women who followed them, the book charts Wolfe's victory and death at Quebec, the American War of Independence, the Duke of York's campaign in Flanders, Wellington's Peninsular War, Waterloo, the retreat from Kabul, the Sikh wars in 1845-9, the Crimean war and the Indian Mutiny. The focus of the book however, is the individual recollection and experience of the ordinary soldiers serving in the wars fought by Georgian and early-Victorian England. Through their stories and anecdotes - of uniforms, equipment, "taking the King's shilling", flogging, wounds, food, barrack life, courage, comradeship, death, love and loss - Richard Holmes provides a comprehensive portrait of a fallible but successful fighting force.

 

Richard Holmes

Softcover 400pp

Book Code:  AW0519