The British Army, 1783–1815
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military (April 30, 2024)
Hardcover: 240 pages
ISBN: 9781526737991
The British army between 1783 and 1815 – the army that fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars – has received severe criticism and sometimes exaggerated praise from contemporaries and historians alike, and a balanced and perceptive reassessment of it as an institution and a fighting force is overdue. That is why this carefully considered new study by Kevin Linch is of such value. He brings together fresh perspectives on the army in one of its most tumultuous – and famous – eras, exploring the global range of its deployment, the varieties of soldiering it had to undertake, its close ties to the political and social situation of the time, and its complex relationship with British society and culture.
In the face of huge demands on its manpower and direct military threats to the British Isles and territories across the globe, the army had to adapt. As Kevin Linch demonstrates, some changes were significant while others were, in the end, minor or temporary. In the process he challenges the ‘Road to Waterloo’ narrative of the army’s steady progress from the nadir of the 1780s and early 1790s, to its strong performances throughout the Peninsular War and its triumph at the Battle of Waterloo. His reassessment shows an army that was just good enough to cope with the demanding campaigns it undertook
Reassessment is an ever present need, but not always welcomed by those with romantic perceptions!
It is useful to remember that this all ‘volunteer’ force was always pitifully small for the tasks required of it. It is its role as an expeditionary force that grabs the headlines, but is to be remembered that those redcoats buttoned tight over many other responsibilities. Home defence, royal security, overseas garrisons, revenue protection, aid to the civil power and counterinsurgency in Ireland etc. Notwithstanding locally raised forces, fencibles, militia, yeomanry or private contractors like the HEIC, there were always numerous calls on what was a relatively finite resource.
I'm as fond of studying the events of a damp June Sunday afternoon as the next obsessive enthusiast of a 1970 movie. However, I think it's right to stop using hindsight to see the army story as culminating at Waterloo. Make do and mend was always the British Army's unofficial motto as long as I served, it seems reasonable to assume that it has always been so!
I believe we can leave glorious tuned instruments like "Grand Armée"s to others. The British Army was a workman's tool. It needed to be forged (and occasionally reforged). It required constant resharpening and maintenance. For a craftsman like Wellington it could produce marvels. Parts of it were still not as keenly honed as others. In less skilled hands it was sometimes found wanting and often only just enough.
I look forward to this reexamination.