Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket

Description

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 is famous for his TV War Walks series. He is the author of numerous books on the Second World War. He is married and lives in Hampshire.

'I have never met Richard Holmes, but I am deeply jealous of him for Redcoat opens with the re-enactment of a Napoleonic battle that I wish I had written myself... The redcoat and his family were never appreciated, but Richard Holmes has written them a marvellous memorial. Redcoat is a wonderful book, full of anecdote and good sense. Anyone who has enjoyed a Sharpe story will love it, anyone who likes history will want to own it and anyone who cherishes good writing will read it with pleasure.' BERNARD CORNWELL, Daily Mail 'Wonderfully written history of the British soldier, enlivened by the voices of the men who marched in campaigns from Washington to Beijing. Holmes shows why the Duke of Wellington considered common soldiers to be such 'fine fellows'. This is military history at its enthralling best.' Mail on Sunday Books of the Year 'A moving history of footsloggers in the age of muskets and floggings.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent Books of the Year