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• W1489172824 abstract "All for the King's Shilling: The British Soldier Under Wellington, 1808-1814 By Edward J. Coss Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010 392 pages $39.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This volume is not another narrative history of Wellington's Peninsular War. Rather, it is an analysis of the demographics and behavior of the famed British redcoats. The gist of Coss's thesis is that these soldiers were not Britain's societal rejects. Moreover, their unmatchable cohesion rested upon a loyalty and mutual trust developed within their small groups. The book begins with the Duke of Wellington's famous quote about his army's common soldiers being the scum of the earth. Coss provides Wellington's later observation in an endnote, i.e., that the Army had made fine fellows of them. However, this oft-quoted, initial comment forms the basis for the work's thesis. Coss has accomplished phenomenal research. He compiled a British Soldier Compendium with demographics on 7,300 soldiers, the great majority from line infantry regiments. He uses a three-tiered model of compliance theory developed by Steven Westbrook to help interpret this voluminous data for individuals and small groups. Coss places these statistics and interpretations in the larger sphere of British society, e.g., the severe stresses of industrialization and their costs, both individual and collective. No less than 78 tables accompany the text. These statistics range from the usual to analyze social origins and economic status to a fascinating, sweeping examination of soldiers' nutritional intake. He admits that he cannot verify how many of the 7,300 served in the Peninsula between 1808 and 1814. This inability does not detract from the work, which is a micro-analysis of an army's soldiery. The work balances demographics with individual accounts, e.g., memoirs and journals. He is well aware of both their benefits and pitfalls. Coss focuses on one man in particular, William Lawrence, as a case study. His use of these primary sources is generally astute, and adds a genuinely human dimension. One caveat is that commentaries from soldiers in rifle and light infantry units do not represent typical soldiers. He places his interpretation within the context of one the most concise analyses of the famed British two-deep line's battle tactics in print, indicative of his effort to dissect this force in action. He agrees that the British possessed no such light troops to support that line until 1800. Such agreement should not dismiss the major accomplishments of British light troops in the previous century, especially as they often performed as both skirmishers and shock troops. He deals frankly and honestly, as best as the extant evidence permits, with the excesses in the hellish sieges of the Peninsular War. The work's comparative analysis states that the British Army of the Napoleonic Wars was unique with its life-long period of service for soldiers. Granted, the French term of service of 6 years became standard with the Jordan Law of 1798. The discussion omits the Russians, but they represent a stark difference. Indeed, the fatalistic farewell from family, household, and village for a conscript was terminal in nature, given the term of service was 25 years. The Austrians conscripted for life. The reforms initiated by Archduke Charles reducing the term to 10 years in the infantry began in 1808. The Prussians, humbled and humiliated at Jena and Auerstadt in 1806, initiated necessary, but carefully and circumspectly, reforms afterwards. The larger issue is that comparison of terms of service can skew perspective without a commensurate understanding of the effects. The allies changed recruiting practices well in the midst of prolonged conflict. There is no indication what proportion of soldiers served shorter enlistments or when. Such a study is certainly well beyond his scope, but an understanding is necessary for an effective comparison. …" @default.
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• W1489172824 date "2013-06-22" @default.
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• W1489172824 title "All for the King's Shilling: The British Soldier under Wellington, 1808-1814" @default.
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