Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket
The British army in the nineteenth century was not particularly large compared with such Continental armies as those of France and Russia. The enlisted men were often recruited from the "scum of the earth." Many officers gained their commissions and promotions through family connections rather than valor on the battlefield. Both officers and "rankers" often drank to excess. Yet, the British army was often a devastatingly effective fighting force that was instrumental in the expansion and maintenance of the Victorian empire. Holmes, a military historian, has written a masterful survey of this proud institution from the American Revolution to the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. What emerges is a picture of a force whose discipline and esprit de corps overcame the individual shortcomings of both officers and enlisted men. This is not a chronicle of continuous triumph, as Holmes' description of the horrific retreat from Kabul illustrates. Still, there is an abundance of genuine heroism here, and this absorbing work also effectively conveys the sights, sounds, and smells of barracks life.Jay FreemanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved