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The British Army, 1783–1815 (Hardback)

Military > By Century > 18th Century Military > Pre-WWI > Napoleonic P&S History > British History P&S History > By Century > 18th Century

By Kevin Linch, Foreword by Prof Ian F W Beckett
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 240
Illustrations: 20 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526737991
Published: 14th February 2024

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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 whilst 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.

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About Kevin Linch

Dr Kevin Linch is Associate Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds. He has made a special study of war, society, and culture in Georgian Britain, focusing on the armed forces and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. In addition to his many journal articles, his publications include Britain's Soldiers: Rethinking War and Society, 1715–1815 (edited with Matthew McCormack) and Britain and Wellington's Army.


Prof Ian F W Beckett

About Prof Ian F W Beckett

Professor Ian F W Beckett is Professor of Military History at the University of Kent. He has previously held chairs at the University of Northampton, the US Marine Corps University, Quantico, Virginia, the University of Luton and the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, was Chairman of the Army Records Society and is a Vice-President of the John Hampden Society. His publications include The Great War 1914-18, A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (co-editor), Ypres: The First Battle 1914 and Britain's Part-time Soldiers.

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