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

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Author: Richard Holmes
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

14 reviews
Sales Rank: 57156

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.4

ISBN: 0006531520
Dewey Decimal Number: 941
EAN: 9780006531524
ASIN: 0006531520

Publication Date: August 5, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

Also Available In:

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

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
The battlefield museum of Waterloo, Richard Holmes comments in Redcoat, tells us much about Napoleon, Wellington and their senior commanders but far less about the men they led. Holmes aims, in this massively researched history, to redress the balance. He does so by piling up facts, information and anecdotes, many of them culled from memoirs of the period, to illustrate the everyday life of British soldiers in the 18th and 19th centuries, from the Battle of Blenheim to the Crimean War. In the hands of a less gifted historian this might have made for a dry, daunting and overpowering text. Holmes, however, has a sharp eye for the telling details and the memorable stories that bring the past to life. He pays as much attention to the small-scale as to the larger picture: a soldier is promoted because "his beautiful black eyes and whiskers had attracted the notice of his colonel's lady"; Crimea-bound infantrymen play cricket in "what the scorebook calls Sultan's Valley, Asia Minor"; black musician-soldiers enrich the repertoire of a regimental band; a respected military surgeon is revealed, after death, to have been a woman dressed as a man. Yet Holmes is always aware of that larger picture and of the hardships and dangers of the military life. His chapters on the floggings and punishments inflicted on the common soldier and on the terrible wounds that battle could bring--which again make vivid use of period memoirs--are often very moving. Anyone wanting to find out how the ordinary soldier of the 18th and 19th centuries was recruited, how he was drilled, how he fought, how he lived and (often) how he died, need look no further than this impressive work of popular history. --Nick Rennison

Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Very Good March 7, 2008
After a shaky start, this book rewards perseverence. It leaves no stone unturned in its exploration of army life in the 18th and 19th centuries (with an emphasis on the latter). I got mine in a second hand bookshop but won't be getting rid of it like the original owner did.

5 out of 5 stars

Delightful September 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

For anyone even remotely interested in one of the most glorious periods of the British army and/or lovers of historical novels (think of Sharpe for one) this should be a real treat! Richard Holmes is not only an expert but knows how to write a compelling book, and in 'Redcoat' he's outdone himself.

Virtually every aspect of army life 'in the age of horse and musket' is treated in detail and often comes with eyewitness accounts or comments from contemporaries. Thoroughly enjoyable, I wish there were more of the kind!

2 out of 5 stars

Hard going August 13, 2007
First things first. Richard Holmes is a meticulous researcher who obviously loves his subject, and full marks for him to that. Having put so much work into this book, he hardly deserves criticism from amateurs such as myself.
Yet, sadly, I found my love of History of Empire started to falter as I ploughed through page after page of exhaustive (and exhausting) detail.
The guy who wrote the "Turgid" review had it spot on.

5 out of 5 stars

A sociology of the British soldier 1700-1860 April 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Professor Holmes has written a thematic sociological history of the British redcoated soldier in the age of the Brown Bess musket, i.e from the time of the First Hanoverian kings to the Indian Mutiny, with a focus on their experiences during the main conflicts, i.e the American Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny. It is built as a narrative. The style is very fluid and the text is full of quotes and anecdotes, it is well structured in chapters on specific themes.
It covers:
-the nature of warfare in Europe and the colonies
-weapons and their effect on tactics, injuries and casualties
-recruitment, command and discipline
-attitude under fire and towards the enemy
-life in barracks and on the march
-differences in social origins, ethics, prospects and lifestyle between officers and enlisted men and their families

It gives specific treatment to the subjects of infantry, cavalry, artillery, specialist services, siege warfare. It is a book on the military culture of the times in all its aspects rather than on "events".

All in all a very readable and informative study. Fans of Professor Holmes or John Keegan will not be disappointed.

3 out of 5 stars

Accurate, but Turgid October 11, 2006
2 out of 10 found this review helpful

I'm going to break the mold a little here, I don not think this book deserves the 5 stars it has been gratuitously granted. Sure, it is very accurate, and at times interesting, crammed full of facts, quotes and painstakingly researched.
My problem is with how Holmes writes. He is a scholar, and as such he writes as one would expect. There is little attempt to bring history to life with anecdotes and few in depth descriptions of battles. It is just like reading a manuscript, lifeless, turgid, bogged down in facts and not really accessible to a casual reader.
So if you read Holmes, you can expect historical accuracy, but don't expect a ripping yarn in the same vein as the brilliant Giles Milton. Expect a slow pace, an overwhelming glut of facts, crammed together in a piecemeal manner. You will find your concentration failing, because there is no let up in the bombardment of facts, and when you have finished you will be surprised at how little you have actually absorbed.