Soldiers

Product Description

A magisterial new history of the British soldier
- a man famously described by the Duke of Wellington as 'the scum of the earth'. From battlefield to barrack-room this book is stuffed to the brim with anecdotes & stories of soldiers from the army of Charles II through Empire & two World Wars to modern times. The British soldier forms a core component of British history. In this scholarly but gossipy book Richard Holmes presents a rich social history of the man (and now more frequently woman) who have been at the heart of his writing for decades. Technological political & social changes have all made their mark on the development of warfare but have the attitudes of the soldier shifted as much we might think? For Holmes the soldier is part of a unique tribe
- & the qualities of loyalty & heroism have continued to grow amongst these men. & while today the army constitutes the smallest proportion of the population since the first decade of its existence (regular soldiers make up just 0.0 87%) the social organisation of the men has hardly changed; the major combat arms infantry cavalry & artillery have retained much of the forms that men who fought at Blenheim Waterloo & the Somme would readily grasp. Regiments remain an enduring feature of the army & Lieutenant Colonels have lost nothing of their importance in military hierarchy; the death of Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe in Afghanistan in 2009 shows just how high the risks are that these men continue to face. Filled to the brim with stories from all over the world & spanning across history this magisterial book conveys how soldiers from as far back as the seventeenth century & soldiers today are united by their common experiences. Richard Holmes died suddenly soon after completing this book. It is his last word on the British soldier
- about which he knew & wrote so much.