Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors

Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors
Richard Holmes

From the redcoat who served Charles II to the modern, camouflage-clad guard at Camp Bastion, from battlefield to barrack-room, this is a magisterial social history of the British soldier.Since 1660 the army has evolved and adapted, but the social organisation of the men has changed less, with the major combat arms retaining many of the characteristics familiar to those who fought at Blenheim, Waterloo and the Somme. The Duke of Marlborough, who built up the British army to become a world-class fighting force in the 1660s, would recognise in the tired heroes of Helmand the descendants of the men he led to victory at Blenheim over three hundred years ago.‘Soldiers’ is exhaustively researched, and Holmes’s affection for the soldier shines through on every page. Above all, this book is brimming with great stories, from the chaos of the battlefield to the fug of the barrack-room, from Ulster to Bengal, from Flanders’ fields to the Afghan hills. This is a magisterial social history of the British soldier – and Richard Holmes’s fitting last tribute to the British soldier to whom he was so devoted.

Soldiers

Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors

Richard Holmes

Contents

Cover (#ulink_6bd40380-0972-5f12-b6d4-cd91e71540f1)

Title Page

Foreword

Introduction

I. Politics and Position

1: Chuck Him Out, the Brute

2: King’s Army

3: Parliament’s Army

4: Brass and Tapes

5: To Observe and Obey

6: Weekend Warriors

II. Gallant Gentlemen and Officers

7: A National Army: 1660–1914

8: Temporary Gentlemen: 1914–45

9: Sandhurst: Serve to Lead

10: Church Militant

III. Recruiting a National Army

11: Soldier Boys

12: The King’s Shilling

13: Pressed into Service

14: All Pals Together

15: Foreign Friends

16: Women Soldiers

IV. Tribes And Totems

17: The Regimental Line

18: Imponderable Entities

19: The Regiments Depart

20: Tribal Markings

21: Full of Strange Oaths, and Bearded Like the Pard

22: Tunes of Glory

V. Habits and Habitat

23: The Rambling Soldier

24: Barrack-Room Blues

25: Bullies and Beast-Masters

26: Oh! What a Time Those Officers Have

27: The Sergeants’ Mess Dinner is Worth Putting Down

28: Campaigners Straight and Gay

29: Officers’ Wives Get Puddings and Pies

Afterword

Picture Section

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

Searchable Terms

Other Books by Richard Holmes