"National Identity and British Common soldier" Topic

"The goal of this dissertation is to convey the importance of patriotism for British common soldiers serving during the period 1775-1837. The writings of these soldiers repeatedly express both strong national feeling and a belief in the uniqueness of British national character ("No other troops in the world would have endured, for so long, so terrible a struggle1"); in addition they contain even more numerous expressions of patriotism's disreputable relation, xenophobia. The ubiquity of these expressions and the similarity of views of the soldier-memorialists serving in widely diverse environments justify a belief in their significance. In addition to first-hand accounts written by soldiers (and accounts written by officers depicting their men) a wide variety of documents have been utilized including Inspection reports of individual Regiments, Summaries of Courts-Martial and Returns of Desertions for units deployed on stationed throughout the British Empire. The most significant conclusion to be drawn from these documents (as related in chapters 3, 6 and 7) is that desertion was least common in stations that were both physically and culturally alien to Britons. The only foreign station in which desertion posed a serious threat to
military cohesion was North America. Here an English speaking, culturally familiar, if politically hostile, neighboring nation actively provided enticements for deserters from the British army. However, despite the comparatively high incidence of desertion, British troops serving in North America still exhibited voluble devotion to their country as the story of the "Convention Army" (chapter 2) and the account of Sgt Lamb clearly demonstrate. The Redcoats active loyalty remained "the foundation of British strength…"

See here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Humbug. Gin was the spirit of their patriotism.

LOL! (Smile).

Amicalement
Armand

Thank you, Armand, for this link to a very interesting thesis.

Chortle, don't forget that the Duke concluded his oft-quoted remark about his men being 'the scum of the earth – all enlisted for drink' by saying 'so it is wonderful what fine fellows we make of them.'

A votre service mon ami!. (smile).

Amicalement
Armand

Here's an interesting one; I note the comment "English speaking". Well, Welsh soldiers would have been over 90% Welsh speaking at the time, with immigrants to the steel workings and coal mines learning Welsh. The campaign to get rid of the Welsh language would have only started in the 1840's/50's and I've often wondered how Welsh troops would have been communicated with.
Anyone got any ideas?

Hmm, probably something like the Slavic regiments in the Austrian and Hungarian armies?