"Living in Britain Through Napoleon’s Wars, 1793-1815" Topic
5 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
Please be courteous toward your fellow TMP members.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Napoleonic Media Message Board
Areas of InterestNapoleonic
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
Featured Profile ArticleThe Editor heads for Vicksburg...
Featured Book Review
|
Tango01 | 01 Feb 2015 9:56 p.m. PST |
"Most Americans probably have an indistinct idea of the warfare between Britain and France at the turn of the 19th century. So far as Britain is concerned, we are likely to recall that Admiral Nelson won a great victory in 1805 at Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain, and was mortally wounded during the battle. In words that became famous, he had signaled to his fleet, "England expects that every man will do his duty." We are likelier to remember the Duke of Wellington's triumph at Waterloo 10 years later, which ended Napoleon's sensational career. A comment Wellington supposedly made afterward is also frequently quoted, that the engagement had been "a damned close-run thing." And as a sidelight to the international conflict there was our own American War of 1812, during which Francis Scott Key was inspired to write his verses about the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air. What we may not realize is that the fighting in Europe, and in far-flung regions of the globe as well, endured for 22 years and affected life profoundly for an entire generation. Boys who were born after it began in 1793 grew up to fight in the wars their fathers had fought before them; a million British soldiers served, nearly 10 percent of the entire population. Year after year, the fighting waxed and waned. In 1794-95, for example, a British expeditionary force mounted a futile campaign in the Low Countries and returned home after accomplishing nothing but the loss of 20,000 men. By the end of hostilities, two decades later, at least twice that many had died in the Caribbean, mostly from yellow fever. There was land warfare in Egypt (after which the Rosetta stone was brought to the British Museum); there was a British naval victory at Copenhagen; and there was the protracted campaign in Spain that inspired Goya's great etching series "The Disasters of War." In her latest book, "In These Times," Jenny Uglow traces what life on the British home front was like during those fraught decades. New heroes and scapegoats emerged, fortunes were made and lost, taxes on everything went up, bad harvests provoked food riots, and there were strikes, stock market disasters and bank failures. Her narrative is more or less chronological, gathering a vast collection of names and facts into 60 chapters with titles like "Invasions, Spies and Poets," "Denmark, Egypt, Boulogne — Peace," "Going to the Show" and "Swagger and Civilization."…" Main page link Amicalement Armand |
Cerdic | 02 Feb 2015 12:36 a.m. PST |
I don't think the average person in Britain would have been all that aware of the war. Not like they were during the First and Second World Wars. For the general population in the 18th and 19th Centurys, there was always a war going on somewhere or other. So for them the Napoleonic Wars were not a big deal. There was certainly no idea of a "home front" back then! Problems with harvests, taxes, riots etc happened during peacetime too. |
deadhead | 02 Feb 2015 4:23 a.m. PST |
Could explain how Jane Austen could write such trivia without once mentioning world affairs. I dared to say that about Pri and Prej in late 60s and was "advised" to redo my essay, to a more conventional view! I did…………great characterisation etc etc……. |
Trajanus | 06 Feb 2015 10:19 a.m. PST |
I don't think the average person in Britain would have been all that aware of the war Boys who were born after it began in 1793 grew up to fight in the wars their fathers had fought before them; a million British soldiers served, nearly 10 percent of the entire population. I think some might have noticed this! Just started reading the book. There was a lot more impact than you might think. News got around a lot better than we imagine in our 24 Hour News society. It was a long way from instant but it got there, even if it was only by some one reading a week old news paper out load, down the local pub. A regular event through out the country apparently! |
Cerdic | 06 Feb 2015 1:40 p.m. PST |
I wasn't trying to suggest that the general population didn't know the war was happening. The premise of the book is "what life on the British home front was like during those fraught decades". This seems to be a cynical marketing ploy. Life for most people just carried on as normal. Men were recruited into the army and navy, shipped off out of the country and quite likely never seen again. The contemporary phrase of 'gone for a soldier' had the subtext of 'gone for good'! This was nothing new, however. The armed forces were regarded as a thing apart. Something that did its work abroad, out of sight, out of mind. The army, and soldiers, were largely disliked and hated. The Napoleonic Wars, like all wars before the 20th Century, did not dominate the lives of most people in Britain in the way that the First and Second World Wars did. They were too busy inventing steam engines and getting new jobs in factories and stuff! |
|