"The Battle Against the Luddites: Unrest in the ..." Topic

… Industrial Revolution During the Napoleonic Wars

"As the columns of French infantry marched up the slopes of the Mont St Jean at Waterloo, the British heavy cavalry, the Royal Scots Greys to the fore, crashed into the packed ranks of the enemy. This was not the first time the Greys had drawn their swords during the Napoleonic Wars – but it was their first against Napoleon's troops. Three years earlier they had attacked workers in Halifax protesting at the introduction of machinery in the wool trade. Taking their name from Ned Ludd, who had smashed up knitting frames in Nottingham, the Luddites saw the emergence of mechanisation as a threat to their livelihood, with men replacing machines. In response they took matters into their own hands by wrecking the new equipment. Industrial unrest had gathered pace throughout the 18th century and exploded in an unpresented wave of violence in 1799\. Outbreaks of machine-breaking developed rapidly into strikes in a battle of capital against labour. A court battle ensued, culminating in new legislation in 1806 that backed the capitalists. This act, coupled with the impact of the Continental system introduced by Napoleon, which closed European and American ports to British merchants, heralded the largest economic depression of the era. Famine, pestilence and rising employment all fuelled the fires of Luddism. Months of violence swept across the West Midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire which saw one factory boss murdered; other factory owners began shooting protesting workers. The disturbances resulted in the mobilising of thousands of regular soldiers – at one time there were as many British soldiers fighting the Luddites than there were fighting Napoleon on the Iberian Peninsula. As well as exploring these events, Paul L. Dawson also uncovers the origins of Luddism and their allies in the middle classes. The Napoleonic Wars marked the end of centuries old way of life in agriculture, textile production and the wider economy. The dramatic changes in Britain between 1790 and 1815 created a unique set of social grievances by those left behind by the unprecedented changes that were surging through the Britain which exploded into bitter fighting across large swathes of the country. With present day concerns over computerisation replacing labour, this is a story that echoes down the centuries."

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Armand

I wonder who Mr Dawson decides are the bad guys?

(smile)

Armand

"with men replacing machines."

Shome mishtake shurely?

Well spotted.

Paul Dawson is a very professional and gifted historian, but not always served by the best proofreading and copy-editing.

I am currently reading his "The Battle for Paris 1815" and find minor typo or textual errors throughout, as here. The same publishers, claiming that this is the first work on the subject (ignoring Andrew Field's "Waterloo Rout and Retreat"). The content is excellent of course, but it could have benefitted from some maps and checking before print

unfortunately this is the final tour and countdown (as would sing the Swedish group Europe) of the last 10 napoleonic titles written by PLD including The Napoleonic ‘Dad's Army' The British Volunteer Movement published in february, the remaining 7 of his Grande Armée Uniforms and Equipts Series, and from a manuscript sent 8 years ago his Editor has decided suddendly to publish his forthcoming Waterloo Casualties and after that he will stop all napoleonic topics, no more Napoleonic titles from PLD will appear in this part of the forum to be criticized
he renounces to write further two titles about of the French Army of Peninsular and 1809 campaigns :(
…8…

Thanks

Armand

They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy,
That all he could do was wreck and destroy,
He turned to his followers and said death to Machines!
They tread on our future, and stamp on our dreams.

(smile)

Armand