Talk:British Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

To do

Article still in extreme infancy. As well as expanding existing sections, also need the following (in no particular order). Contributions welcome! (even if it's merely an addition to list below). Gwinva (talk) 04:14, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

• 1790s reforms under Duke of York
• Cavalry: see Cavalry regiments of the British Army
• Engineers / artillery
• Living conditions; barracks, campaign cantonments, rations and supplies
• equipment and weapons
• outline of campaigns
• Commanders and command structure
• Women: camp followers, army wives and children etc
• Relationship with allies and enemies
• Prisoners and conditions / exchanges
• Hospitals, injuries, discharges, pensions
• brief mention of irregulars, scouts and so forth (brief becasue this is about regular army)
• politics and "home front", Horse Guards, Gazette,

Useful quote

"those veterans had won nineteen pitched battles and innumerable combats; had made or sustained ten sieges and taken four great fortresses; had twice expelled the French from Portugal, once from Spain; had penetrated France, and killed wounded or captured two hundred thousand enemies — leaving of their own number forty thousand dead, whose bones whiten the plains and mountains of the Peninsula." Sir William Napier: here Gwinva (talk) 04:05, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Recent additions

I have made a few edits recently. I have outlined the organisation in 1793; subsequent increases in size and changes can be appended to this introductory paragraph. I have consolidated the sections on the British infantry, though this section could do with some trimming. I have also added lots of campaigns, hopefully emphasising that Britain's military committments were worldwide, and that Britain's contribution to the Napoleonic Wars was more than just the Duke of Wellington and the Peninsular Wars.

There's a long way still to go however. Current article size is 39 Kb. That leaves about 31 Kb before Wikipedia starts complaining that it's too big. HLGallon (talk) 04:06, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Copenhagen

That is a well and truly weaseled section if ever I have seen one. I know that some people will go to great lengths to preserve the...ah, 'glorious reputation' of the British army, particularly in this era, but really? If you're going to describe a sneak attack against a neutral nation's capital, followed by a massacre of civilians in such a way...Well, we might as well just ditch the 'NPOV' thing here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.223.222.47 (talk) 17:51, 25 September 2011 (UTC) \\

Two points. It was not a "sneak attack" as you put it. The Danes spent several weeks preparing the defences of Copenhagen in anticipation of the British attack, the King having chosen not to concede to British demands. According to a recent Danish study, about 195 civilians were killed in the British bombardment. Many, if not most, had taken the opportunity to leave the city. However lamentable those 195 deaths, and questionable the British policy, the phrase 'massacre of civilans' does not accurately reflect British intentions or actions.

East India Comapny's sepoy army

Do we have any information on what the East India Comapny's private army was doing during the Napoleonic Wars? Were the sepoy's sent abroad like they were later in the century? What of the British Army garrison and white soldiers within the company's ranks? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.8.192.142 (talk) 14:50, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Sepoy units from the Company's Bengal and Madras Armies took part in the Anglo-Dutch Java War in 1811. HLGallon (talk) 23:44, 30 October 2011 (UTC)