Napoleonic

Jane-Austen

Jane Austen: a wartime writer?

War and violence are the last things one would associate with that 19th-century doyenne of English literature, Jane Austen. Ambles in the countryside, flirtatious glances, frocks with lace and frills, and the relentless pursuit of wealthy bachelors are the more likely images conjured by her name.

Yet conventional interpretations of the novelist’s work lack reference to a crucial context – that of war. For most of Jane Austen’s life, Britain was involved in conflicts of varying existential significance across the globe.

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Battlefield Medicine: Wellington’s medical service at Waterloo

There were around 50 hospital staff in Brussels before Waterloo, some of whom had recently been on campaign elsewhere in the Low Countries. Other regimental doctors came over with their battalions, as did other hospital staff members (physicians, apothecaries, purveyors, and dispensers).  At the time of Waterloo, there was no anaesthesia, no knowledge of or […]

Waterloo

Waterloo – map of troop manoeuvres

This map explains the movements of the French, British, and Prussian forces from the 15 to the 18 June, 1815. Napoleon seized the initiative in the Hundred Days campaign by marching his army across the frontier and into Belgium on 15 June. He struck Blücher’s Prussians with his main force at Ligny on 16 June, but his […]

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Map of the Wellington's Lines of Torres Vedras – from September 1809

The lines of the Torres Vedras were lines of forts secretly built by the British from around September 1809-1812 to protect Lisbon during the Peninsular War. The landscape was remodelled wholesale to make it more defensible. Every approach was covered by at least one fort, and all forts were mutually supporting. Trench-lines covered some of […]

Cannon

Broadside Cannon

There can have been few sights as frightful as the dull gaze of the 32 pounders of a ship’s broadside as it turned to face you. Weighing in at 3.5 tonnes and capable of firing at a muzzle velocity of 487 metres per second, these vast cannon were the most important and imposing naval armaments […]

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The Diehards – Regiment Profile

The Diehards: The 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot (now part of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment) Nothing could exceed the conduct and gallantry of Colonel Inglis at the head of his regiment.’ That is how Field Marshal Sir William Beresford, the British commander-in-chief at the Battle of Albuera, described the performance which gained ‘The Diehards’ […]

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The Royal Scots Greys – Regiment Profile

The Royal Scots Greys: The regiment that caught the French Eagle. The image of the Scots Greys charging out of the picture in Lady Elizabeth Butler’s classic painting Scotland Forever! depicts one of the proudest moments in the regiment’s history. The truth, however, is far more remarkable than the portrayal of wild galloping horses in […]