Wellington: Crime and Punishment in the Peninsular War (with Zack White)

2023-04-06

The British army of the Napoleonic era was arguably the most effective to ever take the field…but it had its dark side… ill-discipline. We’ve all heard the famous “scum of the earth” quotes from Wellington and we know that the redcoats and riflemen were fond of a drink, but do the statistics show them to be an unruly mob of troublemakers? In the Sharpe TV series and books we see that morally corrupt, brutalised officers could dish out a flogging whenever they felt like it - that the men lived i...

The British army of the Napoleonic era was arguably the most effective to ever take the field…but it had its dark side… ill-discipline.

We’ve all heard the famous “scum of the earth” quotes from Wellington and we know that the redcoats and riflemen were fond of a drink, but do the statistics show them to be an unruly mob of troublemakers?

In the Sharpe TV series and books we see that morally corrupt, brutalised officers could dish out a flogging whenever they felt like it - that the men lived in fear of corporal punishment…But is that also true?

It’s so difficult to sort fact from fiction when it comes to crime and punishment in Wellington’s army and so to help me to do so I am joined today by THE Expert on the subject…Zack White of the Napoleonic Wars podcast.

https://www.thenapoleonicwars.net/

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