Wellington's Men: The British Soldier of the Napoleonic Wars

Abstract

The bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo offers an opportunity to think critically about the historiography of the Napoleonic Wars. This article argues that orthodox military histories of the period have tended to neglect the experience of the common soldier. By contrast, the article offers an overview of recent work on the history of war, which applies techniques from social and cultural history in order to explore the perspective of the combatant. By thinking about the social origins and experiences of soldiers and how those experiences were handled in cultural terms, this work sheds new light on the humble redcoat who fought under Wellington at Waterloo.