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'Redcoat is a wonderful book, doing justice to men who have long deserved a chronicler of Richard Holmes' skill. It is not just a work of history - but of enthusiasm and unparalleled knowledge.' BERNARD CORNWELL Redcoat combines a first-class military historian famous as a TV personality with a Schama-esque approach to one of the most enduring and magnetic subjects of British history. It has all the makings of a big autumn best-seller. Richard Holmes is famous as TV's military historian, the writer and presenter of War Walks and author of Firing Line and Riding the Retreat. Red Coat marks his return to serious writing. Drawing on a wealth of original source material - diaries, letters, memoirs - Red Coat is an anecdotal history of the British soldier from 1700 to 1900, a period in which methods of warfare and the social makeup of the British army changed little, and in which the Empire was forged. Similar in style to Katie Hickman's Daughters of Britannia, or Simon Schama's Citizens, Red Coat gives a rich and wonderful portrait of the men who donned the red uniform, charged in the Light Brigade, dug in at Rourke's Drift, fought Napoleon at Waterloo, Washington in America, were stabbed by Afghans, annihilated by Zulus and turned the atlas pink.… (more)
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It covers:
-the nature of warfare in Europe and the colonies
-weapons and their effect on tactics, injuries and casualties
-recruitment, command and discipline
-attitude under fire and towards the enemy
-life in barracks and on the march
-differences in social origins, ethics, prospects and lifestyle between officers and enlisted men and their families
It gives specific treatment to the subjects of infantry, cavalry, artillery, specialist services, siege warfare. It is a book on the military culture of the times in all its aspects rather than on "events".
All in all a very readable and informative study. Fans of Professor Holmes or John Keegan will not be disappointed.
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