| The British soldier of the Peninsular War, 1808--1814, has in the last two centuries acquired a reputation as being a thief, scoundrel, criminal, and undesirable social outcast. Labeled "the scum of the earth" by their commander, the Duke of Wellington, these men were supposedly swept from the streets and jails into the army. Their unmatched success on the battlefield has been attributed to their savage and criminal natures and Wellington's tactical ability.A detailed investigation, combining heretofore unmined demographic data, primary source accounts, and nutritional analysis, reveals a picture of the British soldier that presents his campaign and combat behaviors in a different light. Most likely an unemployed laborer or textile worker, the soldier enlisted because of economic need. A growing population, the impact of the war, and the transition from hand-made goods to machined products displaced large numbers of workers. Men joined the army in hopes of receiving regular wages and meals. In this they would be sorely disappointed.Enlisted for life, the soldier's new primary social group became his surrogate family. The shared hardship of campaign and battle forged bonds of extraordinary strength between the British soldier and the men with whom he fought, lived, and suffered. When the commissariat failed to feed him, the soldier plundered out of desperation, sharing whatever could be found with his comrades. With little in the way of sustaining support on campaign, such as medals, chances for promotion, or the appreciation of the British public, the men looked to each other for esteem. Group mores, which put an emphasis on selfless acts that enhanced group survival, become the paramount driving force. Such group values applied on and off the battlefield the ranker learned to lean on his group in order to face the physical and psychological demands of campaign and combat.No more a criminal than any other soldier of the Napoleonic wars, the British soldier was common in most every respect, except in his ability to adapt and survive under desperate circumstances. His victories in battle were the direct outcome of primary group cohesion and shared privation, not his base nature. |
