c1700–c1900: Warfare and British society in 18th and 19th centuries

Question 1

Continuity of weapons in 1700-1850

Answer 1

Brown bess used for 130 years
-muzzle loaded
-can be fit with bayonet
-effective for 100m

Question 2

Continuity of artillery 1700-1850

Answer 2

Cannons
500m range
grape shot or canisters

Question 3

What allowed light field artillery to be created?

Answer 3

Industrial revolution
1720: Britain produced 25 tonnes of iron
1790: Britain produced 70,000 tonnes
Iron was more plentiful and cheaper
John Wilkinson

Question 4

Who was John Wilkinson?

Answer 4

pioneer of British iron industry who patented method to create perfect barrel out of single piece of iron in 1774
-allowed lighter, more powerful, more accurate cannon
-allowed horses to carry artillery around (INDUSTRIAL CAUSE OF CHANGE)

Question 5

Changes to infantry tactics

Answer 5

-From four-deep musketeer lines in 1700 to two-deep lines in 1760 due to faster reloading time

-Rhythmic marching in 1760 meant infantry could move quickly and precisely around the battlefield. They could also change formation for specific purpose (eg form columns to push through enemy lines or squares in defence to cavalry)

Question 6

Changes to artillery tactics (now that they were lighter)

Answer 6

Now used to
-sit infront of infantry to defend lines
-move to high-ground to bombard enemy

Wellington had 216 guns at Waterloo 1815

Question 7

Changes to cavalry tactics

Answer 7

-Used as shock troops because they were too weak to muskets
-Scouting enemy/skirmishing with enemy cavalry

Question 8

Factors affecting change 1700-1850

Answer 8

Social attitudes: kept army sizes the same as larger armies would mean more tax. Also a large army would be a threat to political freedom

Political attitudes: Ruling classes scared of change after they saw effect of change to France powers after French Revolution 1789

Individuals: Wellington refused to modernise army

Industrialisation

Question 9

How were officers and other ranks recruited from 1700-1850?

Answer 9

Officers: wealthy youth whose family bought commissions
-Higher the rank, higher the price

Other ranks: problems with recruiting enough people
-Short enlistment for 8-12 years or life for 21 years
-8d a day till 1792, less than labourer + soldiers had to pay for food,
equipment, lodgings in peacetime
-bounties (£3 worth £250 today), crimps (recruiting under the influence),
criminals released from prison to serve (7000 raised this way in War of
American independence (1776)

Meant high desertion, harsh discipline, weak troops

Question 10

What were Colonel’s Regiments?

Answer 10

Government faced backlash when they created new regiments so they paid large sums to senior officers to create and recruit for regiments instead. Officers usually made these armies as cheap as possible to maximise profit. Similar to Captain’s indentures 1400

Question 11

When was the Militia Act

Answer 11

1757

Question 12

What was the Militia Act 1757

Answer 12

Ballots to pick random men from those aged 18-50 who must serve 5 years.
1789:militia grew to 120,000 men

overhaul of assize of arms

Question 13

What is militia

Answer 13

Militia: protected country from invasion and boosted numbers during war

Question 14

Attempts to improve training during this period

Answer 14

FAILURES
1708 “New exercise of Firelocks and Bayonets” by Duke of Marlborough. (Not used)
George II “Regulations” for whole army (ignored)

SUCCESSES
1741 Royal Military Academy
Drills for manoeuvring troops introduced in 1790s
1800 Sandhurst RMC to improve training of officers. 1802 Junior academy added for cadets training to become officers

Question 15

What prevented changes to training in 1700-1850?

Answer 15

Social attitudes
It was believed officers can arrange their troops

Question 16

Impact of war on civilians

Answer 16

No significant civilian deaths as Navy prevented invasion

Recruitment: Militia Act disliked, caused riots as people believed they would be forced to serve abroad

Requisitioning of animals and wagons as the army had not transport of its own

Army accommodation: large numbers of rowdy soldiers couldn’t find lodgings so disrupted businesses and upset townspeople. Solved in 1800 as Barracks created

Tax during peace time: Cost from larger army made very little difference: Though it rose by £ 6 million from 1700 to 1836, country and people were more prosperous and population increase of 20 million meant that cost was shared.

Tax during wartime: wartime with France 1793-1815 spiked army cost to 25million/yr . Total cost of army £500mil 1805-15 alone

Question 17

How was the cannon improved 1850-1900

Answer 17

Cannons made of steel, more durable and less likely to explode like iron/bronze

Breech-loading (loaded from back): quicker to reload than muzzle-loaded. Fired 10 rounds per min vs muzzle-loaded’s 2rpm

Rifled (spiral grooves making shot spin) barrels: fire up to 5km (vs smooth barrel 500m) , and more accurate

Recoiling barrels by 1890 means cannon doesn’t have to be repositioned after every shot

Percussion shells by 1900: filled with chemicals that exploded shell into deadly fragments on impact

Smokeless powder by 1890s: smoke did not impair aim or give away position

Question 18

How were rifles improved 1850-1900

Answer 18

1847 Minie bullets: bullets dropped into barrel and expanded when shot. Used with minie rifle meant bullets effective for 300m

Conical bullets: long and torpedo shaped, flew further

Percussion bullets: percussion cap at base of bullet propels it and so ended reliance on sparks or powder for firing. Much more reliable in damp weather and loading became easier

Breech-loading: bullets put in from back side of gun.1866 Chassepot made breech loaded rifle effective 1500m

Magazines: several bullets could be loaded at once

Question 19

What gun were British infantry given 1888?

Answer 19

Lee-Metford. Effective 1.5km

Question 20

Maxim Machine guns

Answer 20

replaced heavy gattling gun (200rpm)
Adopted by British army in 1886
20kg, can be manoeuvred around battlefield
500rpm

Question 21

Factors affecting change 1850-1900

Answer 21

INDUSTRIAL
1855: Bessemer introduces cheap way of mass producing steel, from £60 a ton to £7.
1856 The Royal Small Arms Factory made 1750 rifles/week. By 1900 mass producing Lee-Enfield (25rpm) rifle

SCIENCE:
Alfred Nobel’s nitroglycerine for smokeless powder for rifles and cannons
fulminate of mercury for percussion bullets

INDIVIDUALS
1861 Armstrong Cannon, firing 70kg shell 10km, breechloaded &rifled
Maxim gun: using recoil of each bullet to load the next one, 500rpm. By 1890, 6 Euro countries using this

Question 22

Change in tactics due to advances in weaponry 1850-1900

Answer 22

Defence became very easy, using powerful stationary guns.
1854 Battle of Inkerman: Russians lose 11,000 troops in one day when advancing British who had Minie rifles
(russians had smooth rifles)

Question 23

Decline of cavalry in 1850

Answer 23

Remained in British army to lesser extent
1) used for scouting
2) attitudes in society: tradition

Question 24

Government advancements in strategy 1850-1900

Answer 24

-Government realises that largest army with most modern weapons wins. Size and cost of armies rose rapidly
-Armies could now operate further from home due to advancements in transport and communication

Question 25

Advancements to transport from 1850

Answer 25

Troops moved 15x faster by rail than foot
Battle of Balaclava: track can deliver 240tons of food a day

Steamships sent British soldiers to Crimea in less than 3 weeks

Question 26

Advancements to communication from 1850

Answer 26

Electronic Telegraph
Ministers could discuss strategy with generals at war

Question 27

Advancements to news reporting from 1850

Answer 27

1815: The Times sold 5k copies a day vs 40k in 1850

Question 28

Crimean war coverage: William Russel and Roger Fenton

Answer 28

William Russel sent daily telegraphs for 2 years detailing triumphs and failures in Crimea. Only took 5 hours for messaged to send. Read by public

Newspapers were illustrated eg by Goodall to make it more exciting

Fenton took pictures of horrible condition soldiers lived in and were in

Question 29

Boer war press coverage

Answer 29

500,000 copies of daily mail sold per day
300 correspondents at the war in South Africa
Films of warfare

Question 30

Cardwell’s reforms

Answer 30

1870 Army act:
Lower ranks 6yr in service and 6 in reserve (4d daily and did annual retraining)
After 12yrs, soldier could resign or repeat for a pension
-constant source of extra well trained soldiers

1871 Regularisation of the Forces act
-All regiments had one group abroad and one at home
-Militia made up each regiment’s third battalion
Meant service was more acceptable to recruits and supply of troops in Britain in case of emergency

OTHER REFORMS:
1871: rations improved, branding (and flogging in peacetime) abolished. Sale of commissions ended and ranks were earnt by merit

Question 31

Cardwell’s reforms pros + cons

Answer 31

PROS
reserve of 80,000 by 1900

CONS
Low officer pay meant most officers were still upper class
Low ranks had low pay so not enough soldiers. This meant anyone regardless of age or physicality was accepted. Eg Boer war 1899, many were undernourished

Question 32

Initial training of officers before and after 1850

Answer 32

Before 1850 most officers entered their position with no training.
From 1860: officers trained as cadets in RMC Sandhurst
artillery & engineering officers at Woolwich Military Academy

Question 33

Training for officers after 1850

Answer 33

Senior department in RMC. Capacity for training doubled in 1857 (Camberley)

Question 34

What did training include by 1900

Answer 34

Maths, science, English and practical courses

Question 35

How did newspapers during Crimean war affect requisitioning and provisions

Answer 35

Dreadful arrangement exposed so the British improved, eg by giving duty of transport and supplies to the War Office (Also cut back on requisitioning)

Question 36

How did requisitioning change after 1850

Answer 36

Requisitioning from civilians proved unreliable

1855: War office creates Land Transport corps with its own wagons and animals

1888: Army service corps specialise in provision and movement of supplies

Question 37

Public opinion in action after 1850s

(Attitudes in society)

Answer 37

-people wrote letters of criticism about Crimea war and led to government resigning

-Public raised money for good causes eg £5,000 for sick and wounded soldiers after the times fundraiser

Question 38

3 Attitudes in society from 1850

Answer 38

Imperialism - spread British values through all means possible

Jingoism - Patriotic people for aggressive foreign policies

Pacifism - Belief that war is wrong eg Quakers

Question 39

Battle of Waterloo 1815
composition of armies

Answer 39

British: 50k infantry, 12k cavalry, 5k gunners
Napoleon: 70k men remaining

Question 40

Battle of Waterloo 1815
Wellingtons defensive positioning

Answer 40

Troops at reverse side of ridge so French artillery was less impactful. Flanks protected by house and town

Question 41

Battle of Waterloo 1815
Napoleons problems

Answer 41

Napoleon had piles so was bad tempered with his generals and couldn’t survey the battle on his horse

Napoleon sent 33,000 of his troops to pursue Prussians who didnt tie down Blucher or help at Waterloo

Question 42

Battle of Waterloo 1815
start events

Answer 42

Napoleon 84-gun artillery bombardment to little effect due to soft ground preventing richochet or shrapnel and shots went over the heads of Wellington’s troops as they were at reverse of ridge

2000 Coldstream guards in defensive squares tie up a quarter of Napoleon’s infantry

Question 43

Battle of Waterloo 1815
Napoleon main assault

Answer 43

Infantry sent in in wide columns, so were easily shot but coudlnt shoot themselves

3000 British infantry shot successive volleys and sucess

Question 44

Battle of Waterloo 1815
end

Answer 44

France gains better position over Wellington and sends in 25,000 Imperial guards belatedly. Prussian troops arrive and 70,000 French killed and battle won

Question 45

Infantry squares

Answer 45

20ish squares of infantry surrounded by muskets and bayonets to prevent cavalry attack and hollow centre for artillery and wounded troops

Question 46

Battle of Balaclava 1854
army composition

Answer 46

Raglan sets up
2000 infantry: mostly poorly trained
1500 cavalry
26 guns overlooking port

vs
25,000 Russian infantry
3500 cavalry
78 guns

Question 47

Battle of Balaclava 1854
thin red line

Answer 47

550 British infantry ordered to stand and fire at 2000 charging Russian cavalry

Infantry armed with minie rifles fire 3 rounds leading to Russian retreat.

Power of defence typical in warfare from 1855-1900

Question 48

Battle of Balaclava 1854
Charge of the Heavy Brigade

Answer 48

British charged and despite being outnumbered, the Russian cavalry fled

Question 49

Battle of Balaclava 1854
Charge of the Light Brigade cause

Answer 49

Series of miscommunications between Raglan, Nolan, Lucan and Lord Cardigan

Question 50

Battle of Balaclava 1854
Charge of the Light Brigade events

Answer 50

673 men lead by Cardigan into valley and they were fired upon by 30 Russian cannons and 113 killed for no reason (nothing gained). Lord Cardigan retreated leaving his men behind