Could You Survive in the Duke of Wellington's Army?
1,376,331
Published 2023-05-29
During the Napoleonic Wars the British Army experienced a time of rapid change. At the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, the army was a small, awkwardly administered force of barely 40,000 men. By the end of the period, the numbers had vastly increased to over a quarter of a million soldiers by 1813.
Whilst the battlefields of the early 1800s looked similar to those of centuries gone by, with columns of infantry advancing slowly toward the enemy musket volleys, the British army was starting to diversify, adding specialised and elite units to its forces.
In this video, History Hit presenters Luke Tomes (@histluketomes) and Louee Dessent (@loueedj) join the Coldstream Guards 1815 and 95th Rifles - reenactment groups representing real units that served in the Peninsular War and helped to defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo…
You can find out more about the groups here:
www.coldstreamguards1815.org.uk/home
www.95th-rifles.co.uk/
Together, they'll find out how your regiment in the Duke of Wellington’s army would shape your experience on the battlefield and determine your chances of survival.
Taking up the role of a 'redcoat' line infantryman, Louee is thrown in the deep-end as he joins a marching drill crash course, before firing a brown bess musket.
Meanwhile, Luke is taken through the unique light infantry skirmishing tactics used by the green jackets during the Napoleonic Wars, before firing the famous baker rifle and learning how to make musket balls from scratch.
Will Louee survive his drill training? Will Luke be able to fire 3 rounds per minute? Watch the video to find out!
Filmed at the Living History UK Festival 2023.
Living History UK YouTube channel: youtube.com/c/LivingHistoryUK
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#historyhit #napoleonicwars #dukeofwellington
00:00 Introduction
02:37 The Coldstream Guards (equipment)
11:02 The 95th Rifles (equipment)
16:56 Drill training
21:25 Light infantry tactics
25:47 Rations and camp life
29:54 Making your own ammunition
34:47 The Baker rifle
41:12 The Brown Bess musket
44:29 Injuries and treatment
45:15 Battle demonstration
46:45 Final scores
All Comments (21)
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Hope you enjoy guys! Which unit of Wellington's army would you rather serve in? 🤔
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Those green jacketed riflemen were so good of an elite unit, Sean Bean playing one of them didn't have to die for once :D
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Wow. This gave me such nostalgia back to television when I was a kid and there were actual history programs, not "Hitler's Aliens and Pyramids." The time and effort that must've gone into making this is truly incredible. That intro sequence of the foot marching to the rifles appearing through the bush is something else, man. The reenactors are awesome!
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My half sister, when she married, was gifted 3 bottles of Champagne by her father. Looted by her great, great, great, grandfather at Badajoz.
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So, basically, recruiters talked as much BS then, as they do now.
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As an Ex-Rifleman of The Rifles it’s great seeing the core values and traditions of the 95th still being instilled into the Rifleman of today.
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My 7th great grandfather, Giles Edmonds, served in the XIV Hussars in Spain... he served from November 1808 - July 1814, when he was pensioned out due to injury and became a Chelsea Pensioner... he lived out a good long life with his fifteen children.
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Surviving in Old Nosey's Army? Now that's soldiering.
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Im an American US Army vet. I was doing my Genealogy and im thankful the UK record keeping is so good. I found the pension record for my 6th Great Grandfather he served in the 2nd Dragoons from 1799 to 1816.
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The food, the drink, the flies, the heat, the mosquitos, the marches, the weather, the wives and the French. How did any of them come back?
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Two of my Ancestors were in Wellington's Army. One Richard Rowe who served in the 2nd Foot Regiment for nearly 14 years.. He was at Vitoria. The second one William Taylor was in the 11th Dragoons and was at Salamanca and Waterloo.. William was in this Regiment for 15 years, both were Chelsea Pensioners in 1851.
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"But it is wonderful what fine fellows we have made of them" , People always forget that bit of Wellington's statement. Which, to be fair, he made for the first time after the battle of Vittoria in 1814, when his victorious troops, after winning a decisive battle against the retreating French, stopped to plunder their baggage train, depriving Wellington of some much needed money, (Intended to actually pay the men with!), and allowing the French to escape to fight again in the Pyrenees. What with Gout, interferences from Whitehall, occasionally insane generals, and a rank and file who, (at least some of them), would drink anything liquid and nick anything not nailed down, I can kind of excuse Wellington's outburst a little bit. And let us not forget; Wellington may not have LIKED his soldiers, but he certainly tried to not throw their lives away.
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the fuller on the bayonet is not a “blood groove” - popular misconception. its function is to simultaneously lighten and stiffen the blade
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I could not survive in our local Boy Scouts Troop let alone the Duke Wellingtons Army
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My 3rd great Grandfather was in the 33rd Foot at Waterloo. He joined in 1811, when he was 16 years old, and had just gone 20 in June 1815. Out of 516 men of the regiment there were 280 casualties. Luckily fate was good to him and he survived to serve another 10 years in Ireland, Canada and Jamaica. He was honourably discharged from the Chelsea Hospital in 1824 and lived to 1853. He received a Chelsea Pension. All the survivors got 2 years service added towards the army pension along with the Waterloo medal.
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I have enjoyed the Sharpe series of books from Bernard Cornwell. They discuss and illustrate this period with great accuracy and excellent stories with some historical latitude. It is great to see what Sharpe would have work as regular leg infantry and as an officer in the rifles. Thank you very much for your presentation, excellent resource.
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I luv these guys as hosts. How they split up and you get to see both sides a bit more in-depth than one normally would. Then when you see them again on the next adventure, they trade classes
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Putting out a documentary on what it was like in Wellington's Army? Now that's soldierin'.
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I served 12 years with 3 royal green jackets,my ancestor sgt. Samuel humble Lawson of the 95th rifles led the forlorn hope at badajoz and was promoted to lieutenant.We still own the only existing forlorn hope medal as only 4 were issued,his GSM with forlorn hope bar,and his crimea medal and star as he was a adviser to the Portuguese. I also had an ancestor in the artists rifles and my grandfather was a rifle brigade officer in both world wars.
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Another top video guys this time showing a clear difference between the "Red Coats" and the "Rifles". along with the use case differences between the musket and the rifle users. It was also good to get an insight into the harsh life of the two regiments. Once again a great educational video guys. Many thanks for sharing. We still need to learn why we keep on fighting each other even now but I guess that is an issue that unfortunately I doubt will have a resolution and in my lifetime.
