British Redcoat

Objects of grotesque caricature and popular distrust in their own times, British Redcoats nevertheless represented a formidable fighting force and laid the foundations of the British Empire. The British Army was drawn from a far lower percentage of the population than almost any other European army, and at home they were employed chiefly as a police force. This, coupled with their demonisation in American mythology, earned the Redcoats a fearsome reputation as a penal institution run by aristocratic dilettantes. This volume seeks to put the record straight. It investigates the lifestyles and motivations of the warriors who quelled the Jacobite rebellion and covers the weapons, armour and tactics they employed.