# British Army in the 1850's and 1860's



## lwhitehead (Jul 29, 2015)

Hi I was wondering if the British Army in the 1850's and 1860's still considered the Scum of the Earth like they were in Wellington's time?.


I know that in the Crimea War the British Army was like the Americans in the Korea War, Soft and overconfenant.


LW


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## Fred (Sep 2, 2015)

The British Army in the Crimea were woefully inadequate on a number of levels. Its medical arm, for example, in spite of what Florence Nightengale was up to at Scutari, had yet to equal the efficiency and advancement that the French had achieved fifty years earlier under Napoleon. Upon disembarking in the Crimea, the British were described by one dismayed French general as "a hundred years behind the times".

The army was still very much divided along class lines: the aristocracy still tended to provide the officer class whilst the lower ranks were drawn from a working class much more likely to be urban by the 1850s; born and raised in densely packed slums and factory housing, suffering lung conditions from polluted air and malnourished from insufficient, inadequate and often contaminated food and water. The Crimea revealed that the terrible living conditions of the urban poor in Britain made for infantrymen too weak to carry their packs on service - the packs were, at first, strapped across the chest, as they had been in Wellington's time, and the men's chests were often too physically weak to expand their lungs enough to breathe properly whilst carrying the weight. If the army in the Crimea was 'soft' it was because of intolerable conditions back home that had bred a generation of malnourished, consumptive working class fodder for wealthy men whose military education might have been little more than reading Tacitus in the original Latin.

The ordinary soldiers were, still, therefore, very much the "scum of the earth" compared to their social superiors in the officer class. Working class men were recruited (not infrequently persuaded to join while drunk) for either a lifetime service, or 21 years - which was practically a lifetime anyway. Infantrymen were often drunk and ill-disciplined, and regiments with the highest number of floggings (reduced in 1847 to a maximum of 50 lashes) celebrated their rebellious status. Neither officers nor men were adequately trained, equipped, or organised, thanks largely to the conservatism of Wellington and his successors. Even after the dismal and tragic performance of the army in the Crimea and the Mutiny, nothing really changed until the Cardwell reforms in 1868. If you google "Cardwell Reforms" and "British Army Victorian period" you should get a lot of information.


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## lwhitehead (Dec 10, 2015)

I need to know because I'm creating a Steampunk setting were a British like army of 1850's to 160's created 3 meter tall Giants to fight in there Battlefield, no Females of this race were created they wanted Fighters no lovers and also were afraid of creating more them. These Giants used 15 Ft Blades to fight with, as well as specially created weapons like Gatlling Minigun, Flamethrower, and Grenades the sizes of Cannonballs.

LW


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## Stormcat (Dec 11, 2015)

lwhitehead said:


> I need to know because I'm creating a Steampunk setting were a British like army of 1850's to 160's created 3 meter tall Giants to fight in there Battlefield, no Females of this race were created they wanted Fighters no lovers and also were afraid of creating more them. These Giants used 15 Ft Blades to fight with, as well as specially created weapons like Gatlling Minigun, Flamethrower, and Grenades the sizes of Cannonballs.
> 
> LW



Steampunk!?! Did somebody say Steampunk!?!

Well, I can tell you that most of those weapons you're thinking of weren't invented until WWI. But given how you want a steampunk setting, I suppose it would be alright to have them show up a few years early. The Blades seem a bit outdated in this age of gunpowder, Furthermore, Most people can't wield a sword half their size, let alone one that's the same size as they are!

Don't worry so much about historical accuracies, instead work on your characterization of these giants. Will they be mindless drones, or have feelings like the rest of us? Are they made from humans, or other animals? 

I love a good steampunk story, I'd love to help out!


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## Stormcat (Dec 11, 2015)

lwhitehead said:


> I know that in the Crimea War the British Army was like the Americans in the Korea War, Soft and overconfenant.



Hey now! The South Koreans to this day are extremely grateful for the American's sacrifices!


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