Enlisted soldiers during Napoleonic wars

[Dealen]

How was It In being In the army at this era?

Please elobrate.

[Docm30]

Shitty, that's how.

Now go read some enlisted men's memoirs.

[Dealen]

Link!

[Mr T]

Docm pretty much summed it up in terms of how the life of a soldier was like, as an enlsieted man no one really cared for you, sleeping in the cold and rain most of the tie, food shortages, disease, surgery, the enlisted man was constantly under hardships with little to no reward. The only highlights for soldiers really were when being commanded by men you could trust, who were charasmatic and who understood the soldiers life, victories were morale boosters too. But like many soldiers throughout history, in the army you're a hero during wartime, when the wars over, no one could give two shakes of a lambs tail what happened to you.

Theres alot more too it than that but thats just a rough summary.

[Millander]

Shitty, that's how.

Now go read some enlisted men's memoirs.

Could you give some examples?

[James Grant]

Shitty, that's how.

Now go read some enlisted men's memoirs.

Could you give some examples?

The retreat to Corunna for one.

[Docm30]

For you British, you've got Benjamin Harris of the 95th, Edward Costello of the same, and Joseph Donaldson of the 94th. There are more, too, but that's a start.

One of the best known French memoirs is by Jean-Roch Coignet.

Give those a read for a rough idea of the kind of life an enlisted man lived in the era. They were all published in the 19th century, so are public domain and can be found pretty easily.

[Mr T]

Ah yeah, good ol' Coignet, he indeed gives good insight into the grimness of the common soldier, my favourite part though of tthe book has got to be when he's talking about how one of the Russian Imperial Guard who was feasting with the Old Guard, was regergatating what he'd eaten into his lap in order to eat it again.

[Jocam]

Some titles of memoirs or letter collections:

The Recollections of Rifleman Harris (95th rifles, Peninsular)
The letters of Private Wheeler (51st, pennisular + Waterloo)
A soldier of the 71st (you probs already know =D)
The Recollections of Sergeant Morris (73rd Regiment, Waterloo)
The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot soldier. (Regiment of Romig, Russian invasion)

[Van_Hulstein]

For the dutch it was:
You had to be Conscript for the French army.
March to Russia.
Dead.
The End

[Duuring]

It can get worse. You could survive, walk all the way back, and be conscripted into the new Dutch army set to fight Napoleon.

Surprisingly enough, many signed up voluntary. Even a Dutch Sergeant-major who built the bridges over the Berezina, and was one of the few pontoniers to survive, signed up in 1815 in the Corps Sappeurs, Pontoniers en Mineurs.

[Dealen]

It can get worse. You could survive, walk all the way back, and be conscripted into the new Dutch army set to fight Napoleon.

Duuring our historian <3

[Archduke Sven]

Poor Russians, always running the gauntlet..