Germans within the British Army

  • Mark Wishon
Chapter
Part of the War, Culture and Society, 1750–1850 book series (WCS)

Abstract

In the last three chapters we have examined the similarities and differences between British soldiers and their German counterparts, be they allies in a coalition army, or as auxiliaries to Britain’s armed forces. In this and the next chapter, we will turn to those German soldiers who served formally within the British Army from the mid-eighteenth to early-nineteenth centuries, focusing on the staggered progression towards direct integration into the army. Rather than following the template adhered to for the last three chapters, this chapter will survey the history of Germans within the British Army in this period, and rather than stressing the perceptions towards fellow-soldiers (in part because so few exist), the emphasis will be placed on some of the key themes in their recruitment and integration, and what made service in the British Army so desirable or undesirable. This chapter will then be followed by a case study of one particular entity that achieved a degree of structural and social integration that no previous foreign corps had attained — be they Dutch, Huguenot or German. That this force, the King’s German Legion, should come into being at the end of the period under examination is no coincidence as those factors that spurred German assimilation throughout this era were particularly acute in the quarter century of conflict with Republican and Imperial France.

Keywords

German State Royal Family Foreign Corps British Army German Army 
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Notes

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Copyright information

© Mark Wishon 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Mark Wishon
    • 1
  1. 1.University of CaliforniaSan DiegoUSA

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