The military success achieved by the Duke of Wellington casts a long shadow over the history of the British army in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. The popular account of Britain's military record in the great struggle against Napoleonic France is chiefly one of glorious victories, with Britain cast as the saviour of Europe from the Corsican 'monster'. Most British historians have focused on retelling stories of British success, notably Wellington's, in Spain, Portugal and during the Hundred Days campaign and tend to pay little attention to British military defeats.

But is the focus on Wellington's successes really an appropriate way to understand the performance of the British army in a conflict which lasted over twenty years? And what about the army’s poor record in the Low Countries, where it suffered defeats and sustained crippling losses during the same period? In this perceptive and highly readable study Andrew Limm answers these questions and provides a more balanced account of the British contribution to the downfall of Napoleon.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Maps
• Introduction
  • Historiography
  • The Transformation of the British Army, 1795 to 1815?
  • Definition of Terms
  • Methodology and Structure
  • Source Materials
• 1. The British Army and the Dunkirk Campaign, 1793
  • The Ministers and the Military
  • The British Army on the Eve of War
  • Reasons for British Intervention in the Low Countries
  • Strategic Planning Process
  • The 1793 Campaign and the Road to Dunkirk
  • Planning and Preparation
  • Aftermath
• 2. British Defeat in the Netherlands, 1794–5 and the Duke of York’s Reforms
  • Scratching the Surface: York’s Reforms and the British Army
  • The Main Reforms and Their Impact
  • The Training of the Infantry
  • The Reform and the Officer Corps
  • Officer Education
  • The British Approach to Military Education in a European Context
  • The European Military World and the British Army
• 3. The Expedition to the Helder, 1799
  • Rationale for Intervention
  • The British Army: Fit For Service?
  • Planning and Preparation
  • Execution
  • Breakout
  • Aftermath
• 4. The Expedition to the Scheldt, 1809
  • The British Army: Fit for Service?
  • Rationale for British Intervention
  • Planning and Preparation
  • Execution
  • A Ruinous Seige: The Siege of Flushing
  • ‘Wasting Fever’
  • The Scheldt Inquiry: Lessons Unidentified
• 5. The British Army and the Debacle at Bergen-Op-Zoom, 1813–14
  • British Strategy, the European Powers and the Invasion of France in 1813–14
  • Rationale for British Intervention in 1813
  • The British Army: Fit for Service?
  • Planning and Preparation
  • The Hill Upon the Zoom
  • Aftermath
• Conclusion
  • The Wellington Factor: The Iron Duke, Waterloo and Reasons for British victory
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plate section