Young English Soldier Describes BRUTAL REALITY of Napoleonic Battle (1808, Portugal) Rifleman Harris
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 01. 2021
- The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/voicesofthepast01212
This video was sponsored by Skillshare.
--------------------------------------
Extracts taken from "The Recollections of Rifleman Harris" by Benjamin Randell Harris (1848).
If this channel is something you like, if you think saving primary sources is important, head over to the patreon and join up!
/ voicesofthepast
- Don’t forget to subscribe to my brother's channel History Time, where he makes full length historical documentaries:-
/ historytime
- Music courtesy of:-
Epidemic Sound
Artlist.io
We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/voicesofthepast01212
Can try to find a journal from one of Luxembourg's soilders in ww2.
I cant imagine what how they felt about europe falling all around them.
These primary resources are outstanding! Keep doing them forever!
Plan to make a video about Isabella Bird the adventurer someday.
french soldiers during Verdun
Capitaine Coignet At Essling Please
Its funny how even a common soldier in early 19th century Britain sounds more poetic and erudite than even educated people today
Falling standards ....innit
That's just how people spoke & wrote in those days, linguistic ability changes white a bit. Even in the last 100 years have dialect, and structure of sentences changed quite a bit.
Yep.
@@jonhall2274 Obviously standards and what constitutes erudition and articulation changes, but I don't think it changes enough to explain why a 16 year Ben Franklin sounds more sophisticated and intelligent in 2022 then most intellectuals
Gullible.
A soldier’s account of what he felt and saw around him is more meaningful to me as a person than Wellington‘s account of the whole course of the battle. Thank you for this.
The view from the tower is different from the view from the fields. While I understand the need to have the journals of big figures to understand their decisions, I am happy the accounts of the common man have become incredibly important.
This is why I love this channel so much. It gives us an account into the normal person that lived through vital points in history.
@@IAsimov Very few can relate to Wellington's experience. Practically EVERY human can relate to the common soldier.
They serve difference purposes.
Wellingtons account is strategic and tactical, cold and emotionless. The common soldiers is personal and intimate, unconcerned with the overall picture and focused only day by day and in battle minute by minute.
@@Goodkidjr43 Hardly anyone can relate to the common soldier because most people are civilians who have never seen combat.
His skill in mending shoes and boots was definitely appreciated.
I won't lie, at first, I thought it was a title out of teasing, but given how long you have to march, how ugly battles and feet wounds could be, and sometimes how army logistics could screw you out of a uniform you rightfully deserved AND needed, a cobbler would be of the utmost necessity to keep men healthy and well.
@@IAsimov Especially when they would march on macadamized roads, their feet would be torn to ribbons.
Probably saved his life too
@@romeoalvarado1622 yeah.
One of the first things Napoleon did before beginning a campaign was amass loads of boots so soldiers could replace theirs when worn out. When you have to march across Europe on foot, good boots are essential. Besides the obvious issue of comfort, unshod soldiers would be slow which could be a serious liability. I would guess that they would also be at risk of injuring themselves or even getting a serious infection if they happened to step on the wrong thing. A shoe maker would be really valuable to any army in that time.
cannonball: *flies right over his head*
harris: well hardly a time for cobbling innit
English humor. Has such a fearless and soldierly value to it.
That’s soldiers humor for you
I remember reading before, that, one big problem they had was shoes
They would walk so much the shoes took an awful beating
Other thing was bone fragments, from people being hit by enemy fire
Bone fragments would cause injuries to soldiers standing near by
Harris: Seems it's hard to work in peace around here
We need much more of these first hand accounts like this.
hey we share the same surname ... where you from ??
@@eoingannon9936 where are you from
@@Aurmm they're irish
Check the book of Friedrich Lindau, a private in the KGL. It's out in an English translation.
czcams.com/video/PLbJbr3mrEI/video.html
“A musket ball I found had taken him sideways and gone through both groins”. Fuuck. That. Poor man.
Indeed. But all anyone can do is make jokes about the French musket balls flying wickedly.... OF course they were, they just killed three of his friends, one being brutally decapitated.
@@edmondt848 Thanks, I won't. At the time, it did annoy me, as it seemed highly disrespectful. But that's passed.
@@vanivanov9571 the decapitation was from a cannon.
@@alexanderstrickland9036 It was? I misunderstood that part, then. I presumed that it was just a .70 calibre lead musketball destroying his neck or head. A cannonball will be clean by comparison to that.
@@vanivanov9571 yeah it’s typical, but of course not a rule, that ball refers to typical bullets where as shot refers to cannon fire.
Kind of like saying cannons and muskets are both considered guns on a ship, but when you said ‘guns’ onboard you were assumed to be referring to the cannons.
And you can look up a couple of skulls of dudes that got blasted in the face with ball or minieballs. They make a big hole but I wouldn’t call it decapitation.
"My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won: the bravery of my troops hitherto saved me from the greater evil; but to win such a battle as this of Waterloo, at the expens of so many gallant friends, could only be termed a heavy misfortune but for the result to the public."
- Wellington after Waterloo
...but for the result of Rothschild's
@@brucedownunda7054 I shudder to think what might have become of the world under Napoleon without them.
@@StumpfForFreedom Harmony & Peace without LTM's (liars,thieves & murderers) as yourself
@@brucedownunda7054 On the contrary - a world in which Napoleon set the presedent for a new order would likely have been disastrous. He himself was a notorious liar, and his declaration of himself as Emperor was a theft of the hardfought French revolution.
When you finish that off with the fact that Napoleon was also known to choose massacre as punishment for not surrendering, you've got all three:
A liar, thief and murderer.
A world in his image would have been a dystopian one.
@@martinb4272 they literally voted in favor of him being emperor
"You humbug!" "You old sinner!" 200 year old shouted insults.
They had much more vivid terms, but they wouldn't include them when writing for posterity.
I guess we're just going to have to bring them back into use.
@@gravypatron Like what?
@@KageMinowara c+Nt would be one of them, or several other Anglo-Saxon expletives which we use now, and likely more in use then... unless you were writing a book. in the 19th century.
"Here's forty shillings on the drum
To those who volunteer to come,
To 'list and fight the foe today
Over the Hills and far away."
"Over the hills and far away,through Flanders, Portugal and Spain,King George commands and we obey,Over the hills and far away"
I was just wondering whether Harris, from Sharpe's rifles was based on this guy. Harris was the one who could read.
@@GhostyFilms I was thinking the same.
Maybe this was one of the sources the author Bernard Cornwell used for his Sharpes book series and the character Harris could have been a tribute.
Now that I think about it, in one of the episodes, (I think it was Sharpe's Enemy or Sharpe's Company) one of the other member's of the group asked Harris how to ask for a boot repair in French (or another language). Harris didn't repair the boot, but it's interesting that that scene was there.
"If I should fall to rise no more,
As many comrades have before,
Ask the fife and drum to play
Over the hills and far away..."
Rifleman Harris' diary is well-worth reading, for anyone interested in the lives of a common soldier under Wellington.
I ordered the diary during the viewing of the video. Did the same with the previous French soldier.
@@Goodkidjr43 You can download the audiobook for free from the LibriVox app.
You know what makes a good soldier?
3 rounds a minute
@@PetervandenHeuvel81 LibriVox? Must do that, so...
@@FirstnameLastname-py3bc When my husband was in the army...that was about right!!
I have often reflected on the amount of courage, duty and honor required to stand in the ranks as a common soldier enduring a withering wall of projectile death when survival was a matter of random chance. The soldier who lived through it could not help but be a changed man.
It is right that the journals of survivors such as this should be preserved and read.
And I reflect on the terrible evil creatures called 'nobles' and how they use these innocent men to further their own selfish ambitions. You should too...
I agree, John, and yet I can’t help but think of the pointless vanity of many of history’s leaders-how many countless boys were corporally, utterly disassembled really just to avenge the pettiness of a spoiled royal? The number is probably unspeakable.
brad it's easy to say that when you're typing from behind a computer. I can scarce imagine anyone I know including myself having the sheer iron balls to walk in a line toward impending death
It was actually pretty stupid & a waste of life. Remember a wound even to the leg or arm could mean amputation & a life of poverty
As a child I was fascinated with and read everything I could find about the Napoleonic wars and civil war. Now that I’m old, I find it sad that so many people had to die throughout all of the wars in history.
I fear for the ones that are still to come
I know what you mean. You see a conflict blowing up, you know it will last years and you know in the end it will be settled by sitting down and talking. So just sit down and talk on day one.
It wasn't the same context, before industrialization the world was a tough place (outside of war I mean), only one child out of two reached 15yo, and frankly not that many people died from wars compared with some other causes (unless there were widespread massacres of civilians like during the 30 year war or during the Mongol invasions). It's really in 20th century that the deathtoll of an army could seriously impact the demography of a country. In the Napoleonic wars, I think only the french demography was impacted that way.
All this just to say, they didn't see war like us, life was a very fragile thing to begin with. And it's more and more the case the further you go in the past. Some people actually liked fighting.
@@xenotypos With respect to you, I disagree with some of your points, people in the past would not have seen life as fragile, they would have seen life as 'normal'. In fact, they would most likely see their life as better than previous generations, in the same way that we see our lives as 'normal' compared to the hardships of the past. In the future, people will look back at this time and wonder how we could have carried on living in such hardships - but to us, daily life is not unrealistically hard, just 'normally' hard, and we feel blessed that we do not live in harder times - that is most likely true of any time (apart from times of extreme catastrophe, which is rare).
I also disagree with your sentiments on how war was perceived in the past - war is always hell to those that experience it, in whatever period it occurs. You're right that killing on an industrial scale was perfected in the 20th century, but an individual's experience of war now is just as harrowing as an individual's experience of war 100, 200, 300 etc years ago. In other words, people in the past did not think war was ok. Perhaps in the past (and now) some people see war and fighting as exciting, but I'm certain that war has always been considered a generally horrible experience by most people.
Now I am old, and once a soldier and remember. This narrative in Harris's diary shows it has not changed much.
FYI: It was very common for armies to bring wives and even kids on campaign, especially older soldiers and officers. The lower class ones were camp followers who cooked and were tailors and did other "things" for money
Other things meaning laundry?
@@BlastinRope yeah let’s go with that lol
Other things like shoe shining?
They had to eat too you know.
Camp followers weren't soldiers wives were they?
I always thought they were prostitutes
I've heard it was common in medieval times and amongst turkic tribesmen and mongols
But I'd have thought it would have become a privilege for officers by the 19th century
"Harris. From Wheatley in Oxfordshire."
"And previously?"
"A courtier to my lord Bacchus and an unremitting debtor."
"You're a rake and a wastrel, Harris. Is there anything you can do?"
"I can read, sir."
Love that scene! I’m glad there’s people in this comment section that recognise true quality
Bite,pour,spit,tap,aim
Now that comment is soldiering!
Damn , you sometimes forget how brutal napoleonic combat can be , rip for those brave men .
I think as you go back in time from the current time, combat grows more brutal.
@@clamum The Napoleonic ones were far more devastating than usual past ones. It was medieval strategy with riffles ... basically soldiers walked in close formations and shoot blindly at each other. Many peoples don't realize that during antiquity and middle ages, the death toll in battles was actually pretty low ... while there had been instances of slaughter of entire armies, for the most part, it was 5% during the antiquity, and around 10% in later Middle Ages. The strategy back then was to break formations and make the enemy flight - with all the formations, armors, shields and the resilience of the human body, it was actually quite hard to really kill someone - it was very easy to even injure them seriously. Moreover, neither sides weren't usually very eager to slaughter each other, especially when taking prisoners was so profitable, either as slaves or for ransom, unless the enemy needed for some reason to be exterminated. An enemy that needed to die, could see it's death tool rise to 20%-30% while fleeing, or even more. But usually, a retiring enemy would simply be let to retire, as many were not as eager to risk getting themselves killed after they won the battle ... the era also play a role. In the early Middle Ages for example, the conscripts were just unmotivated peoples, that did their obligatory ratio of military service for their lords. For most of the time, those were neither interested in killing nor getting killed, so 5% casualties was enough to break a formation... and that only when a battle actually happened, because for most of the time, both sides did everything in their power to avoid each other.
Napoleonic wars were devastating - inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy was actually part of the core strategy, and the weapons were devastating. To put it in perspective, during the Roman Empire era, which was a militaristic society, the annual ratio of soldiers dying was around 2.6%. Meanwhile, around 38% of all the soldiers Napoleon conscripted during 1790-1795 ended up dead in battle.... those are just deaths, not injuries. Bullets were a devastating death toll... a single one could be the death of you, and there was no armor to protect you, nor skill... basically, surviving a battle in this era, it was all up to your luck - skills, experience, age, social class - those meant nothing against bullets and artillery.
David Green good read man. And your exactly right. Tight formations was a tactic to create a big volley of bullets I believe however not medieval holdovers. Love history so. Much
@@davidgreen5994 still better than being slayed by a sword or choped by an axe
@@cv4809 People were being stabbed and sliced to death by swords in this era. Just before the Napoleonic Wars, during the French Revolution, some of the revolutionaries notably the Marsellaise used pikes to kill the enemy still, like during their battle with the Swiss Guard. Not to mention the bayonets and men clubbing each other with their rifles. The wars really did feature a lot of medieval elements to them. Plus the muskets used back then had low muzzle velocity and the caliber was quite large. The musket all could enter you and break bones as well as shred your internal organs. Death by a musketball wasn't instantaneously most of the time.
I dont think there were elements of stuff like what Emperor Heinrich VI von Hohenstaufen was notorious for. Sawing people in half vertically on the beaches of Southern Italy or in one case had a burning iron crown nailed into a rebels head but during the Napoleonic Wars there were many many ways to die violently. A lot of the more violent examples were when Napoleon was in Egypt and Palestine where there was much less mercy than in the European theaters.
Being an ex soldier I find what this lad went through bloody amazing, to live through one skirmish of that magnitude defies the reaperman, to live through the campaign was a bloody miracle. Then to write such a detailed account of events in all it's gore and glory deserves all the plaudits this account has had heaped upon it.
He was the cook bro 😂
I'm Portuguese and while we do learn about the Napoleonic wars, we don't really hear a soldier's perspective.
It's quite interesting to see a very different angle.
A soldiers perspective from that time is quite rare, in part because they were mostly illiterate. From wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Recollections_of_Rifleman_Harris
"The Recollections of Rifleman Harris is a memoir published in 1848 of the experiences of an enlisted soldier in the 95th Regiment of Foot in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The eponymous soldier was Benjamin Randell Harris, a private who joined the regiment in 1803 and served in many of the early campaigns in the Peninsula War. In the mid-1830s, Harris was working as a cobbler in London when he met an acquaintance, Captain Henry Curling, who asked him to dictate an account of his experiences of army life. This account was then held by Curling until 1848, when he succeeded in getting the manuscript published, preserving one of the very few surviving accounts of military service in this era from a private soldier."
Actually there are many accounts by ordinary soldiers. One of the best is ‘The Letters of Sergeant Wheeler’ as they were written at the time. Harris’s recollections were written many years later.
@Quasi Mudo no need for that. The Portuguese are an endearing bunch, at least I believe they are from an Englishman
@Quasi Mudo What?
@Quasi Mudo Where did you get that from? Never heard about it
"'A guinea to any man who will find my wig' was the saying amongst us long after that affair." So... a meme, basically?
Look at "kilroy was here"
ffs
Well normal people call it an inside joke but
@@adferxis Except meme is a scientific term that can basically mean a unit of culture spread amongst a group of people, so yes, it was, even in the scientific sense, a meme.
@@Kamarovsky_KCM Yeah but normal people call it an inside joke
This reminds me somewhat of “They Shall Not Grow Old”. Fascinating and terrible account of war. These men were made of tough stuff to endure sleeping in the rain, no food, marching for miles. God rest their souls!
In a similar vein, 'Old Soldiers Never Die' is also a brilliant WWI memoir.
Tough hiking & camping..
It never ceases to amaze me how some paintings are just so detailed and/or evocative that they convey the reality of a situation better than any photograph could.
That’s the value and purpose of art
Here are few to check out.
James Beadle
Ernest Croft
Albrecht Adam
Robert Gibb
Elizabeth Thompson or Lady Butler
Adolph Northern
Edouard Detaille
Richard Caton Woodville
Robert Hillingford
Alfonse De Neuville
William Barnes Wollen
Emmanuel Philippoteaux
Goya
These are only a selection. Check out their paintings.
@@rajarahman9823 Thanks very much.
Stop talking shit, a photo of the same scene would be exponentially more powerful than a painting.
@@fitzfitzchivalry4538 Photography certainly has its place but I'm not going to waste my time debating artistic value.
The wig part sounds like genuine soldier moment
The part about the shoemaking really captured me.
My Great Grandfather (died 1984 when I was 14) was on the western front during WW 1. Regimental staff was looking desperatly out for a shoemaker and as he has learned this craftsmenship, he was ordered to join the regimental staff and left his company. He was already in his 90s when he heard the story for the first time, but according to him every single man of his company he just left was killed or MIA within just a week.
in his 90s when he heard it for the first time? Are you guys gullible?
@@JohnSmith-zk8xp He meant to write we
I’m honoured and grateful to Rifleman Harris for his testimony. RIP good gentleman
These videos really bring out the horror of war to all of us who look back on this time period as colourful chivalrous and bright
Thank you
This is AWESOME! Thank you for sharing this excellent work. Greetings from a Portuguese ex-Lancer living in Taiwan. We are resilient. "Death or Glory"
My great grandad fought in the First world war in the 17/21st Lancers, I had his cap badge as a boy. Death or Glory was the motto inscribed. These days I can't help thinking about that badge without thinking of the Wilfred Owen poem, Dulce est Decorum est...
@@dexocube The Portuguese Lancers of the Queen Mary II actually was born by borrowing much of its original might from the British Lancers, as they were initially trained and inspired by British Lancers' officers. Good to meet you, sir. I bet your great grandad was a brave gentleman, as all Lancers are.
@@youxkio I did not know that, thanks for the information.
Keeping a diary that will later be a valuable primary source on the Peninsular War? Now that's soldiering.
And what a good writer he was.
“A man who loses the kings colours, loses the kings friendship”
Being a literate soldier was pretty rare.
English and Portuguese go back a long way. Oldest treaty in the world
There's a statue in Lisbon of an English Longbowmen, apparently they were pivotal a few times in keeping the Spanish from conquering Portugal
@@keighlancoe5933 🙏🙏🙏
@@keighlancoe5933 The Anglo-Luso Alliance of 1373 which led to 100 to 200 English Longbowman to help in the Battle of Aljubarrota in1385 against the invading Kingdom of Castile who themselves had over 2000 French Knights in their ranks.
England and Portugal forever
@@royalhero4608 two of the oldest countries in the world. I'm sure we'll be here for a few more centuries 🤝
These primary resources are outstanding! Keep doing them forever!
What a well-learned soldier, wasn't expecting the depth of his use of the English language. very explicit and well written.
"Whilst our cannon played upon them." Damn poetic.
Having been a rifleman for 27 years with the colours, I very much appreciate Harris's words , and understand the the privation . The cold , the wet, being tired all the time, and on hearing contact wait out !
Did u just liken ur experience in a modern day military to harris'? What u went through wouldn't even have been close to his account, did we even watch the same video? Jesus I swear some people just join the military in an attempt to seem more bad ass to the Commonwealth smh mh
@@doopmeister8676 Thats a bit rude. He didn't say it was the same, he just said his experiences allowed him to empathise with the other soldier. When you have put the uniform on then perhaps you will have earned the right to criticise.
@@NoFaithNoPain true it was a bit harsh but if he was rifleman 27 yrs he can take it. I was in us army not UK so maybe some of the traditions were the same as in his units history or something idk. Point is the shit that modern day 'frontline' (if you can even call it that anymore) infantry soldiers see is NO WHERE near what these guys had to see or go through. Hell, US police officers go through more shit and danger than modern day infantry. If we talk about sof obviously then we might be able to draw some more comparisons since some more steadily see combat. Throughout most the gwot you have a higher chance dying in a car crash back home than overseas so I'm tired of people acting like they're about that life when it isn't even close to what warriors have gone through in history, like just watch the video again then go watch combat footage from Afghanistan and tell me if it's even close
@@doopmeister8676 Combat is combat no matter what century it is. Life threatening moments, instant death or serious wounds are the same in any battle or skirmish.
@@doopmeister8676 dude it's not an oppression Olympics. Who cares if modern warfare is not as brutal and that the average rifleman of today does not go through what the average rifleman in 1800s went through. That's a good thing. Sounds like you're almost fetishising the horrors of historic warfare. By all means if you think it would be more meaningful to engage in battles such as this, go join some sort of guerilla military group in the middle east or Africa lol. I'm sure you will have fun. Then you can regale us the tales, trials and tribulations of your times out there. Until then, let's just appreciate the fact that the average man today is incredibly privileged, very much as a result of the sacrifices of men such as Rifleman Harris.
*"The Frenchmen's balls were flying very wickedly"*
Best line hands down
"Covered the nakedness of his knob" runs a close second
Your sick. Haha.
@@royhills your sick too. Haha.
Aye, 'tis true, though.
We shall see how courageous you are when faced with the possibility of being struck by the Frenchmen's balls.
@@royhills 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This was great, I hope to see more episode about this mans experience.
The moral of the story. "Learn a useful skill and one day you will be spared death"
Too right. Having a college degree saves you from the draft.
I wonder what this man would make of me sitting in my living room in NYS listening to his account 213 years later on a cellphone.
"Liberal?", he'd ask you.
If "Yes" he'd appropriately call you the little bitch you would then be.
"Conservative?", he'd ask you.
If "Yes" he's appropriately call you a true man of Earth.
@@ClickClack_Bam cringe
@@jobdylan5782 Did I hurt your liberal feelys?
It's gonna hurt a lot worse after Biden fucks things up & actual war starts so you better put down the cup of soy buttercup & help yourself
@@ClickClack_Bam I'm not a liberal, you're just cringe and obnoxious.
@@jobdylan5782 Go ahead & explain how my post was cringe then.
Then I'll reply & crush you cause you've walked straight into quicksand.
brilliantly narrated and very moving recollections of this fine young man
This was so beautiful to hear the average soldiers thoughts and feelings during this time, what a pleasure and honor to hear such fine words..This is gold , Thank you. Could not help but shed a tear.
What a thrilling account. And brilliantly acted out. You really breathe life into those words.
History really is a collection of stories from individuals like this man. Incredible and so well read, thank you.
PLEASE do more of these first hand accounts. All your vids are awesome but I truly get stoked when I see these pop up. So cool, keep up the awesome work.
At last, a highly competent narrator.
Great account from one of these brave men. Very proud 🇬🇧💯✌️
In one scene of the series "Sharpe", Rifleman Harris repairs the boots of his companions.
Wiki says Cornwell used a better researched and improved copy as source material for Sharpe's series
Oh nice
And one of the officers in the series had a horsehair wig.
Every statesman who proposes to start a war, should be allowed to do so only under the condition of sending his own children in the first line to the first battle.
I'd prefer the statesman himself with a bright sign reading This Was Alll My Idea.
Nice thought but that would put states that abided by this rule at a distinct disadvantage to ones that didn't
Last time in the US that was George Bush. Should have sent his daughters into combat.
There is no such thing as a good war, or a bad peace.
@Ru paul Prince Harry is a goof who doesn’t deserve to be king of anything
I love these stories of war from old battles. I couldn’t listen to anything 19th mechanized century. The old ones are more fascinating and intriguing. Thank you!!! Please do more!
19th century is the 1800s. In the same way your first year is the one that Ends on your first birthday.
The account in this video is from the 19th century. As is the american Civil War.
And depending on what you meany by "mechanised", you could be excluding anything from the american civil war on, or nothing prior to ww2.
You mean 20th
Got to say,Absolutely captivated.
Massively interested in the mindset of the English soldiers,really feel connected. More please
This was a beautiful account of such tragic times. Thankyou
Cannot even begin to state how lucky i feel to find this channel. Absolutely amazing stuff
You should do a narration of De La Pena's diary it's a first hand account of a Mexican soldier that participated in the Texas campaign. He was also in the battle of the Alamo. The book is called "With Santa Anna in Texas" I read that book and I recommend it it provides great insight into the Texan revolution from a Mexican soldier's point of view.
This is an excellent suggestion
I like that
@@VoicesofthePast you should also try and build on some different themes - eg my fave voices of all time is the worlds oldest complaint letter it’s so good 🤣
I’
De la Peña's diary wasn't published until 1955 and its veracity is in doubt among historians.
Also I think de la Peña was not a witness to the events at the Battle of the Alamo
Furthermore he was an officer (Colonel) certainly having an entirely different perspective on war than an enlisted/impressed man or even an NCO.
Damn mexicans
The Recollections of Rifleman Harris are quite unique as most recollections were written by officers. A rank and file soldier's perspective is rare indeed. I tried in vain to get a copy of the book a few years ago but only managed to find an audio version. The entire account is worth listening to.
Go to "Project Guttenberg", and search for the title, it pops right up, Get the pdf version, and print it with your computer printer
Excellent narration…you brought it all to life..thankyou
Excellent , thanks for taking the time to do this. It's always more interesting to hear the private soldiers view of things than the more overall view of the top ranking officers.
"A guinea to any man who will find my wig" was the saying amongst us. Finding levity in a trying time.
"Swift & Bold".
Thanks, it's been a while since hearing/reading this.
Fantastic channel. My nose is always in some sort of historical material, although one can only read what physically allows them.Your channel allows me to learn about historical subjects that I typically don’t have time to read,. I appreciate this, thank you sir!
THANK YOU! Great Useful video! Peace & Health
I’ve got this book and one of the bits that always stayed with me was how when there was an execution by firing squad of a deserter (earlier on before they got to Portugal), the whole regiment was paraded and then made to march past the executed man, mark time at that spot and “eyes right” to force everyone to look at the corpse.
People back then were just unimaginably tough b*stards. I can't imagine living such a harsh and intolerable life, but they not only dealt with it with a spring in their step, they even managed to stay relatively content with their lot and at times found happiness. As hard as life was, I suppose it was very exciting at the same time. The world was still relatively unknown to most, and life must have been quite an adventure
To be fair, many aspects of our life would be horrifying to them as well, such as the complete lack of privacy and the hours we put in our labors each year for such a meager a reward whilst being so completely reliant on our daily sustenance on forces beyond our control and having while having so few liberties he might take for granted.
@@strongback6550 not to mention the way children are brought up with little respect for elders. General lack of responsibility, or even lack of motivation in keeping one's word, or the keeping of vows. I'm sure we could go on...
@@ayshafareed4935 Even back then people did not keep their word, I would not glorify the past.
In general we are better off today.
@@freshprinz8996 of course you're right, the past had its own problems and there has always been not so nice ppl around. However, some things are much worse. Very few kids are taught about responsibility or even basic manners. I've seen some dogs better behaved than kids (no joke). Not blaming the kids, parents treat their kids as little God's now. This is catastrophic in case you haven't noticed for society.
Also as a woman, personally I notice in marriages now kids come before spouse. So wrong. (Also not saying you don't love your kids, but you shouldn't looove your kids. You should love your spouse, after all that is what is vowed (Not that I'm religious but your word is your word)....it doesn't show self respect either. I believe society must have some trust and so on to function...otherwise we could all be wrapped in bureaucracy to MAKE it function. Unfortunately that is not workable either.
Anyway didn't mean to rave on, just saying everything is by degrees and relative and there can be a tipping point to chaos. Also don't mean to be the voice of doom. We have much to be thankful for and as you said we are better off in many ways. Cheerio from Aus.
@strongback6550 My guy, the average persons life back then, was of squalor. People often didn't work for money, but just a roof and a meal a day. Diseases with no cure. Child labour etc. It was awful.
such an eloquent private.... your video really brought his voice to life as if i were there. this is superbly done, and I have subscribed.
Just found this channel, and boy am I happy. Cheers!
Peninsular infantryman w/ cobbler skills: +5 survival bonus.
AND literacy.
Fun fact! Rifleman Harris from the Richard Sharpe series was inspired by this man.
Why is it always a "fun" fact?
.... Brain, you broke brain!@@bewilderedbrit8928
I'm so glad this man's account is still with us. I really felt like he was speaking to me.
Your channel is a gem, thank you
Military historian Jonathon Riley states:
“Strategy is the science of war: it produces the overall plans and it assumes responsibility for the general course of military enterprises … Tactics is the art of war: it teaches the way in which major military projects should be put into execution.”
Strategy is where youre going, tactics is how you get there
really odd use of the words 'science' and 'art'.....
Strategy: when and where.
Tactics: how.
@@nathanlevesque7812 Not sure I understand, do you mean it's disquieting that the words are used in the context, or that they don't apply to the context. I can somewhat relate to the former but would emphatically disagree with the latter.
@@dantea1474 Science is a method of discovery...it can't 'take responsibility' for anything or make decisions/plans. Art does not provide any 'shoulds' or 'should nots'. At most it can describe efforts that are more driven by intuition and experience, than by knowledge or more technical methods.
Could you look into the Carnatic wars? They were sort of extension of the Anglo french rivalry but in India. Provides a really good account of why the British prevailed over all other European powers and over many powerful Indian kingdoms
Great when you come across a little gem like this ... excellent work
This is amazing work...thanks
The change in optimism when they find out what war looks like
I think he could already tell even on the march to it
Excellent, they really were a tough breed those guys
This is brilliant. Thank you.
Loved your video. A great history lesson.
So happy you continue to make these they are absolutely brilliant.
If I could suggest a future topic, could you perhaps read some accounts of soldiers during the crusades??
Accounts on paper from soldiers that far back?!
@@tokenblack7983
My bet is that would be very hard indeed. If there are any they probably are accounts from nobles\knights or monks.
Recording your experiences so that succeeding generations would know how it was like fighting Napoleon and inspire a TV show? Now this is soldiering!
Great video, splendid idea. Thank you and I hope for more videos to come in future ♥️
A little by accident, I came across this CZcams channel today. Here in the central, northern area of Michigan is currently getting a snow storm of 10 to 12 inches of snow. I'm going to ride this storm out by watching this channel. Thank you for keeping me company.
A good little book, well recommended and easy to read.
"Tuppence I got for selling me coat,
Tuppence for selling me blanket;
If ever I list for a soldier again,
Devil shall be me sergeant.
Poor old soldier, poor old soldier,
If ever I list for a soldier again
Devil shall be me sergeant." - Poor old soldier
@1:25 That is an absolutely remarkable oil painting. An amazing devotion to to detail and the depiction of stress induced drama. I miss this element in artwork
Great video. Very interesting account of a war I know practically nothing about until now...
This is amazing. The officer shouting "A guinea to any man who will find my wig". Everyone bursting out laughing at the end of the battle as the dead and dying are still about. That officer being "a regular good 'un", keeping spirits up with his astounding revelation. It's like the embodiment of a story telling trope. Something like the pool the squad has going for Tom Hanks' character in Saving Private Ryan. And just the general way this Rifleman wrote. Some bits snuck through ("a regular good 'un"), but it mostly sounds like it could have been written by any noble of the time I would think (I have no idea how an actual noble of the time would sound). Almost poetic. Right from the start, with his ruminations on the men rushing to the battle. And he was just a man on the line.
It is only proper to write in The King's English.
When life skill matters the value of ones contribution to society comes to the fore,The humble cobbler.
I enjoy the contrast between the beautiful settings, boyish descriptions of foreign wonder, mixed with a foreboding of the suddenness of combat. Jarring.
Another beautiful video thanks
"Seemed Hell on Earth, I thought."
You won't see that represented on a movie about the Peninsular War...
Having an ancestor that died at Vimeiro, a Portuguese Brigadier General, people don't realize the violence and pure horror of these battles. These wars were not "Wars of Lace" as some incompetent people think. These wars caused the same psychological effects to all men.
Harris: Harris. From Wheatley in Oxfordshire.
-Sharpe: And previously?
- Harris: A courtier to my lord Bacchus and an unremitting debtor.
- Sharpe: You're a rake and a wastrel, Harris. Is there anything you can do?
- Harris: I can read, sir.”
Another amazing video. Thanks
Wow, very nicely done ! ! !
THANKS 🙂😎👍
Such a way with words. I avenged his death by assistance of his carcass
"The autobiography of the British Soldier from Agincourt to Basra in his own words." Fascinating, moving, inspiring edited by John Lewis-Stempel.
Excellent and beautifully narrated.
'Excellent' seems such an impoverished word. Is there anything that both deserves and earns the awe and enduring respect. The pride I have in these men breaks into a humility, that makes 'appreciation' almost embarrassing.
Magnificent, thank you.
I agree. Our narrator preserved the wherewithal to describe the perforated barrels leaking wine, which streamed “down to the ground on which men lie, and with whose blood it mixed” . . . so unbearable.
This is a pukka one ,I'd love to watch loads more about Wellington and our soldiers fighting napoleon 👍
There is no hell for man that has not been created by man.
I litterally had to see 30 seconds of one of this guys videos and im hooked!
This is the type of history I love. Subscribed.
Subscribing to a history CZcams? Now that's soldiering.
Posting to show my support
This shoemaker writes very well indeed.
written by a captain, a contemporary of Harris from Harris' notes.
@@wayoutwest7 - Ah, OK. Maybe it makes better sense. Still good style for a mere captain (I doubt they teach literature in the military academy).
@@LuisAldamiz However, one must keep in mind that back then the officer corp was comprised of the upper classes who were much better educated. That captain may have gone to Oxford or Cambridge...
@@aaronmestizo - Indeed, I always forget about English classism. That's why I still take the side of Napoleon and very especially the French Revolution: I hate hate hate classism.
@@LuisAldamiz Captain Curling merely wrote down what The eponymous soldier named Benjamin Randell Harris, a private, dictated to him.
His casual mention of wounds to his fellows reminds me of Co. Aytch by Sam Watkins' memoir. He too describes the infinite horrors of combat. Great book. Going to library today to transfer Rifleman Harris' book.