Warriors in Scarlet

With its exciting narrative style, careful analysis and emphasis on first-person accounts, Warriors in Scarlet is destined to become a classic.Following on from the bestselling success of Zulu Rising , acclaimed military historian Ian Knight has turned his attention to Queen Victoria’s army as it underwent seismic change between 1837 and 1860. The army drew men hoping to escape the harsh grind of rural life, the city slums of the Industrial Revolution and even prison sentences, and trained them to fight using techniques that had defeated Napoleon.

But the rapid expansion of the British Empire meant they found themselves facing diverse and skilful enemies around the world. Often under-strength and operating in unfamiliar terrain, British troops had to adapt or die.In Warriors in The Life and Times of Britain’s Last Redcoa ts , Ian Knight draws on evocative accounts from ordinary soldiers as well as officers to show us what daily life was like in the army, from the floggings and desertions to the comradeship.

He vividly recreates the action on the ground, from bloody skirmishes to disasters like the 1842 retreat from Kabul and Chillianwala – but shows that in reality the army won more than four-fifths of the battles they fought in this era. By 1860, redcoats no longer, they are a more professional, efficient and sometimes ruthless fighting force.