Where and how did Britain get so many soldiers to fight in their numerous battles across the globe in 19thcen?

Answer 1

their recruits were the city poor,irish,scots and to a lesser extent welsh rural dwellers,the irish factor was clear in the napoleinic war where a third of welleseys army was irish with at least another fifth scot.like the others said criminals were drafted into the army and they recruited natives in many places espically india.

Answer 2

"THE JOCKS conquered the world for them."

Yeah, right whatever. The jocks haven't even managed to conquer Scotland yet coz they're all p!ssed.

However, a combination of some of the above answers is the truth.

Most infantry soldiers, including me, have come from a working class background, have high levels of aggression and quite a strong sense of morality. It's been that way for centuries. In the 19th Century many were criminals and upon conviction were given the choice: prison or army? There's little difference.

Quite a few soldiers joined up and stayed in for 30 or more years because it was a respected profession and was probably better than going to work in the mines and having a guaranteed crippling lung disorder for retirement. Some genuinely joined for the travel and adventure (FTA!!! you hippies out there know what I mean!) because travel wasn't an option for the average bloke in the street, university was a thing for the upper classes.

Britain has always had lots of angry, working/ middle class people to send off to war. Our middle - upper classes have always done their best to ensure nobody progresses out of their class group. A tradition that Tony Blair is trying to set in stone. In the 19th Century people were proud of their country and of their Queen so going to war for either was a good enough reason.

Our Imperialist past isn't really something to be proud of but it is sort of amazing that Britain is such a small nation but we colonised half the world. The reasons were as greedy then as our reasons are today for occupying Iraq. It has nothing to do with democracy. It's about wealth and resources.

Answer 3

The slums of Britain , the only way they could get a good meal, Scotland , Ireland and w, The large cities of England, they had kept us poor while the Lords and rich lived off us , then they took the cream of our youth to places like India , to fight wars so that the East India Company could rule India and extract all the wealth from there, then onto China , pumping the Chinese with unwanted Opium , the Heroin of the time , but Hey full circle they are now getting their own back , look at the migration and the cities of UK today there is a shortage of English as we knew it , we have been conquered by all thee races that we conquered in the 19th century, if we had spent more time conquering America than we did the likes of India etc, what a wonderful world it would be now,

Answer 4

On the contrary, Britan never had a great deal of manpower. They were among the least militarized societies of the 19th century. They relied mostly on elite professional troops that could be transported to any hot spot owing to their great navy. In peace time, they relied on native soldiers, such as the sepoys.

It took only 18,000 British soldiers to conquer the hugely populous and warlike Maori of New Zealand because the Maori didn't have a professional standing army. So they still had to till the fields, etc. This was a major factor in European armies defeating natives, since it takes a great deal of liquid capital and excess food production to maintain a sizable professional army. So they could do more with less.

Answer 5

First, Braveheart was a Mel Gibson film and he wouldn't know the truth if it bit him.

If you actually work out how many British troops there actually were, you may be surprised at how few of them there were. For instance, in South Africa in 1879 there were only at most about 4,000. Chelmsford invaded Zululand with about 1,600 regulars. The largest establishment was in India. But in 1881, there were about 34 cavalry regiments and 70 infantry regiments in the British army. It was always stretched for manpower and to a large extent relied on native troops, especially in India. The Gurkhas from Nepal provided I think 4 regiments and the Sikhs a larger number.

Answer 6

Anchors right. Offenders were often given the option of Prison or military service.
Native troops were also recruited. The victorian Indian Army was quite large and supplied troops for many campaigns in Africa.
Troops were recruited from the African colonies, Australia Canada, India, Nepal.

Answer 7

In the 1800's it was very common for young working men to serve in the army for a few years before settling down to work on the land etc.

Answer 8

Crimminals where often given the choice to serve jails time or join the army.

Answer 9

Most came from the Colonies that we owned. Plus lots from the UK too.

Answer 10

Patriotism.