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"Gone for a Soldier": The British Army, Society and Culture in the Long Nineteenth Century

Module description

The army is a lens through which we can examine society. Issues in nineteenth-century society such as class, gender, race, public service and imperial duty played out through the use and abuse of the soldier. The British had a love-hate relationship with their military; Lord Wellington had described the rank-and-file as ‘scum of the earth’, yet by the close of the century, the soldier had become a symbol of British imperial virtue and might. This module will provide an introduction to this topic and encourage you to engage with a wide range of sources to conduct your own examination into nineteenth-century British social, cultural and military history.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The aim of this module is to:

• Introduce you to the broad range of sources available to the modern historian through the study of the interaction between the military and the society and culture of nineteenth-century Britain
• Examine various sources, from government records, the press and satirical cartoons, court martial and crime records to soldier memoirs and diaries, visual and material culture, literature, plays, songs and film
• You will have the opportunity to conduct your own research into these sources, consider their value and limitations, and use them to explore particular topics and themes
• Help you develop skills in source analysis and research to provide a foundation for future historical work

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand and assess the main developments in the relationship between British society and its military during the long nineteenth century
• 2. Work critically with a range of written and visual sources relating to the topic
• 3. Assess the sources in relation to the historical debates, purposes for which different contemporary sources were produced, and analyse and evaluate their reliability and usefulness for the study of modern British social, cultural and military history

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Identify the problems of using historical sources, e.g. utility, limitations, etc, and compare the validity of different types of sources
• 5. Answer a question briefly and concisely
• 6. Present work orally, respond to questions orally, and think quickly of questions to ask other students

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Conduct independent study and group work, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning
• 8. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment
• 9. Work with others in a team and to interact effectively with the tutor and the wider group
• 10. Write to a very tight word-length

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Soldier Stereotypes
• The Rank-and-File: A Last Resort?
• Discipline, Crime and Punishment: Civil V. Military
• Military Wives and Families
• Soldiers Of The Empire: Native Power and Martial Races
• The Officer Corps: An Elite Calling?
• Soldiers of the Home Nations
• The Amateur Soldier - The Militia and Volunteers
• Militarism and Popular Culture
• Society and Commemoration
• The Ultimate Refinement?
• The Soldier of the Great War

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:                                           

• Attridge, S., Nationalism, Imperialism and Identity in Late Victorian Culture: Civil Military Worlds (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003, e-book).
• French, D., Military Identities: The Regimental System, the British Army and the British People c.1870 – 2000 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, e-book).
• MacKenzie, J. M. (ed), Popular Imperialism and the Military 1850 – 1950 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992).
• Peck, J., War, the Army and Victorian Literature (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998, e-book).
• Skelley, A. R., The Victorian Army at Home: the Recruitment and Terms and Conditions of the Regular Army (London: Croom Helm, 1979, e-book).
• Spiers, E. M., The Army and Society 1815 – 1914 (London: Longman, 1980).
• Strachan, H., The Politics of the British Army (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
• Streets, H., Martial Races: The Military, Race and Masculinity in British Imperial Culture 1857 – 1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/search.php?search=HIH1047 

Key words search

Britain, modern, military, society, culture, imperialism, militarism, soldiers, nineteenth century, Victorian