Sharpe demotes a Sergeant for deserting the army. __ In the Peninsular War, a British sergeant is field promoted to a lieutenant in charge of a disrespectful rifle company.
None of this is about the looting but about the fact that the Sgt and the South Essex had clear orders to head the enemy off and prevent them from escaping. They failed to carry out those orders and were saving themselves for the looting. Looting the enemy was normal and perfectly acceptable. The crimes here were failure to carry out orders and deserting...
Not true, looting was banned at that point in the British Army. The scavenging of equipment from the dead and stripping towns/fortifications for supplies was an army duty. Theft by individuals for private profit was a flogging offence.
@@jediknight1294 oh yea, I'm sure. However we all know that in the end basically none of the spoils went to any of the soldiers or people. (Gold clothing, jewels ect)
@@cookiecracker2 weapons and kir would have. One issue was thT wR had a ban on living off the and because the French were doing it and it turned the locals against them gold and several other things will have been 8sed by units to pay for spies.
Sean Bean's other character in a James Bond film as a villain don't survive, he fell on to a plate of a big satellite dish and then a big thing fell on to him.
For those unfamiliar, a volley gun is exactly what it sounds like. 7 (sometimes more, sometimes less) barrels all muzzle-loaded to give in essence a shotgun spread akin to a blunderbuss. Typically you only saw them in the hands of Marine crews and the likes because they were prized for sweeping the decks of enemy ships. or in close-quarters combat scenarios. I recall at least one variation custom built that was effectively 2 volley-guns mounted side by side engraved with "Perdition to Conspirators" So inscribed as it was used by a man who had his men mutiny against him and he never wanted anything less than the most firepower that could be brought to bare.
@@Rixoli The blunderbuss was actually a musket with a wide muzzle to allow reloading as quickly as possible, say on the back of a horse, a rolling deck or the "shotgun" position on a racing away from bandits stage coach. They didn't scatter shot all over the place...just like a modern "sawn off" shotgun doesn't spread shot widely at under 10 yards from muzzle to target..the column of shot even from a sawn off stays together for quite some distance.... The advantage of the sawn off barrel is in quick maneouvrability of the muzzle in tight areas....like a pistol...but with more punch. The volley gun fired all barrels at once and the barrels were tweaked to fire more or less at the same point so whatever you shot at got hit hard. It would have been best had the gun had a rotating barrel but of course each barrel would need it's own sights, frizzen pan and hammer as well.... a bit beyond the technology of the day to provide for use by armies....
@@Rixoli if you asked me the most Firepower somebody back then could have brought to bear would have maybe been using a hand mortar with an explosive shell it looks kind of like a blunderbuss accept even thicker and it was meant to shoot smoke grenades flares and bombs
Same exact character, just changed his name too stay in after he got a demerit discharge from Wellington Army after Waterloo. He had no other skills for civilian life.
Julian Fellowes played Major Warren Dunnett in Sharpe's Rifles and also the Prince Regent in Sharpe's Regiment. Tony Haygarth was "Marshal" Pot-au-Feu in Sharpe's Enemy and Sir Willoughby Parfitt in Sharpe's Justice.
Simple,yet effective. Take down the ringleader,by demoting the sergeant to private, Sharpe clipped the looters wings quickly. Adding on that desertion and looting are punishable by 200 lashes and hanging. That gold would mean nothing when your neck is stretched in a noose.
0:08 "Well done my young apprentice, shooting an officer off his horse is all well and good, but only a true master can take out six guys at once with an inexplicable explosion"
I think it was meant to be him shooting a powder box and setting it off, but the effect and angle they used definitely made it obvious that it was a prepositioned prop being detonated
although people were not press-ganged a lot of people joined for the prospect of loot and 3 meals a day plus time away from home. The South Essex was raised by the corrupt Simmerson, so a lot of the men are not that different.
According to Cornwell; it was a way out for men who failed elsewhere. Also, the promisse of a third of a pint of rum per day was a real motivation. In short: thieves & drunkards. "The scum of the Earth"; Wellesly said.
Well, I believe Sharpe himself took the Kings Schilling because it was either that or get hung or sent to Australia. Only difference was he found Honor in the service.
Sharpe used the rules to discipline the Deserters. Filled the threat with everything - as he ought to - and made a firm stance on the matter. To fold at one is to give an opening to another.
Also a bit unnecessarily jingoist for a contemporary author to make all the villains foreign, I mean, history does that already insofar as the perspective of an active soldier would be...
Even today most of the issues come from your own lines, not the enemies. I'd ask any veteran I know about the biggest problems and they'd always say it was on our side. They might have hated some of their enemies but they rrreeaalllyy hated poor leadership and opportunistic commanders. It's a plague. People are just terrible when given any command.
@@the_j_machine2254 Atleast I heard that multiple times and it surely makes sense. Sure, Gaunt isn't exactly "from the ranks", he is a bona fide officer, but his dedication, leadership and ability to get hot women everywhere is clearly fitting to be inspired by Sharpe
I hope the future brings a remake of the Sharpe series with a big budget. Cornwell said he is considering writing another Sharpe book when he finishes the next Last Kingdom series book he's working on.
Wait ... How the fuck did I never notice I was reading books from the same author. That explains quite a lot... Thanks for bringing that fact and the good news to my attention.
@@DorkDraxor light infantry companies and rifle regiments had buglers, yes - But corporals, sergeants and officers had whistles for their own use, though the bugler was definitely the better choice here. Writers don't care, lol
My grandma once said that one of her husbands who was in WW2 was in a squad of soldiers. They were sent into a very hostile area on orders to take it. This squad's commander was an incompetent swine who due to his orders many of their friends died in hopeless engagements. In one skirmish intense fighting started. Their commander ordered a charge. He head straight towards a hole to hide while his soldiers did the fighting. One of his soldiers considered him a traitor and threw a grenade in that hole and killed him. The soldiers in the squad knew it had to be done. But they kept what had happened between themselves. They weren't able to win that battle and seeing as how they lost their commander. They radioed to find another squad to join. They did win the battle but lost a few other friends. But they wouldn't have lost the others if it wasn't for the inept incompetence of that leader. I don't know what his rank was. The details are a bit lost because she died some years back.
@@randomcow6440 War is a very brutal thing even more brutal than life it's self. But to be honest if you're going to be a coward don't join the military. No need for good soldiers dying because of you or dying in such a senseless death.
Sharpe does the same thing to the Paul Bettanys character because he was a coward and was getting men killed too. I don’t know what episode, I actually just found this show on RU-vid.
Harpers favorite little toy, the Nock Gun, why he carried it was a bit of a mystery because it wasn't that good a weapon. The seven barreled .52 caliber gun, some rifled and some smooth-bore, designed by Henry Nock for the Royal Navy was used briefly as a hand-held volley gun, firing multiple shots at the same time with the flash from the number 1 barrel being allowed to propagate into the others to set them off at more or less the same time. The weapon proved to be impractical for a number of reasons, chief among them being the recoil: the force of seven half-inch barrels, firing simultaneously, was enough to dislocate or break the shoulder bone of a man using it and made the weapon nearly impossible to aim. Orders were later given to load the gun with only a half-charge, which bought the recoil under control but made the weapon useless for its intended purpose and little more than a giant shotgun. In the heat of battle it was also not unknown for sailors to forget which barrels had powder in them, making it very easy to accidentally double-load the gun, a problem compounded by one or more barrels frequently failing to fire. Additionally, for someone firing from high in the rigging of a ship, the gun greatly increased the risks of being knocked down and plunging to the deck, or accidentally setting fire to the sails (one of the reasons why Nelson refused to allow his captains to post snipers of any kind in their rigging during the Battle of Trafalgar).
It's my belief that Harper carried it for the same reason that Sharpe managed to bed a different beauty in nearly every novel-because it sounds pretty cool.
No. Because Harper from the books was bigger and could fire it without breaking his shoulder. The problem with the gun was the massive kick. All barrels were unrifled
I love Sharpe! Both the books and the show are great, so lucky that sean bean plays him, the fact it was an unintended casting after the actor they hired for sharpe broke his leg right before filming began has to be one of the most lucky things to ever happen to a tv show
Sargent Orc: "We've had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days!" Sharpe: "It all goes to to the great eye ay?" Sargent Orc: "Are you saying eye eye, or eye ay?" *Gets shot in the face*
Looting was not illegal but the income from it went to the army and towards the soldiers pensions. Soldiers stuffing undeclared wealth in pockets or burying it for later would just mean more desertions from guys who no longer need the money.
The guy was leading a mutiny. Should have told the rest that running would mean death, that the leader of the mutiny was a capital offense, and shot him right there. Brutal times, but that's the law.
Rodd and his men hang their own allies out to dry, then loot an entire French caravan and get invited back to the army later. Skillicorn, a foolish but good kid, takes one chicken from a deserted village and get hanged for it >:-(
Probably one that run out of best option. In war time, you'll be shocked to see how it's easy to get promoted when people in your unit get killed left and right on daily basis.
Despite everything said in the comments British soldiers were actually quite refrained InThe latter years of the napoleonic era when looting was violently punished. When the White House in America was charged by the Brits and set on fire the Americans noted after a ‘suprising amount of rubble’ because all the artefacts and paintings had been left as they were.
It’s a small thing, but it always bothered me that the sound of the gunshots isn’t right. All flintlocks have a distinct pause between the powder in the pan and the powder in the barrel going off. It should sound like CLACK-BANG!
The series did this with a couple of other actors playing two characters. Tony Haygarth played Pot au Feu (sharpes enemy) and Parfitt (sharpes justice) and Julian Fellowes played Major Dunnett (sharpes rifles) and the prince regent (sharpes regiment)
Being hit by a musket ball doesn’t kill you instantly You lie there with a hole through your lungs as blood and bone fragments seep into them, gasping for breath
To be fair judging by the undercover recruits episode they were lied to by the recruiters and are fully justified in trying to GTFO at first available opportunity.
One thread that runs through Sharpe is indeed that common folk were led on to fight for kings and all the garbage that was "restored" after the Napoleonic Wars. Which plagued Europe for another century, until governing monarchy's brutal and inglorious end in World War I.
I suppose after soldiers haven't been paid in many months that duty, honor, patriotism and discipline falls by the wayside in a matter-of-fact fashion.
@@sjacrane I'm not 100% sure but I think it's Sergeant Bickerstaff. I believe the actor actually had two roles in the show, different episodes of course, different characters. But I think this guy was Bickerstaff. If I'm wrong, I apologise.
shadrak bickerstaffe could easily have been this character. They didn't have to use a different name. If he can bump into simmerson he could well have met this guy now a sergeant? I appreciate bickerstaff was probably meant to be hakeswell but had to be changed as made out of sequence... this would have been the perfect comprise...
The novel Sharpe is in India BEFORE he is a famous officer and is just a redcoat, and he saved Wellington in India at Assaye. Hakeswill and Captain Morris were his problems there. Sgt Rodd is just a one off, previously good soldier gone bad… he is spared so presumably rejoins the SE as a private and as he isn’t heard of again is no longer a problem. Bickerstaff is essentially Hakeswills replacement since in TV land this takes place in 1816-18 long after Hakeswill has died. Why they chose the same actor I don’t know… hes got the mouthy southern bore patter …. Maybe they liked it.
Sometimes it was spread out - 50 at first, a few weeks to recover, then another 50 or so. In the case of ones due to be hanged the flogging was sometimes cancelled, in case the flogging sent them through the pearly gates first before the hangman got to them.
I really like the Sharpe series and I'm OK for a remade. But not like 16 movie, maybe a trilogy with a first movie, maybe a Sharpe's siege and Waterloo. But with a higher budget and mightier battles and little bit tone it down with a dark theme. More scenes with empathy and much much better music.
The music is great what are you talking about Also the peninsula war was the most brutal of all the conflicts of the napoleon in wars. It deserves to be dark
