Publisher's Synopsis
Volume 2 of a special edition
This is the second volume of Leonaur's special two volume edition created by dividing Cope's expansive work on the green coated sharpshooters-the famous Rifles. Where Volume 1 concentrated on the birth and early years of the regiment as it fought all over the globe against the Spanish, the Danes, the Napoleonic era French and the emergent American nation, this volume takes up the regimental story immediately after the destruction of the French First Empire on the bloody fields of Waterloo. The nations of Europe were about to enter an extraordinarily long period of peace-compared to its recent history-and it would be some forty years before another major conflict came the way of the British Army. Great Britain was now about to create her own empire and this would involve soldiering in many small conflicts to the end of the Victorian period. Cope's history considers the activities of The Rifles-soon to be The Rifle Brigade-up to 1876; so the reader will join them in the early 19th century struggles against the native tribes of South Africa in what became the Kaffir Wars. War against Russia drew them towards the Crimea where disease and privation killed more than battle. The turbulent 1850's also brought the horrific outburst of violence that was the Indian Mutiny, during which The Rifles shouldered their share of the fighting-including an interesting experiment as camel borne troops. Rebellion in Canada called them to colder climes but their services-always in demand-propelled them, in complete contrast to the final campaign covered by this book, into the steaming jungles of West Africa against the Ashanti. This is an indispensable history for anyone interested in this famous regiment and it is available to soft cover or hard cover with dust jacket for collectors.
