![]() ![]() Another source of manpower came from American Loyalists looking to enlist. Commonly referred to as Hessians, these men came from a number of different states, including Hesse-Kassel, Brunswick, and Ansbach-Bayreuth. It was a long-standing practice for some of the rulers to rent out their armies as a source of royal income, and more than 30,000 Germans were hired to take part in the American Revolution. King George III was also the elector of Hanover, giving him close dynastic and social ties to the rulers of the German states. A much more reliable source of manpower came from the German states of the Holy Roman Empire. By 1780 the measures had been rescinded after only bringing in a few thousand men. Two short periods of impressment were tried during the war, in which unemployed men could be taken into the army, but these acts proved to be very unpopular. Britain struggled to meet these manpower needs with volunteer enlistments and soon turned to other means. At least 50,000 soldiers fought in America, with many more serving in the West Indies, Europe, and India. These men formed the backbone of the regiment and were often veterans of many years or even decades of service.Īs the war in America dragged on the British Army expanded rapidly. ![]() The exception were many of the army’s non-commissioned officers. By the eve of the American Revolution, the majority of the men in the ranks had never seen active military service and were not battle hardened veterans. Recruits were generally young, averaging in their early 20s, and were drawn from all over Britain and Ireland. Before the war enlistment in the army was a lifelong commitment, but during the war, shorter term enlistments of several years were introduced to encourage recruitment. Life in the army promised steady pay, regular meals, and a way to escape grinding poverty. The majority of men who volunteered for service were farm laborers or tradesmen who were out of work. Unlike the navy, there was no impressment or conscription into the army, a point of pride for most British subjects. The British Army of the late 18th century was a volunteer force. The main role of the peacetime army was to guard the colonial frontiers and to maintain control over Ireland. ![]() ![]() As an island nation at the heart of a colonial empire, the navy was vastly more important to maintaining British trade and projecting British power. In addition to the dangers it posed to liberty, a standing army was also extremely expensive to maintain during peacetime. Many British subjects looked back to the time of the New Model Army and saw how a professional force could be used to oppress the people. For one, there was political resistance to maintaining a large army. By European standards the British Army was extremely small-the French maintained a force nearly four times larger-but many in Britain did not see the need for a large army. In the century that followed the size of the army grew and shrank depending on the circumstances, and by 1775 it numbered around 48,000 men. The army that opposed American independence has its roots in the 17th century, with the formation of the “New Model Army” as a permanent standing army during the English Civil War.
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