Great presentation Brandon, as always! Believe it or not there WAS an invasion of Britain by the French in 1797! A botch job from the beginning it went like this: The French Directory put together a landing force of 1,200 in February of that year made up up men swept up from prisons, mostly thieves and deserters, and put them under the command of an American mercenary named Tate. (The Directory must have considered the force expendable, how they were to be recovered is anyone's guess!) The mission was to land at Bristol, sack and burn the city, then march overland to Liverpool sacking and burning along the way. They had no more equipment other than the issued muskets and bayonets BUT they were promised pardons and all the loot they could carry. The force was carried by four ships but the squadron commander not liking conditions at the proposed landing site (Ilfracombe) decided to land the force at Fishguard Bay. All 1,200 got ashore safely. The squadron having been spotted at Ilfracombe an alarm was raised and the local magnate Lord Cawdor assembled the local Yeomanry (Another name for fencibles?), Militia, and Volunteers and marched out to meet the invaders. Colonel Tate saw the size of the force he was up against and surrendered without firing a shot. We had a phrase for an operation like the Directory put together when I was in the Marines but I won't say it here! Suffice to say the old saying's true, "Fail to plan, plan to fail!" My source for the above is from the book "The Frigates" by James Henderson CBE. Originally published in 1970 and again in 1994 it's a great read! A good one to to pick up if you ever see it!
And the French thought they were terribly outnumbered, because they mistook the traditional tall top hats and red whittles of Welsh women watching from hills for another force of redcoats waiting to attack. This played an important role in the unconditional surrender of the La Legion Noire
@@hallamhal Correct! And the book mentioned Lord Cawdor also passed out bolts of red cloth for bystanders to wrap themselves in to add to the deception of his force being stronger than it really was. The same book mentions an attempt by the French to invade Ireland by way of Bantry Bay with a force of 25,000 the year before. Too much to go into but briefly that one fell apart due to a combination of bad planning and worse weather. A few French ships wrecked on the Irish coast, the rest made their way home as best they could. One last thing. One of those French ships trying to get home was the battleship "Droits de l'Homme." They crossed courses with Sir Edward Pellew in his frigate "Indefatigable" in company with the frigate "Amazon" and this led to one of the classic sea fights in history. Too much to go into here but I'll give everyone a clue as to how it ended: "If they won't fight we'll chase them and run them ashore..."
This kind of reminds me of a quote from the 4th episode of Hornblower: "The mathematics of defeat." -- Captain Pellew to Lieutenant Bracegirdle, when discussing bringing 4 ships worth of soldiers, but being ordered to leave only 1 ship to evacuate them in the event the operation doesn't go well.
The Yeooman Cavalry was separate from the Fencibles, similar in concept but different in details. The Yeoman Cavalry would be maintained after the wars and go on to be a sort of Gendarmerie force (probably they are most famous for the Peterloo Massacre). I would assume there just happened to be Yeoman cavalry stationed near the landing and not Fencibles. The Volunteers were an entirely separate organization stood up to defend against invasion as well. Considering the mention of a "series" I expect Brandon will be brining these (and the militia) to more light in future videos. Also, I would note that the Yeoman of the Guard (aka the Beefeaters) is a very different thing and has nothing to do with Yeoman Cavalry. Both recieved their name from their initial recruitment from the Yeoman class (consisting of land owning commoners with a certain amount of wealth).
The Fencible mutiny over expensive sporrans is funny to me because there was griping about excessive stoppages in the 4th, too. One soldier who was discharged around 1770 complained in his memoir about needing to pay for leather breeches and "special lace" (scalloped like German guards regiments, if the official inspection report is to be believed). These stoppages were for private soldiers in the battalion companies, not just officers. Around 1772 the 4th's colonel even maintained an artillery company as part of the regiment, although that company was gone by the time they left for Boston in 1774.
During the Irish rebellion of 1798, the British got around the restrictions about deploying fencibles overseas by sending Scottish highland fencibles for a short duration in Ireland.
It's similar to the Landwehr of Austria and Prussia, Gendarmerie of France, Home Guard of Denmark and Sweden, and the Narodnoe Opolchenie of Russia, these were nationalised militias intended to supplement the main army, in war and peace, they were the predecessors to the US National Guard, or the Territorials of the UK.
also the austrian landwher were somewhat different to the prussian version. the landstrum was more of a voulnteer milita whereas the landwher were fully regular units and not voulnteers.
Apparently in many ways similar to the U. S. Volunteers although Volunteers were not exclusively deployed domestically. Similarly to Fencibles, the Volunteers were temporary, full-time, and separate from the militia. I believe the Volunteers were last used in the Spanish-American War although the option to raise Volunteer units was available at least until the First World War.
The Spanish War was really the last hurrah for American voluteer regiments, the Rough Riders being the best example. Theodore Roosevelt offered to raise a volunteer division for World War One but President Wilson turned him down. TR was popular enough to have most likely pulled it off but those days were over. (Also, ol' Woodrow didn't want Teddy getting any political points out of the deal at any rate!)
Another great video! For those who, like myself, live in Toronto, the Fort York Guard re-enacts the Canadian Fencibles of the War of 1812 era. On July 1, Dominion Day, they will be putting on a demonstration at Old Fort York that I highly recommend.
I wrote my history masters on the defences in Dublin during the period between 1780 to 1821. Some fensible regiments were deployed from Scotland and Wales to Ireland. The desire was to have Irish regiments serve abroad as there was a fear of arming Irish catholics. The aborted invasion of Ireland by Lazare Hoche scared the British establishment that the French could find ready support in Ireland including potential mutinous Irish soldiers. The influx of protestant Scottish and Welsh troops inflamed the situation in Ireland which could have contributed to the boiling over of Irish sentiment with the 1798 rebellion.
Thanks for the content. Im annoying email guy! I found a British reenactment group near me in SW Michigan. Im super looking forward to my first reenactment. Thanks for the encouragement Sir
That's awesome to hear! Good luck with it all! I'd recommend going out to see them at an event before jumping in feet first, if you haven't already. It's important to make sure you're 100% and that the philosophy of the group is something you can agree with. Some groups are very active while others more casual.
In the 1790s there were mounted volunteer units called "yeomanry" which were raised in response to the growing threat of invasion by revolutionary/Napoleonic france, these yeomanry units would later be used to quell riots and protests for example the peterloo massacre in 1819 when the Manchester and Salford yeomanry killed 18 peaceful protestors and injured more than 600.
Hey Brandon, I may have missed them on your channel somewhere, but have you ever thought about covering regiments like Roger's Rangers, Simcoe's Rangers, or just skirmishers in general? I really like your videos, and maybe my youtube-fu just sucks, but finding good and relatively in-depth content that's more than 5 minutes long is just..... difficult. Thanks again for another great and informative video.
Can you make a video about the Legacy of Company and British rule over the Indian subcontinent? It could be possibly the greatest video on the Honourable East India Company, and India as whole during its long 19th century, in the history of social media
In Canada the fencibles were generally regarded as the Canadian equivalent of regulars and served in numerous battles when the Americans invaded Canada during the War of 1812. Below them were the Select Embodied Militia made up of both volunteers and conscripts, these were provided training and usually uniforms if avaiable. Some of these regiments performed very well such as the complete defeat of a much larger force of American regulars at the Battle of Chateaugay by primarily the Voltigeurs or even the bigger defeat of the Americans at the Battle of Lacolle Mill where the American regulars enjoyed an 8 to 1 advantage. Beyond these was the regular militia who essentially included anyone who could breath. They had almost no training or equipment. There was also the Provncial Marine employed by the Quarter Master corps who handled ships on the lakes.
I hope someone does a Timmy supercut. Fascinating and overlooked topic! good video. I first heard about the concept of Fencibles in the context of American invasions of Canada fighting alongside native Americans and militia. It would be interesting to look at the breakdown of the Jacobites in Scotland- who joined William and George and who joined the Jacobites, how did each side organize, and the effect on the rebellions on Scottish society and politics. It was basically the last British civil wars.
Another interesting question is the story of the French invasions of Britain from the Stuarts to Georgians- when the French try, the raids that did land, and why did no large-scale landing succeed. And another good topic for a video would be British privateers and their role with the rise of the Royal Navy.
My town at the mouth of the River Colne in North Essex England had raised a brigade to man the mortar barges that would be chained across the Colne river to protect the shipbuilding industry along the river, the garrison at Colchester and also ( eventually) operate the guns at Tower A and its 4 acre fort at Point Clear across the creek in which our museum is housed as a reserve to the regulars based at nearby Weeley Barracks under the Essex Regmment . Many on the Sea Fencibles on muster roles have local names peculiar to the area . This tower , completed in 1812 ( too late ...) like the remainder of the chain of East Coast Martello Towers never saw action but housed 2 sergeants and their families as caretakers until a overhaul later on in the century when Napoleon 2 was considered a threat . A pretty miserable job considering the presence of malaria on these marshlands on which many were sited at the time . As a point of interest malaria was eventually eliminated from the Essex marshes when the chalk extraction and cement factory was opened near Purfleet on the River Thames , the dust created by the grinding mills settled on the marshlands blown there by the prevailing winds disrupting the life cycle of the mosquito by suffocating the larvae.
Sort of like todays guard and reserves. I served in the army for 23 years and the guard and reserve units that were serving alongside us were very good and acted professionally. Oh and I am up to 123 British medals for 1790s to 1900! Its insane, all named and to regulars, marines and Indian soldiers. The British Indian army's native troops did a magnificent job policing the empire and fighting its wars.
Hopefully, you will do a follow-up talking about the Fencibles in North America. During the War of 1812, there were many Fencible regiments formed that served with distinction. I used to be a corporal in one of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry reenactor groups (Bulger's Company). The Newfoundlanders were "shipped overseas" as Newfoundland was a separate colony to the Canadas. Their history is quite interesting as they never really fought as a battalion. As soon as they arrived in the Canadas, they were split up and companies were sent all over. RNfldR fencibles served in such far flung actions as the Battls of Michilimackinac (the story of the Relief of Mackinac is an EPIC tale), Fort George, Matilda, Detroit, The River Raisin, The Thames, the Battle of York, Fort Meigs, Sackett's Harbour and more. As some of the men were fishermen back home, detachments of Newfoundlanders were employed as marines and sailors by the Provincial Marine - even capturing the USS Tigris and Scorpion (renamed the Confiance and Surprise). One of the great things about reenacting as a soldier in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment is that you can take part in just about any War of 1812 reenactment the Great Lakes area of the US and Canada and be period correct.
Hello Brandon. As a wargamer, pages with these uniforms tended to be the ones sith the page skipped over in the illustrations book, as you were unlikely to paint them. It was interesting to see something I had missed in the past. I could not help but think of Dad's Army. Don't tell those people from the wrong side of the Channel your name, Pikeman Brandon.
@@lonelystrategos God bless L/Corporal Jones! All the characters were great but he made the show! A Victorian veteran more than capable to deal with those Hun primtives! "Give 'em the bayonet! Worked on the Fuzzy-Wuzzies!"
could you talk of the citizen soldiers of south america. although many are a topic more of the early to mid 19th century they were interesting in their multi cultural composition.
Mr Brandon i have a south american 19th century war movie i would like to recommend you called, cinco De mayo: la batila translating to may the 5: the battle, i would like to see you point out/criticize it's goods and bads and what it it historically got right and what it historically got wrong
Austrian Landwehr was a thing, specifically raised by order of Archduke Charles with an Imperial Patent dated June 9th, 1808. Napoleon deactivated them when he defeated the Austrians in 1808-1809. Oddly enough Beethoven's "Für die böhmische Landwehr" was renamed the Yorckscher Marsch which is a favorite of German military parades to this day.
One thing I wish you had touched on (and that I hope you will in future videos of this series) is how were fencibles viewed by civilians? You've often talked about how soldiers were generally untrusted or even outright hated by most of the civilian population. Were the Fencibles treated any better? Or were they just as disliked? Or even more disliked by causing local problems?
One of my favourite anecdotes of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland was down to a fencible regiment, the Glengarry Fencibles (not to be confused with a similar Canadian regiment). Raised by a priest who would later go on to be a bishop in Canada they were comprised of Gaelic speaking Scottish Catholics. They were sent to Ireland to suppress a rebellion by English speaking Irish Catholics. Despite the remaining Penal Laws it seems exceptions were made for the Glengarrys and a chaplain was appointed and more extraordinarily the Glengarry possibly as a Catholic colonel. Whether the latter happened or not I can't say but if it was it would have been against the laws of the day.
Interesting video so the fencibles were a middle ground between the local militia and the professional army. I'll be looking forward to the video on the yeomanry, I'm a cavalry bluff. And while it might be too much work or not even possible, I wonder how each type compared to it's foreign counterparts, if they even had something comparable.
Were there any Loyalist regiments considered fencibles? I have heard most of them called provincials but just wanted to know. Also, would the New American Army post Rev War have any regiments called fencibles? Thanks and great video!
In the case of Spain (I know, I always go on a rant about 18th Century Spanish military, please bear with me). The 1763 regulations imposed hy Viceroy Amat y Juniet essentially created a proper army for the Spanish Americas. Historically, the defense of the atlantic forts and Pacific Coastline, had always relied on line troops sent from Spain, often limited in number, and sometimes even totally made up, there are more than a couple instances of local authorities claiming this or that town has a regular garrisson of a dozen to a couple hundred regulars, requesting money for “payment of wages”, and then pocketing the money since the garrison never actually existed. By 1763, however, a designation system divided forces in three. First, militias, then disciplined militias, and finally royal regiments and battallions. Militias functioned as fencibles in theory. However they tended to ve at least somewhat more permanent. Usually volunteers from among the locals that would join a militia and have weekly drills and training. They would live their lives as normal unless a call to arms is made in which case they would be expected to be deployed. Disciplines militas where fully permanent and “regular” professional soldiers. Often under the authority of local governments following orders of the crown. But they were still below in hierarchy under royal regiments, which were regular forces. Interestingly, the three categories coexisted in the same regions. In Mexico, for instance, black and tan militias were common, as a way for african american and mixed race settlers to join the military in a somewhat segregated manner as they would normally not join a regular royal regiment. I say somewhat because it was not unheard of that after exceptional deeds of arms a disciplined native american or free black militia would be promoted to a full on royal regiment. (I say free black disciplined militas as often slaves were allowed, sometimes even forced, to join the common militias, since owners and townsfolk could avoid their weekly drills by enlisting a slave or apprentice on their behalf) Sometime local cabildos and audiences would do their best to publicize their militias in an attempt for them to gain the status of royal regiments, first because many members of said assembly were most likely officers in the militia and could gain the status of becoming a regular officer in a royal regiment and also as a source of local pride and prestige. So the movement between categories was also something people wanted to achieve. Fun fact, the Cross of Burgundy often associated with Spain, was not the flag of Spain nor a common sight, at least not in a day to day capacity, because it was exclusively used by Royal Regiments. Having earned the status of a royal regiment meant a militia was finally allowed to fly the Cross of Burgundy, and thwre are some accounts of non-royals using it too against regulations as a source of prestige. But it was not meant to be a general national symbol, rather a very specific symbol meant to represent only the proper line armies, not militias or levies.
Militia formations and other irregular unite are always the coolest. A video about the British legation, Ever Victorious Army or other interesting late Qing era English formation. The riverboats patrolling for piracy are another neat subject that's more off the beaten path.
I forget which one, but there was a Scottish regiment who up to the 20th Century had a little ritual in the officer's mess. When a toast was proposed to the monarch before they raised their glasses on high they passed them over their finger bowls, a reference to "The king across the water!" Sneaky, eh?
Let me tell you, a three-piece suit properly accessorized (note the watch chain) NEVER goes out of style! It helps you stay in shape too, after the investment in the suit you'll be terrified of putting on weight! So you have to stay trim to protect the investment!
Рік тому
In case of an invasion, wouldn'5 it have been useful to let the fencibels command the local defence because they know the terrain better
Ehh. You want your most professional and experienced officers to command. However, I can see the Fencibles or local militia being useful as local advisors & scouts for the regular army officers.
It's an intro for the series as a whole, which will feature groups of 'citizen soldiers' from many different countries of the time period, is why. Just starting off with the British!
The British government of Ireland relied on fencibles to suppress the 1798 Rebellion. They admittedly performed pretty poorly, especially against French troops, but there simply weren't enough regular forces available otherwise.
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Hi Brandon. Did you do this episode because of that email I sent you last week?
Thank you I was trying to better understand the difference of a citizen soldier vs professional soldiers and a regular army for a thesis.
How is it going
It’s going well how bout you
Great presentation Brandon, as always!
Believe it or not there WAS an invasion of Britain by the French in 1797! A botch job from the beginning it went like this:
The French Directory put together a landing force of 1,200 in February of that year made up up men swept up from prisons, mostly thieves and deserters, and put them under the command of an American mercenary named Tate. (The Directory must have considered the force expendable, how they were to be recovered is anyone's guess!) The mission was to land at Bristol, sack and burn the city, then march overland to Liverpool sacking and burning along the way. They had no more equipment other than the issued muskets and bayonets BUT they were promised pardons and all the loot they could carry. The force was carried by four ships but the squadron commander not liking conditions at the proposed landing site (Ilfracombe) decided to land the force at Fishguard Bay. All 1,200 got ashore safely.
The squadron having been spotted at Ilfracombe an alarm was raised and the local magnate Lord Cawdor assembled the local Yeomanry (Another name for fencibles?), Militia, and Volunteers and marched out to meet the invaders. Colonel Tate saw the size of the force he was up against and surrendered without firing a shot.
We had a phrase for an operation like the Directory put together when I was in the Marines but I won't say it here!
Suffice to say the old saying's true, "Fail to plan, plan to fail!"
My source for the above is from the book "The Frigates" by James Henderson CBE. Originally published in 1970 and again in 1994 it's a great read! A good one to to pick up if you ever see it!
And the French thought they were terribly outnumbered, because they mistook the traditional tall top hats and red whittles of Welsh women watching from hills for another force of redcoats waiting to attack. This played an important role in the unconditional surrender of the La Legion Noire
@@hallamhal Correct! And the book mentioned Lord Cawdor also passed out bolts of red cloth for bystanders to wrap themselves in to add to the deception of his force being stronger than it really was.
The same book mentions an attempt by the French to invade Ireland by way of Bantry Bay with a force of 25,000 the year before. Too much to go into but briefly that one fell apart due to a combination of bad planning and worse weather. A few French ships wrecked on the Irish coast, the rest made their way home as best they could.
One last thing. One of those French ships trying to get home was the battleship "Droits de l'Homme." They crossed courses with Sir Edward Pellew in his frigate "Indefatigable" in company with the frigate "Amazon" and this led to one of the classic sea fights in history. Too much to go into here but I'll give everyone a clue as to how it ended:
"If they won't fight we'll chase them and run them ashore..."
This kind of reminds me of a quote from the 4th episode of Hornblower: "The mathematics of defeat." -- Captain Pellew to Lieutenant Bracegirdle, when discussing bringing 4 ships worth of soldiers, but being ordered to leave only 1 ship to evacuate them in the event the operation doesn't go well.
@@RadioactiveSherbet I remember "Hornblower," great series!
The Yeooman Cavalry was separate from the Fencibles, similar in concept but different in details. The Yeoman Cavalry would be maintained after the wars and go on to be a sort of Gendarmerie force (probably they are most famous for the Peterloo Massacre). I would assume there just happened to be Yeoman cavalry stationed near the landing and not Fencibles.
The Volunteers were an entirely separate organization stood up to defend against invasion as well.
Considering the mention of a "series" I expect Brandon will be brining these (and the militia) to more light in future videos.
Also, I would note that the Yeoman of the Guard (aka the Beefeaters) is a very different thing and has nothing to do with Yeoman Cavalry. Both recieved their name from their initial recruitment from the Yeoman class (consisting of land owning commoners with a certain amount of wealth).
The Fencible mutiny over expensive sporrans is funny to me because there was griping about excessive stoppages in the 4th, too. One soldier who was discharged around 1770 complained in his memoir about needing to pay for leather breeches and "special lace" (scalloped like German guards regiments, if the official inspection report is to be believed). These stoppages were for private soldiers in the battalion companies, not just officers. Around 1772 the 4th's colonel even maintained an artillery company as part of the regiment, although that company was gone by the time they left for Boston in 1774.
During the Irish rebellion of 1798, the British got around the restrictions about deploying fencibles overseas by sending Scottish highland fencibles for a short duration in Ireland.
My ggggrandfather born in London was recruited in London and served in Ireland, in the Fyfrshire Fencibles until it was disbanded in 1804
It's similar to the Landwehr of Austria and Prussia, Gendarmerie of France, Home Guard of Denmark and Sweden, and the Narodnoe Opolchenie of Russia, these were nationalised militias intended to supplement the main army, in war and peace, they were the predecessors to the US National Guard, or the Territorials of the UK.
I thought France had National Guard as well .
the gendarmire were more of a military police
also the austrian landwher were somewhat different to the prussian version. the landstrum was more of a voulnteer milita whereas the landwher were fully regular units and not voulnteers.
Apparently in many ways similar to the U. S. Volunteers although Volunteers were not exclusively deployed domestically. Similarly to Fencibles, the Volunteers were temporary, full-time, and separate from the militia. I believe the Volunteers were last used in the Spanish-American War although the option to raise Volunteer units was available at least until the First World War.
The Spanish War was really the last hurrah for American voluteer regiments, the Rough Riders being the best example. Theodore Roosevelt offered to raise a volunteer division for World War One but President Wilson turned him down. TR was popular enough to have most likely pulled it off but those days were over.
(Also, ol' Woodrow didn't want Teddy getting any political points out of the deal at any rate!)
Another great video! For those who, like myself, live in Toronto, the Fort York Guard re-enacts the Canadian Fencibles of the War of 1812 era. On July 1, Dominion Day, they will be putting on a demonstration at Old Fort York that I highly recommend.
Brandon, how do you always find the most interesting topics?
I wrote my history masters on the defences in Dublin during the period between 1780 to 1821. Some fensible regiments were deployed from Scotland and Wales to Ireland. The desire was to have Irish regiments serve abroad as there was a fear of arming Irish catholics. The aborted invasion of Ireland by Lazare Hoche scared the British establishment that the French could find ready support in Ireland including potential mutinous Irish soldiers.
The influx of protestant Scottish and Welsh troops inflamed the situation in Ireland which could have contributed to the boiling over of Irish sentiment with the 1798 rebellion.
Thanks for the content. Im annoying email guy! I found a British reenactment group near me in SW Michigan. Im super looking forward to my first reenactment. Thanks for the encouragement Sir
That's awesome to hear! Good luck with it all! I'd recommend going out to see them at an event before jumping in feet first, if you haven't already. It's important to make sure you're 100% and that the philosophy of the group is something you can agree with. Some groups are very active while others more casual.
got so much more to learn about 18th/19th century history, you continually bless me with knowledge and i thankyou.
I've heard of the Fencibles before, but haven't done much studying on them, so this was an informative video!
Very illuminating, Brandon. Nice whistle too.
In the 1790s there were mounted volunteer units called "yeomanry" which were raised in response to the growing threat of invasion by revolutionary/Napoleonic france, these yeomanry units would later be used to quell riots and protests for example the peterloo massacre in 1819 when the Manchester and Salford yeomanry killed 18 peaceful protestors and injured more than 600.
Hey Brandon,
I may have missed them on your channel somewhere, but have you ever thought about covering regiments like Roger's Rangers, Simcoe's Rangers, or just skirmishers in general? I really like your videos, and maybe my youtube-fu just sucks, but finding good and relatively in-depth content that's more than 5 minutes long is just..... difficult.
Thanks again for another great and informative video.
If it interests you he has done a video on light infantry
@@TheIrishvolunteer I also Like Brandon F videos alwayz
Can you make a video about the Legacy of Company and British rule over the Indian subcontinent? It could be possibly the greatest video on the Honourable East India Company, and India as whole during its long 19th century, in the history of social media
I agree. I have a lot of company medals from the early period and for the Mutiny.
Witty, thoughtful and engaging you are.
In Canada the fencibles were generally regarded as the Canadian equivalent of regulars and served in numerous battles when the Americans invaded Canada during the War of 1812. Below them were the Select Embodied Militia made up of both volunteers and conscripts, these were provided training and usually uniforms if avaiable. Some of these regiments performed very well such as the complete defeat of a much larger force of American regulars at the Battle of Chateaugay by primarily the Voltigeurs or even the bigger defeat of the Americans at the Battle of Lacolle Mill where the American regulars enjoyed an 8 to 1 advantage. Beyond these was the regular militia who essentially included anyone who could breath. They had almost no training or equipment. There was also the Provncial Marine employed by the Quarter Master corps who handled ships on the lakes.
I hope someone does a Timmy supercut.
Fascinating and overlooked topic! good video. I first heard about the concept of Fencibles in the context of American invasions of Canada fighting alongside native Americans and militia.
It would be interesting to look at the breakdown of the Jacobites in Scotland- who joined William and George and who joined the Jacobites, how did each side organize, and the effect on the rebellions on Scottish society and politics. It was basically the last British civil wars.
Another interesting question is the story of the French invasions of Britain from the Stuarts to Georgians- when the French try, the raids that did land, and why did no large-scale landing succeed.
And another good topic for a video would be British privateers and their role with the rise of the Royal Navy.
Or a comp of any of his ad skits, he does _such_ a good job with the voices and such lol
I always thought you had a pfp of a Capybara from Battle Cats ngl
@@The_Honourable_Company Never saw Battle Cats. It's Tom Servo from MST3k
@@Tareltonlives k
My town at the mouth of the River Colne in North Essex England had raised a brigade to man the mortar barges that would be chained across the Colne river to protect the shipbuilding industry along the river, the garrison at Colchester and also ( eventually) operate the guns at Tower A and its 4 acre fort at Point Clear across the creek in which our museum is housed as a reserve to the regulars based at nearby Weeley Barracks under the Essex Regmment . Many on the Sea Fencibles on muster roles have local names peculiar to the area . This tower , completed in 1812 ( too late ...) like the remainder of the chain of East Coast Martello Towers never saw action but housed 2 sergeants and their families as caretakers until a overhaul later on in the century when Napoleon 2 was considered a threat . A pretty miserable job considering the presence of malaria on these marshlands on which many were sited at the time .
As a point of interest malaria was eventually eliminated from the Essex marshes when the chalk extraction and cement factory was opened near Purfleet on the River Thames , the dust created by the grinding mills settled on the marshlands blown there by the prevailing winds disrupting the life cycle of the mosquito by suffocating the larvae.
Ok, we have C and D fencibles, what about A and B?
Boo! Boo this man!
Sort of like todays guard and reserves. I served in the army for 23 years and the guard and reserve units that were serving alongside us were very good and acted professionally. Oh and I am up to 123 British medals for 1790s to 1900! Its insane, all named and to regulars, marines and Indian soldiers. The British Indian army's native troops did a magnificent job policing the empire and fighting its wars.
now I have to wonder if the fencibles are a direct lineage to the Territorial Army...
Nice talk and your suite looks good
Hopefully, you will do a follow-up talking about the Fencibles in North America. During the War of 1812, there were many Fencible regiments formed that served with distinction. I used to be a corporal in one of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Fencible Infantry reenactor groups (Bulger's Company). The Newfoundlanders were "shipped overseas" as Newfoundland was a separate colony to the Canadas. Their history is quite interesting as they never really fought as a battalion. As soon as they arrived in the Canadas, they were split up and companies were sent all over. RNfldR fencibles served in such far flung actions as the Battls of Michilimackinac (the story of the Relief of Mackinac is an EPIC tale), Fort George, Matilda, Detroit, The River Raisin, The Thames, the Battle of York, Fort Meigs, Sackett's Harbour and more. As some of the men were fishermen back home, detachments of Newfoundlanders were employed as marines and sailors by the Provincial Marine - even capturing the USS Tigris and Scorpion (renamed the Confiance and Surprise). One of the great things about reenacting as a soldier in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment is that you can take part in just about any War of 1812 reenactment the Great Lakes area of the US and Canada and be period correct.
Hello Brandon. As a wargamer, pages with these uniforms tended to be the ones sith the page skipped over in the illustrations book, as you were unlikely to paint them. It was interesting to see something I had missed in the past.
I could not help but think of Dad's Army. Don't tell those people from the wrong side of the Channel your name, Pikeman Brandon.
They don't like it up 'em!
@@lonelystrategos God bless L/Corporal Jones! All the characters were great but he made the show! A Victorian veteran more than capable to deal with those Hun primtives!
"Give 'em the bayonet! Worked on the Fuzzy-Wuzzies!"
We love your videos 🖤💪
Brandon really be going crazy
In your best Napoleon Total War British voice: Armed Citizenry!
Please do something with drachinifel, like a cooperation
could you talk of the citizen soldiers of south america. although many are a topic more of the early to mid 19th century they were interesting in their multi cultural composition.
The US has the Sea Fencibles
Basically 18th century Home Guard. Someone should make a classic British comedy.
Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad's Army.
Did the royal marines have them?
I certainly hope there's a reenactment group out there somewhere called the Indie Fencibles.
Seen a Fencible unit in Napoleon: Total War.
Another obscure subject that has puzzled me for decades.
What a great channel.
I hope little Timmy found glory and promotion.
Had an ancestor in the Gordon Fencibles 1793-9. He retired from the 24th Foot in 1791.
Mr Brandon i have a south american 19th century war movie i would like to recommend you called, cinco De mayo: la batila translating to may the 5: the battle, i would like to see you point out/criticize it's goods and bads and what it it historically got right and what it historically got wrong
Hoorah little Timmy hoorah
So British Fencibles in Napoleon Total War is real, but what about Austrian Landwehr
Prussian Landwehr was founded in the Napoleonic wars as far as I know .
Austrian Landwehr was a thing, specifically raised by order of Archduke Charles with an Imperial Patent dated June 9th, 1808. Napoleon deactivated them when he defeated the Austrians in 1808-1809. Oddly enough Beethoven's "Für die böhmische Landwehr" was renamed the Yorckscher Marsch which is a favorite of German military parades to this day.
little timmy is my favorite advertising mascot, more companies should be open to using child soldiers as advertising mascots.
Jacobite nonsense? Walk among Culloden and through the museum.
I bet this influenced the early American military system to a degree
great video! one about your collection of firearms would be cool.
We (6th CR) had a couple of deserters that became the Royal Fenceables in Candada
What they do is win battles for me by outgunning everyone in Total War.
Hey Brandon, I was wondering if you will ever dive into the french and indian war?
I like your dress, very classy. I appreciate your videos and would enjoy having a glass of Madeira and discussing history with you
Better to be a warrior in a garden than a garderner in war.
An honor to be early my friend. Nice video.
Were the fencibles ever deployed anywhere besides Ireland?
Have you done a video about pickets? The ones that scouted iirc
Fensible is similar in origin to fencing (defensible/defensing).
Pls do a video about the Irish civil war
Oh no, nordVPN found brandon too!
One thing I wish you had touched on (and that I hope you will in future videos of this series) is how were fencibles viewed by civilians? You've often talked about how soldiers were generally untrusted or even outright hated by most of the civilian population. Were the Fencibles treated any better? Or were they just as disliked? Or even more disliked by causing local problems?
Are you American or British
The Napoleonic home guard, eh? Did they use medieval crossbows?
Where provincial units?
The only ones who usedd crossbows were the troops of Grand Fenwick. Another story.
i am always a bit confused by the differences between fencibles and the voulnteers and the milita and even more confusing were the sea fencibles.
Volunteer Corps and the Militia will be future episodes!
When you said Jacobite nonsense ,you meant Jacobite rebellion didn't happen or the scale was exaggerated to a point that it was not a rebellion .
Neither- I meant the cause itself was nonsense!
One of my favourite anecdotes of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland was down to a fencible regiment, the Glengarry Fencibles (not to be confused with a similar Canadian regiment). Raised by a priest who would later go on to be a bishop in Canada they were comprised of Gaelic speaking Scottish Catholics. They were sent to Ireland to suppress a rebellion by English speaking Irish Catholics. Despite the remaining Penal Laws it seems exceptions were made for the Glengarrys and a chaplain was appointed and more extraordinarily the Glengarry possibly as a Catholic colonel. Whether the latter happened or not I can't say but if it was it would have been against the laws of the day.
Interesting video so the fencibles were a middle ground between the local militia and the professional army. I'll be looking forward to the video on the yeomanry, I'm a cavalry bluff. And while it might be too much work or not even possible, I wonder how each type compared to it's foreign counterparts, if they even had something comparable.
Were there any Loyalist regiments considered fencibles? I have heard most of them called provincials but just wanted to know. Also, would the New American Army post Rev War have any regiments called fencibles? Thanks and great video!
In the case of Spain (I know, I always go on a rant about 18th Century Spanish military, please bear with me). The 1763 regulations imposed hy Viceroy Amat y Juniet essentially created a proper army for the Spanish Americas. Historically, the defense of the atlantic forts and Pacific Coastline, had always relied on line troops sent from Spain, often limited in number, and sometimes even totally made up, there are more than a couple instances of local authorities claiming this or that town has a regular garrisson of a dozen to a couple hundred regulars, requesting money for “payment of wages”, and then pocketing the money since the garrison never actually existed. By 1763, however, a designation system divided forces in three. First, militias, then disciplined militias, and finally royal regiments and battallions.
Militias functioned as fencibles in theory. However they tended to ve at least somewhat more permanent. Usually volunteers from among the locals that would join a militia and have weekly drills and training. They would live their lives as normal unless a call to arms is made in which case they would be expected to be deployed. Disciplines militas where fully permanent and “regular” professional soldiers. Often under the authority of local governments following orders of the crown. But they were still below in hierarchy under royal regiments, which were regular forces. Interestingly, the three categories coexisted in the same regions. In Mexico, for instance, black and tan militias were common, as a way for african american and mixed race settlers to join the military in a somewhat segregated manner as they would normally not join a regular royal regiment. I say somewhat because it was not unheard of that after exceptional deeds of arms a disciplined native american or free black militia would be promoted to a full on royal regiment. (I say free black disciplined militas as often slaves were allowed, sometimes even forced, to join the common militias, since owners and townsfolk could avoid their weekly drills by enlisting a slave or apprentice on their behalf) Sometime local cabildos and audiences would do their best to publicize their militias in an attempt for them to gain the status of royal regiments, first because many members of said assembly were most likely officers in the militia and could gain the status of becoming a regular officer in a royal regiment and also as a source of local pride and prestige. So the movement between categories was also something people wanted to achieve. Fun fact, the Cross of Burgundy often associated with Spain, was not the flag of Spain nor a common sight, at least not in a day to day capacity, because it was exclusively used by Royal Regiments. Having earned the status of a royal regiment meant a militia was finally allowed to fly the Cross of Burgundy, and thwre are some accounts of non-royals using it too against regulations as a source of prestige. But it was not meant to be a general national symbol, rather a very specific symbol meant to represent only the proper line armies, not militias or levies.
Nobody that has seen the '50's British sit-com "Dad's Army" will fail to recognise the continuity between this and the home guard of WWII.
Nice suit B!
I love the Comical illustrations of Citizen Soldiers , always showing them as clumsy and bad and goofy
Militia formations and other irregular unite are always the coolest. A video about the British legation, Ever Victorious Army or other interesting late Qing era English formation. The riverboats patrolling for piracy are another neat subject that's more off the beaten path.
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Thanks Brandon, another great video :)
Thanks James! Glad you enjoyed.
What? No love for the Sea-Fencibles?
I don't think you got to the end of the video!
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It’s like the colonial militias in American revolution
I guess this reliance on militias was something that the Americans would inherit
There called TA now, and Royal Navy RMR 🤔
JACOBITE NONSENSE! You sassenach cur! To the king across the water.
I forget which one, but there was a Scottish regiment who up to the 20th Century had a little ritual in the officer's mess. When a toast was proposed to the monarch before they raised their glasses on high they passed them over their finger bowls, a reference to "The king across the water!" Sneaky, eh?
Yes, Brandon. Teach me more. Very good.
Next up: The Yeomanry .....?
You're extremely fashionable. Honestly I'd love to see a video on your wardrobe 😅
Let me tell you, a three-piece suit properly accessorized (note the watch chain) NEVER goes out of style! It helps you stay in shape too, after the investment in the suit you'll be terrified of putting on weight! So you have to stay trim to protect the investment!
In case of an invasion, wouldn'5 it have been useful to let the fencibels command the local defence because they know the terrain better
Ehh. You want your most professional and experienced officers to command. However, I can see the Fencibles or local militia being useful as local advisors & scouts for the regular army officers.
I swear this Timmy is gonna be a Colonel by the time he's 11 and a Colonel by 15.
Why would he become a colonel twice?
Brandon- Does an intro about the British armed forces
Also Brandon- Plays a piano version of Chanson de l'Oignon, a French military song
It's an intro for the series as a whole, which will feature groups of 'citizen soldiers' from many different countries of the time period, is why. Just starting off with the British!
@@BrandonFLooking forward to when you get around to the Landwehr and Freikorps!
:)
its spor-ran not spo-ran get it right.
Great video! I'm excited for the next parts and hope that you could cover German counterparts
I'd be surprised if these guys were useful as anything but porters to carry stuff around.
The British government of Ireland relied on fencibles to suppress the 1798 Rebellion. They admittedly performed pretty poorly, especially against French troops, but there simply weren't enough regular forces available otherwise.
Oh you'd make jokes about child soldiers but not slavery.
Both are pretty hilarious, imo.
Brandon dapper af today