@@rc59191 Their ships were wreaked . They were lucky ship wreak survivors , there was no going back anywhere . They were assimilated into the population which was mainly Celtic .
correct that it was believed at the time. but its now been proved to be just a story. dna testing shows no significant outside dna was introduced into the Irish at the time. also celtic people often have dark skin in summer and mostly have black hair and dark eyes. i should know i am a celt and go very dark in the summer as i work outside. some people think i have a Spanish or Italian background because of my dark looks.
I like how Lynch goes up and down the line criticising all the other recruits (including Harper) but when he gets to Sharpe he pauses for a few seconds, at a loss for anything to correct, then just screams "FILTH" because it's all he has to fall back on.
I get this particular training depot is meant to be run by spectacular bastards, but training manuals of the time forbid this type of treatment to the recruits. (I'm sure it may have happened, but definitely not in the presence of officers) There's a great line in one of the training manauls (Dundas manual annotated by Capt.Suasso I think) which goes along the lines of "You must not scream at or hit recruits, even if they are stupid or foreign"
Discipline in the British Army was very harsh, but usually fair. There were also laws that forbade multiple floggings, and they usually took care not to punish the troops to hard because they were smart enough to understand doing so put them out of action with injury if done too overzealously, lowered their morale and increased likelihood of desertion, insurrection and so on. Compared to the Prussians and French, the British treated their soldiers quite well; their lives were already harsh and grim, they didn't need to make it any worse. Britain has always had a small, but professional army with good cameraderie and regimental pride. We've never needed to beat our soldiers senseless to get them to fight, because they've nearly always been volunteers, not some foreign conscript with no loyalty or desire to be there
@@keighlancoe5933 That and it meant less fragging, desertions and mutinies. But yeah the best officers and NCOs earned the respect they had, not demanded it.
@@keighlancoe5933 Sharpe does hammer that point home too, "bad officers are better off dead" is a sentiment that keeps coming up time and time again, usually accompanied by the death of said officers at the hands of their men or their own idiocy.
BBC Panorama continues with Major Sharpe and Sgt Harper intial undercover investigation discovering mass cases of abuse at the training site of the 2nd battalion...
"We reached out to horse guard for a response. They responded with a statement to say they were shocked by our allegations and will carry out a full investigation. They said that all recruits can be expected to be subjected to "robust training" and that they have received "no offical complaints" from any previous recruit and that recruits would have been well aware of what they were signing up for before they joined. If a member of the armed forces did step out of line then the matter will be dealt with internally."
@@lw3646 "BBC Panorama notes that there's may be a conflict of interest as the Officer in charge of reviews and complaints is Sir Henry Simmerson, whose King's Colours Scandal had already rocked the Military establishment."
I think my favourite part of this entire clip is when Girdwood kicks the new recruit in the shin at the end. Hitting him in the face with his cane makes sense for a villain, but the kick to the shin is something an angry 8 year old would do when he pulls a temper tantrum.
4:45 Fun Fact: In the books, Sharpe's story begins with him in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, before joining the 95th. The TV series starts him off in the 95th already; but technically Sharpe wasn't lying.
As always the books are better. I love in this book (Sharpe's Regiment) during recruiting Havercamp tried to impress Harper (who he knew as O'Keefe) by saying he was a mate of Sergeant Harper. Harper spat his beer out *LOL*
@@lcrperfect not just 'a superior' but the commanding general, Sir Arthur Wellesley - later Lord Wellington. Also in the first episode he replies 'Sharpe, Sergeant, 95th Rifles' when asked his name, although he /is/ in the 33rd in the first /book/.
@@randallcase1009 Welcome to any century in any armed service worth a shit. That kid needed to learn to keep his mouth shut lest he get his whole platoon punished. Ask anyone who's ever been in.
@@robertnett9793 If they can't see the satirical side or understand the damage it will do then its natural selection if they harm themselves. Report all you like I'm gonna continue to say what I want.
@@Josh23761 It was a joke - a satirical over-reaction to your satirical suggestion. On second thought... I should have added "Why does no one think of the children?!" :D
I never really heard of Poriot until I randomlly saw it on Netflix one night a few years ago and I watched every season. I wish it was still on there as I'd like to go back from time to time. I got the Poirot vibe as well!
This is honestly a reoccurring nightmare. DD 214 in hand but for some reason I'm back in bootcamp and doing it all over again with the knowledge I already got out. Freaking terrifying.
ETSed in December 1986. I STILL have dreams of being called up and not knowing where clothing sales is, etc. And it’s always different Army bases I’ve never been to.
1:44 when your sheath has no leather or oil... So it just scrapes and dulls the blade, with a noise as painful to me, as nails on a blackboard can be to others....
Blade's already dull. Officers' swords of the period were issued and kept blunt for safety, and were only sharpened when deployed. This was so ubiquitous that receiving an order to 'sharpen swords" was a byword for being deployed. The steel scabbard is also historical. Some had wooden liners, but many did not, and the effect of the steel scabbard on the blade under field conditions was a common complaint.
That sharpen swords order reminds me that in those times empires couldn't afford to keep their massive conscripted armies standing, equipment was left in warehouses and armories and could sit for ages without maintenance and testing. It was just a goal to even arm a man with a weapon and ammunition forget even wasting ammunition on anything beyond basic training. Raising and mobilizing an entire army at the moment of a declaration of war was an impossibility, it would take weeks even months to bring the full military capability to bear. But with the industrial revolution soon to come to mainland Europe and already in progress in England during Sharpr's time the British army though small would become a professional well equipped force, though smaller than the continental land armies. Their professionalism and level of technology shown in the Crimean conflict and the Zulu and Boer wars to come. Now the modern nation state has fully equipped elite forces ready to be deployed at any time to anywhere in the world constantly supplied by masses of reserve equipment and ammunition produced by the modern military industrial complex according to its foreign policy agenda, we have come a long way from swords and muskets. Israel famously mobilized its entire reserves in less than an hour during the first moments Yom Kippur war and Britain gathered a response force to the Falklands crisis in but a week.
Pre Crimean English swords were shit anyway, we didn't proof blades until the Crimean Scandal. Theres a reason officers (who had to purchase their own to the pattern demanded by the regiment) mainly used makers who didn't support blades to the crown or foreign makers.
5:17 The actor playing Lieutenant Colonel Girdwood is Mark Lambert, who is in fact Irish! You may remember him from "Bottom". He was the gasman that Rick & Eddie beat to death with a frying pan :)
About the only decent part of the commanding officer's repertoir of preparations (that shows he has seen action and is field-experienced) is he loosens the blade in the scabbard to prevent it binding up when needed. Although in his case I dread to think of the poor recruits that might get cut off it.
Russell Lack of use. The blade could develop rust on it which could make it too wide for the scabbard hole, meaning at a critical moment it could stick. Happened to Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War; he proceeded to lead the charge pointing his still scabbard clad sword at the enemy.
@@AdmRose Interesting I shall have to read about that. I've never heard of this... Surely though this is a pretty pointless action if you just looked after your sword?
@@Mr__Chicken You can see it in the film Gladiator where a Praetorian hasn't loosened his blade and in the cold conditions it's binded up also. Looking after it is one thing, but in bad conditions you have to keep on top of it daily.
Harper showing great discipline pretending to show respect to the king of England, which ironically makes him one of the best soldiers in that king's army.
Most irish serving at that time would have shown respect for the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Indeed, many from the southern irish state still do today.
The looks they are giving Harper, especially the Sgt, at 5:37 is just freaking hilarious. LMAO :D I wonder how many times they had to shoot the scene again because they broke out in laughter.
Glad to see the army hasn’t changed. Then: All your bounty is taken to pay for “necessities.” Now: Your first paycheck is taken to pay for “necessities.”
All those years in prep school worked wonders on that colonel. He knew every one of those nouns without hesitation. “Sword, shako, cane, door.” Now that’s soldiering.
"We're not animals, we're men. We're not. We're soldiers now." A fine tradition that in one way or another carried through into the US Army in the 90s. RIP Shark Attack for starters. Sucked at the time, but endless laughs after.
Speaking as a US Army veteran, it hasn't changed much since. You sign up and you become government property, to be used as needed and expended as necessary. However, you could say the same thing for any hard physical job. Farming, fishing, welder, machinist, whatever... those jobs will use up your body and enrage you just as quickly as being in the Army will, and sometimes for far less reason. We all have to sacrifice something for a paycheck. You just have to decide how much you want to sacrifice for how much pay.
Sad thing is even though the army and any other military force treat their recruits like shit there's still more respect from them then most other low end manual jobs. The military will cover medical expenses, set up a decent pension plan, pay extra for any skills you pick up and of course pay a handsom bonus for being deployed.
@@wetlettuce4768 I wouldn't call deployment pay a 'bonus', WL. No matter how shitty a civilian job is [and a whole bunch of them can be shitty indeed], you ain't gettin' shot at [for the ground pounder types], or having to live in a crew berth with 25 of your closest not-so-very-good-friends and all your worldly possessions fitting in a space smaller than your high school locker [for the swabbies]. And in both cases a 12 hour day is every single day. There are definite negatives about military life, and while the pay and benefits look good from the outside any veteran will tell you that if anything they got short changed.
My dear Carl, you may be a Loyalist, but you are still an American. You do not know the British soldier, sir. He is a brute beast in a red coat, he needs the lash! Whip him in, Mr. Berry.
I feel like there aren't many jobs in the fields you mentioned where repeatedly getting just chewed out to shreds by your boss was part of the deal. Unless there's a welding boot camp that I missed hearing about
There's a big paradox here. At the beginning of the video there are two people in the room. Eventually one will become Sharpe's enemy, another one will become his friend.
Just a small point but dramas such as these do tend to exaggerate the bad appearance of the average working class man. Some may have looked particularly bedraggled but most people, at all times in history at least tried to look their best in public. We have films from only 90 years after this time. The poor may not have looked like west end models, but the vast majority of the working class looked reasonably smart, well presented, and so did most of the children. Even miners and the poorest of the poor tried to put on a good show even when going to work down a pit, or to a factory. These guys were not even from the city but the countryside, and so would have had plenty of access to clean water with which to wash themselves and their clothing. This is a common deliberate mistake almost all film directors and school teachers make. Yes, of course there could be a big difference between the wealth of the ranks, and the officers, but presenting the working class in this way, says more about what the directors think of the common masses, than any truth of the matter.
That could be because the rich are so much richer compared to the poor today. The gap in wealth between the top and bottom of society has never been so huge. Film directors and most others in Hollywood are so out of touch they imagine "the poor" of all time periods, as filthy Los Angeles Heroin addicts picking through dumpsters. Which they also only ever see, at rock bottom, at their absolute worst. Through the darkly tinted windows of their limos.
@@blackhawks81H I take your point. We don't have to look into the past to see that poor people have NEVER been generally unkempt or dirty, while there are always exceptions to the rule. All we have to do is look at the poorest around the 3rd world. Almost to a person they all dress in clean clothes every day and wash at least once a day. The outside of their homes may not be wonderful to behold, but inside is almost invariably a great contrast. Just because baths were rare and expensive objects 200 years ago did not mean that people did not wash on a very regular basis. You may wish to believe that the rich don't understand because they are somehow detached from the rest of society, but I suspect a much worse reason. Many of them fell for the same BS history that we fell for when we were young. What we have been told or implied to us about our past and what was actually the case has been utterly corrupted, and deliberately so. This is how it works. However bad the present is, and the future looks don't complain because everything about the past was much worse and the future will always better than it is now. To convince the gullible that somehow and at some time the eternal battle between good and evil ended and good won. You might live in a violent neighborhood, have no job or prospects of ever getting a good one, not be able to pay the rent or the countless bills, your children have no respect for you or their mother, and however much time they waste at school still don't seem to actually know anything of any importance. Yet at least you have hot and cold running water, soft toilet paper to wipe your dirty arse with, and a benefits system that benefits only our owners, so "STOP COMPLAINING, shut up, and do as you are told."
@@DaveDexterMusic what are you trying to say? That you need a time machine to know about a relatively recent time period which is very well documented?
For all the criticism you can give Girdwood and his methods, he did turn the recruits into very good soldiers. Same as Band of Brothers. Everyone hated Sobel, and he had his flaws for sure, but can't deny he did a good job making them what they were.
@@FatGouf that was Winters as it turned out. He shirked Korea because when it wasn't glorious enough. Sobel may not have been cut out for combat command but he still did the jobs given to him.
@@stevenobrien557 that was Winters being smart. The Korean War was the first alert that we were about to start playing dumb politics with the USA military, after World War II...
@@stevenobrien557 yes it is. Do you find it bizarre that when the Chinese came spilling into the war, the U.S. didn't just start torching Chinese cities?
My favourite part of the tv series is that they totally capture how good Bernard Cornwell is at writing villains. Their are so many episodes where the villain just acts circles around Sharpe.
Please mention the TV episode, (and when possible because the TV series has incidents not in the books, and vice versa) the book that incidents occur in. In this case, the episode is Sharpe's Regiment
It can be difficult to flesh out what was and was not common training protocol at the time to establish the level of villainy of the antagonists. 1. Severely punishing a recruit who breaks ranks to speak to an officer would actually still end badly in most Militaries today: including America's Armed Forces. Everything apart from physical assault that occurred in this scene would certainly still transpire apart from a few locations such as the pool (water training), rifle range, and some places within obstacle courses (comicated).
Well done sir!!! Hahaha! All the years of watching both Sharpe and Bottom I never relised he played the gasman. GAS MAN GAS MAN GAS MAN!!!! then they hit him over the head with a frying pan 50 times 😂😂😂😂😂
I wondered about Girdwood's obviously phony moustache - I read somewhere that except in cavalry regiments, moustaches were frowned on in the British Army of the time, seen as something Frenchified.
Ooooh I hope you're going to upload Girdwoods slightly different morning where "Door!" Is met by coming face to face with Sharpe. Girdwood "You have orders?...I command here...." Sharpe "No....I command here" "No...no...." "YES!" (Whips his sculptured moustache off his face)
Sharpe and Harper look good in....White!! 😔 but not for long, in the end they will have a BIG bitter of surprise! I saw this episode, not my favorite but is not that bad in comparison.
I think you may be referring to the black leather item known as a stock. It was used to force the head into an upright position and tended to irritate the neck. It was very good at its job, but, as Sharpe says at some point in the series, "There are better ways of making a man hold his head high." Given that sores could become infected easily and make a man sick or dead, Sharpe had a point. It was a sort of short cut to improve appearance on parade.
Spotted a bit of a continuity error there. As Sharpe says "They've got a whole damn army here" You see one of the guys he's marching in with standing in the the rows of already training soldiers. Small blonde guy front rank in whtes they shoot his dog.
Hand Solo Hah. I’ve only seen him in John Wick and he did good for that, outside of it is he any good? (Then again, John Wick is it’s own kind of movie...)
For those who don't know, "Black Irish" are Irelanders with black hair and dark eyes that supposedly were descendant from the Spanish Armada
Oh... oh dear....
@TheSmithersy Well, the English lords in Ireland, but yeah. Later research disproved the claims, but it was the belief at the time
Did the survivors land there instead of heading back to Spain?
@@rc59191 Their ships were wreaked . They were lucky ship wreak survivors , there was no going back anywhere . They were assimilated into the population which was mainly Celtic .
correct that it was believed at the time.
but its now been proved to be just a story. dna testing shows no significant outside dna was introduced into the Irish at the time. also celtic people often have dark skin in summer and mostly have black hair and dark eyes. i should know i am a celt and go very dark in the summer as i work outside. some people think i have a Spanish or Italian background because of my dark looks.
The best episode of Undercover Boss.
Well said !!
Underrated comment
😂
Achievement Earned:
*CHOSEN COMMENT*
LMAO!
“..Badly ambushed”. Those Black Irish definitely deflowered the young officer Girdwood.
Now thats buggering
Quality comment.
Not badly enough. He survived
😂😂😂😂😂
Almost as badly as the mastiff.
Any True Irishman is a rebel at heart, it's why we're free.
I like how Lynch goes up and down the line criticising all the other recruits (including Harper) but when he gets to Sharpe he pauses for a few seconds, at a loss for anything to correct, then just screams "FILTH" because it's all he has to fall back on.
No one called Sharpe FILTH, they called the other 2 men FILTH
@@Charles-ij1ow 3:21
and our Sgt Harper is nothing more than slightly annoyed
@@justanobadi6655 "Name!!!" - "Filth, sir!" - Harper knows the drill, literally.
Lynch. Life by the Filth, dies by the Filth.
“NAME FILTH!”
“Filth, sir!”
I cant stop laughing
"No, Filth! Name, of Filth!"
"O'Keefe Sir!"
@@chuchulainn9275”I’ll not have Irish tricks, by God I will not!! Blither, BLITHER!!!” 😂
always loved Harper's Irish sense of humour
I didn't find it a bit humorous, but I see your perspective.
I get this particular training depot is meant to be run by spectacular bastards, but training manuals of the time forbid this type of treatment to the recruits. (I'm sure it may have happened, but definitely not in the presence of officers)
There's a great line in one of the training manauls (Dundas manual annotated by Capt.Suasso I think) which goes along the lines of
"You must not scream at or hit recruits, even if they are stupid or foreign"
Discipline in the British Army was very harsh, but usually fair. There were also laws that forbade multiple floggings, and they usually took care not to punish the troops to hard because they were smart enough to understand doing so put them out of action with injury if done too overzealously, lowered their morale and increased likelihood of desertion, insurrection and so on. Compared to the Prussians and French, the British treated their soldiers quite well; their lives were already harsh and grim, they didn't need to make it any worse. Britain has always had a small, but professional army with good cameraderie and regimental pride. We've never needed to beat our soldiers senseless to get them to fight, because they've nearly always been volunteers, not some foreign conscript with no loyalty or desire to be there
@@keighlancoe5933 That and it meant less fragging, desertions and mutinies. But yeah the best officers and NCOs earned the respect they had, not demanded it.
@@TheGroundedAviator yeah I mentioned that - insurrection/fragging, desertion/mutiny
@@keighlancoe5933 Sharpe does hammer that point home too, "bad officers are better off dead" is a sentiment that keeps coming up time and time again, usually accompanied by the death of said officers at the hands of their men or their own idiocy.
Tbf they’re committing much greater crimes, namely in this they were drawing provisions for more men than they actually had and pocketing the profits.
BBC Panorama continues with Major Sharpe and Sgt Harper intial undercover investigation discovering mass cases of abuse at the training site of the 2nd battalion...
kim Sharpe is a Major in this episode and Harper is a Sergeant Major in this episode as well.
@Cringe Commander at least Britain is well on its way back to the good old days as shown here!
"We reached out to horse guard for a response. They responded with a statement to say they were shocked by our allegations and will carry out a full investigation. They said that all recruits can be expected to be subjected to "robust training" and that they have received "no offical complaints" from any previous recruit and that recruits would have been well aware of what they were signing up for before they joined. If a member of the armed forces did step out of line then the matter will be dealt with internally."
@@lw3646 "BBC Panorama notes that there's may be a conflict of interest as the Officer in charge of reviews and complaints is Sir Henry Simmerson, whose King's Colours Scandal had already rocked the Military establishment."
I think my favourite part of this entire clip is when Girdwood kicks the new recruit in the shin at the end. Hitting him in the face with his cane makes sense for a villain, but the kick to the shin is something an angry 8 year old would do when he pulls a temper tantrum.
"YOU HOPELESS, HOPELESS BOY!!!" :D
Simmerson was such a good villain the actor played the nasty little creep perfectly.
"Jane! That damn dog!!...mmmhurrrmmmhhmmmm!"
So true! Whatever happened to him by the way? The actor I mean, I know the character rotted in hell.
@@Southern_Crusader He is still acting, he was in Downton Abbey
@@Southern_Crusader He also gets a bit redeemed in the last movie.
I liked him in shapes. Challenge.i actually warmed to him.
4:45 Fun Fact: In the books, Sharpe's story begins with him in the 33rd Regiment of Foot, before joining the 95th. The TV series starts him off in the 95th already; but technically Sharpe wasn't lying.
As always the books are better. I love in this book (Sharpe's Regiment) during recruiting Havercamp tried to impress Harper (who he knew as O'Keefe) by saying he was a mate of Sergeant Harper. Harper spat his beer out *LOL*
In the first episode he is in the 33rd, when he saves the life of a superior and is promoted to officer from the ranks and goes to the 95th rifle
@@lcrperfect via Trafalgar.. always been disappointed that wasn't shown.
Tell you what though, they did a spectacular job with what little they were given
@@lcrperfect not just 'a superior' but the commanding general, Sir Arthur Wellesley - later Lord Wellington. Also in the first episode he replies 'Sharpe, Sergeant, 95th Rifles' when asked his name, although he /is/ in the 33rd in the first /book/.
There's something chilling and bleak in that final line: "They treat us like animals. We're not animals, men"
"We're not (men)... we're soldiers now."
I honestly wanted to see that kid get beaten more.
Welcome to the 19th Century.
@@randallcase1009 Welcome to any century in any armed service worth a shit. That kid needed to learn to keep his mouth shut lest he get his whole platoon punished. Ask anyone who's ever been in.
We are devo
Its Dogs and Soldiers off the Grass. Soldiers lose rights and respect by joining up. It's not right but its true.
_there's like 20 guys_
"Whole bloody army here!"
this is sharp, that IS the whole bloody army.
@@ARC5 Touche lol
Some tight angles on these.
Lack of budget for extras has always made this series more comical, entire battles fought by the staff of a local pub
@caj4562 A special mention to the French extra in Siege who is killed in a volley at least three times.
I had no idea the recruitment process to become a baker was so intense!
You know nothing henry greenham
"A man who loses the Kings muffins loses the Kings apron"
Every time Sergeant Lynch says 'FILTH!' you gotta have a drink. Goodluck keeping your liver.
Reported for suggesting harmful ideas to the easy decepted.
@@robertnett9793 If they can't see the satirical side or understand the damage it will do then its natural selection if they harm themselves. Report all you like I'm gonna continue to say what I want.
@@Josh23761 It was a joke - a satirical over-reaction to your satirical suggestion.
On second thought... I should have added
"Why does no one think of the children?!" :D
ffuuurkkkrrkk yyeeewwwhh...yeerrhh nwwadmuh faddah...
🤢🤮😵
Girdwood ran away to Belgium after the war, then returned to London to reunite with Wellesley and investigate a mysterious affair at Styles.
He would make an excellent poirot as well! David Suchet however, in my opinion, will never be surpassed.
I never really heard of Poriot until I randomlly saw it on Netflix one night a few years ago and I watched every season. I wish it was still on there as I'd like to go back from time to time.
I got the Poirot vibe as well!
I came here to make an Hercule Poirot joke.. but deep down in my heart.. I knew it had already been done...
The villains in Sharpe really did give fantastic performances. Top class all round.
@@robarans4866 Do it again do it again
This is honestly a reoccurring nightmare. DD 214 in hand but for some reason I'm back in bootcamp and doing it all over again with the knowledge I already got out. Freaking terrifying.
One of my true nightmares.
There's a video on YT about a prior serviceman wanting to reup to finish out his twenty and having to go through boot camp again as an E-6.
ETSed in December 1986. I STILL have dreams of being called up and not knowing where clothing sales is, etc. And it’s always different Army bases I’ve never been to.
I've been out over 20 years and still occassionally dream of being back in boot.
I have the same nightmare from time to time. I even bolted awake one morning, certain I was back in and late for formation. *shudder*
Shooting a poor dog, those guys are lucky John Wick wasn't around,
How do you think the empire fell? John Wick doesn't mess around.
@@alltat
It's said that John Wick and Zeir Salem are one and the same!
Would things be mitigated at all by the fact that they couldn't also steal his not yet invented car?
@@DaGahbageMan
No.
It was always about the dog.
Don't worry, dog is fine, comes back later in the episode with a flesh wound as I remember
1:44 when your sheath has no leather or oil... So it just scrapes and dulls the blade, with a noise as painful to me, as nails on a blackboard can be to others....
Blade's already dull. Officers' swords of the period were issued and kept blunt for safety, and were only sharpened when deployed. This was so ubiquitous that receiving an order to 'sharpen swords" was a byword for being deployed. The steel scabbard is also historical. Some had wooden liners, but many did not, and the effect of the steel scabbard on the blade under field conditions was a common complaint.
That sharpen swords order reminds me that in those times empires couldn't afford to keep their massive conscripted armies standing, equipment was left in warehouses and armories and could sit for ages without maintenance and testing. It was just a goal to even arm a man with a weapon and ammunition forget even wasting ammunition on anything beyond basic training. Raising and mobilizing an entire army at the moment of a declaration of war was an impossibility, it would take weeks even months to bring the full military capability to bear. But with the industrial revolution soon to come to mainland Europe and already in progress in England during Sharpr's time the British army though small would become a professional well equipped force, though smaller than the continental land armies. Their professionalism and level of technology shown in the Crimean conflict and the Zulu and Boer wars to come. Now the modern nation state has fully equipped elite forces ready to be deployed at any time to anywhere in the world constantly supplied by masses of reserve equipment and ammunition produced by the modern military industrial complex according to its foreign policy agenda, we have come a long way from swords and muskets. Israel famously mobilized its entire reserves in less than an hour during the first moments Yom Kippur war and Britain gathered a response force to the Falklands crisis in but a week.
Pre Crimean English swords were shit anyway, we didn't proof blades until the Crimean Scandal. Theres a reason officers (who had to purchase their own to the pattern demanded by the regiment) mainly used makers who didn't support blades to the crown or foreign makers.
@@jediknight1294 So what if one had an Arming Sword, suspecting it could break or shatter the light Sabers of the period?
hey lads we've got a blade-fancier here
Answering as "Filth" when called as such by the sergeant.
Now that's soldiering.
Po
I didn't need to click the read more button.
But I did.
630th like
@@mikehimes7944
Now that's soldiering.
The 2 slaps and a shin kick is priceless
Perfectly choreographed. The guy playing Girdwood is so good
5:17 The actor playing Lieutenant Colonel Girdwood is Mark Lambert, who is in fact Irish!
You may remember him from "Bottom". He was the gasman that Rick & Eddie beat to death with a frying pan :)
Well he got his comeuppance then for being a pompous prick who orders dogs be shot.
...he got better!
@@ricktwisty5636 Probably all that bus surfing
What a sad end to a long and glorious military to career to die as a gasman battered by a frying pan 😂
thats interesting, looks very different, great sketch with the gasman too :)
About the only decent part of the commanding officer's repertoir of preparations (that shows he has seen action and is field-experienced) is he loosens the blade in the scabbard to prevent it binding up when needed. Although in his case I dread to think of the poor recruits that might get cut off it.
prevent it from binding? You mean like stop it from sticking? What would cause that?
Russell Lack of use. The blade could develop rust on it which could make it too wide for the scabbard hole, meaning at a critical moment it could stick. Happened to Stonewall Jackson during the American Civil War; he proceeded to lead the charge pointing his still scabbard clad sword at the enemy.
@@AdmRose Interesting I shall have to read about that. I've never heard of this... Surely though this is a pretty pointless action if you just looked after your sword?
Russell It’s a simple check that takes five seconds; never hurts to be sure.
@@Mr__Chicken You can see it in the film Gladiator where a Praetorian hasn't loosened his blade and in the cold conditions it's binded up also. Looking after it is one thing, but in bad conditions you have to keep on top of it daily.
Harper showing great discipline pretending to show respect to the king of England, which ironically makes him one of the best soldiers in that king's army.
Most of the soldiers, Irish or not, would be doing exactly the same.
Most irish serving at that time would have shown respect for the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Indeed, many from the southern irish state still do today.
"who are you"
"name filth"
"filth sir"
BLACK IRISH
@@GrandMoffTarkinsTeaDispenser Black as BOG!
Lol
The looks they are giving Harper, especially the Sgt, at 5:37 is just freaking hilarious. LMAO :D I wonder how many times they had to shoot the scene again because they broke out in laughter.
Glad to see the army hasn’t changed.
Then: All your bounty is taken to pay for “necessities.”
Now: Your first paycheck is taken to pay for “necessities.”
Not just the first.
Yup. "Deductions" they call it
They give you $100, and take back 99. Only thing missing here is the hurry up and wait.
Yep you pay for "accommodation" such as sleeping in a field
They dont make you pay for armor, food, lodging, and weapon. Then they give you medical and a pension. Id say the army is a hell of a lot better.
I watched a few clips of Sharpe and then bought every season and was not disappointed with it at all
Now read the books.
All those years in prep school worked wonders on that colonel. He knew every one of those nouns without hesitation. “Sword, shako, cane, door.”
Now that’s soldiering.
Don't forget. "Morning Smith."
I think it was ‘Chapeau’ (French for hat)
@@richardpennington5445 Think again
@@richardpennington5445 No. It was "shako." It was 100% "shako." Because that's what that particular style of headgear is. It's a shako.
@@johnroscoe2406 I stand corrected 👍🏻
I can never get enough of Simmerson's ghastly wheeze 0:34
Such a good actor!
That's not a wheeze. That's the sound of an erection.
Spending your bounty due to the charge for necessaries.
That's soldiering.
Standing smartly to attention for inspection?
Now that’s soldiering!
"We're not animals, we're men. We're not. We're soldiers now." A fine tradition that in one way or another carried through into the US Army in the 90s. RIP Shark Attack for starters. Sucked at the time, but endless laughs after.
4:46 Masterful trolling
Speaking as a US Army veteran, it hasn't changed much since.
You sign up and you become government property, to be used as needed and expended as necessary.
However, you could say the same thing for any hard physical job. Farming, fishing, welder, machinist, whatever... those jobs will use up your body and enrage you just as quickly as being in the Army will, and sometimes for far less reason. We all have to sacrifice something for a paycheck. You just have to decide how much you want to sacrifice for how much pay.
Sad thing is even though the army and any other military force treat their recruits like shit there's still more respect from them then most other low end manual jobs. The military will cover medical expenses, set up a decent pension plan, pay extra for any skills you pick up and of course pay a handsom bonus for being deployed.
@@wetlettuce4768 I wouldn't call deployment pay a 'bonus', WL. No matter how shitty a civilian job is [and a whole bunch of them can be shitty indeed], you ain't gettin' shot at [for the ground pounder types], or having to live in a crew berth with 25 of your closest not-so-very-good-friends and all your worldly possessions fitting in a space smaller than your high school locker [for the swabbies]. And in both cases a 12 hour day is every single day.
There are definite negatives about military life, and while the pay and benefits look good from the outside any veteran will tell you that if anything they got short changed.
My dear Carl, you may be a Loyalist, but you are still an American. You do not know the British soldier, sir. He is a brute beast in a red coat, he needs the lash! Whip him in, Mr. Berry.
I feel like there aren't many jobs in the fields you mentioned where repeatedly getting just chewed out to shreds by your boss was part of the deal. Unless there's a welding boot camp that I missed hearing about
I do love how Jane became the hateful one and Simmerson became the likable one. Who would have thought?
3:20 When teachers can't find anything wrong, but make up something anyways
Best moment in this clip.
If that was my dog, Sarge would accidentally get one between the shoulder blades at the first opportunity :-)
At the end of the episode he gets gored by bayonets by all the kids 😂
There's a big paradox here. At the beginning of the video there are two people in the room. Eventually one will become Sharpe's enemy, another one will become his friend.
0:39 Where's a badass Irish priest when you need him?
drunk
Exactly! Where’s Father Curtis?
Spain...
father jack? probably still on craggy island in his armchair
counting the coffers as per the norm, priests just beggars in uniform.
Just a small point but dramas such as these do tend to exaggerate the bad appearance of the average working class man. Some may have looked particularly bedraggled but most people, at all times in history at least tried to look their best in public. We have films from only 90 years after this time. The poor may not have looked like west end models, but the vast majority of the working class looked reasonably smart, well presented, and so did most of the children. Even miners and the poorest of the poor tried to put on a good show even when going to work down a pit, or to a factory. These guys were not even from the city but the countryside, and so would have had plenty of access to clean water with which to wash themselves and their clothing.
This is a common deliberate mistake almost all film directors and school teachers make. Yes, of course there could be a big difference between the wealth of the ranks, and the officers, but presenting the working class in this way, says more about what the directors think of the common masses, than any truth of the matter.
That could be because the rich are so much richer compared to the poor today. The gap in wealth between the top and bottom of society has never been so huge. Film directors and most others in Hollywood are so out of touch they imagine "the poor" of all time periods, as filthy Los Angeles Heroin addicts picking through dumpsters. Which they also only ever see, at rock bottom, at their absolute worst. Through the darkly tinted windows of their limos.
@@blackhawks81H I take your point. We don't have to look into the past to see that poor people have NEVER been generally unkempt or dirty, while there are always exceptions to the rule. All we have to do is look at the poorest around the 3rd world. Almost to a person they all dress in clean clothes every day and wash at least once a day. The outside of their homes may not be wonderful to behold, but inside is almost invariably a great contrast. Just because baths were rare and expensive objects 200 years ago did not mean that people did not wash on a very regular basis.
You may wish to believe that the rich don't understand because they are somehow detached from the rest of society, but I suspect a much worse reason. Many of them fell for the same BS history that we fell for when we were young. What we have been told or implied to us about our past and what was actually the case has been utterly corrupted, and deliberately so. This is how it works.
However bad the present is, and the future looks don't complain because everything about the past was much worse and the future will always better than it is now. To convince the gullible that somehow and at some time the eternal battle between good and evil ended and good won. You might live in a violent neighborhood, have no job or prospects of ever getting a good one, not be able to pay the rent or the countless bills, your children have no respect for you or their mother, and however much time they waste at school still don't seem to actually know anything of any importance. Yet at least you have hot and cold running water, soft toilet paper to wipe your dirty arse with, and a benefits system that benefits only our owners, so "STOP COMPLAINING, shut up, and do as you are told."
spent a lot of time in the early 1800s, have we
Its a TV drama series not a documentary, for Christs sake get a grip.
@@DaveDexterMusic what are you trying to say? That you need a time machine to know about a relatively recent time period which is very well documented?
Can't remember when I first discovered this series, I do love it
For all the criticism you can give Girdwood and his methods, he did turn the recruits into very good soldiers.
Same as Band of Brothers. Everyone hated Sobel, and he had his flaws for sure, but can't deny he did a good job making them what they were.
He's doing it all for profit, Sobel does it for personal glory.
@@FatGouf that was Winters as it turned out. He shirked Korea because when it wasn't glorious enough. Sobel may not have been cut out for combat command but he still did the jobs given to him.
@@stevenobrien557 that was Winters being smart. The Korean War was the first alert that we were about to start playing dumb politics with the USA military, after World War II...
@@blip1 not even close
@@stevenobrien557 yes it is. Do you find it bizarre that when the Chinese came spilling into the war, the U.S. didn't just start torching Chinese cities?
Girdwood makes me think he is Snidley Whiplash. Now it makes me want to see a Dudley Do-Right Sharpe crossover.
3:22 Patrick's look of awe and confusion says it all
Brilliant villain. Unstable, shrill, cruel. They don't make em like they used to....
My favourite part of the tv series is that they totally capture how good Bernard Cornwell is at writing villains. Their are so many episodes where the villain just acts circles around Sharpe.
Please mention the TV episode, (and when possible because the TV series has incidents not in the books, and vice versa) the book that incidents occur in.
In this case, the episode is Sharpe's Regiment
It can be difficult to flesh out what was and was not common training protocol at the time to establish the level of villainy of the antagonists.
1. Severely punishing a recruit who breaks ranks to speak to an officer would actually still end badly in most Militaries today: including America's Armed Forces. Everything apart from physical assault that occurred in this scene would certainly still transpire apart from a few locations such as the pool (water training), rifle range, and some places within obstacle courses (comicated).
Not to worry Ade Edminson and Rik Mahal kicked the shit out off him in Bottom when he was a gas man.
Well done sir!!! Hahaha!
All the years of watching both Sharpe and Bottom I never relised he played the gasman.
GAS MAN GAS MAN GAS MAN!!!!
then they hit him over the head with a frying pan 50 times
😂😂😂😂😂
You’re not going anywhere mate !........MATE!?
No way! The gas man!? I remember!
I wondered about Girdwood's obviously phony moustache - I read somewhere that except in cavalry regiments, moustaches were frowned on in the British Army of the time, seen as something Frenchified.
“That man is a dog” cracks me up all the time
*THAT MAN... 'AS A DOUG!!*
It's "has" lol, not "is"
And I thought my basic training sucked...
Girdwood is a national treasure
"I've come to read yer meter" is iconic.
@@KBTW1 - Do you have someone who looks after you?
@@handsolo1209 YOU MUST DRINK OUR TEA!
@Chris Landry There steaming...cold cups of tea.
“I WILL NOT HAVE IRISH TRICKS! BY GOD I WILL NOT!”
Edit: At 3:47 my dog started tilting his head. 🤣
I’m pretty sure the All Blacks said the same thing a few weeks back during the RWC.
Wasn't he the gas man in Bottom?
As an Irish guy, black as bog, I can confirm we do love our tricks.
@@SeaJayBelfast That is just a wonderful comment.
@@chris72chris22 It is indeed ..and he is actually Irish in real life!
I just realized that Sgt. Havercamp was played by the guy who played the Beatles manager (not Brian Epstein) in Hard Days' Night.
He also had a part in "The Longest Day" as the soldier with Sean Connery.
"We're not animals. We're soldiers now."
Wasn't it the same back in the 19th century?
No. Animals were pretty precious in that time.
@@robertnett9793 I think it depends on what animals we mean. If it is cattle there might be something in common
Wasn’t it the same back in the 20th century?
the caricatures of the military figures are so tightly drawn they leave no room for doubt
I love Lynch's surprised face screaming "That man is a dog!!"
FYI major Sharpe is outranked by lieutenant-Colonel girdwood. That makes it 300% more badass!!
Brilliant program
The thumbnail led me to believe Lt. Col Girdwood was texting.
Hercule Poirot joined the British army, did he?
Well Captain Hastings is Lord Wellington
Ah the joys of recruit training I know it well
God save Ireland! LOUDER!!!!!!
Not being a man, being a soldier now, .. now that's soldiering
You know as soon as that dude ran out of the shot of the camera he gave that dog so many belly rubs
That "Lynch" joke got me back in the day, still smirk when i hear it.
I just love Harper reaction when he was told to hold his tongue at 4:52
That growl of pleasure Simmerson makes at 35 seconds in....so perverted! Lol!
"Forgive me my dear, I have soiled the front of my britches and I must away to the mantlepeice for a lace hanky....."
Probably my favourite episode.
" THAT MAN HAS A DOG "
how tf is this make me laugh, the sergeant even tell to get it away and fear
Ooooh I hope you're going to upload Girdwoods slightly different morning where "Door!" Is met by coming face to face with Sharpe.
Girdwood "You have orders?...I command here...."
Sharpe "No....I command here"
"No...no...."
"YES!"
(Whips his sculptured moustache off his face)
That's uploaded I believe.
You may not horse guards me sir!
Simmerson have you found the Kings Colors yet.
The actor playing Girdwood reminds me of Rowan Atkinson. I actually thought it was him for a while.
lol all the lead running down Jane Gibbons face !!! that's what made her so crazy at the end of the show.
''Splendid'' - Lieutenant Colonel Girdwood
Sharpe and Harper look good in....White!! 😔 but not for long, in the end they will have a BIG bitter of surprise! I saw this episode, not my favorite but is not that bad in comparison.
The guy who’s playing Girdwood, is the ‘GAS MAN’! from Bottom
Really?! That's awesome!
At least buttons got a better ending than the book.
Enlighten me
@@jimofthejungle02 he gets his skull crushed brutally by having it stomped on by lynch's boot.
@@loyalpiper i can see how thats not family friendly fun
King George Of England God Bless Him
🤴🏻🇬🇧🏴
What Do You Mean?
That would be fat George.
I wonder if they called him Girdwood after the barracks in Belfast....
Considering how Jane turned out, it's a pity in some ways that Sharpe saved her at all. She and Col. Girdwood DESERVE each other.
2.41 urgh, captain smiths salute isn’t drill book regs.
please oh please make another series of sharp
LooL officers are still the same today good to see
What's the black ribbon thing they have around their necks? It does seem most impractical.
I think you may be referring to the black leather item known as a stock. It was used to force the head into an upright position and tended to irritate the neck. It was very good at its job, but, as Sharpe says at some point in the series, "There are better ways of making a man hold his head high." Given that sores could become infected easily and make a man sick or dead, Sharpe had a point. It was a sort of short cut to improve appearance on parade.
@@linabasilisk1955
I see. Thank you.
It just me or the Girdwood is only the soldier wearing the Belgic shakos instant of their standard stovepipe shakos?
Spotted a bit of a continuity error there. As Sharpe says "They've got a whole damn army here" You see one of the guys he's marching in with standing in the the rows of already training soldiers. Small blonde guy front rank in whtes they shoot his dog.
GOD SAVE IRELAND!!!
You will note this Irisher, sergeant. Note him well!
GOD SAVE IRELAND!!!
@@wetlettuce4768 Black as bog!
Louder!
Sharp is the stone cold Steve Austin of this era
I remeber th first time i saw this episode and thought John Cleese was Girdwood.
5:21 never noticed til now, but the guy on Sharpe's right is bleeding from the leather neck thing cutting into his flesh
"THAT MAN, IS A DOG!" best line I have ever heard
"Has", not "is"
The kick is awesome. I think Girdwood is my favorite character.
Do not Horse Guards me, sir!
To whoever shot that dog, tell your wife I left the money on the table.
Really liking this!
Sean Bean's look at the end was saying "If that were me true love, me dog Prince, i'd 'ave all of yer!"
@Quentin Lennox - Yes, his shit acting would make them all commit suicide!
Hand Solo Hah. I’ve only seen him in John Wick and he did good for that, outside of it is he any good? (Then again, John Wick is it’s own kind of movie...)
@@documentationslave397 - Imagine a block of wood. A really crap and boring piece of wood. Now give it some dark hair and call it Keanu.
The actor with the bushy chops had to be holding back from laughing, the scene was so ridiculous.
Lynch: THAT MAN HAS A DOG
Sharpe: No, it's a ten headed chimera
Lynch: FIIIIIIIIIILLLLLL
And then the dog got many treats for being a good boi, the end.