Civilian experience 1700-1900

• Recruitment and Conscription

  - 10% of the population fought in the Napoleonic wars at some point , less so in the Crimean War- Women were recruited for service abroad, mainly as nurses
• Requisitioning

  - became less of a requirement during this period as troops were provided with barracks as accommodation
• barracks


  - a building or group of buildings used to house soldiers- by 1800 there were only 17 infantry barracks but in 1812 there were 168- increase in troops led to the increase in barracks- billeting didn't remove all issues and people complained of soldiers being drunk and fighting on the streets.
• Taxation


  - increasingly regular during this period- particularly high in the 1800s due to the Napoleonic wars indirect taxes- imposed on a lot of good e.g. hats, windows and beer- used to fund the Napoleonic wars Income tax- introduced 1799- Imposed between 1802 and 1815 to fund the Napoleonic wars- none after 1816 as it was very unpopular- reintroduced 1840s and doubled during crimean war but was only imposed on those with a very high income
• Communicating news

  - great increase of civilian awareness during this period- at the beginning of the period communications were still slow and dependent on human messengers- By the time of the Crimean war the electric telegraph had been invented and enabled faster communication but even short extracts still took days to publish
• Introduction of photography

  - Crimean war was the first photographed war- technological limitations of early cameras meant that only static shots could be captured- most photos were staged- photographers deliberately chose safe areas to photograph in order to reassure people - most newspapers still used war artists so that they could inject excitement and heroism into the scenes- photos were mainly used as propaganda
• Civilian impact on warfare

  - News about mismanagement in Crimea led to public outrage and pressure for reform, even leading to the resignation of the current prime minister at the time. - the direct impact of newspapers was still low though as 30% of men and 40% of Women were illiterate in the 1850s- All women and 40% of men still couldn't vote so public opinion still possessed little impact- despite this, education and the media still promoted patriotism so there was not total resistance
• Introduction of films

  - by 1900 action could be recorded on camera- films were used as propaganda