WI: Napoleon Gets Captured

The actual British militia were actually very good. Remember British infantry were some of the best in the world at the time, man for man (and certainly more consistent in quality), and the reason is the outrageously long training times - British militia trained nearly as heavily as many continental armies, which is why they could just plug Surrey militia units directly into the Guards and have them hold Hougoumont.
On paper, perhaps. And yet they consistently underperformed when facing continental foes in actual battles (or even half-trained colonists).
 

Saphroneth

Banned
On paper, perhaps. And yet they consistently underperformed when facing continental foes in actual battles (or even half-trained colonists).
Well, consider Waterloo. A lot of the troops at that battle are frankly unreliable at best (some of them actually shoot at their own general) and yet the resilience of the British line infantry and the KGL holds the position together. A similar effect is present at Quatre Bras.

The hard core of the French armies of the early Napoleonic Wars was actually in large part the troops trained in Napoleon's Army of England, because they had so much time to train themselves. It's a pretty common thing - there's a lot of improvement to be had from hard training.
 
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