Militia

[♔DoomBunny666♔]

Anyone have any picks of Militia uniforms from this period?

[Jihada]

Most nations had militia type units. For Prussia and Austria and minor German states search Landwehr.For Russia ,Opolchenie. I suppose the French equivalent were National Guard .

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

From Knotel Uniformenkunde

[♔DoomBunny666♔]

Brilliant got any of Brit militia?

[EmperorBatman999]

I don't think Britain used militia really at this time.

[♔DoomBunny666♔]

Pretty sure they did, Ive found references to them...

[Dr. Croccer]

I already saw pics of Landwehr in NTW I think.

[S-te-Fan]

Watch Sharpe, they have militia there .

[♔DoomBunny666♔]

Ill look into that cheers.

[♔ brucedickenson♔]

What are the names of those hats the militia are wearing in that picture?

The Yeomen in Sharpe had 'Tarleton' hats.

[Didz]

I don't think Britain used militia really at this time.

Britian had an extremely large force of militia conscripted under the Ballot Act and organised into County based forces. They also had a secondary orgnaisations called the Army of the Reserve which were recruited in the same way but were eligable for service in the regular army if they ciould be persuaded to volunteer.

[EmperorBatman999]

What are the names of those hats the militia are wearing in that picture?

The Yeomen in Sharpe had 'Tarleton' hats.

I was wondering the same thing, they look like officer hats.

[Jihada]

Russian militia types Opolchenie. Some had pilkes and no muskets.




Worcestershire militia. The British militia uniform doesn 't seem much different from the line infantry but there would have been many individual differences.


The Spanish wore all sorts of uniform styles .especally militia units.



US militia seems to have no standard uniform ,many different styles.

[Ebusitanus]

Here a beautiful painting about Militia. Spanish one in this case.



These guys are reenactors doing the "Aragon Volunteers"



Battalion of Clavijo (Third Volunteers of Leon) Battle of Medina de Ríoseco 1808

[Didz]

Worcestershire militia. The British militia uniform doesn 't seem much different from the line infantry but there would have been many individual differences.

Yes, as far as I can tell the British Militia and Army of the Reserve wore standard regulation uniforms. The only differences would be in the details, e.g. facing colours, regimental colours and buttons.

The Yeomanry in Sharpe were light cavalry and so were wearing the standard light cavalry attire of the period which included a Tarleton Helmet, it was later replaced by a light dragoon shako.


Manchester Yeomanry charge the crowd at Peterloo 1819

[Soveriegn]

@Jihada

US militia was put on a shirt and pants, its time to do some shootin!

[Jihada]

The US militia were a disaster during the War of 1812 at least in field battles but I suppose that could be said of many militia units at the time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(United_States)

[Didz]

The US militia were a disaster during the War of 1812 at least in field battles but I suppose that could be said of many militia units at the time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_(United_States)

I think that would largely depend upon the purpose for which the militia was raised, the method by which it was raised and equally important the method used to recruit the regular army of the same nation.

For example the British Militia was raised solely for the purpose of providing a dependable force of men capable of defending the homeland. It was raised by Conscription Ballot, and so very few men were exempt, although substitutes could be purchased by those with the money to do so. Equally, important was the fact that service in the militia exempted the militiaman from service in the Regular Army or the Royal Navy, and that both these services relied upon volunteers (plus impressment for the Royal Navy). Consequently, the average militiaman was from a higher social class than the average soldier, probably lower middle class, upper working class. Their shortcoming was their officers and militia is reported to have been used as little more than a popular drinking club by the upper classes, often officers never even saw their units let alone served with them. However, the general standard of drill and discipline was said to be higher than that of the regular army, and on the couple of occassions they saw action they acquitted themselves well. Certainly, the regular army considered the militia to be a great source of recruits once they were finally given the right to ask them for volunteers, and trained militiamen could virtually choose which regiment they wanted to join. The main thing was that there was no conflict over recruits between the militia and regular army and so unlike other nations the British militia was not formed by the left-overs that were unfit for regular service, but in many way's it was the other way around with the regulars having to make do with the more desperate of society, whilst those with the intelligence and funds joined the militia.

By comparison the Landwehr in the Prussian Army was formed from the 'Levee en-masse' ordered in each canton during 1813. The 'Krumper System had only produced 37,000 men and these had already been mobilzed and absorbed into the regular army a month before, now all cantons were required to list all able bodied men for possible service in the Army of the Reserve and the Landwehr. Those aged between 17 and 24 were then given eight days to report for duty with the Army of the Reserve in February 1813, and a month later the Landwehr were mobilised from those that were left producing a further 120,000 troops by July 1813. But apart from a few officers transferred from the line and Volunteer FrieKorps these Landwehr units were formed from those men who had already been excluded from service in the Regular or Reserve forces.

[Jihada]

I can't think of any battles involving British militia except those ninor engagements in Ireland and when the French landed a small force near Fishguard.In the wargame battles I played using the board game 'Four Lost Battles' and reading abot the 1613 campaign in Germany it seems the Landwehr,especially Silesian Landwehr,performed well on the whole.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Silesian Landwehr reenactment group at Grossberen.

[Invictus XII]

The National Guard where not militia units, they were proper soldiers during the revolution. I suppose the French didn't have militia units per say, just citizens in arms. Nothing More! The British militia was kind of the same thing, but it did come in units, not just rabble. What about spanish gurrila (or however you spell it) do we want to touch on them.

[Ebusitanus]

What about spanish gurrila (or however you spell it) do we want to touch on them.

I posted above some pictures of Spanish Militia units. Some might be surprised to learn that besides sterotypical guerrillas, Spain also mustered quite an amount of propper militia units.