During the large military campaigns of the 18th and 19th century, as for instance the War of the Spanish Sucsession, Seven Years War and the Napoleonic Wars, different governments needed to equip and maintain huge standing armies, in different theatres of war, often over several years.
How were the warring governments able to recruit a sufficient number of soldiers over such a long time?
Hi there,
This is a substantial part of my PhD, so hopefully I'll be able to chime in appropriately!
I will be focused primarily on Anglo-French customs here, as this is where the bulk of my knowledge lies. Ottoman, Russian and German recruitment systems were different.
The 18th century saw the dawn of what could be recognized nowadays as a modern army. At the time, each regiment would have been under the command of a so-called "Colonel Proprietor", whose responsibility was to the regiment itself. It was his duty to make sure he maintained the amount of men expected of him, which could vary based on the size of the regiment, or even its location. In the case of England, regiments that were considered part of the Irish Military Establishment had smaller numbers than those in English service, and were often combined or shuffled around when they were transferred to the continent or the mainland. In English service, regiments were often named after their Colonel until the latter part of the 18th century.
The Colonel proprietor did have incentives to maintain his regiment at full strength, including financial bonuses if he could regularly present a full and well equipped regiment to inspection. However, he did have to source the men himself! This led to underhand tactics being employed by recruiting sergeants. In one example, a sergeant convinces a few lads to join up after a couple of pints of beer. He then heads on into the night with the boys in tow. The local townsfolk were outraged by this, and gather their pitchforks and torches so to speak! They march on the next town where the sergeant is staying, lay siege to the inn, and break in and rescue their lads from the clutches of the army!
The nationality of the recruits was another factor to consider. Take the French military. French regiments tended to be regional (for example, the regiment of Navarre). But France's army also included Swiss, Scottish and (most famously) Irish soldiers as well. Maintaining the homogeneity of these Irish regiments proved difficult, as legislation in England meant that recruitment to a foreign service was punishable by death. In fact, there are several primary sources in the archives in Dublin that detail the kinds of tricks pulled by recruiters. In one example, a soon-to-be soldier asks how he can be sure the recruiter is not going to ship them to the West Indies. The recruiters reply? He downs his drink and swears that if he is lying, the drink will poison him. Hardly the most convincing argument!
I hope this has been able to give you an insight into the difficulties and challenges of recruiting in the 18th century. I have listed some books below that may be of interest, and am open to follow-up questions on the subject.
Bredin, A.E.C., History of the Irish Soldier (Belfast, 1987)
Nathalie Genet-Rouffiac 'The Wild Geese in France, 1688-1715: a French Perspective' in The Irish Sword vol. 26 (2008) pp. 11-50
Alan J. Guy, Oeconomy an Discipline: Officership and administration in the British army, 1714-63 (Manchester, 1985)
L.M. Cullen, Economy, Trade and Irish Merchants at Home and Abroad, 1600-1988 (Dublin, 2012)