Richard Sharpe is a self-made man. Enlisting in the British army at sixteen to avoid the punishment for killing a man, this former foundling and street urchin battles his way to an officer's rank. In the British army of the Napoleonic era, officers bought their commissions. Sharpe earns his by saving the life of one Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, at the battle of Assaye in India.
Cornwell's series follows Sharpe's career from his stint as a red coat in India at 23 through the Peninsular Wars of Spain and Portugal all the way to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and beyond. Combining the actual historical events of the battlefields with fictional events in the life of Sharpe, Cornwell writes an addictive narrative that lasts for twenty-plus books.
Sharpe's Career
Starting as a private in India in Sharpe's Tiger (Harper Torch, 1997), Sharpe battles enemies on both sides of the battle line, loves many women, and gains and loses several fortunes. He struggles up from private to sergeant and finally to ensign, the lowest rank in the British army. He's then given the chance to become a lieutenant in the 95th Rifle Regiment.
Returning to England by ship to train as a rifleman, Sharpe finds himself on a ship in the battle of Trafalgar and meets Admiral Nelson before Nelson's death. Completing his rifle training, he is sent to Spain to fight at Talavera, Salamanca and Badajoz. As a rifleman, now wearing the green jacket of the 95th, Sharpe fights the French in Europe with an amazing ferocity and focus. Sir Arthur, now Lord Wellington, is Sharpe's grudging patron.
As the reader cheers for Sharpe and hopes for his advancement, the hardship, cruelty and gore of soldiering life in the period is impressed upon him or her by the extensive research that Cornwell incorporates into each novel. Cornwell walked these battlefields and read extensively to make the battles come alive and yet keep the historical details mostly intact.
Tough and Yet Human
Yet the Sharpe Series is appealing in a very human way. Richard Sharpe exhibits at times the vulnerability of the motherless child and the fatherless youth he once was. His gentle and protective treatment of the women in his life reflects a need for approval that is pervasive in his search for rank and respect in the army.
His best friend and partner in battle is an Irish sergeant named Patrick Harper. Harper and Sharpe share a kind of battle fury that one reads about in Irish myth. Cornwell describes Sharpe's senses in battle as slowing everything down. Sharpe sees battle moves and reads terrain like the lifelong military man he is. The officers above him with their purchased commissions are often cowardly or clueless, leaving Sharpe to save the day as all heroes must. Yet this is a hero who has committed crimes and whose checkered past includes burglary and murder.
Military History With Adventure
Cornwell's novels teach the fascinating battle strategies and tactics of the Napoleonic era with adventure thrown in. Sharpe uses the technical advantage that the superior accuracy and range of the rifles gave to the British army to achieve success against the French under Napoleon.
Muskets that both armies were using were useless at long range, because aiming them at distances over twenty five or thirty paces was usually fruitless. A rifle with the grooved barrel that spun the bullet was accurate at about 200 hundred yards. Artillery at this period was also undergoing a leap in technical and tactical development, largely due to Napoleon's background as a gunner.
The contrast of the vulnerable Sharpe with the fierce and almost unbeatable warrior Sharpe gives every novel the power to intrigue both the military history buff and the romantic type of reader. Cornwell's ability to make history live and breathe is amazing. The Richard Sharpe Series is a very adventurous read.
Eilene Toppin Ording - Eilene Toppin Ording comes from a wide industrial and educational background. A farmer's daughter from Minnesota, Eilene is an active ...
