During this period, the British army earned itself a formidable reputation as a fighting force. However, due to its role as a police force at home, and demonisation by American propaganda during the American Revolution (1763-1776), the army was viewed as little removed from a penal institution run by aristocratic dilettantes. This view, still held by many today, is challenged by Stuart Reid, who paints a picture of an increasingly professional force. This was an important time of change and improvement for the British Army, and British Redcoat 1740-1793 fully brings this out in its comprehensive examination of the lives, conditions and experiences of the late 18th-century infantryman

In 1783 the British army struggled home from North America in a shattered condition. It had acquitted itself well, but its regiments were now woefully understrength, and it was not until 1789 that they were again fit for service. Little more than three years later, Republican France declared war, and, apart from two short periods, the army was to be heavily engaged around the globe for the next 23 years. Beginning where Warrior 19 British Redcoat 1740-93 ends, Stuart Reid shows how the army was re-organised, re-equipped, re-trained and led from the bitter struggle in the West Indies to the final reckoning at Waterloo during the NApoleonic Wars (1799-1815).