War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today

Maritza Prosdocimi

doi:doi:10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today

Maritza Prosdocimi

Published in Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 7, Issue 4)

Received: 24 June 2022 Accepted: 20 July 2022 Published: 22 November 2022

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Abstract

The article aims to trace the modalities, causes and effects of the presence of military barracks in London's urban factory by exploring the historical context in which the urgent need to reorganise the British army and defence structures in view of a possible invasion by Napoleon originated. The contingency also provides an opportunity for the government to intervene in the national identity question by helping to forge the rhetoric of martiality in which the barracks typology participates by exasperating the ambiguity of the national programme and the rhetoric promulgated. At a time when Europe is shaken by the French Revolution and with growing concern observes the increase in hostility on the part of France, Britain, tried by the loss of its American colonies, becomes a protagonist in the theatre of war that will shake the continent for twenty years. At the same time, the concrete threat of invasion by Napoleon with his Armée des côtes de l'Océan calls for a sudden logistical reorganisation of the land army that includes the adaptation and construction of defensive architecture as well as housing the military forces. This effort participates in a programme of a national character aimed at centralising the different psychological, as well as social and political lines, with the objective of appeasing the animosities and fears that agitate the Nation and, at the same time, exploits the state of war as a conveyor of collective sentiments capable of corroborating British identity and welding the myth of the nation to that of naval military power. In doing so, the government strategy determines a phase of British architectural production still divided between the punctual intervention on the single factory and the foundation of the urban discipline capable of operating on the London grid on a large scale. The search for a national architectural language, the commissioning of monumental works as well as the promotion of urban planning works is capable of restoring the glorious image of the capital, however, seems to overshadow another presence, of equally architectural and symbolic value yet indispensable to the contingent military needs as to the programme of national cohesion, namely the barracks. Ultimately, without deepen the specific architectural typology of barracks, the article defines the historical trace by which, at the end of the 18th century, the military device, now assimilated by London's urban culture, entered the city, appropriating the places of greatest symbolic value.

Published in	Urban and Regional Planning (Volume 7, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13
Page(s)	159-168
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Napoleonic Wars, Martiality, Nationalism, Barracks, Urban Planning

References

[1]	For a comprehensive view: Dickinson H. T. (2005). Constitutional Documents of the United Kingdom 1782 – 183., K. G. Saur. ISBN-10 ‏: ‎ 3598356811.
[2]	British Museum, London. I. Cruiskshank, (1799). John Bull troubled with the Blue Devils, 1935,0522.11.197 BM Satires 9391. The press presents the allegory of taxes to haunt England but the real source of her worries lies with Pitt, who threatens her with the fear of unleashing the French 'beast'.
[3]	Hobsbawm E. (1987). The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848. Penguin; New Ed edition, p. 103, ISBN-10 ‏: 9780349104843.
[4]	Trevelyan G. M. (1967). English Social History. Penguin Books, ISBN 10: 0140208607, p. 413.
[5]	Knight R. (2013). Britain against Napoleon. Penguin Group, p. 251 ISBN-10: ‎184614177X; Clayton T., O’ Connel S. (2015) Bonaparte and the British. The British Museum Press. ISBN 0714126934, pp. 109-136.
[6]	Example of prints to be compared: British Museum London, Gillray J., (1803). German- Nonchalence, or the Vexation of Little Boney, 1851,0901, 1101 BMSataires 9961; Barth J. S. (1803). A Gallic Idol, 1897,0615.15, BM Satires 10070; Gillray J., (1803) The arms of France, 1868,08087189, BM Satires 10090.
[7]	Consequences of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. In the extensive bibliography: Kennedy, Liam (2016). Unhappy the Land: The Most Oppressed People Ever, the Irish?. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. ISBN 9781785370472; [https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/irish-rebellion-1798].
[8]	Addington ministry (1801 to 1804). The mandate shortness doesn’t diminishes its fundamental role played within these very crucial years as demonstrates Fedorak work. Fedorak, C. J.(2002). Henry Addington, Prime Minister, 1801–1804: Peace, War and Parliamentary Politics. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press. ISBN 978-1-884836-83-1.
[9]	Knight R. (2013). Britain against Napoleon. Penguin Group, pp. 176-212.
[10]	In the review of the military forces and the finances to support them, economic scandals emerged involving members of the aristocracy directly involved in the military leadership of the country that were capable of tarnishing the image of the government and the monarchy. Among these: the Royal Dockyards Inquiry, the resignation of the Duke of York, the cost of Prince Regent maintenance.
[11]	Knight R. (2013). Britain against Napoleon. Penguin Group, pp. 257-258.
[12]	For a comprehensive view: Owen T., Pilbeam E. (1992). Ordnance Survey, Map makers to Britain since 1791. Ordnance Survey. ISBN 03190022497.
[13]	See: National Archives, London. (1803) Kent: Woolwich Warren (now in London Borough of Greenwich). (1) Unfinished sketch plan...., MPHH 1/180; (1803-1805) Essex: Warley; Kent: Woolwich (now in London Borough of Greenwich). Plans, sections and elevations of proposed artillery barracks at Warley Common and Woolwich. Detailed descriptions are given at item level, MPHH 1/614; Newsome S., Williams A., (2009). An Assessment of the Historic environment of Woolwich Common and its environs Survey. English Heritage ISNN 1794-8775.
[14]	British Museum, London. Williams C. (1805). John Bull Exchanging News with the Continent, 1868,0808.7398 BM Satires 10441.
[15]	Philp M. (2006). Resisting Napoleon The British Response to the Threat of Invasion, 1797-1815, Ashgate. ISBN 9780754653134, 0754653137, p. 7.
[16]	Cookson J. E. (Dec., 1989) The English Volunteer Movement of the French Wars, 1793-1815: Some Contexts in The Historical Journal, Dec., 1989, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Dec., 1989), pp. 867-891. p. 868.
[17]	For a theoretical approach: Clausewitz C. von (ed. 1997). On War. Wordswarth Editions Limited. ISBN 978853264825. pp. 308-314.
[18]	Stevenson J. (1979). Popular disturbances in England, 1700-1832. Longman Publishing, pp. 305- 326 ISBN 9780582081017; Archer J.(2000), Social unrest and popular protest in England. New studies in Economic and Social history. ISBN ISBN 978-0-521-57216-3, pp. 89-94.
[19]	Haywood I., Seed J. (2012). The Gordon Riots. Cambridge University Press. ISBN-10: 052119542X.
[20]	Navickas K. (2016). Protest and the politics of space and place. Manchester university Press, pp. 23-51 ISBN 9781526116703.
[21]	Russell G. (1995). The Theatres of War. Oxford University Press ISBN 0198122632, p. 24.
[22]	Childs J.: Barracks and Conscription: Civil-Military Relations in Europe from 1500, in: European History Online (EGO), published by the Institute of European History (IEG), Mainz 2011-08-01. URL: http://www.ieg-ego.eu/childsj-2011-en URN: urn:nbn:de:0159-2011072006 [2022-03-15].
[23]	National Archives, London. (1811-1846) Middlesex (now in London Borough of Westminster). Plans and drawings of buildings in Marylebone, St John's Wood and Pall Mall. Detailed descriptions are given at item level, MPHH 1_87.
[24]	See: Treccani Online Nazionalismo [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/nazionalismo [2022-01-11]]; Breully J. (2013) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism, Oxford University Press, ISBN ISBN 978–0–19–920919–4, pp. 61-98; Rousseau J.-J. (1895). The Social Contract Or, Principles of Political Right. George Allen & Unwin.; Kant I. (1991). Per la pace Perpetua, Feltrinelli. ISBN 8807820234.
[25]	Breully J. (2013) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism, Oxford University Press, ISBN ISBN 978–0–19–920919–4.
[26]	Constance I. Smith, Hegel on War, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1965), pp. 282-285, p. 282.
[27]	Hoock H.,(2010). Empires of the imagination, Profile Books, ISBN-10:1861978596 p. 186.
[28]	Among others: Colley L.(2005). Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1830, Yale University Press ISBN-10: ‎ 0300152809; Porter R. (2000). Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World, Penguin. ISBN 9780713991529, Fox C. (1992) Metropole London, Macht und Glanz einer Weltstadt, 1800-1840. Bongers Recklinghausen. ISBN: 3764704276.
[29]	See print: British Museum, London. Holland W. (1805) The Sailor's Monument to the Memory of Lord Nelson PAG8562; Erskine D. (2010), Letters on the impolicy of a standing army, in time of peace, Gale Ecco. ISBN-10‏:‎ 117102682X.
[30]	RIBA, London, Fordyce J., (1809) Memorandum, 4th Report of His Majesty Land Revenue, No 1370, pp. 245-247.
[31]	National Archives, London: Nash J. (1811) Plan of 'Mary la Bonne Park' (Marylebone Park, now Regent's Park) showing roads, fences, water and plantations, MPEE 1/58; Nash J. (1811), Plan of a New Street from Charing Cross to Portland Place, MPE 1/805.
[32]	Namely: Sir John Soane, John Nash and Sir Robert Smirke who assisted the non-professional appointed Surveyor-General Major-General Sir Benjamin Stephenson.
[33]	Parliamentary Archives, London. Barracks Estimates, HC Deb 01 May 1812 vol 22 cc1137-51; Barrack Abuses, HC Deb 21 May 1806 vol 7 cc293-5.
[34]	For a focused approach: Jerram L. (2013). Space: a useless category for historical analysis? In: History and Theory, October 2013, vol. 52, no. 3 (october 2013), pp. 400-419.
[35]	Clausewitz C. von (ed. 1997). On War. Wordswarth Editions Limited. ISBN 978853264825. p. 24.
[36]	Campbell L. (2012). Basil Spence: buildings and projects. RIBA Publishing, ISBN: 9781859463093 p. 206.
[37]	[https://c20society.org.uk/casework/barracks-under-threat#dismiss-cookie-notice, [2021-11-08]].
[38]	Cherry B. (2013), London's Public Events and Ceremonies: an Overview Through Three Centuries in: Architectural History, 2013, Vol. 56 (2013), pp. 1-28, p. 3.
[39]	For a specific approach: Emsley C.(2000). An Aspect of Pitt's 'Terror': Prosecutions for Sedition during the 1790s in: Social History, May, 1981, Vol. 6, No. 2 (May, 1981), pp. 155-184; Berrel J. (2000) Imagining the King's Death: Figurative Treason, Fantasies of Regicide, 1793-1796. Oxford University Press. ISBN-10:0198112920; Berrel J. (2006.) The Spirit of Despotism: Invasions of privacy in the 1790’s¸ Oxford University Press, ISBN 10 0199281203.
[40]	See drawings: A&V Prints and Drawings Room, London: E. 55-1878. These original drawings represent the days of lavish festivities associated with the coronation of George IV (19 July 1821). The scenes take place at the Royal Exchange, Carlton House and the Palace and Church of Westminster with a similar type of depiction and setting to today.
[41]	Bagehot Walter (1867), The English Constitution, Chapman and Hall., pp. 330-338.
[42]	Alberti L. B. (1782) Della architettura, della pittura e della statua, In Bologna: Nell'Instituto delle scienze, [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008507838 [2022-05-12]], p. 204.

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Maritza Prosdocimi. (2022). War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban and Regional Planning, 7(4), 159-168. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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Maritza Prosdocimi. War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban Reg. Plan. 2022, 7(4), 159-168. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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Maritza Prosdocimi. War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban Reg Plan. 2022;7(4):159-168. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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@article{10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13,
  author = {Maritza Prosdocimi},
  title = {War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {7},
  number = {4},
  pages = {159-168},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20220704.13},
  abstract = {The article aims to trace the modalities, causes and effects of the presence of military barracks in London's urban factory by exploring the historical context in which the urgent need to reorganise the British army and defence structures in view of a possible invasion by Napoleon originated. The contingency also provides an opportunity for the government to intervene in the national identity question by helping to forge the rhetoric of martiality in which the barracks typology participates by exasperating the ambiguity of the national programme and the rhetoric promulgated. At a time when Europe is shaken by the French Revolution and with growing concern observes the increase in hostility on the part of France, Britain, tried by the loss of its American colonies, becomes a protagonist in the theatre of war that will shake the continent for twenty years. At the same time, the concrete threat of invasion by Napoleon with his Armée des côtes de l'Océan calls for a sudden logistical reorganisation of the land army that includes the adaptation and construction of defensive architecture as well as housing the military forces. This effort participates in a programme of a national character aimed at centralising the different psychological, as well as social and political lines, with the objective of appeasing the animosities and fears that agitate the Nation and, at the same time, exploits the state of war as a conveyor of collective sentiments capable of corroborating British identity and welding the myth of the nation to that of naval military power. In doing so, the government strategy determines a phase of British architectural production still divided between the punctual intervention on the single factory and the foundation of the urban discipline capable of operating on the London grid on a large scale. The search for a national architectural language, the commissioning of monumental works as well as the promotion of urban planning works is capable of restoring the glorious image of the capital, however, seems to overshadow another presence, of equally architectural and symbolic value yet indispensable to the contingent military needs as to the programme of national cohesion, namely the barracks. Ultimately, without deepen the specific architectural typology of barracks, the article defines the historical trace by which, at the end of the 18th century, the military device, now assimilated by London's urban culture, entered the city, appropriating the places of greatest symbolic value.},
 year = {2022}
}

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Maritza Prosdocimi

Independent Researcher, Como, Italy

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Maritza Prosdocimi. (2022). War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban and Regional Planning, 7(4), 159-168. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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Maritza Prosdocimi. War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban Reg. Plan. 2022, 7(4), 159-168. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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Maritza Prosdocimi. War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today. Urban Reg Plan. 2022;7(4):159-168. doi: 10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13

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@article{10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13,
  author = {Maritza Prosdocimi},
  title = {War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today},
  journal = {Urban and Regional Planning},
  volume = {7},
  number = {4},
  pages = {159-168},
  doi = {10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.urp.20220704.13},
  abstract = {The article aims to trace the modalities, causes and effects of the presence of military barracks in London's urban factory by exploring the historical context in which the urgent need to reorganise the British army and defence structures in view of a possible invasion by Napoleon originated. The contingency also provides an opportunity for the government to intervene in the national identity question by helping to forge the rhetoric of martiality in which the barracks typology participates by exasperating the ambiguity of the national programme and the rhetoric promulgated. At a time when Europe is shaken by the French Revolution and with growing concern observes the increase in hostility on the part of France, Britain, tried by the loss of its American colonies, becomes a protagonist in the theatre of war that will shake the continent for twenty years. At the same time, the concrete threat of invasion by Napoleon with his Armée des côtes de l'Océan calls for a sudden logistical reorganisation of the land army that includes the adaptation and construction of defensive architecture as well as housing the military forces. This effort participates in a programme of a national character aimed at centralising the different psychological, as well as social and political lines, with the objective of appeasing the animosities and fears that agitate the Nation and, at the same time, exploits the state of war as a conveyor of collective sentiments capable of corroborating British identity and welding the myth of the nation to that of naval military power. In doing so, the government strategy determines a phase of British architectural production still divided between the punctual intervention on the single factory and the foundation of the urban discipline capable of operating on the London grid on a large scale. The search for a national architectural language, the commissioning of monumental works as well as the promotion of urban planning works is capable of restoring the glorious image of the capital, however, seems to overshadow another presence, of equally architectural and symbolic value yet indispensable to the contingent military needs as to the programme of national cohesion, namely the barracks. Ultimately, without deepen the specific architectural typology of barracks, the article defines the historical trace by which, at the end of the 18th century, the military device, now assimilated by London's urban culture, entered the city, appropriating the places of greatest symbolic value.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - War and the City: Impact, Consequences and Perception of Britain Defence Program on the London Urban Fabric Within the Napoleonic Wars Until Today
AU  - Maritza Prosdocimi
Y1  - 2022/11/22
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13
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JF  - Urban and Regional Planning
JO  - Urban and Regional Planning
SP  - 159
EP  - 168
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2575-1697
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.urp.20220704.13
AB  - The article aims to trace the modalities, causes and effects of the presence of military barracks in London's urban factory by exploring the historical context in which the urgent need to reorganise the British army and defence structures in view of a possible invasion by Napoleon originated. The contingency also provides an opportunity for the government to intervene in the national identity question by helping to forge the rhetoric of martiality in which the barracks typology participates by exasperating the ambiguity of the national programme and the rhetoric promulgated. At a time when Europe is shaken by the French Revolution and with growing concern observes the increase in hostility on the part of France, Britain, tried by the loss of its American colonies, becomes a protagonist in the theatre of war that will shake the continent for twenty years. At the same time, the concrete threat of invasion by Napoleon with his Armée des côtes de l'Océan calls for a sudden logistical reorganisation of the land army that includes the adaptation and construction of defensive architecture as well as housing the military forces. This effort participates in a programme of a national character aimed at centralising the different psychological, as well as social and political lines, with the objective of appeasing the animosities and fears that agitate the Nation and, at the same time, exploits the state of war as a conveyor of collective sentiments capable of corroborating British identity and welding the myth of the nation to that of naval military power. In doing so, the government strategy determines a phase of British architectural production still divided between the punctual intervention on the single factory and the foundation of the urban discipline capable of operating on the London grid on a large scale. The search for a national architectural language, the commissioning of monumental works as well as the promotion of urban planning works is capable of restoring the glorious image of the capital, however, seems to overshadow another presence, of equally architectural and symbolic value yet indispensable to the contingent military needs as to the programme of national cohesion, namely the barracks. Ultimately, without deepen the specific architectural typology of barracks, the article defines the historical trace by which, at the end of the 18th century, the military device, now assimilated by London's urban culture, entered the city, appropriating the places of greatest symbolic value.
VL  - 7
IS  - 4
ER  -

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