While the exact date of the creation of the British army is disputed, historians believe that the date can be attributed to the late 1600s to early 1700s.[1] Since then the public’s view of their army has changed drastically throughout history. In this webpage Since then the public’s view of their army has changed drastically throughout history. I am going to look at various areas and analyse how these different areas in relation to the evolution of the media have affected the British publics view of the British Army in the two periods of the Crimean war and the early 21st century. The areas I’m going to analyse are, the different types of media around during these periods, how news was spread throughout the general public, how much control the government had over information released to the public, how the military is seen in popular culture, how soldiers recount their time and the general attitude of the public. With all of these areas being analysed it should be clear to see how the public’s view of the British Army changed between the Crimean war and now, and how the evolution of media affected the public’s view.
Types of media
The Crimean war period had an incredibly different media ecosystem compared to what we see today, during the Crimean war period Print news was still the main type of news that was being consumed by the British public with newspapers being the main way that the British public read and consumed news about the events on the frontline. However there was a significant development in the reporting of news from this period, correspondents wrote from the warzone back to their papers giving a observers view of the war.[2] This was a significant development for the publics view of the military as for the first time they could get information from the frontlines that was not fully controlled by the government this was influential for the public as it meant that they were not only receiving whitewashed news that the government was putting out but instead they were getting everything. This angered many in positions of power who viewed some of the articles written as being unpatriotic, one of these people being Queen Victoria herself who view many articles as “infamous attacks against the army”.[3] The Crimean war was positioned at a turning point in the history of the British army and media both were evolving with each other and becoming more ingrained every passing moment, as the people of Britain read about the extremely poor conditions that soldiers faced including cholera outbreaks, malnutrition and the freezing cold Russian winter[4] it caused anger from the people towards military leadership who they believed were not running the army correctly. This here was the first piece of evidence that the evolution of media was going to have a significant impact on the day to day operations of the British Army as they would no longer be able to operate in the cloak of public ignorance that they were used to operating in.
While today in the 21st century we have many different types of media along with the traditional types of media and it is even more ingrained in the British army than just war correspondents, for example along with war correspondents reporting what is going on in a war almost everyone has a smartphone with a camera and access to social media. We see so much of what is going on in war it is now almost impossible for governments to keep everyday military movements secret and it is even hard for top secret movements to go unnoticed by the general public. This has caused a severe public relations issue for the British army as they have been hit by scandal after scandal due to information being so easy to obtain examples of these scandals include when it was revealed that the SAS had been involved in the execution of innocent Afghan men during night raids because they were of “fighting age”[5] this caused significant condemnation from the public and stoked Anti British Army sentiment from many in the British public. Another scandal was from 2022 when footage leaked of an Orgy taking place in British Army barracks in Essex causing the soldiers involved to be banned from a NATO deployment.[6] This again was a great embarrassment and again shows how social media has caused a significant image problem for the British Army even when they are not deployed.
Government control of information
The control that the government exerts over the spread of information can have a profound impact on the publics view of the British army, during the period of the Crimean War Britain had a free press and thus was not able to prevent the spread of information to the public[7] although this did cause a great deal of complaint from politicians and military officials as they believed that the free uncensored press caused great issues and only helped the enemy.[8] Correspondents did cause a great deal of embarrassment for the British Army, the public hostility to the government and its handling of the war caused the resignation of the Prime Minister at the time, Lord Aberdeen.[9] This hostility to the government and its handling of the war does show how disruptive the war correspondents became to the government and its running of the war and shows that maybe the military officials and Politian’s had a point when they complained that it helped the enemy more then them.
In the 21st century is also the case that the media has caused the government to lose control over the information that they release to the public however it has also caused another huge issue that haunts the publics view of the British Army, this issue is disinformation. In recent years disinformation has been a large problem for the British Government and has caused damage to the reputation of the British Army along with causing chaos within the country with conspiracy theories. An example of a disinformation campaign in action is when pro-Russian hackers hacked multiple websites and used photos of British Challenger Tanks to post anti-NATO propaganda,[10] this sort of disinformation campaign can seriously hurt the public image of the British Army as all it takes is one conspiracy theory to take root in the minds of enough people for it to have a serious negative effect on its public image. The British Army now having to worry about the spread of fake news along with real news shows how the Government has now lost control over the information that is released about the British Army and that how the evolution of media to include social media caused a significant increase in members of the public being informed about news in the military (both real and fake) which has caused many more scandals and issues than in the Crimean war period.
How news spreads
The spread of news is one way that the evolution of media has had a significant effect on the public’s view of the British Army when comparing the Crimean war period to today. During the period of the Crimean war there was a significant lack of connectivity within the country the only real way that information could spread was via newspapers, the word of mouth or via letters, while this would seem to be good for the public image of the British Army due to the free press shipping to newspapers all over the country news still spread like wildfire, widespread condemnation of the leadership of the British Army and its leadership happened due to many different factors including letters sent home from soldiers to their families and then family members spreading what they were told, the accounts of war correspondents and letters from disgruntled soldiers being published in papers.[11] All of this along with the word of mouth was a disastrous combination and there was widespread negative sentiment towards how the war was being run.[12]
While in the 21st century information spreads even quicker which has caused even more issues for the Image of the British Army however while problems have been caused by this there has also been an even larger amount of good caused, the evolution of social media has given everyone the ability to post to millions at the press of the button and it has also given regular people a cult like following many “influencers” having the ability to sway the minds of people at the press of a button. The British Army has tried to capitalise on this and has done so successfully, they have begun to advertise in a way that will provoke conversation and debate, examples of this include the “snowflake” campaign where they directly advertised to people who would seem to be undesired in the military and frame why they were needed[13] this campaign did cause a stir and many in the older generations saw it as pandering and not what they saw the military to be while for younger audiences it resonated and helped to drive up recruitment numbers to the highest that they had been in years.[14] This shows how the British Army has managed to capitalise the fast paced and chaotic way that information is exchanged in the 21st century to their advantage and while there still is scandal and negative sentiment towards the British Army it is clear that the evolution of media and through experience the British Army has realised that if it creates as stir itself it can help drive numbers and have a small amount of control over what spreads virally throughout the country this is much more positive for the army than how news was spread throughout the Crimean war period
Popular culture and its effect on the perception of the military
Popular culture is defined as “the cultural traditions of the ordinary people of a particular community”[15] it can have a significant impact on public perception. During the time of the Crimean war popular culture was dominated by conventional types of media such as books and theatre however poetry was an incredibly significant part of Victorian popular culture with it being read by those all over Victorian England from the lower classes to royalty,[16] it had an incredibly significant effect on the perception of the British Army and the soldiers fighting within it. One poem that resonated with those back home was Charge of the Light Brigade, a significant military blunder the charge of the light Brigade refers to when on the 25th October 1854 around 676 embarked on a accidentally ordered suicide charge into Russian artillery[17] this was a significant military blunder and in the end the Earl of Lucan was stuck with most of the blame for the disastrous assault on the Russian guns.[18] Despite it being a large scale military blunder the subsequent poem written by Lord Tennyson became a tribute to the heroism and courage and lived on in the hearts of the British Public as a tribute[19] and as a rallying cry to honour their courage and heroism. While the public were still outraged by the significant blunder by leadership the poem did help to rally the public behind the army and the soldiers fighting this shows the significant impact that popular culture especially poetry had on the public’s perception of the British Army.
Popular culture in the 21st century has also had a significant impact in the British public’s perception of the British Army, it has evolved since the Crimean war and now encompasses many new factors these include tv shows, movies, Video games, meme culture along with the old factors like book and the media however the media has evolved to become much more ingrained with the military. The evolution of news and live TV havs caused the British public to see much more of the Military and its actions, war correspondents now see live footage of soldiers carrying out operations and the impact of the war on the people who live in the affected areas. By the time of the war in Afghanistan many in the public became used to seeing images that two decades before would have shocked them to their core. It can be argued today that people have become spectators to warfare as they see but do not experience the horrors that the soldiers and civilians on the ground do[20] as we have become more connected and ingrained into a connected world we have began to see war as an oddity watching it but not experiencing it as we ourselves are not involved, this has lead to a significant desensitisation to warfare and images of war that those in the Crimean war period would not have had.
Soldiers view of the British Army
The attitude of soldiers who are in and who have left the military can pay a large amount of importance on how the general public views it, the evolution of media has lead to more and more people being able to hear the thoughts of soldiers and hear exactly what they think about the wars they are fighting in and the orders that they are receiving. During the period of the Crimean war the main way the general public heard the views of soldiers was from the papers. If it was in the interest of the papers political agenda papers would sometimes publish letters that were sent home by soldiers to their families who later gave these letters to the papers[21]. This could have a significant effect on the publics view of the Army and the people who were running it and sometimes it did, the public pressure due to negative media attention of the running of the Crimean war which included letters from disgruntled soldiers[22] was one of the reasons behind the resignation of Lord Aberdeen as Prime Minister.[23] This shows the significant power that the opinions of soldiers had towards the perception of the British Army during the period of the Crimean War.
Paintings were another significant way that soldiers could share their experiences and views to the public. Below is a painting by Henry Hugh Clifford that shows what he experienced on the battlefield. This painting is key evidence of how the medium of art was used by soldiers to express their views of what they experienced[24].
During the 21st century the opinions of soldiers are also incredibly important for the view of the public however unlike the Crimean War period the media is no longer explicitly needed for soldiers to get their views out there. As social media has given everyone a megaphone soldiers are able to spread their opinions without the media being involved, this has led to a reputation issue for the British army though as if any soldier can post their opinions there are bound to be those who are extreme. Cases have been reported of soldier using racist and misogynistic language in social media posts online[25] this can be incredibly damaging for the reputation of the British Army as it advertises itself as an entity that does not discriminate however if these soldiers are mindlessly posting these obscene comments online it undermines all the goodwill the British Army has received from the community. This is a key way that the evolution of media since the Crimean war period has caused issues for the public image of the British Army.
Conclusion
in conclusion from the period of the Crimean war to today media has developed tremendously from books and paintings to movies, video games and live TV this complete advancement in technology and media has lead to a society that is more connected and more in touch with each other this has significantly impacted the public image of the British Army as we all have the ability to start a debate in our pockets and many use that well to challenge what they believe not to be right. However it has to be acknowledged that at the same time the public has become apathetic and desensitised to the suffering and destruction that war creates for both those who live in these countries and the soldiers who fight there. For many war has become an expected part of the nightly news and many no longer care as they used to, this can lead to soldiers feeling forgotten and betrayed by the people they protect to many it can seem like the public cares when the army needs to be condemned however when they do good they are ignored and forgotten. While media and our world has evolved to make us more connected it is clear that we must make sure that we do not forget that while there is bad in the British Army and that needs to be called out when it is seen it should not be used as an excuse to ignore the good that the British Army provides. While the world has become more connected it has also become more divided than ever and this division should not cloud the good that has been done by the army.
Bibliography
Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War.
BBC News. (2020, July 30). Hackers post fake stories on real news sites “to discredit Nato.” BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53594440
Beckett, I. F. W. (2023). The British Army: A New Short History. Oxford University Press.
David, S. (2023, February 23). The Charge of the Light Brigade: who blundered in the Valley of Death? https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade-who-blundered-in-the-valley-of-death/
Davies, C. (2022, June 17). Paratroopers banned from Nato deployment after Essex orgy – report. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/17/paratroopers-orgy-colchester-barracks-essex-nato-deployment
Fenton, L. (2012). Palmerston and The Times: Foreign Policy, the Press and Public Opinion in Mid-Victorian Britain. I.B. Tauris.
Hit, H. (n.d.). How the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade became a symbol of British heroism. History Hit. https://www.historyhit.com/day-charge-light-brigade/
McInnes, C. (2002). Spectator-sport war: The West and Contemporary Conflict. Lynne Rienner Pub.
Panorama, B. (2022, July 12). SAS killings: How a scandal was uncovered. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62083197
Parry, J. (2016a, June 29). Lord Aberdeen. History of Government. https://history.blog.gov.uk/2016/06/29/lord-aberdeen/
Parry, J. (2016b, June 29). Lord Aberdeen. History of Government. https://history.blog.gov.uk/2016/06/29/lord-aberdeen/
popular culture, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.oed.com/dictionary/popular-culture_n?tab=meaning_and_use
Team, W. (2021, March 17). Why social media use is such a risk among military personnel : Communication, Media Studies and Film research : . . . : Research at Sussex : University of Sussex. University of Sussex. https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/explore-our-research/communication-media-studies-and-film/social-media-risk
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Vizard, S. (2020, January 20). How the British Army’s ‘Snowflake’ ads led to a ‘shift in perceptions and attitudes’ Marketing Week. https://www.marketingweek.com/british-army-snowflake-ads-shift-perceptions/
Watercolour World. (2023, April 27). An eye witness account of the war in Crimea, 1853-1856 – Watercolour World. https://www.watercolourworld.org/learn-more/features/an-eye-witness-account-of-the-war-in-crimea-1853-1856/
[1] Beckett, I. F. W. (2023). The British Army: A New Short History. Oxford University Press.
[2] Fenton, L. (2012). Palmerston and The Times: Foreign Policy, the Press and Public Opinion in Mid-Victorian Britain. I.B. Tauris. P.g.132
[3] Fenton, L. (2012). Palmerston and The Times: Foreign Policy, the Press and Public Opinion in Mid-Victorian Britain. I.B. Tauris. (p.g. 134)
[4] Fenton, L. (2012). Palmerston and The Times: Foreign Policy, the Press and Public Opinion in Mid-Victorian Britain. I.B. Tauris. P.g 133
[5] Panorama, B. (2022, July 12). SAS killings: How a scandal was uncovered. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62083197
[6] Davies, C. (2022, June 17). Paratroopers banned from Nato deployment after Essex orgy – report. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/17/paratroopers-orgy-colchester-barracks-essex-nato-deployment
[7] Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 95
[8] Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 95
[9] Parry, J. (2016, June 29). Lord Aberdeen. History of Government. https://history.blog.gov.uk/2016/06/29/lord-aberdeen/
[10] BBC News. (2020, July 30). Hackers post fake stories on real news sites “to discredit Nato.” BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53594440
[11] Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 96
[12] Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 96
[13] Vizard, S. (2020, January 20). How the British Army’s ‘Snowflake’ ads led to a ‘shift in perceptions and attitudes’ Marketing Week. https://www.marketingweek.com/british-army-snowflake-ads-shift-perceptions/
[14] Vizard, S. (2020, January 20). How the British Army’s ‘Snowflake’ ads led to a ‘shift in perceptions and attitudes’ Marketing Week. https://www.marketingweek.com/british-army-snowflake-ads-shift-perceptions/
[15] popular culture, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.oed.com/dictionary/popular-culture_n?tab=meaning_and_use
[16] The Victorian Era. (n.d.). The Victorian Era | Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/153447/an-introduction-to-the-victorian-era#:~:text=But%20in%2019th-century%20Britain%2C%20poetry%20was%20as%20prestigious,popular%20poets%20routinely%20sold%20out%20through%20several%20editions.
[17] David, S. (2023, February 23). The Charge of the Light Brigade: who blundered in the Valley of Death? https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade-who-blundered-in-the-valley-of-death/
[18] David, S. (2023, February 23). The Charge of the Light Brigade: who blundered in the Valley of Death? https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/the-charge-of-the-light-brigade-who-blundered-in-the-valley-of-death/
[19] Hit, H. (n.d.). How the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade became a symbol of British heroism. History Hit. https://www.historyhit.com/day-charge-light-brigade/
[20] McInnes, C. (2002). Spectator-sport war: The West and Contemporary Conflict. Lynne Rienner Pub.p.g146
[21] Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 96
[22]Arnold, G. (2002). Historical Dictionary of the Crimean War. Historical Dictionaries of War. P.g 96
[23] Parry, J. (2016b, June 29). Lord Aberdeen. History of Government. https://history.blog.gov.uk/2016/06/29/lord-aberdeen/
[24] Watercolour World. (2023, April 27). An eye witness account of the war in Crimea, 1853-1856 – Watercolour World. https://www.watercolourworld.org/learn-more/features/an-eye-witness-account-of-the-war-in-crimea-1853-1856/
[25] Team, W. (2021, March 17). Why social media use is such a risk among military personnel : Communication, Media Studies and Film research : . . . : Research at Sussex : University of Sussex. University of Sussex. https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/explore-our-research/communication-media-studies-and-film/social-media-risk