ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the economic and military potential of Britain. The British army was maintained at some 132,000 men during the Peace of Amiens; it had reached about 150,600 by the beginning of 1804, following which it rose steadily to a peak of about 260,800 at the beginning of 1813. The officers were drawn from the nobility and gentry; the men were volunteers, though sometimes recruited by trickery or coercion. Roughly one-fifth of the army were foreign and colonial troops, the most significant of these corps being the 8000 men of the King's German Legion and the 8000 men in the West Indian regiments. The Portuguese army, which on paper consisted of 56,000 men and had over 350 British officers and NCOs, was employed alongside the British army throughout the Peninsular War. The strength of the British economy, and the flexibility of its fiscal system, enabled enormous subsidy payments to be paid to Britain's allies.
