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Sharpe's Rifles is chronologically the sixth, but the ninth published, historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1988. The narrative follows Sharpe and his unit as they are caught up in the French invasion of Galicia, Spain in January 1809 during the Peninsular War.
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of English soldier Richard Sharpe. The stories formed the basis for an ITV television series featuring Sean Bean in the title role.
The military Sharps rifle was produced by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company and is a falling-block rifle used during and after the American Civil War in multiple variations. Along with being able to use a standard percussion cap , the Sharps has an unusual pellet primer feed.
Sharpe's Rifles is the first of the Sharpe television dramas, based on Bernard Cornwell's 1988 novel of the same name. Shown on ITV in 1993, the adaptation stars Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley and Assumpta Serna. It began a long series of successful and critically acclaimed television adaptations of the novels.
At the beginning of the series, Richard Sharpe is a sergeant in the 95th Rifles serving in Portugal during the Peninsular War in 1809. When he single-handedly saves the life of General Sir Arthur Wellesley from a group of French cavalrymen, Wellesley gives Sharpe a battlefield commission, appointing him a lieutenant.
Cornwell's best known books feature the adventures of Richard Sharpe, a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. The first 11 books of the Sharpe series (beginning in chronological order with Sharpe's Rifles and ending with Sharpe's Waterloo, published in the US as Waterloo) detail Sharpe's adventures in various Peninsular War campaigns over the course of 6–7 years.
While patrolling the roads connecting the Anglo-Dutch and Prussian forces, Sharpe sees a large unit of Napoleon's Army of the North crossing the border from France, revealing that Napoleon does not intend to maneuver around the flank of the allied armies via Mons, as the Duke of Wellington expects, but instead to drive into the gap between the British and Prussian armies and defeat them in detail.
Richard Sharpe first appears in Sharpe's Tiger as a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot.He later earns the rank of Sergeant by the end of the book. He soon gains promotion to Ensign in the 74th Regiment but is then transferred to the newly formed 95th Rifles as a second lieutenant during Sharpe's Trafalgar.