The ravages of war and war crimes.

Throughout the book, Richard Sharpe encounters behaviors which are not sanctioned by the rules of war. These behaviors include the killing of civilians, raping of women and torture and mutilation of soldiers. Sharpe is stringently against such behavior and punishes it when he can. War is demonstrated as being brutal, and it is not only soldiers who are hurt in war. The ravages of war are also shown over and over. Starvation of both soldiers and civilians and the destruction of non-military targets such as homes and farms are also portrayed graphically. In this era of war, soldiers were often underpaid or not paid at all and supplies were difficult to obtain. Men would pour water around civilian homes and villages in an effort to find food that was buried to conceal it from looting soldiers. The book also shows that those...