The Golden Cavalry of St George was the colloquial name of subsidies paid out by the British government to other states in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in the 18th and the 19th centuries, particularly during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. The name is a

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

and derives from the British

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

gold coins often used in those payments, which bore an image of

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

, the patron saint of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on horseback slaying the dragon. During the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's W ...

, Britain kept Austria afloat by large subsidies owing to the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. In the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, Britain did the same for

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, which was now allied against the Austrians. The Anglo-Prussian Convention, signed in April 1758, guaranteed Prussia a payment of £670,000 a year. In more recent times

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

(Lawrence of Arabia) is reported to have made payments of gold sovereigns to Arab soldiers during the Arab Revolt in return for their co-operation, and he was nicknamed in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

''Abu Khayyal'', meaning "father of the horsemen". During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Cavalry of St George was a euphemism for large-scale bribery of Spanish officials in

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

's dictatorship to prevent Spain from joining the Germans in the war.

Napoleonic Wars

During the

, a number of states in Europe were allied with the British against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Britain, which had a large navy but a small army, was unable to deploy major forces on the Continent. Britain was a wealthy commercial power and so paid out millions of pounds to Allied nations, which could field much larger armies against the French. An example is the £1,500,000 paid to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

to commit troops to the campaign against France in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1793, an expedition to which the British could contribute only men. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to £273,000,000 in 2011.{{cite web , url=http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/inflation/calculator/flash/default.aspx , title=Bank of England | Education and Museum | Inflation Calculator , accessdate=2014-02-05 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204020030/http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/pages/inflation/calculator/flash/default.aspx , archivedate=2013-12-04 Large sums were made available for the purpose, sometimes as formal subsidies and sometimes as bribes for European statesman. It was partly funded by the introduction of the

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

by Prime Minister

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

. The policy was extremely costly but ultimately proved successful, as a coalition of European nations eventually defeated France in 1814.

References

Sources

* Esdaile, Charles. The Peninsular War. Penguin Books (2003) * Hague, William. William Pitt The Young. Perennial (2005) * Harvey, Robert. The War of Wars: The Great European Conflict, 1793-1815. Robinson (2007) Napoleonic Wars Diplomacy