The necks he broke always belonged to officers

I watched the 1st episode of "Taboo" TV show and here is a piece of the description of the main character given by his enemies:

I would guess that confidence allowed his true savage nature and mother's madness to emerge. The necks he broke always belonged to officers. And then there is the setting ablaze of a Navy boat in an experiment with oil and mashed potatoes while drunk. And a fight with a bear in Chancery Lane, a rebellion against the cooks for bad custard, started by him, and he raved about fortunes and hidden treasures. He tried to recruit other boys to go down the river to India, to trade with Red Indians, to take gold from the Aztecs. And more necks, more whores and more custard. And finally...

I suspect that the main character actually didn't break officers's necks because it's the crime that a soldier couldn't have committed without consequences. I guess that there is some figurative meaning of "the necks he broke". Am I right?

I've never heard breaking necks used in this context but I suspect the soldier in question was a pain in the neck.

That's from a historical drama set in the early 1800s, right?

I'm guessing that "to break someone's neck" is just some historical slang. These days it only ever means to literally break someone's neck.

I'm also guessing that a modern equivalent could perhaps be something like "to bust someone's balls," in which case they might have said, "the balls that he busted always belonged to officers," which would have been just a humorous way of phrasing it.