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 Another Random Document on
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and thence through Europe in the sixteenth century. In the next
century it was made lighter, which allowed the rest to be abolished.
The musket, as it was spelt later, then became the general
firearm of the Infantryman or Musketeer, until replaced by the rifle in
the nineteenth century.

Musketeers
At first, only a few picked men were armed with muskets, and
were styled “the Shot.” They were employed to skirmish on the
flanks of “the Pikes,” among whom they took refuge when attacked.
But as their efficiency and fire power increased, Musketeers grew in
importance and numbers, till the end of the sixteenth century,
Maurice of Nassau had an equal number of soldiers termed “Shots”
and “Pikes” in his Companies. Infantry had now asserted its
superiority to Horsemen, who could neither break the central mass
of Pikes, nor endure the fire of the Musketeers on the flanks.

Infantry under Maurice of Nassau

Maurice’s army represented the best organization of the period,
and was the model followed fifty years later in the Parliamentary
wars by his British allies in the Netherlands. His Companies and
Regiments were not yet of fixed strength; they were organized on
the same lines as the Landsknechts, but were formed of equal
numbers of Pikemen and Musketeers. He introduced the division of
the Company into three Sections, each under an Officer, with a
Corporal, two Sergeants, and three Drummers. Maurice, owing to
improved drill and discipline, was able to reduce the deep formations
of his day to ten ranks, which was the least which would give
continuous fire by the method then necessary, which consisted of
each man retiring to the rear when he had fired, so as to get time
for the slow operation of reloading.

Brigades
Maurice drew up his army for battle according to the old Swiss
fashion in three lines, styled “van,” “battle,” and “rear,” and each line
constituted a Brigade, a new, but as yet an indefinite, unit,
composed of several Regiments. This is the first introduction of that
term, which is derived from the Italian briga, French brigue (a
quarrel), and means “a band of opposing combatants.”

Battalions
The Battalion has, from the fifteenth century onwards, always
been the fighting unit of Infantry. Battalion—French Bataillon—is in
Italian Battaglione (battaglia, or battle array).
In the early sixteenth century, when the Company was only an
administrative unit, the Battaglie were its tactical subdivisions, and
formed small units fighting separately. Hence Battaglione, “the great
battaglia,” was the name given to a large fighting unit and consisting
of a mass comprising several Regiments and some thousands of
men. This “Battalion” was gradually diminished in size, to meet
changes in tactics which demanded a more flexible formation for
mobility, and a smaller target, less vulnerable to the rude artillery of
the day. The experience of the more successful leaders pointed
eventually to forming a Battalion of a few hundred men, so that two
or three could be furnished by a Regiment, instead of forming a
huge Battalion of several Regiments. The fact that sometimes the
Regiment formed only one Battalion accounts for the constant
confusion between the two terms, and their indiscriminate use even
to-day.

Spanish Infantry—Sixteenth Century

The remarkable efficiency of the Spanish Infantry which was
fighting against Maurice for the domination of the Netherlands
should not be overlooked. They had, besides musketeers, bodies of
swordsmen with bucklers, active enough to overcome the pikemen.
The Spaniards were the first to establish depôts for their army in
war, where recruits could be trained by a few old soldiers. Their
Regiments were of some 1,700 men, and the Companies varied from
150 to 300. The good order of the Spanish Army, and its strict
discipline, were its most remarkable features. In the latter half of the
sixteenth century the Spanish Infantry was undoubtedly the best in
Europe.

Infantry under Gustavus

The next development of Infantry is seen in the Swedish Army
as organized in the Thirty Years’ War by the great Gustavus
Adolphus, King of Sweden. Its efficiency and success made it the
model of the organization of all the armies in Europe, and they still
retain its main features.
Gustavus modelled his army on that of Maurice, but made many
improvements in it. His purpose was to increase mobility, and to
adopt a definite organization of units. With the first object, he
lightened the musket, so as to do away with the cumbrous rest, and
increased rapidity of fire by adopting a cartridge to hold the powder.
He added to the Musketeers till they equalled the Pikemen, and
improved the mobility of the latter by shortening the pike.
 As regards organization, he adopted Brigades much smaller than
those of Maurice, and made them a definite unit of two Regiments of
Infantry, as they still are in every foreign army.
The Regiment had always been the administration unit, and the
Battalion the tactical unit. Gustavus definitely fixed the size of the
Battalion, two of which formed a Regiment. Here we find the origin
of the two-Battalion Regiment, which was universal in Europe for the
next hundred years.
The Regiment was 100 strong, and was divided into eight
Companies, so that the Battalion had four Companies. Hence we find
that Battalions in foreign armies have always had four Companies,
putting on one side the Grenadier and Light Infantry Companies,
which were added later, as described on page 190. The British
Regiment, which was not divided into Battalions, kept the eight-
Company organization of Gustavus, and, when eventually a second
Battalion was added, it kept the same number of Companies.
The Regimental Officers were those of the Landsknechts—the
Colonel, the Lieutenant-Colonel, and the Sergeant-Major or Staff
Officer, called later the Major. Four Surgeons were added to the
Regimental Staff, which was a new departure, as up to this time
medical arrangements had been the concern of the Captains only.
The Company comprised 72 muskets and 54 pikes, and was
divided into six Sections, each under a Corporal, four being of
musketeers and two of pikemen. The two Sections of musketeers on
each flank formed a new fighting unit, the Platoon (French peloton,
a little bundle), which could act independently of the rest of the
Company under the Lieutenant or Ensign, while the Captain
commanded the two centre Sections of pikes. When pikes were
eventually given up, the centre Sections disappeared, and the two
Platoons on the flanks then constituted the whole Company. A
Platoon thus became a Half-Company, as the Peloton still is in
France. Platoon fire (Half-Company volleys) was in use in the British
Army till the nineteenth century.
 There were thus eight Platoons in the Battalion. We shall find
that they still formed the fighting units in the Infantry of Frederick
the Great, the Companies being then only the administrative units,
although they subsequently superseded the Platoons as the fighting
units of the Battalion.
The Company Officers were, as in the Landsknechts, the
Captain, the Lieutenant, the Ensign, and the Sergeant. The latter
had an assistant, the Second Sergeant, and there were 4 Under-
Sergeants, besides the 6 Corporals of Sections. Three Fifes were
added to the three Drums in each Company, in which we see the
origin of the Drum and Fife Band.

French Infantry
During the wars of Louis XIV., in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, the development of Infantry was advanced by
the reduction of the number of pikes to one-third of the Battalion,
and then to a quarter and a fifth, till at last they were only found in
a central group in each Company, so small as to be called a Picquet,
or “little body of pikes,” whence the word Picket, meaning the
Support of the Outposts, probably because the musketeers furnished
the sentries and the pikes the Support.
The pike was replaced in France about 1670 by the bayonet,
named after the city of Bayonne, and probably suggested by the
habit of the Basques of fixing the wooden handles of their long
knives into the muzzles of their guns when smuggling in the
Pyrenees. As the musket could not be fired with the bayonet fixed,
its use was inconvenient, till the idea occurred about 1700 of
attaching it by a ring clasping the muzzle. The British Army adopted
the bayonet by 1688. The musketeer had become virtually a
pikeman too. The pike, now unnecessary, was abolished in all armies
about 1700, but in England it survived for a century in the spontoon,
a short pike carried by junior Officers, just as the halberd had
survived for Sergeants.
In the French Army, under Louis XIV., we find the Brigade an
important unit in the organization of Infantry. Colonels were selected
for this Command, which gave an opportunity for promoting the best
men, without infringing the vested right of the Colonel to his own
Regiment.
One of the early Brigadiers so selected was the famous Martinet,
whose discipline has become proverbial. He was Colonel of the
Model Regiment formed in 1668, and afterwards Inspector-General
of Infantry.

Fusiliers
After the middle of the seventeenth century an important
change in the firearm was invented, by which the charge was ignited
by flint and steel instead of match, giving more certainty to the fire.
The new flintlock was called a fusil (from fucile, flint); it was at first
given to picked shots, called Fusiliers, for skirmishing work, but
about 1700 all Infantry were armed with flintlocks. It was introduced
in Great Britain in the shape of “Brown Bess,” the musket used until
rendered obsolete by the introduction of the percussion cap in 1840.
The individual Fusiliers carried out what were later termed the
duties of Light Infantry (see p. 188). By their superior shooting and
activity they were better fitted to move rapidly in front of the heavier
Infantry, so as to annoy the enemy by their fire, and clear the way
for the main body. These Fusiliers were before long grouped into
separate Battalions of Fusiliers, which were created in France in
1671, and later in England and Prussia, where they survive to this
day.
 Grenadiers
During the Thirty Years’ War grenades (grenada, the
pomegranate) or hand-thrown bombs were introduced. This brought
in another variety of Infantry. Grenadiers were powerful, tall men,
picked from the Battalion to throw the grenades. They were soon
collected into one “Grenadier Company,” which was added to those
of each Battalion, and took its place on their right.
This was done in France in 1667, and in England in 1678.
Grenadiers then gave up their special duty, and were armed with the
fusil for Light Infantry duties, for which, however, they were
eventually found too heavy and slow.
The Grenadier Company continued during the eighteenth
century to form the right Company of the Battalion in most European
armies. Some of the Grenadiers were assembled in special Grenadier
Regiments, like the “Grenadier Guards” in England. In Germany and
Russia the title exists to this day, although the special functions of
Grenadiers have been obsolete for two centuries.
Thus, during the later portion of the seventeenth century, there
were four different kinds of Infantry—Pikemen, Musketeers,
Grenadiers, and Fusiliers.
The changes in armament had the effect of reducing the number
of ranks in battle. The first phalanxes of pikes had 25 ranks, which
Maurice reduced to 10, and Gustavus to 6; by 1700 the number of
ranks had become 4, which Frederick reduced to 3, and Wellington,
on entering Spain in 1808, to 2. Two ranks became the rule in Great
Britain in 1824, and in the French service in 1859. The Prussians
were the last to give up three ranks, in 1888, but the third rank had
long been used only for skirmishing.

Light Infantry
 The changes in the evolution of Infantry may be seen to be due
to an ever-acting desire to have some picked troops, more mobile,
and better armed than the rest—that is, Light Infantry, as they were
styled later. The object of these troops was that they should act in
advance, or on the flank, of the main portion of the army. They
would thus guard it against surprise when at rest, or on the march,
or in battle break the force of the attack by what became known as
skirmishing (from Italian scherma, fencing). Such Light Infantry were
first seen at the battle of Pavia, in 1525, when 1,500 arquebusiers
were extended in front of the Battalions. At first these picked troops
were formed out of each Battalion, but there arose a general
tendency to gather them under one Command, and form them into
special Companies. The same tendency soon began to group these
Companies into special Battalions, which gradually lost all idea of
their special functions, and tended to become ordinary Infantry,
while retaining their original special designation. We see this process
acting when the Grenadiers were found too heavy for “light Infantry”
work; and these duties were then allotted to the “Fusiliers,” or
picked shots armed with the light fusil, who eventually became
Fusilier Battalions. These, like the Grenadier Battalions, had by the
end of the seventeenth century given up their distinctive mode of
action, and become identical with the rest of the Infantry, while
retaining the title of Fusiliers; so that when Pikemen were abolished,
soon after 1700, there existed only one sort of Infantry, although
certain Regiments and Companies were termed Grenadiers and
Fusiliers.

Light Infantry and Rifles

But after all these changes the need of Light Infantry in war
remained none the less urgent, and again special troops began to be
formed for Light Infantry duties. Thus, Infantry, which had just been
reduced to one type, once more differentiated during the eighteenth
century into two kinds—ordinary and light Infantry.
The process began during the Seven Years’ War about the
middle of the eighteenth century. The Austrian Light Infantry, called
Freischarren, or “free hordes,” irregular troops formed from the less
civilized races in the army, caused the Prussians constant
annoyance. This led Frederick the Great to copy the idea, by
collecting Austrian deserters, and smugglers and wilder spirits from
among his own people, to form Light Infantry. He also raised from
foresters and gamekeepers special troops called Jägers, literally
“huntsmen,” who were armed with the more accurate rifled musket
used for sport, and were well fitted for sharp-shooting. The French
followed suit, and in 1759 formed Corps of Chasseurs (the
equivalent word to Jägers), and in 1805 raised light troops of small
men, called Voltigeurs—that is, “men who can turn quickly,” from
their agility. The British, too, began to form Light Infantry out of
their newly raised Highland Corps about the middle of the eighteenth
century. Later, in consequence of British experiences in America with
the backwoodsmen—good shots using rifles—special Battalions of
Rifles, like those of France and Prussia, were raised before the end
of the century.
These various descriptions of light troops in all armies were
sharp-shooters, armed with rifles, and accustomed to independent
action at the front. Their development followed two separate lines.
The Light Troops were attached to each Battalion in the form of a
Light Infantry Company, or sometimes grouped in special Battalions
styled Light Infantry, a title they still keep. The riflemen formed the
Battalions of Rifles, which still exist in all armies under various
names, but clothed generally in the green uniform which German
gamekeepers still wear. Green was the customary dress of a forester,
as we are reminded by the common sign for a country inn—“The
Green Man.” The addition of one or two Light Infantry Companies,
and sometimes of a Grenadier Company, raised the number of
Companies in a Battalion to ten in England, five in Prussia, and six in
France, during the late eighteenth century. Napoleon’s Battalions had
six Companies, as had all armies on the Continent (except the
Prussian) up to 1866, after which the Prussian organization, with
four, was introduced, and still rules. French Chasseur Battalions
(Rifles) have retained six companies, as a more supple and mobile
organization for their special duties.
The Light Infantry Companies were much used during the
Napoleonic wars, but were soon afterwards abolished. The Rifle
Battalions gradually lost their special character as Light Troops, while
retaining their uniforms and designations, and are at present armed,
trained, and used exactly like ordinary Infantry, which has, however,
adopted their rifle and their extended formation in battle.
The tactical work of Light Infantry may perhaps be said to be
now done by Mounted Infantry, and it may be asked whether the
Rifle Regiments of the British Army might not have taken up the
duties of Mounted Infantry, for which they seem suited by their
origin as picked troops, and their Peninsular reputation and
regimental traditions of mobility and independent action. In Germany
a similar suggestion has been recently made to provide Rifle
Battalions with cycles, and send them out to the front with the
Cavalry—in fact, to turn them virtually into “Mounted Infantry” on
cycles.
 CHAPTER XVII
THE EVOLUTION OF CAVALRY

Modern Cavalry has perhaps but slight claim to be descended

from feudal Chivalry. The Man-at-Arms, the fully armoured Knight,
with his mounted retinue of a squire, a page, and a few retainers,
acted indeed by “shock,” but individually, with jealous independence
of his fellow knights; whereas the efficiency of Cavalry action has
from the first rested on a combined disciplined attack. But the
traditions of Chivalry may be traced in the “Cavalry Spirit,” which
preaches, like Danton, “de l’audace, encore de l’audace, et toujours
de l’audace,” and in the prestige which still clings to the Mounted
Arm. Cavalry has never forgotten its aristocratic and romantic
ancestry, and is inclined to look down somewhat on the Infantry
without whom battles cannot be fought, and still less won. Cavalry is
to this day the premier Arm in the British and in many other Armies.
In Germany the logical insight of the Hohenzollerns has long since
made Infantry the senior Arm of the Service.
The word Cavalry—French Cavallerie, Italian Cavaleria—is, like
Chivalry, derived from the Late Latin word caballus, in common use
for horse when equus had become highflown. But caballus became
cheval in Early French, whence Chivalry; while the Italian Cavaleria
was directly derived from caballus. The Knight’s arms, the sword and
lance, are still those of Cavalry, and his armour survives in the metal
helmet and cuirass.
The introduction of pikes and firearms for Infantry was the cause
of the extinction of the man-at-arms, although he met them by
himself adopting a firearm for use on horseback. This was at first the
petronel, or poitrinal, fired from the breast (poitrine) on a rest rising
from the saddle bow; then the harquebus, or match lock fired from
the shoulder; later the pistol, a shorter and lighter weapon, used
with one hand, which was introduced in Spain in 1520, and in
Germany in 1540. But by 1500 fire action had attained superiority
over shock action, and the mounted men in armour became
definitely inferior to the Infantry, whose bullets pierced their armour,
and whose pikes they could seldom break through. Armour was
reduced to helmet and cuirass, and the lance given up, not to be
revived till two centuries later.

Origin of true Cavalry in the “Reiters”

We first find true Cavalry of the modern type in the German
“Reiters” of the early sixteenth century, who were disciplined
troopers, acting in rank and file in organized bodies, as distinguished
from the individual man-at-arms of feudal days. The organization of
the Reiters is practically the same as that of the infantry
Landsknechts already described. They were similarly raised by their
Captains, in bodies termed Troops, a name which was soon replaced
by a tactical unit composed of several Troops, which arose from the
tactical requirements of the battlefield. This was the Squadron, a
word derived from squadra, Italian for square, because the earliest
bodies of horsemen had equal front and depth. The numbers in a
Troop depended on the popularity of the Captain; but Squadrons
were of a strength based on the fact that one man could command
by voice a body of Cavalry with a front of 50 men. Thus the “Reiter”
Squadrons with six ranks were 300 strong, but those of Gustavus,
with three ranks, had 150 men. This is still the strength of a
Squadron to-day.
The Officers of the Troops of Reiters were the Captain, still called
Rittmeister (or “Reiter”-master) in Germany to-day; the Lieutenant;
the Fähnrich (or Colour-bearer); the Wachmeister (or Watch-
master), as the Sergeant-Major is still called; the Fourier (or Quarter-
Master), charged with allotting quarters and subsistence, and also
with reconnaissance, as explained on page 174. He had an assistant,
answering to our Q.M.S. Each Troop had a Trumpeter. He
accompanied the Colour-bearer, whose hornshaped pennon
(Cornette in French) gave its name to the officer carrying it, known
as “Cornet” down to our day.
The Reiters carried sword and pistol, and wore helmet and
cuirass. They were the ancestors of all Heavy Cavalry, generally
called Cuirassiers abroad, but simply “Regiments of Horse” in
England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. There
were always less regular Cavalry, or Light Horse, for scouting,
pursuit, and independent action to front and flanks. This division of
duties and names has long survived.
To obtain better fire effect, Henry IV. of France armed his Horse
with a short arquebus called a carabine, whence the Carbineers. In
Italy a larger firearm, called a dragon, was given to horsemen, so as
to enable them to use fire with more effect when dismounted. Hence
originated Dragoons, originally merely Mounted Infantry. We have
thus got the three Arms of the Service, as commemorated in the old
expression Horse, Foot, and Dragoons, to denote the whole Army;
for Artillery did not become an Arm before 1700.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, under Maurice of
Nassau, the organization of the Dutch Cavalry was further developed
during the War of Independence against Spain. His Squadrons were
fixed at 120 strong, with the three Officers and the Trumpeter of the
Reiters, but were now divided into three Sections, each under an
Officer, with a Corporal. These represent the existing Troops. A
Farrier was added to the troop for shoeing and veterinary work.
Improved drill and discipline enabled Maurice to reduce the ten
ranks of his day to six.
Gustavus organized the Swedish Army on the same lines as
Maurice, but improved on his model in Cavalry, as in other Arms. His
Troops were smaller, only 70 strong, and were grouped in Regiments
of 8 troops. He was the first to inculcate shock tactics, which he
facilitated by reducing the ranks to four, and discouraging firing from
horseback.
After Gustavus’ brilliant success in the Thirty Years’ War, the use
of shock tactics was carried on in England, but was not imitated in
other countries. Cromwell, seizing on the idea with his unfailing
military insight, taught his Ironsides to charge home, and especially
to rally after the charge. He established an undying reputation as the
first great Cavalry leader in the modern sense, and his horsemen
were never equalled till Seidlitz appeared and led Frederick’s Cavalry
in the Seven Years’ War a century later. Neither of these two great
soldiers has ever been surpassed, or indeed approached, as a leader
of Cavalry.
During those hundred years Cavalry continued to fire from their
horses, and charge at the trot. Even long afterwards, Napoleon’s
Heavy Cavalry did not gallop. But Cavalry began to find their true
mode of action when Marlborough and Charles XII. of Sweden
expected their Horse to charge without firing.
Frederick the Great, however, was the first to initiate true
Cavalry Tactics. He forbade any firing from horseback, formed his
Cavalry in two ranks, and trained them to charge boot to boot in
long lines of scores of Squadrons. He insisted on high speed over
long distances, and adopted the plan of charging in three lines—the
first of Cuirassiers, the second of Dragoons as a support, and the
third in columns to protect the flank. The training and tactics of
Frederick’s Cavalry have never been improved on, and are still the
model for shock action. Frederick’s Cavalry was organized, like that
of Gustavus, in Troops of 70 men, of which two, or, later, four
smaller ones as in Europe to-day, formed a Squadron. The Regiment
had 5 Squadrons, as it still has in Germany, although the fifth now
becomes the depôt of the Regiment on mobilization.
 Light Horse
During the Seven Years’ War, Austria made good use of a screen
of light troops, both Horse and Foot, in front of her armies. Her Light
Horsemen had been very serviceable in the Thirty Years’ War in the
previous century, and had been constantly used since in fighting the
Turks. These horsemen were irregular troops from Hungary, where
they had been raised since the sixteenth century under the name of
Hussars. They wore the national dress of Hungary, which Hussars
have retained ever since they were imitated by Frederick during the
Seven Years’ War, and in other armies later. Lancers were similarly
copied everywhere from the Polish Light Cavalry, clothed in their
national costume, who joined Napoleon’s service in 1807. The lance,
which had not been used since the early sixteenth century, was then
reintroduced, and has since held its own, and even won ground in
Germany. The British adopted Lancers after their experience against
Napoleon’s Polish Lancers at Waterloo. The Prussians called them
Ulans, from the Polish, while other nations adopted the French word
Lancier, from the Late Latin lancearius (lancea, a lance).
British Light Cavalry began in the eighteenth century, in the Light
Troops of the Dragoon Regiments, soon detached to be grouped into
Light Dragoon Regiments, which, early in the nineteenth century,
were changed to Hussars.
After firing on horseback had been stopped by Frederick, Cavalry
discarded the firearm until the close of the century, when the French
Light Horse of the Revolutionary armies received a short musket,
called by its old name of carbine, which became the universal
Cavalry firearm for use on foot. But Heavy Cavalry had no firearms
for years; even in the Prussian Army of 1870 only Light Cavalry were
armed with the carbine.
Cavalry Regiments were first brigaded during the eighteenth
century, but had no higher organization. The Brigade formed one of
the lines of Cavalry on each wing of the Army. Cavalry Divisions were
first formed by Hoche in 1793, and were adopted by Napoleon, who
extended the idea later to creating Cavalry Corps of two or more
Divisions.
 CHAPTER XVIII
THE EVOLUTION OF ARTILLERY AND
ENGINEERS

The early history of the Engineers and the Artillery in England

may be traced in the continued existence, from the Conqueror to
Henry VIII., of a high official called in Latin documents the King’s
Ingeniator, because he had charge of Engines of War (Latin
ingenium). About 1300 the Ingeniator (or Engyneor, as he was
called in English, from the Old French Engineur) became styled
Attilator (probably a slovenly rendering of Artillator), from the fact
that, having charge of the engines of war, he naturally took over the
latest form of them, the new invention of artillery. This word is
derived from the French artillerie, which meant the art of the
artilleur, or articulier, from articularius, or the man who handled
articula, the articles or the “things,” as the newly invented guns
began by being styled, that word being a diminutive of art-em, art.

The Artillery
The word artillery meant in the sixteenth century the guns used
by the artilleur, but did not denote the Arm of the Service till the end
of the next century, before which time Artillery had hardly an
independent existence, but formed merely a portion of the train, or
mass of vehicles which followed an army.
 GUNS
Cannon were at first used in fortresses during the fifteenth
century, soon after the invention of gunpowder. They were soon
mounted on wheels, and then provided with trunnions and a trail.
They seem to have been first brought into the field by the Hussites
in Bohemia, and then in the French invasion of Italy in 1496. The
French added the limber to carry the trail on the march, and thus
finally gave guns the form they still have. In the mid-sixteenth
century the armies of three great monarchs, the Emperor Charles V.,
Francis I. of France, and Henry VIII. of England, possessed a train of
cannon for the field.
At this epoch there were many descriptions of mobile guns of
various calibres: the heavy, 42- and 24-pounders, for siege purposes
chiefly, were drawn by several yoke of oxen; the lighter ones, for use
in the field, fired 2, 4, or 6 pound shot, and were drawn by horses in
single file. The drivers, till the end of the eighteenth century, walked
on foot beside their horses, carrying carters’ whips, and were
civilians, hired with their teams from the country. To keep them from
running away, the train of guns and wagons carrying ammunition
were under an escort of Infantry, who were only much later used for
protection of the guns.
The working of the gun, and its technical mysteries, were in the
hands of the Master Gunner, with his Gunner and two assistants for
each gun. In England these gentry were apart from the army, and
solely controlled by the Master-General of the Ordnance, as the
Artillery and the nearly related Engineers remained down to our own
time.
Maurice, about 1600, did away with the great variety of guns
which existed, and retained four different calibres only, so as to
facilitate the supply of shot. Gustavus, a little later, introduced lighter
guns, and cartridges for the powder, which till then had been carried
loose in barrels. But his main innovation was the allotment of two
light guns to each Infantry Battalion, for action in the intervals
between Regiments, an organization retained in most armies till the
end of the eighteenth century. These “Battalion guns” were drawn
by one or two horses, or by men when under fire, and were often
served by the Infantry they were attached to. He used the heavier
guns in masses on the wings and in the centre; but no Battery
organization came in till late in the eighteenth century. In France,
under Louis XIV., the step was taken of creating a Regiment of
Artillery, formed of Gunners and Artificers, the Drivers being still
hired. This idea was partially copied in England, where the Artillery
was organized into a Military Corps in 1716. Other armies formed
Companies of Artillery, but had no Regimental organization till much
later.
Shells were first used in the field about 1700, they fired from
what were called Hautbitzers, now Howitzers, a Czech word taken
from Zisca’s organization of the Hussite hosts in Bohemia long
before. Grapeshot was also invented; but solid shot was the
projectile of Artillery down to the introduction of General Shrapnel’s
shell in the British Artillery about 1810, followed much later by the
universal adoption of shell fire for field guns. Another invention,
Congreve’s rocket, was partially adopted in the English service
before the battle of Waterloo.
In the middle of the eighteenth century Frederick the Great
made considerable progress in Artillery organization, although the
material was unchanged. He increased the number of guns till he
had 5 or 6 to every 1,000 Infantry, which is to-day the proportion
thought desirable. In 1759 he formed a light Battery with gunners
mounted, so as to keep up with Cavalry. This Horse Artillery was
eventually adopted by the Austrians in 1783, and by the French and
British in the Revolutionary Wars. Frederick abolished Battalion
Guns, and grouped them in permanent Batteries, the germ of
modern Field Batteries, although drivers were not mounted, or made
into soldiers, till near the end of the century. The heavier guns were
still dragged by horses in single file, led by civilian drivers on foot,
and were called “Guns of position.” They were generally formed in
four masses—centre, wings, and reserve. After the Seven Years’ War
these guns were everywhere formed into Batteries of uniform
calibre, which in France were called Divisions, and manned by one
Company of the Artillery Regiment. The teams began to be
harnessed in pairs, with the drivers mounted on the near horse. The
modern battery system was thus introduced, and may be said to
have been adopted in every army towards the end of the eighteenth
century, when battalion guns were abolished. Batteries began to be
brigaded by threes or fours during the early part of the nineteenth
century.
In England and France, about 1800, a corps of drivers for
Artillery was formed, in which for the first time drivers had uniform
and discipline; but these corps were abolished after 1820, and the
drivers became an integral part of the Artillery.
In Austria and Prussia, Batteries were allotted to Infantry
Brigades, a system which was kept up in Prussia till after Waterloo,
and in Austria till after the war of 1866. In France, during the
Revolutionary Wars, the Batteries were allotted to Divisions, in the
way which still holds. There was always, in addition, a mass of guns
styled the Reserve Artillery, which we find during the Napoleonic
Wars, and down to the campaign of 1870. By that time it had been
converted in the Prussian Army into Corps Artillery, an arrangement
which all other armies have since copied. About 1900, however, the
Corps Artillery was abolished in Germany, and its batteries
distributed to the Divisions.

The Evolution of the Engineers

The name and calling of the Engineer is traceable through
English history in the existence of the King’s Engynour, as mentioned
at the commencement of this chapter. He had charge of what we
now call Engineer Works, as well as of the Artillery. Both these
Services were, up to the Stuart times, mainly connected with
fortresses and sieges; but the first and the third King Edwards had
with their field armies a corps of Military Artificers, and Henry VIII.
formed a body of Pioneers for work in the field. These were artisans,
either specially recruited, or taken from the ranks of the Infantry, as
Pioneers still are. The body was commanded by a Captain of
Pioneers, who was practically an Engineer Officer. He and his men
formed part of the field force, and were Field Engineers.
From this time onwards, the Pioneers are identified with the field
operations of an army, while individual Engineer Officers were
attached to the Staff. The latter were formed into the Corps of Royal
Engineers in 1772. This system, which differentiated between
Pioneer men commanded by Engineer Officers, and individual
Engineer Officers on the Staff, is exactly that which still exists in the
German Army.
A Corps of Military Artificers was formed in 1770, and became
the Corps of Sappers and Miners in 1780. It was constantly used in
the field, especially in the sieges in the Peninsula and in the Crimea,
after which it became merged with the Engineer Officers into the
Corps of Royal Engineers.
The developments of science applied to war, such as railways,
telegraphs, and balloons, the importance of mobility for modern
armies, which entails much road-making and bridging work, and the
increased demand for field works in the attack, as well as on the
defensive, have greatly increased the demand for Engineers with
Forces in the field.
It may be pointed out that the Military Engineer existed for
centuries before the civil engineer, who is a nineteenth-century
offshoot of his military colleague, named after him, and not vice
versa, as is sometimes imagined. The civil engineer was so called
because, like the Engineer, he dealt with tools, machinery, and
works, but only for civil purposes.
 CHAPTER XIX
ORGANIZATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND
EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

The “New Model” Army

The Swedish Army under Gustavus proved so effective and
successful in the Thirty Years’ War that it became the model for the
organization common to all armies during the seventeenth century,
which may be well studied by British soldiers in the “New Model”
Army, raised in the Civil War on Cromwell’s suggestion. This army,
perhaps the best disciplined and most effective the world has ever
seen since Roman times, was never beaten during its many
campaigns. The “New Model” is the true ancestor of the British
Army, which has proved itself not unworthy of its descent. We still
wear the red coat common in Cromwell’s army, and have its
organization and military terms in use to-day. Marlborough’s army
was practically the same as the New Model Army, only with bayonets
for pikes, and flint locks for match locks.
The New Model Army was organized much like the armies of
Maurice and Gustavus. It was composed as follows:
The Horse were formed in 11 Regiments of 600 men each, with
6 Troops. The Foot were in 12 Regiments of 1,200 men, each with
10 Companies. The Dragoons, which were practically Mounted
Infantry, formed one Regiment of 1,000, in 10 Companies.
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