Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/783

ARMY 747 only, but under his direction they soon learned to charge in a body, like the heavy cavalry. The formation of cavalry remained still five to eight deep. About this time Henry IV. of France introduced a new kind of mounted ser- vice, the dragoons, originally infantry mounted on horses for quicker locomotion only ; but in a very few years after their introduction they were used as cavalry as well, and equipped for this double service. They had neither defen- sive armor nor high boots, but a cavalry sword, and sometimes a lance ; they also carried the infantry musket, or a shorter carbine. These troops did not, however, come up to the expec- tations which had led to their formation ; they soon became a portion of the regular cavalry, and ceased to fight as infantry. In artillery the French maintained the superiority they had gained. The prolonge was invented by them about this time, and case shot introduced by Henry IV. The Spanish and Dutch, too, lightened and simplified their artillery, but still it remained a clumsy concern, and light, movable pieces of effective calibre and range were yet unknown. With the 30 years' war opens the period of Gustavus Adolphus, the great military reformer of the 17th century. His infantry regiments were composed of two thirds musketeers and one third pikemen. Some regiments consisted of musketeers alone. The muskets were so much lightened that the rest for firing them became unnecessary. He also introduced paper cartridges, by which loading was much facilitated. The deep for- mation was done away with ; his pikemen stood six, his musketeers only three deep. These latter were drilled in firing by platoons and ranks. The unwieldy regiments of 2,000 or 3,000 men were reduced to 1,300 or 1,400, in eight companies, and two regiments formed into a brigade. With this formation he defeat- ed the deep masses of his opponents, often disposed, like a column or full square, 30 deep, upon which his artillery played with terrible effect. The cavalry was reorganized upon sim- ilar principles. The men-at-arms were com- pletely done away with. The cuirassiers lost the brassarts and some other useless pieces of defensive armor ; they were thus made con- siderably lighter and more movable. His dragoons fought nearly always as cavalry. Both cuirassiers and dragoons were formed only three deep, and had strict orders not to lose time with firing, but to charge at once sword in hand. They were divided into squadrons of 125 men. The artillery was improved by the addition of light guns. The leather guns of Gustavus Adolphus are celebrated, but were not long retained. They were replaced by cast-iron four-pound- ers, so light that they could be drawn by two horses; they could be fired six times while a musketeer fired twice ; two of these were at- tached to every regiment of infantry. Thus, the division of light and heavy field artillery was established j the light guns accompanied the infantry, while the heavy ones remained in re- serve, or took up a position for the whole of the battle. The armies of this time begin to show the increasing preponderance of infantry over cavalry. At the battle of Leipsic, Gus- tavus Adolphus had 19,000 infantry and 11,000 cavalry; Tilly had 31,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry. At Llitzen, Wallenstein had 24,000 infantry and 16,000 cavalry in 170 squadrons. The number of guns, too r increased with the introduction of light pieces ; the Swedes often had from 5 to 12 guns for every 1,000 men ; and at the battle of the Lech, Gustavus Adolphus forced the passage of the river under cover of the fire of 72 heavy guns. During the latter half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century, pikes and all defensive armor for in- fantry were finally done away with by the general introduction of the bayonet. This weapon, invented in France about 1640, had to struggle 80 years against the pike. The Aus- trians first adopted it for all their infantry, the Prussians next ; the French retained the pike till 1703, the Russians till 1721. The flint-lock, invented in France about the same time as the bayonet, was also gradually introduced before the year 1700 into most armies. It materially abridged the operation of loading, protected to some degree the powder in the pan from rain, and thus contributed very much to the abolition of the pike. Yet firing was still so slow that a man was not expected to use more than from 24 to 36 cartridges in a battle ; until in the latter half of this period improved regulations, better drill, and further improvement in the construc- tion of small arms (especially the iron ramrod, first introduced in Prussia), enabled the soldier to fire with considerable rapidity. This neces- sitated a still further reduction of the depth of formation, and infantry was now formed only four deep. A species of elite infantry was cre- ated in the companies of grenadiers, originally intended to throw hand-grenades before coming to close quarters, but soon reduced to fight with the musket only. In some German armies riflemen had been formed as early as the 30 years' war ; the rifle itself had been invented at Leipsic in 1498. This arm was now mixed with the musket, the best shots in each company being armed with it; but out of Germany the rifle found little favor. The Austrians had also a sort of light infantry called pandours Croatian and Servian irregulars from the mili- tary frontier against Turkey, useful in roving expeditions and pursuit, but, from the tactics of the day and their absolute want of drill, useless in battle. The French and Dutch cre- ated, for similar purposes, irregular infantry called compagniesfrancJies, Cavalry, too, was lightened in all armies. There were no longer any men-at-arms; the cuirassiers maintained the breastplate and helmet only ; in France and Sweden the breastplate was also done away with. The increasing efficiency and rapidity of infantry fire told very much against cavalry. It was soon considered perfectly useless for