Infantry

Infantry (or Infantrymen) are soldiers who fight primarily on foot, using personal weapons. They may arrive on scene in various ways, and are deployed either in formations or as skirmishers and guerillas. In the modern period, the term "infantryman" is reserved for the most basic of infantry troops, the rifleman.

History of Infantry pre-Industrialisation

Infantry have been the core of most armies throughout history. In ancient times the most prominent formations were the phalanx and later the more sophisticated legion, which could reach several thousand men in size. During parts of the Middle Ages, cavalry were often considered superior to infantry. However, mounted knights charging disorganized into infantry formations often resulted in disaster for cavalry. Organized infantry formations tended to dominate the battlefield along with cavalry, using projectile weapons and terrain tactics. This remained the case until firearms and explosives revolutionized warfare.

Although the longbow would remain significantly more powerful than the newly invented musket it took a lifetime of training to become an effective archer. However, to raise an army of musketeers simply required ample numbers of men who could be trained in weeks or months, enough money, and access to manufacturing facilities for guns and powder. From the late Middle Ages on, industrialisation allowed for recruitment of large forces of relatively untrained infantry. Furthermore, the infantry ruled the battlefield. With cavalry now lighter and unarmoured, the pike became an important close-range defence for bodies of well-drilled infantry.

History of Infantry post-Industrialisation to Today

Before the development of railroads in the 19th century, infantry armies got to the battlefield by walking, or sometimes by ship. In the 1890s and later, some countries used bicycle infantry, but the real revolution in mobility started in the 1920s with the use of motor vehicles, resulting in motorised infantry. Action in World War II demonstrated the importance of protecting the soldiers while they are moving around, resulting in the development of mechanized infantry that uses armoured vehicles for transport. World War II also saw the first widespread use of airborne or parachute infantry, which played key roles in several campaigns in the European theater. During the Vietnam conflict, the US Army pioneered the use of helicopters to deliver large numbers of infantry quickly to and from key locations on the battlefield.

Modern-day infantry is supported by armoured fighting vehicles, artillery, and aircraft, but are still the only kind of military force that can take and hold ground, and thus remain essential to fighting wars.

Quotations

• "I love the infantry because they are the underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can't be won without." Ernie Pyle
• "I'm convinced that the infantry is the group in the army which gives more and gets less than anybody else." Bill Mauldin, Up Front (1945)

See also

• Army
• Combat Infantryman Badge
• Marine
• Military history
• Military science
• Mobile infantry
• The Military Revolution
• Zouave