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Infantry Units
Musketeers
| Approximately at the same time, the whole of Europe was armed with similar muskets. For instance, a Swedish musket of
the years 1692-1704 weighed
4.7-5.0 kg (10-11 lb) and its calibre was 22 mm (7/8"). Its range of fire was about 225 m (740 ft). With
the introduction of the flintlock and paper cartridge, the musket's rate of fire was improved significantly up to 2-3 shots per minute. For the whole
of the 17th century, musketeers remained very weak in hand-to-hand
combat and could not fight back a cavalry attack without the pikemen's support. However, at the end of the
17th century, the bayonet was introduced and turned the musket into a
kind of pike, which was not as good as a real one though. All these innovations greatly
favoured the musketeers' military power, so that
they became a sort of all-purpose infantry, while the pikemen gradually vanished from
the armies. New musketeer square formations could withstand a cavalry
charge. The formation depth was reduced from six ranks to three. The first one fired in kneeling position, the second fired upright, and the third rank
fired in between the standing soldiers. Great importance was attached to a perfectly synchronized salvo sounding like a single shot. They believed that
simultaneous bullet hits increased the demoralizing effect of the shot. Whole battalions or platoons were shooting like one soldier. Soldiers were
trained for strict combat procedures; a private had nothing to decide by himself, he had only to obey orders. The infantry marched in step with
their officers at the left and the right. They shot in salvo on command. With
these tactics, a soldier's personality meant nothing, so one could
recruit even unstable and maladjusted elements. The value of a soldier decreased in comparison to the previous period. A good rate of
fire was often achieved by firing up to 4 shots per minute. In the
18th century, musketeers had already become rather cheap and numerous
soldiers capable of completing virtually any tactical mission. |
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