REGIMENT, in all modern armies, is a colonel's command, and the largest permanent association of soldiers. Regiments may be combined into brigades, brigades into divi sions, stud divisions into armies; but these combinations are but tempora•, while in the regiment the same officer.; serve continually, and in command of the same body of men. The strength of a regiment may vary greatly even in the same army, as each may con] prise any number oCbattalions. French and Austrian regiments have ordinarily 4 to 6 battalions. Among British infantry, the smallest regiments are those numbered from the :6th upward (excel). the 60th), which have 600 men each, composing one battalion. The 60th and rifle brigade comprise each 4 battalions. The whole artillery force is com prised in one regiment. The strength of a regiment is changed from time to time; usually by the addition or withdrawal of private soldiers. The present plan would be, in case of war, to raise the skeleton regiment to war strength by calling in men from the army reserve.
The regimental system could only exist where standing armies are maintained. A.ceordingly, the 'Macedonian syntagmata and the Roman cohorts were evit.lently regi ments in a strict sense. Daring the middle ages, feudal organization precluded the sys tem, and its first reappearance was in France. Francis I. formed legions of 6,000 men each. which were divided into independent companies, the latter being, in fact, battal ions, and each legion a regiment. The word regiment began to be applied to bodies of British troops Teign; regiments are spoken of at the time of the Armada, 1588. and as composing the force in Ireland, 1503. From that time forward, the and militia of Britain have been organized into regiments. Charles I. and the parliament each raised regiments, all of which were disbanded at the restoration, with the exception of the lord-general's regiment of foot, and his life-guard of horse. These two were re-engaged (1661), and form the present Coldstream guards and royal horse-guards. In
the same year, a Scotch corps of 1700 men, which had taken service in France in the time of James I., returned to England, and was inclnded in the British army as the 1st foot. Other regiments of infantry were gradually raised as required. In 1603 was raised the 1st troop of horse grenadier guards, and the 2d troop in 1702. These were dis banded in 1789, and reformed as the 1st and 2d life-guards, which still exist. Besides cavalry and infantry, the British army comprises the regiment of artillery. and the corps of royal engineers, and mintary train.
The total regiments of the British army for the year 1876-77 were: Each regiment is nominally commanded by a col., who is an old general officer, and whose office is merely a sinecure. The real command rests with the lient.col. in each battalion, who is assisted by a major, and has for a staff an adjutant, a qnartermaster, a paymaster, and a surgeon. The regiment or battalion is divided into companies in infantry, engineers, and army service corps; into troops in the cavalry. The artillery is divided into 30 brigades, each of which is as large as all ordinary regiment. The brigade is subdivided into batteries, which are the working units. The working officers arc cap tain and two lieutenants to each infantry company or cavalry troop; major, captain, three lieutenants per battery of artillery.
The following table shows the allotment of the several ranks in each arm at home: It. is to be observed that either of the above formations is augmented at once by the addition of privates, without any increase in the officers or non-commissioned officers. The new recruits, or men from the reserve, being distributed among the troops or com panies, as many as 500 could be received without sensibly impairing the discipline of the regiment. See UNIFORM.