In 1448 Charles VII. instituted the mi litia denominated Francs Archers, which consisted of 16,000 foot soldiers armed with bows. But this body existed only about forty years, when it was suppressed by Louis XI.. who formed a standing army of 10,000 French infantry, to which were joined 6000 Swiss; and subsequently Charles VIII. added a large body of Laas quenets, or German infantry. The repu tation of the native troops in France seems to have been then at a low ebb ; for Brantome, in his Discours des Colo nels, describes them as being mostly the refuse of society—men with matted hair and beards, who for their crimes had had their shoulders branded and their ears cut off. On the other hand the Swiss soldiers were inured to discipline ; they were protected by defensive armour and formed into deep battalions, in which state they were able to render the shock of cavalry entirely unavailing. Large di visions of these troops accompanied the i army of Charles VIII. into Italy, in 1494, where their good conduct and discipline greatly contributed to raise the reputation of the infantry to its antient standard.
The superiority of this class of troops consists in their being able to act on Found where cavalry cannot move; and it is obvious that the latter must, at all times, have been nearly useless in the at tack and defence of fortified castles or towns. Even when the cavalry were held in the highest estimation it was some times found convenient for the knights to dismount and act as infantry. Froissart relates that at the battle of Cressy the English troops were formed in three lines, consisting of men-at-arms who fought on foot and were flanked by archers. At Poictiers and Agincourt also the men-at-arms engaged in a similar manner.
The Spanish soldiery, probably from being almost constantly engaged in war fare with the Moors, had early acquired considerable reputation ; and the gallantry of the troops on foot, in keeping the field after the cavalry had retired, has been supposed, though this opinion of the ori gin of the name is now rejected as fanci ful, to have been commemorated by the designation of infantry,, which was be stowed upon them, it is said, in consequence of their having been headed on that occa sion by an Infanta of Spain. The great share which the Spanish forces had in the wars carried on both in Italy and Flanders during the reigns of Ferdinand, Charles V., and Philip II.; their steady
discipline, and the success which resulted from the association of musketeers with pikemen in their battalions, caused the infantry of Spain to be considered, dur ing many years, as the best in Europe. But the rivalry in arms between the Em peror Charles V. and Francis I. of France, and the connection of Henry VIII. of England with both, led, in the several states of those monarchs, to the adoption of the improvements which bad been in troduced by the Spaniards. It may be added that the practice of keeping up standing armies composed of men trained in the art of war under a rigid system of discipline, together with the universal adoption of the musket, has now brought all the infantry of Europe to nearly the same degree of perfection.
In the British army there are 99 regi ments of infantry and 1 brigade of rifle men. The number of commissioned offi cers in these regiments is usually 39, non commissioned officers 64, rank and file 800, making the total strength of a regi ment 903. The charge of fifty-one regi ments of infantry in 1845, averaged 26,5561. each. The cost of the three regi ments of foot-guards in the same year was as follows :—The Grenadier Guards, with 96 commissioned and 177 non commissioned officers, and 2080 privates, eost 86,081/. The Coldstream Guards and the Scots Fusileer Guards each consisted of 61 commissioned and 109 non-commis sioned officers and 1280 privates, and cost 53,0111. There are several colonial corps the charges of which are defrayed by this country by a parliamentary vote. In 1845 the number of infantry in the pay of the United Kingdom was 91,737 of all ranks (3879 commissioned officers and 6486 non-commissioned officers, and 81,372 rank and file), and their charge for the year amounted to 2,697,376/. There were besides twenty-three regiments of infantry, consisting of 26,073 officers and men, on service in the East Indies. the charges of which, amounting to 763,934/., were defrayed by the East India Com pany. The number of infantry in the armies of the great European powers is as follows :—Prussia, 87,256; Russia, 500,000; Austria, 270,000, and the pro portion of infantry to cavalry is as 5.& to 1 ; and France has 100 regiments of in fantry of the line.