INFANTRY, name given to soldiery serv ing on foot and using small arms and equipped for marching and fighting on foot. Modern combat demands the highest order of training, discipline, leadership and morale on the part of the infantry. Modern war requires but one kind of infantry—good infantry—and this must take the offensive to gain decisive results. In the local combats which make up the general battle the better endurance, use of ground, fire effi ciency, discipline and training will win. It is the duty of the infantry to win the local suc cesses which enable the commanding general to win the battle, and it must have the tenacity to hold every advantage gained, the individual and collective skill needed to master the enemy's fire, the determination to close with the enemy in attack, and to meet him with the bayonet in defense. It must be trained to bear the heaviest burdens and losses, both of com bat and march.
Among the ancient nations of Europe, in fantry or foot soldiers constituted the chief strength of armies. In the days of the Grecian and Roman states, battles were won mainly by the force and discipline of the phalanges and legions, and the number of the infantry in the field far exceeded that of the cavalry. The cavalry were then, as at present employed chiefly in protecting the wings of the 'army, and in completing a victory gained by the in fantry. The ancient Franks, when they left the forests of Germany, were accustomed to march and fight on foot; and they persevered in this practice even after they had obtained possession of the country of the Gauls, which abounded with horses. But soon after the time of Charlemagne, institutions of chivalry were generally adopted in the kingdoms of Europe. These led to frequent exhibitions of martial exercises on horseback in presence of the sov ereigns and assembled nobles; and the interest inspired by the achievements of the knights on those occasions was naturally followed by 'a high regard for that order of men. By degrees the cavalry, which was composed of persons possessing rank and property, and completely armed, acquired the reputation of being the principal arm, while the foot-soldiers, badly armed and disciplined, were held in compara tively small estimation. This continued 400
years, and although war was the principal oc cupation of mankind, military science fell into neglect. But rulers were forced by the power of feudalism to make an alliance with the de spised class of foot-soldiers, and in 1214 we find that some of the German infantry was recognized to be ((very good and trained to fight even against cavalry). The cavalry of France was routed at Courtrai by the infantry during the next century, and the Austrians suffered defeat by the efficient work of the Swiss pike at Morgarten (1315), Sempach (1386) and Nafels (1388). At Cressy and Poictiers (1346-56), the knights of England dismounted to fight beside the successful in fantry. The principal weapons of the infantry before the invention of gunpowder were long bows, halberds, cross-bows, spiked clubs, axes, pikes, straight-swords, shields, corselets, mail jackets, helmets and partisans. In the 16th century, however, these weapons were replaced by firearms, and in the 18th century, the musket was in general use. It became customary during the Thirty Years' War to form bat talions of infantry composed of 500 men, which were massed into dense columns during battle in spite of the deadly effect of the enemy's artillery. The absurdity of this formation was first exposed by Gustavus Adolphus, who recog nizing the destructiveness of firearms, arranged his battalions with a view to increasing the effectiveness of the fire of his troops, while avoiding exposure to that from the enemy. His tactics were so successful at Breitenfeld and Lutzen (1631-32) that they were soon afterward universally adopted. Frederick the Great made many improvements till then com paratively unknown. The rapidity with which his infantry troops performed their evolutions during battle contributed largely toward his famous victories in the Seven Years' War. In fact the Prussian infantry have ever since his time served as models for other European countries. The superiority of this arm consists in the troops being able to act on ground which cavalry cannot, and it is obvious that the latter must be nearly useless in the attack on fortified towns.