Musket & rifle technology allowed for faster reloading, more accurate rifles, and relatively lighter & shorter weapons.
Light infantry made its “debut” in the 18th century. Earlier medieval times referred to light infantry as “Skirmishers,” and although this is much to be debated, the general idea behind skirmishers was that they were light, deadly, and were usually used in hit & run tactics, which we will discuss later. Throughout history, light infantry has shown its face on the battlefield in one way or another. They were a nuisance.Light Infantry, a force to be reckoned with.īy Daelon Part 1: History of Light Infantry, and how it is viewed in Empire, Total War. They could not win battles on their own, but could annoy the enemy enough to maybe frustrate well laid plans. They were of course very vulnerable to being charged by cavalry, but suffered a lot less from enemy fire as they could duck & dive, & use the terrain for cover. & set to work in awkward terrain, like wooded areas & mountainous regions were regular infantry & even cavalry would find it difficult to operate & stay in formation. They were eventually composed of the best marksmen in the regt. As the years progressed, the 'Skirmish Order' formations got refined into specialised Chasseur batallions & Voltigeur companies with specific rules on how they were to be deployed & used. This was the only way to get masses of untrained men moved in some sort of order across a field. They would be backed up by a few batallions of the regular army trained troops in line, & more volonteers & militia in densely packed thick columns. They developed gradually a tactic where they would flood the front areas of a battlefield with masses of these poorly disciplined troops who would literally pop off at the nearest enemy soldiers. They had no time to properly train this horde of volonteers, National guards & militia, so they initially went to battle in semi-organised mobs where many of them didn't even have a firearm. The French developed their tactics more by the fact that they were forced to make a very quick army general conscription to defend their frontiers from the invading allies in 1792. & some had specialist Jager units raised from country folk who were used to shooting & hunting, like the Tyrolians.
These tactics were developed & improved upon during the wars of the French Revolution from 1792-1800, where the soldiers of most armies got their experience & taste of battle.
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