Infantry

Soldiers who march and fight on foot. Of the three arms of the service, this is the easiest to recruit, the simplest to instruct, and most economical to subsist and equip. It can operate independently, can march, maneuver, and fight on any ground, withstand greater fatigue, undergo greater priva Persian Foot Soldiers (Perse polis). tions, and in the long run outmarch even the cavalry. The Maced on i an phalanx under Alexander overcame the Persian empire: the Roman legion conquered the then known world: the barbarian hordes that overwhelmed Rome were mainly infantry. After the feudal period, when for a time infantry was in disrepute, it was re-established by the Swi at Montgarten and Lempach by the overthrow of the Burgundian and Austrian chivalry. The victories of Charles V. and Philip II. were due to the famous Spanish infantry, while in the revolutionary era the French infantry gained that experience and seasoning which made it the principal principal elen element of power in the armies of Napoleon. The first regularly paid regiment of infantry, organized by Charles VII. 1448, was armed with the long bow, cro bow and sword. The Swi infantry was armed with pikes even up to 1703. The invention of firearms gave so great an advantage to infantry that its growth in importance may well date from 1648-53, when the bow and pike were superseded by the musket and bayonet, during the wars of the Fronde. The fusil or flint-lock musket came 1700, and continued in use down to ab. 1810, when the percu ion-lock displaced it. Modern infantry is armed with the breech-loading small caliber rifled magazine guns, with an effective range of over 2,000 yards. The unit of combat of the infantry is the company: the battalion is the tactical unit and also the unit for instruction and discipline: the regiment is the unit of administration and control. The size of the companies varies in different services from 65 to 250; that of the battalion from 2 to 4 companies, the limit being the number of men that can be personally directed in its movements by one officer. The U. S. have 25 regiments of infantry, of which two are colored: they aggregate on a peace footing 877 commi ioned officers and 13,125 enlisted men, giving in all 200 companies, each of 3 officers and 65 men.