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Infantry (or Infantrymen) are soldiers who fight primarily on foot, using personal weapons. They may arrive on scene in various ways, and are deployed either in formations or as skirmishers and guerillas. In the modern period, the term "infantryman" is reserved for the most basic of infantry troops, the rifleman.
Infantry have been the core of most armies throughout history. In ancient times the most prominent formations were the phalanx and later the more sophisticated legion, which could reach several thousand men in size. After the Roman Empire collapsed cavalry dominated the west for almost a thousand years; particularly later in the Middle Ages when the armoured knight was invincible. The dominance of cavalry was not threatened until the Hundred Years War, where the development of the longbow saw French knights heavily defeated by well-disciplined infantry, archers, and dismounted cavalry at the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt. From this time on, cavalry became lighter and more mobile, and infantry became, in general, the most important arm.
Although the longbow would remain significantly more powerful than the newly invented musket for some hundreds of years - longbows had greater range, accuracy, penetrating power and rate of fire than early firearms - it required great skill to use effectively. It took a lifetime of training to become an effective archer, where to raise an army of musketeers simply needed ample numbers of men who could be trained in weeks or months, enough money, and access to manufacturing facilities for guns and powder. From the late Middle Ages on, industrialisation saw rural aristocracies weaken, cities became richer, and large, easily raised forces of relatively untrained infantry ruled the battlefield. With cavalry now lighter and unarmoured, the pikeA pike is a pole weapon once used extensively by infantry principally as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Pikes were extremely long weapons, carried by infantry and resembled a spear between 10 and 14 feet long. These eventually grew in size bo became an important close-range defence for bodies of well-drilled infantry.
Before the development of railroads in the 19th centuryAlternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical ( 18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801- 1900. Events The Little Ice Age ended, infantry armies got to the battlefield by walking, or sometimes by shipA ship like a boat, is a vehicle designed for passage or transportation by water. A ship usually has sufficient size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts. A rule of thumb saying (though it doesn't always apply) goes: "a boat c. In the 1890sEvents and trends Technology Early commercial production of automobiles. Science Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity Discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Rontgen Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius and US geologist Thomas Crowder Chamberlain independently co and later, some countries used bicycle infantryBicycles in warfare Bicycle Infantry are foot-soldiers who maneuver on the battlefield on bicycles. The term dates from the late 19th century, when the "safety bicycle" became popular in Europe, the United States and Australia. Numerous experiments were c, but the real revolution in mobility started in the 1920sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Events and trends Technology John Logie Baird invents the first working t with the use of motor vehicles, resulting in motorised infantryMotorised infantry is an infantry unit which is transported by armoured personnel carriers or other fast motor vehicles. Motorised infantry first became important in WW2 in the german Blitzkrieg.. Action in World War II demonstrated the importance of protecting the soldiers while they are moving around, resulting in the development of mechanized infantry that uses armoured vehicles for transport. World War II also saw the first widespread use of airborne or parachute infantry, which played key roles in several campaigns in the European theater. During the Vietnam conflict, the US Army pioneered the use of helicopters to deliver large numbers of infantry quickly to and from key locations on the battlefield.
Modern-day infantry is supported by armoured fighting vehicles, artillery, and aircraft, but are still the only kind of military force that can take and hold ground, and thus remain essential to fighting wars.
