Line infantry
Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Montecuccoli are closely associated with the post-1648 development of linear infantry tactics.
In addition, at the time of the “hot” shootout, the soldiers were so engaged and focused on shooting that they were not watching out for an attack of cavalry from the flank.
For these reasons, experienced officers tried to avoid such uncertain exchanges and restrained their soldiers from premature firing in order to get as close to the enemy’s line as possible so that they could deliver several devastating volleys at a short distance.
Against surrounding enemy cavalry, line infantry could swiftly adopt square formations to provide protection.
Troops in skirmish formation, though able to take cover and use initiative, were highly vulnerable to cavalry and could not hold ground against advancing infantry columns.
Movement in line formation was slow, and unless the battalion was superbly trained, a breakdown in cohesion was assured, especially in uneven or wooded terrain.
Musketeers and grenadiers, formerly elite troops, gradually became part of the line infantry, switching to linear tactics.
For this reason and others, matchlock muskets began to be replaced by lighter and cheaper infantry fusils with flintlocks, weighing 5 kg (11 lb) with a caliber of 17.5 mm (0.69 in), first in France and then in other countries.
Both muskets and fusils were smoothbore, which lessened their accuracy and range, but made for faster loading, lesser amount of bore fouling and more robust, less complicated firearms.
It should be borne in mind that ordinary linear infantrymen were poorly trained in aimed shooting, due to the expense of gunpowder and lead (modern reenactors achieve much better results by firing smooth-bore muskets).
Initially, soldiers equipped with firearms formed only a small part of the infantry branch of most armies, because of their vulnerability to hostile cavalry.
However, by the middle of the 17th century, musketeers deployed in line formation already provided about half of the foot troops in most Western European armies.
Maurice of Nassau was noted as the first large scale user of linear tactic in Europe, introducing the 'counter-march' to enable his formations of musketeers to maintain a continuous fire.
Since the late 18th century, light infantry in most European countries mostly consisted of riflemen (such as the German Jäger), armed with rifled carbines and trained in aimed shooting and use of defilades.
[14] Only part of the Russian light infantry were equipped with the M1854 rifle, the remainder retaining smoothbore percussion muskets.
In the American Civil War, both Union and Confederate armies had only a few line regiments equipped with the old-style smooth-bore muskets.
This was common practice in all conventional Western armies until the late 19th century, as infantry tactics and military thinking had yet to catch up with technological developments.
In Russia, Great Britain, France, Prussia, and some other states, linear tactics and formation discipline were maintained into the late 19th century.
The Minié ball, an improved rifle ammunition, allowed individual infantrymen to shoot more accurately and over greatly increased range.
The growing accuracy, range, and rate of fire of rifles, together with the invention of the Maxim machine gun in 1883, meant that close order line infantry would suffer heavy losses before being able to close with the enemy, while the defensive advantages given to line infantry against cavalry became irrelevant with the effective removal of offensive cavalry from the battlefield in the face of the improved weaponry.
Although linear battle tactics had become obsolete by the second half of the nineteenth century, regiments in several European armies retained the "line infantry" (or cavalry) title.
[19]The British Army retains the traditional distinction between "Guards", "Line Infantry" and "the Rifles" on ceremonial occasions for historical reasons.
