ORGANIZATION IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES
THE “NEW MODEL” ARMY
The Swedish Army under Gustavus proved so effective and successful in
the Thirty Years’ War that it became the model for the organization
common to all armies during the seventeenth century, which may be
well studied by British soldiers in the “New Model” Army, raised in
the Civil War on Cromwell’s suggestion. This army, perhaps the best
disciplined and most effective the world has ever seen since Roman
times, was never beaten during its many campaigns. The “New Model”
is the true ancestor of the British Army, which has proved itself
not unworthy of its descent. We still wear the red coat common in
Cromwell’s army, and have its organization and military terms in use
to-day. Marlborough’s army was practically the same as the New Model
Army, only with bayonets for pikes, and flint locks for match locks.
The New Model Army was organized much like the armies of Maurice and
Gustavus. It was composed as follows:
The Horse were formed in 11 Regiments of 600 men each, with 6 Troops.
The Foot were in 12 Regiments of 1,200 men, each with 10 Companies. The
Dragoons, which were practically Mounted Infantry, formed one Regiment
of 1,000, in 10 Companies. Regiments had been formed in England after
1618. The Colonel had a Company of his own, and, as he could not
command it himself as well as the Regiment, it was commanded by the
Lieutenant, who was therefore styled _Lieutenant of the Colonel_, or
Lieutenant-Colonel. That officer’s connection with the Commanding
Officer caused him to be of such importance that his position was
that of Second-in-Command of the Regiment, and he eventually became
the Commanding Officer, as he is to-day. In the Horse, the Colonel
had, similarly, a Troop, which was commanded by the Lieutenant, who
ranked as Junior Captain, and was called _Captain-Lieutenant_. Horse
Regiments had thus no Lieutenant-Colonel, and Cavalry Regiments have no
Second-in-Command in any army to-day.
All Regiments had a _Major_ (originally the _Sergeant-Major_), whose
duties were those of our Adjutant. The latter officer was introduced
after the Restoration in 1660, to perform the duties of the Major, who
had become Second-in-Command, owing to the Lieutenant-Colonel having
become Commanding Officer. Like the Colonel, the Lieutenant-Colonel and
Major had each a Company of their own to provide their emoluments, and
these were stronger than those of ordinary Captains, so as to bring in
more pay to the senior officers.
Each Regiment had a _Provost-Marshal_ to enforce discipline, a
_Surgeon_, and a _Chaplain_, and Infantry had a _Quarter-Master_ and a
_Drum-Major_.
The Troops of Cavalry had four Officers--_Captain_, _Lieutenant_,
_Cornet_, _Quarter-Master_--and three _Corporals_ and three
_Trumpeters_. There were no Sergeants of Horse, so that even to-day
in the Household Cavalry the word Corporal-Major is used instead of
Sergeant-Major.
The Infantry Companies had three Officers--_Captain_,
_Lieutenant_, _Ensign_--and two _Sergeants_, three _Corporals_, a
_Quarter-Master-Sergeant_, and two _Drummers_.
The Artillery was at this time of little account. The lighter guns--
3-to 6-pounders--were attached in pairs to each Regiment, like our
Machine Guns to-day. This practice survived during the eighteenth
century. The heavier guns--9- to 12-pounders--with a few larger
ones up to 20-pounders, were drawn by teams of horses or oxen,
driven by civilians on foot. They formed, with the wagons carrying
ammunition both for guns and match locks, the _Train_, controlled
by the _Waggon-Master-General_. Each gun was served by a _Master
Gunner_ and two _Under-Cannoneers_, while the train was managed by
_Waggon-Masters_, assisted by _Furriers_ (French _Fouriers_) and
clerks, and a number of artificers of all sorts.
The Head-Quarters of the Army consisted of a _General_ as C.-in-C.,
with a Second-in-Command, naturally called the _Lieutenant-General_,
who commanded the principal Arm--the Cavalry. There was a
_Sergeant-Major-General_ who commanded the Infantry, and was, as his
name implies, the Chief Staff Officer of the Commander-in-Chief, as the
Sergeant-Major was the Staff Officer of the Colonel of a Regiment. In
these titles the Sergeant has long been dropped, and the (_Sergeant_)
_Major-General_ is still, as in the “New Model,” the junior rank of
General Officer. A _Master-General of the Ordnance_ controlled the
Artillery, Engineers, and Train.
The two Generals of Horse and Foot had each a Staff, consisting of an
_Adjutant-General_ and a _Quarter-Master-General_. Under the _Master
of the Ordnance_ there were a _Comptroller of the Ordnance_, and an
_Engineer-General_ with several assistant Engineers, but no men.
The list of Administrative Officers on the Head-Quarters Staff is
interesting, as showing the antiquity of many of our military titles:
The Judge-Advocate-General.
Two Provost-Marshals-General--one for the Horse, one for the Foot.
The Commissary-General of Victuals.
The Commissary-General of Horse Provisions.
The Waggon-Master-General, in charge of Train and baggage.
Medical Officers.
The Chaplain to the Army.
Two Treasurers-at-War (or Paymasters).
The Muster-Master-General.
The Scout-Master-General, who was what we should call the Chief
Intelligence Officer; he had two Assistants and twenty Scouts.
THE ARMIES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century the Armies of
Europe much resembled those of the seventeenth, of which the “New
Model,” just described, is an example. They were formed of a number of
Regiments of Cavalry, and separate Battalions, or at most Brigades,
of Infantry, accompanied by a long train of guns and motley wagons
carrying food and baggage. These were drawn by teams of oxen and horses
hired in the country, driven by wagoners on foot.
There was no grouping of the units of the army into larger
organizations, except on the battlefield, when fractions of the battle
array were sometimes temporarily placed under a named Commander. The
whole army marched, camped, and fought as one body, covering but
little ground compared with the armies of to-day, owing to its smaller
numbers. It was thus always under the eye of the Commander, whether on
the march, in camp, or in battle.
The march columns were shortened, when possible, by moving the Infantry
in column of sections down the broader roads, or even in battalion
column across the open fields alongside. At night, to prevent desertion
and marauding, billets were never used, and bivouacs seldom, but the
army lay concentrated in a formal camp in order of battle, so that it
could, without delay, form up in front of the camp ready for the combat.
In battle, the disposition of the army was in two lines of Infantry,
among which some of the lighter guns were dispersed in pairs, while the
heavier ones were massed on the wings and at the centre. The Cavalry
were on each flank. The wagon train was parked in rear under a strong
escort for its protection against marauding cavalry. The marshalling
of the army in due precedence of each unit, and placing the army in
correct position without overlapping or crooked lines, was a delicate
process, which would often take hours to perform.
Whether in camp, or in battle, each of the Regiments was separate and
unconnected, and each received its Orders direct from the Commander,
who himself personally watched their execution. He thus _commanded_
in the strictest sense, and needed little assistance from his Staff
Officers, who were chiefly used to gallop to the troops with his Orders.
The above gives a picture of the earliest regular armies in Europe,
such as those commanded by Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Marlborough, and
Frederick the Great. The latter, however, introduced, during his long
wars, several improvements in his army, which became, during the Seven
Years’ War, the model of Europe owing to its extraordinary success,
opposed though it was to the larger but inferior armies of Austria,
Russia, and France. Some of the details of Frederick’s organization
have been mentioned in previous pages dealing with each Arm.
Frederick himself generally acted against the two first-mentioned
enemies, and detached a very able General, Ferdinand of Brunswick, to
oppose the French. Ferdinand had under his command an allied force,
formed of small separate armies of all Arms, provided by Prussia,
Britain, Holland, Brunswick, and Hesse. These remained under their own
Commanders, and were virtually what were later known as _Divisions_.
In Frederick’s army the only trace of higher organization is found in
his dividing the whole for battle into two Wings and a body of Cavalry,
and allotting separate Commanders to each portion. In this, we perhaps
find the germ of the Army Corps system adopted in the next century.
UNIFORM
Uniform, or clothing of a uniform pattern, was not customary till the
middle of the seventeenth century. It had been seen in the red coats
of selected troops which Henry VIII. brought in; but the historic red
coat was first given to the whole army by Cromwell, and continued
after the Restoration. Uniform was brought in by Louis XIV. later, and
its use spread everywhere. Gustavus had distinguished his Brigades by
coloured scarves. The English, fighting for Protestantism in aid of the
Netherlands against Spain, wore Orange and Blue scarves, whence perhaps
the adoption of one or other of these colours to represent the Whig
in English politics in the eighteenth century. Cromwell’s army wore an
Orange scarf, whence no doubt came the hue of Protestant Ireland, which
was to a great extent settled by his parliamentary soldiers.
MILITARY MUSIC
Music had long been used by soldiers, and was encouraged by Henry
VIII.; but marching in step to fife and drum was invented by the Swiss
in the fourteenth century, copied in the fifteenth by the Landsknechts,
and from them adopted in all armies. It is interesting to note that the
roll on the drum always heard before the band begins a march is the old
Landsknechts’ drum march.
FLAGS OR COLOURS
Flags were probably derived from the Knights’ Banner. They were used
as Standards by the Swiss, from whom the Reiters and Landsknechts
copied the custom, which was then universally adopted. Their varied
hues caused them to be styled _Colours_ in England during the reign
of Elizabeth. The flag was used not only to distinguish the combatant
sides, but also the different regiments, and the men were taught to
close and rally to it, and to associate with it ideals of duty and
self-sacrifice which still cling to the Colours to-day.
The flag was carried on a time-honoured system which became an art.
The various ways of waving and folding it were originally signals
for movements which the musicians looked to for guidance, so that the
flag-bearer in a sense led the music. The traditions and coquetries
of this art were gradually lost, and only survive in the pride of the
drum-major in the play of his staff, as he leads the drums at the head
of the regiment.