I just don't know if I'm clear on the theoretical framework for post 1789 warfare.Įarly modern warfare was generally conducted scientifically, but I don't know of any evidence that this was in reaction to the Thirty Years War. The enemies of Napoleon used it until they were utterly defeated, and as the British were never properly defeated by Napoleon, they still used fire by rank up into 1815.
However this would fall out with Revolution, with mass conscription there would be little precision, yet far more elan.Īs such, this doesn't mean that it was all gone by 1815. As such, soldiers were pushed to be a machine to reign in the excessive destruction of the 30 Years War. Military science and theory at the time saw warfare as something that could be quantified and qualified, something that could benefit from the Enlightenment ideology of order.
As I mentioned, soldiers were trained to be mechanical, precise. Now they fought for France and their families, the purpose of war changed from being a tool of Monarchs to that of self defense and liberation.įinally, the thought changed. With the French Revolution, corporal punishment was largely pushed out of the French army, allowing men to have a bit more relaxation and with the rise of large armies, there was little to no point in training men to be mechanical beings. This was able to be achieved through use of force, coercison, and the fact that armies rarely were larger than sixty thousand men (as armies were funded by the State, it is a burden and thus wouldn't be overly large). With these men being raised by the state and effectively held there through the use of extreme measures, men were shipped (sometimes literally) into an almost mechanical being that marched, reloaded, and fired with extreme precision. As such, the state raises and maintains armies, which often were pulled from commoners with a sense of adventure or the dregs of society. Warfare is waged for Kings, not the people. Dynastic warfare, the type of socio-political means of solving problems of the state through warfare as war and the state are tied together most during this time period. So, Napoleonic warfare is much different than linear or (in the broader sense) dynastic warfare. Further the Napoleonic era shows a return to decisive combat where armies would clash in a big, climatic battle which would determine the fate of their nations. The Napoleonic Era (which can be shouldn't be used as a blanket term for the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era) does see soldiers fighting in lines but only after movement. The linear aspect refers to the uncreative and simple tactics involved which rarely involve maneuver. Linear Tactics refer to a system of military combat where an army revolves around the linear aspect of the line, creating one long, unbroken line which the enemy mirrors. Rather than reiterate what he said, I would like to,build upon it and add a few comments on other things you said.įirst to just clarify something. I would like to thank /u/TRB1783 for the shout out and the information he gave. Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. May 25th | Panel AMA with /r/AskBibleScholars Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing. Report Comments That Break Reddiquette or the Subreddit Rules. Serious On-Topic Comments Only: No Jokes, Anecdotes, Clutter, or other Digressions.
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