Jean Martinet (officer)

Jean Martinet († 1672 near Duisburg ) was a French officer who was known in the army of Louis XIV as a strict drill master, reformer and inspector general of the infantry .

Martinet was Lieutenant-Colonel in the Régiment du Roi , which was formed in 1663 on the initiative of Michel Le Tellier and his son Louvois to create a model of discipline for the French army. Little is known about Martinet's previous career. He was appointed Inspector General of the Infantry in 1668 and, on behalf of War Minister Louvois, introduced strict discipline and a standardized order into the French infantry, which made him very unpopular with soldiers and officers, but considerably strengthened the army's clout. Back then it was customary for nobles to buy posts in the army, each following their own ideas of discipline and training. They themselves mostly had little knowledge of the military profession and the army was therefore dominated by mercenaries. Martinet professionalized and standardized the army. He was an early advocate of the bayonet (instead of the pikes still common at the time), first used on a larger scale on the battlefield in the Dutch War from 1672 to 1678 on the French side. Some also attribute to him the invention of the spout bayonet around 1688, which was placed in such a way that the musket could still fire, but it is usually attributed to Vauban . In his advocacy of bayonet attacks as a general tactic, however, he could not prevail at Louvois. He also promoted the use of grenadiers in attacks and is said to have invented portable bridges.

Martinet let the soldiers practice maneuvers and drill incessantly (especially the fast reloading of the muzzle-loaders at that time, especially under enemy fire, was complicated and required constant drill) and set up a system of storage depots so that the army no longer had to rely on foraging with the respective population. He did not accept contradiction from his subordinates and severely punished even the smallest carelessness. The soldiers drilled under his command impressed Louis XIV so much that he ordered that nobles who wanted to buy an officer license with their own command had to serve in a unit under Martinet beforehand.

He fell from artillery fire from his own side, while he led an attack during the siege of Duisburg in 1672. It has never been determined whether the bombardment was accidental or deliberate. Since a Swiss officer named Soury also fell next to him, the saying arose that Louis XIV only lost a small bird ( martinet means sailor or swallow in French) and a mouse ( Souris ) in Duisburg .

In French, a whip is named after him ( martinet ), and in English and French, this is the name given to people who use such means to maintain strict discipline. Originally the English used martinet as a mockery of the rigid disciplinary methods in France, but when they proved effective on the battlefields they were introduced in other armies as well.

literature

• Cathal J. Nolan Wars in the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715 , Greenwood Press 2008, entry Martinet

Individual evidence

1. ^ Graeme Donald Sticklers, Sideburns and Bikinis. The military origin of everyday words and phrases , 2013