Musketeers

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Musketeer from the Württemberg Musketeer Battalion by Mylius (1799; color plate by Richard Knötel)
Inspection of the French Musketeers of the Guard . Oil painting Revue des mousquetaires from 1729.
A typical musket of the 18th century, here a Brown-Bess with bayonet .

The Musketeers ( pronunciation : [ -ketiːr ], the French mousquetaire , pl. Mousquetaires ; Latin: (miles) sclopetarius ) were a branch of service of the infantry , originally with muskets was armed. This eponymous weapon appeared in the course of the 16th century and was the main armament of the line infantry until the middle of the 19th century . Even after the musket was replaced by the needle gun , the term musketeer remained in Germany until the First World War . He is still best known today for the novel The Three Musketeers and its film adaptations .

Come up

The musket was first mentioned in Spain in 1567. The origin of the word is disputed. The word is derived either from the Italian moschetto ('sparrowhawk') or from the Spanish term mosca ('spark').

The significantly larger caliber compared to the arquebus gave the musket enormous penetrating power for the time. This ballistic advantage distinguished them especially in the fight against armor and highly armed opponents. Compared to the arquebus, it shot twice the weight of the bullet; at the beginning around 60 grams per shot. Because of its weight of mostly more than 10 kilograms and its length of 1.70 meters, it was supported on a fork. The mercenaries used their swords for close defense, and later also the bayonet .

Development in Europe

Late 16th century

The French kings recognized the potential of the "armor breakers" early on and led under Charles IX. the new weapon in the army. Henry IV raised new regiments and equipped almost half of the French soldiers with rifles.

All major European powers soon followed suit. A process of displacement began in the troops, in which bows , crossbows and other now outdated war material were given up in favor of the new firearms. Because of the firearms, the cavalrymen received heavier armor, although this could be compensated for by larger ammunition and the costs were negligible in contrast to the expensive processing of the armor.

17th century

Musketeers and pikemen from the time of the Thirty Years War ( Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Vienna)
Musketeer with the “fork” in hand. From the beginning of the Thirty Years War

The regents in the Thirty Years' War were primarily used for the new soldiers . This new type of warfare with large army units, mercenaries and a large number of poorly equipped troops also reduced the caliber of the rifles to around 30 grams, as it was no longer necessary to penetrate thick armor. The result was lighter firearms at lower manufacturing prices. In addition, the dragoons appeared on the battlefields : mounted infantrymen with pikes or muskets as light cavalry at low cost.

Louis XIII established the Musketeers of the Guard in France in 1622 as part of his household troops . Although mounted infantry were commonly referred to as dragoons , these mounted musketeers retained their name even though they became real cavalry over time.

The new flintlock musket surpassed their predecessors with matchlock of reliability and rate of fire, she repressed this after the Thirty Years War and was introduced in Europe at the beginning of the War of Succession.

18th century

In France, the new type of musket was no longer referred to as mousquet , but as fusil, and the line infantry was accordingly renamed fusiliers . In Prussia, the old name was retained for the weapon and the bearer, fusiliers were later only a few regiments of the line infantry that were newly established under Frederick the Great , and after his death a light infantry that was located between the hunter troops and the line infantry .

19. and. 20th century

Musketeers of the 1st and 2nd West Prussian Infantry Regiments (Prussia 1813; color plate by Richard Knötel)

In the Wars of Liberation, the distinction between fusiliers, grenadiers and musketeers in Prussia was blurred. Mission and equipment were largely identical, differences were found in the details of the uniform. Even after the musket was replaced by the needle gun, the name musketeer was retained as the simplest rank among the majority of the line infantry until the First World War .

Tactical role

Musketeers were initially used as inexpensive "tank breakers" against the knight armies. The more the warfare changed, the more complicated their formations became. The musketeer companies were grouped into battalions and regiments and marched in the largest possible closed formations on the battlefield. The aim was to eliminate the inaccuracy of the individual muskets by increasing the number of hits by volleying entire units. However, in order to be able to act accurately and precisely in these tactical units, the musketeers / fusiliers were practiced sharply so that the volley fire could take place as quickly as possible and at the same time (see enfilade (military) and counter march ).

Initially, all units equipped with muskets formed closed units that fired their volleys row by row, but this changed in the 17th century and new branches of troops were created, the so-called hunters , the latter with rifled muzzle-loaders with a shorter barrel , that is, sniper rifles, were equipped. In contrast to the infantry, these hunters began to swarm out into the terrain and seek cover or to entrench themselves. They thus represented the forerunners of the infantry of the 20th century.

The advantage over archers and other branches of the armed forces were the easy handling and light construction of the weapon, its low purchase price and its manufacture from readily available materials. The disadvantages lay in the long loading time: Even an experienced musketeer could only shoot two to three bullets per minute. Further disadvantages were the cheap, unreliable matchlock and the large dispersion of the shots due to the smooth barrel, which did not give the bullet a twist-supported guide. The introduction of the flintlocks improved the independence from the weather to a limited extent; muskets were still useless in heavy rain ( Battle of Dresden 1813). At a distance of 50 meters only a hit accuracy of 60 percent was achieved, later also at a distance of 75 meters.

Bullet tongs (in the weapon museum Suhl )

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Musketeers  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Musketeers  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Musketier - English translation in English - Langenscheidt dictionary German-English. Retrieved January 26, 2019 .