From Flintlock to Rifle: Infantry Tactics, 1740-1866

By Steven T. Ross

Book Overview

This is a comprehensive study of the major changes in infantry tacticts from the time of Frederick the Great to the beginning of what many see as the era of modern war, in the 1860s. Ross lays social and political change side by side with technical change. He argues that the French revolution, due to the fervour and loyalty it inspired in its participants, led to huge citizen armies of devolved command which were able to make use of new tactics that swept the poorly paid and poorly treated professional armies of their enemies from the field. Shortly after the Napoleonic wars other European countries experienced similar social change and by the middle of the Nineteenth Century these massive conscript armies were equipped with breech-loading rifles and more powerful artillery. The battlefield of the late 1860's had become a place where close infantry formations could not survive for long in the linear formations of the past.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0714641936
• ISBN13: 9780714641935
• Release Date: February 1996
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 218 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Dated But Useful

As it was printed in the late 1970s, Steven Ross's well written book, covering from 1740 to 1866, is now somewhat dated but still interesting and useful. It is flawed in some of its conclusions, and it neglects issues of weapons effectiveness as well as the psychological features of battle in favor of an almost exclusive focus on formations and other 'nuts and bolts' issues. Use of columns for maneuver and attack are well covered as are the the use of skirmishers and changes in doctrine of various Western armies over time. The author gives many examples from battles of the era. So this book is a good introduction to tactics of the era but understandably shouldn't be taken as the 'be all end all' on the subject. It is best read in combination with Nosworthy's and Muir's more recent books for a fuller, more accurate view.