Fusilier - History

History

Various forms of flintlock small arms had been used in warfare since the middle of the 16th century. At the time of the English civil war (1642–1652) the term firelock was usually employed to distinguish these weapons from the more common matchlock musket.

The firelock was especially valuable to 17th century armies because it was unsafe to use lighted matches close to the open powder barrels then used by artillery. A military escort was required, not only for protection, but also to keep order among the civilian artillery drivers. Companies using firelocks were organized for these duties, and out of these companies grew the fusiliers who were employed in the same way in the wars of Louis XIV. By the latter part of the Thirty Years' War fusiliers were simply soldiers armed with the fusil, as carabiniers were with the carbine. The French Royal Fusiliers regiment, organized in 1671 by Vauban, was considered the model for Europe.

The general adoption of the flintlock musket and the decline of the pike in the armies of Europe caused an end to the original special duties of fusiliers. They became employed to a large extent in light infantry work, perhaps because of the greater individual aptitude for detached duties naturally shown by soldiers who had never been restricted to a fixed and unchangeable place in the line of battle.