Goose Step - History

History

Like other march steps, the "Stechschritt" originated in the 18th century as a method to keep troops lined up properly as they advanced towards enemy lines. It was introduced into German military tradition by Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, a Field Marshal whose close attention to training transformed the Prussian infantry into one of the most formidable armed forces in Europe. Other armies adopted different march steps which served the same purpose: in the British Army, soldiers were trained to swing their arms in a wide arc to allow officers to keep the advancing line in order.

By the mid-19th century, the widespread replacement of muskets with rifles, with their greater range and accuracy, made the practice of marching forward into battle in precise formation obsolete. However, armed forces continued to drill recruits in marching techniques that now had only a ceremonial function. This was true in Prussia and the later German Empire, where the goose step became emblematic of military discipline and efficiency.

Read more about this topic:  Goose Step

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

    ... all big changes in human history have been arrived at slowly and through many compromises.
    Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)

    The History of the world is not the theatre of happiness. Periods of happiness are blank pages in it, for they are periods of harmony—periods when the antithesis is in abeyance.
    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)