Napoleonic Weaponry and Warfare - Firearms

Firearms

As for the infantry soldier himself, Napoleon primarily equipped his army with the Musket Model 1777 Charleville—a product of perfection from older designs and models. Used during the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, the Charleville was a .69- caliber, (sometimes .70 or .71) 5-foot-long (1.5 m), muzzle-loading, smoothbore musket. Properly trained French infantry were expected to be able to fire three volleys a minute. A trained soldier could hit a man sized target at 80 yards but anything further required an increasing amount of luck, the musket was wildly inaccurate at long range. French officers were usually armed with a .69 pistol as a secondary weapon to their sword. This still had to be muzzle loaded and fired with a flintlock before reloading. Besides guns, soldiers used a variety of swords, bayonets and pikes for close range, or melee combat. Cavalry, officers, sergeants and other higher-ranked officials mainly used swords, while the bayonets were equipped to the majority of infantry soldiers. Despite the fear they generated in opponents, bayonets were somewhat impractical and used as a last resort.

The cavalry and engineers of the army essentially carried the same musket as the infantry. At 10 inches shorter, the musketoon was less cumbersome, making it more suitable for the mobility that horseback riders required. Besides the usage of the shortened musketoons, the light-cavalry typically wielded curved sabers with a 33-inch blade (840 mm), and the heavy-cavalry, straight sabers with a 38-inch blade (970 mm). Both musketoon and sword provided the necessary carnage that Napoleon's cavalry dealt with their attacks.

Throughout the Napoleonic Wars rifles were also introduced into the battlefield. Rifles were substantially more accurate at a maximum range of 200 paces, because the barrel put spin on the bullet. Despite this advantage, rifles were more expensive and took longer to load—something Napoleon was not fond of and a reason why he did not incorporate them into his army. Instead, he settled for speed of the musket, as it allowed for his rapid maneuvers. The British did eventually utilize the rifle, which proved to be decisive in a number of battles Napoleon later faced.