Early History
The concept of barrier troops dates from the earliest days of land warfare, when more experienced troops were regularly placed behind raw recruits to prevent panic and to provide a reserve if needed to stop an enemy advance. Roman legions were regularly backstopped by experienced triarii legionaries of many years' service.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the losses due to troops deserting battle were regularly greater than the losses resulting from combat. Since desertion was relatively easy in that era, the use of barrier troops enabled commanders to retain cohesive fighting units during the course of a long campaign.
Read more about this topic: Barrier Troops
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)
“Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God’s property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)