A regiment is a title used by some military units. The size of a regiment varies markedly, depending on the country and the arm of service.
Historically, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a full-strength regiment was typically supposed to be a thousand men, and was commanded by a colonel.
Today, there is no set size for a unit calling itself a "regiment", which may be:
- Less than a battalion-equivalent, e.g. Regiment of Life Guards
- A battalion-equivalent, e.g. 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment
- A number of battalions (or equivalents, such as US squadrons) e.g. Royal Regiment of Scotland, 2nd Infantry Regiment (United States)
- An entire arm of service; In several commonwealth countries, the entire artillery arm is often titled "regiment" (e.g. the Regiment of Artillery), and may then be sub-divided into "field regiments".
Read more about Regiment: Historical Origin, Regimental System, Commonwealth Armies, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, Russian Army, Irish Army
Famous quotes containing the word regiment:
“With two thousand years of Christianity behind him ... a man can’t see a regiment of soldiers march past without going off the deep end. It starts off far too many ideas in his head.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)
“What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“We had an inspection today of the brigade. The Twenty-third was pronounced the crack regiment in appearance, ... [but] I could see only six to ten in a company of the old men. They all smiled as I rode by. But as I passed away I couldn’t help dropping a few natural tears. I felt as I did when I saw them mustered in at Camp Chase.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)