Rifleman - History

History

As the effectiveness of firearms increased, the balance of these pike-and-musket units shifted, until the pikes were supporting the muskets. The last pike regiments were dissolved by the 1720s with the invention of the bayonet. This innovation replaced the pike, and in effect converted the musket into a pike for those situations where it might still be useful, such as following up volleys with a charge, or defending against cavalry.

Smooth-bore weapons such as the musket had always been recognised as inaccurate, requiring massed volleys to be effective. Aimed fire, with targets individually chosen and fired upon on the initiative of the soldier, was not possible until the development of rifling in the barrel. This imparted spin to the bullet, greatly increasing the 'trueness' of the trajectory, rather than the randomness of a musket ball that actually 'bounced' down the barrel. Rifles, although deadly accurate, were disadvantaged by being very slow to reload. This meant that the soldiers chosen for this role needed to be resilient, brave and resourceful, as well as being good shots. Trained to act in teams of two, each defending the other while they re-loaded, they were still vulnerable, especially to cavalry, trained as they were to fight in isolated and dispersed groups rather than as a mass that could present a solid wall of bayonets. These factors—the time and expense required in training, the limited number of suitable recruits, and the specialised roles and situations where they were most effective—meant they were highly prized, given special privileges, and 'husbanded' rather than squandered. They were, in essence, an élite.

Units of 'Rifles' reached their heyday up to and including the Napoleonic Wars, with the British riflemen (partially derived from units of colonial militia; see Rogers' Rangers or the Royal Americans) truly excelling in the American War of Independence. Regular units of Rifles were formed in the British Army in 1800 (the 60th Regiment of Foot and the 95th Regiment of Foot). From around 1840, with the advent of the first military breech-loading rifles, the weapon entered an age of industrialised warfare, where it was mass-produced and accessible to all infantrymen. Much faster and simpler to load, able to be used while prone, impossible to be double-loaded after a misfire; the high level of training and highly specialised roles gave way to generality. The term 'rifleman', once used solely as a mark of distinction and pride, became a commonplace description of all soldiers, no matter what their actual status was. Nevertheless the term still retained a certain élan, that is still found today.