Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Army

ARMY, the national militia of a country. The organization of an army is of two kinds—tactical and administrative. The former enables the leader of an army to transmit his orders to three or four subordinate commanders, who pass them on, the latter deals with the paying, feeding, clothing, arming and transportation of the military forces.

Ancient Armies.—The earliest regular military organization is attributed to Sesostris, who flourished in Egypt about 16 centuries B. C. This extraordinary conqueror divided Egypt into 36 military provinces, and established a sort of militia or warrior caste. With this army he overran Asia as far as India, and from the Ganges to the Caspian. After him little further progress was made in military art until the Persian empire rose. Its soldiers introduced the mass formation, with cavalry in intervals of squares; but the most important feature of the Persian organization was the establishment of what was practically a standing army, apportioned as garrisons throughout the conquered provinces, and under the control of military governors distinct from the satraps. In Greece it was not a standing army, but a sort of national militia, that gained Marathon, Platæa, and Mycale. The Lacedemonians invented the famous phalanx, a particular mass formation for foot-soldiers; and to this the Athenians added lighter troops to cover the front and harass the enemy in march. The Thebans introduced the column formation, which, being deeper and narrower than the phalanx, was intended to pierce the enemy's line at some point and throw them into confusion. Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, established, in Macedonia, the world's second standing-army. He brought into use the Macedonian pike, a formidable weapon 24 feet in length. About 200 B. C. every Roman from the age of 17 to 46 was liable to be called upon to serve as a soldier. The Roman legion, in its best days, excelled all other troops alike in discipline and in esprit. With a gradual laxity in discipline the decline of the Roman power commenced.

Medieval Armies.—With the decline of the Roman power all that remained of scientific warfare was lost for a time. The Northern invaders made little use of tactics, but relied chiefly on their personal bravery. The conquerors of the Roman Empire at first recognized no superior save the community, of which all conquests were the property. What all had aided to acquire all demanded equally to share. Hence arose a division of the conquered territory, individual chiefs rewarding their own followers with gifts of the land they had helped to conquer. The growth of a feeling that such gifts could be revoked, and that they implied an obligation to future service, marks the beginning of the feudal system, under which national armies disappeared, and each baron had a small army composed of his own retainers, available for battle at short notice. The contest of these small armies, sometimes combined and sometimes isolated, make up the greater part of the military annals of the Middle Ages. From this period dates the modern recognition of the importance of an army which under the franchise extended to the towns, and the superiority of which, since the overthrow of the Burgundian chivalry by Swiss infantry, in the three disastrous battles of 1476-1477, has never been disputed. The invention of gunpowder affected much less change during the Middle Ages than is generally supposed. The art of making good cannon and handguns grew up gradually, like other arts; and armies long continued to depend principally on the older weapons, spears, darts, arrows, axes, maces, swords and daggers. As to army formation, there was still little that could deserve the name; there was no particular order of battle.

Modern Armies.—The Turkish Janizaries, the earliest standing army in Europe, were fully organized in 1632; but the formation of standing armies among Western Powers dates from the establishment of compagnies d'ordonnance by Charles VII., of France, nearly a century later. These companies of men-at-arms amounted, with their attendants, to 9,000 men; to whom the King afterward added 16,000 franc-archers. The superiority of such a force over militia forced its adoption on the surrounding states. Between the beginning of the 16th and the end of the 18th centuries the proportion of musketeers gradually increased; the pike was abandoned for the bayonet. The improvement in weapons naturally effected the formation. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein adopted opposite modes of dealing with masses of infantry; the former spread them out to a great width, and only six ranks in depth, whereas the latter adopted a narrower front with a depth of 20 or 30 ranks. In Louis XIV.'s reign the prolonged wars introduced the larger grouping in brigades and divisions. Frederick the Great, in the next century, reduced the depth of his infantry formation to three ranks, and introduced a most rigid and exact system of tactics and drill, so that when able to maneuver he nearly always won his battles. The French Revolution effected almost as great changes in the military as in the political organization of Europe. In 1798, a law was passed establishing compulsory military service. Every citizen was liable to five years' service, and all between the ages of 20 and 25 were enrolled. The immense advantage which this terrible power gave Napoleon compelled other nations to follow the example of France, and in Europe voluntary enlistment has since survived in England alone. Great Britain organized and developed mounted infantry which were used effectively in the Boer War and in the World War (1914-1918). They were employed by the United States in Indian and Philippine campaigns, but it was only as a temporary expedient. It may be interesting here to mention certain distinctions in the application of the word army. A covering army is encamped for the protection of the different passes or roads which lead to the town or other place to be protected. A siege army is ranged around or in front of a fortified place, to capture it by a regular process of besieging. A blockading army, either independent of, or auxiliary to, a siege army, is intended to prevent all ingress and egress at the streets or gates of a besieged place. An army of observation takes up an advanced position, and by celerity of movement keeps a close watch on all the maneuvers of the enemy. An army of reconnaissance has a more special duty at a particular time and place, to ascertain the strength and position of the enemy's forces. A flying column is a small army carrying all its supplies with it, so as to be able to operate quickly and in any direction, independently of its original base of operations.

Source: Collier's New Encyclopedia 1. (1921) New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company. 266-267.