From Flintlock to Rifle

by Steven T. Ross

This is a comprehensive study of the major changes in infantry tacticts from the time of Frederick the Great to the beginning of what many see as the era of modern war, in the 1860s. Ross lays social and political change side by side with technical change. He argues that the French revolution, due to the fervour and loyalty it inspired in its participants, led to huge citizen armies of devolved command which were able to make use of new tactics that swept the poorly paid and poorly treated professional armies of their enemies from the field. Shortly after the Napoleonic wars other European countries experienced similar social change and by the middle of the Nineteenth Century these massive conscript armies were equipped with breech-loading rifles and more powerful artillery. The battlefield of the late 1860's had become a place where close infantry formations could not survive for long in the linear formations of the past.

228 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1979

About the author

Stephen Thomas Ross taught at the United States Naval War College, where he held the William V. Pratt Chair in Military History. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College, Ross earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University and taught at the University of Nebraska and the University of Texas before taking up his position at the Naval War College, Ross also worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency as a military analyst and was a scholar-in-residence at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Reviews

[Sebastian Calderon · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars
Dull writing and poor figures made this a hard read. The content itself was interesting for the most part but I think I was expecting something more robust in terms of detail - albeit this might just be me wanting to read more military flintlock fantasy.

Still, some interesting facts and tidbits in here.

[Sean Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a synthesis of previous works dealing with infantry tactics from Frederick and Maurice until the Prussia victory at Königgrätz. Europe went from tactical stagnation followed by reform and then a new "normal" that was shattered by the advent of rifles (which is thoroughly disputed today) and the repeater (which is really when warfare changed). Some details are off and the grand tactical maps are so bad as to be worthless. Still, this is the best introduction I know of to this arcane subject: tactics in the age of horse and musket.