Battalions
The Battalion has, from the fifteenth century onwards, always been the fighting unit of Infantry. Battalion—French Bataillon—is in Italian Battaglione (battaglia, or battle array).
In the early sixteenth century, when the Company was only an administrative unit, the Battaglie were its tactical subdivisions, and formed small units fighting separately. Hence Battaglione, “the great battaglia,” was the name given to a large fighting unit and consisting of a mass comprising several Regiments and some thousands of men. This “Battalion” was gradually diminished in size, to meet changes in tactics which demanded a more flexible formation for mobility, and a smaller target, less vulnerable to the rude artillery of the day. The experience of the more successful leaders pointed eventually to forming a Battalion of a few hundred men, so that two or three could be furnished by a Regiment, instead of forming a huge Battalion of several Regiments. The fact that sometimes the Regiment formed only one Battalion accounts for the constant confusion between the two terms, and their indiscriminate use even to-day.