Proportions of the Arms

CAVALRY AND INFANTRY

In the sixteenth century the Horse outnumbered the Foot, but in the Thirty Years’ War they were roughly equal. In the English Civil War, and later in the seventeenth century, the Infantry began to outnumber the Cavalry, and in the eighteenth century the proportion of Foot to Horse rose, till it was in the proportion of 3, or even 4 to 1, and in the Napoleonic Wars, of 6 or 8 to 1.

In the nineteenth century, when armies became much larger, the proportion of Infantry to Cavalry increased still more, owing to the expense of the latter Arm, and the longer training it needed, till in 1870 it was 10 to 1 in the French Army, and 13 to 1 in the German. It is still 13 to 1 in the German Army, but only 16 to 1 in the French.

GUNS AND INFANTRY

The number of guns was small till the close of the seventeenth century; in the armies of Maurice it was 1 gun to 1,000 Infantry, a proportion which Gustavus raised considerably. In Marlborough’s army it was over 3 per 1,000. The number of guns to 1,000 Infantry rose during the eighteenth century, till it became 4 or even 5 in the later armies of Frederick the Great; but it was only 3 or 4 in the larger armies of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1866 there were 6 guns per 1,000 Infantry in the Austrian Army, and 5 in the Prussian; in 1870, 3 to 4 guns in the German Army, and 3 in the French. There are at present 6 guns per 1,000 Infantry in the German Army, and slightly more in the British, but rather less in the other armies.