What was combat like after the line volleys of the early colonial age, but before WWI? Such as the Crimiean and the Franco-Prussian Wars, did they experience the grusomeness of the First World War? don't imagine it would be all too fast, but not nearly as slow paced as the regimented firing line.
>>400953
Good question. The general answer is that many armies were having their fighting formations change to a loose skirmisher type, where the attackers would advance with a primitive form of fire and movement, where a section would have one half lay down covering fire while prone while the other half rushed forward towards the enemy entrenchments. Once the entire group was close enough to make a rush to the enemy's position, they would complete the covered movement with a bayonet assault.
Of course, the details different from different armies but that was the general idea.
Another thing to note that this was still done with command and control as primitive as the Napoleonic era. In skirmish formations infantry still had to remain relatively close together, in long ranks with subsequent ranks following one after the other, rather than small groupings of squads which characterize modern warfare and the “assault” infantry of the late World War I period.
>>400953
While (arguably) armies did sort out how to fight on battlefields dominated by black powder breechloaders, by the 1900s the emergence of smokeless powder presented a new challenge for tacticians right through the Great War, as shown in this graphic (1):
>>401059
(2)
>>401079
Yep, a "combat" series book actually:
http://www.amazon.com/German-Infantryman-Russian-1914-15-Combat/dp/1472806549
>>400953
Kind of related: was cavalry at all effective during this era?
It seems they were still the fastest thing around before mobilized warfare, but I can't see cavalry standing up to the pace of fire
>>401093
Most people will agree that cavalry was obsolete for one of its traditional roles: the mounted charge. However, until viable large-scale motorization and mechanization was possible (after the 1920s), armies still needed cavalry for high-mobility activities like recon, formation screening, deep raiding, and exploitation. For example, during the Romanian campaign of 1916 Central Powers cavalry was important in the corps and army level on the offensive
>>401127
From "Prelude to Blitzkrieg: The 1916 Austro-German Campaign in Romania"
>Therefore, [Erich von Falkenhayn] took the risk of leaving the flanks of his major units exposed in order to advance as rapidly as possible into the enemy rear. He relied on the mobility and speed of his infantry and cavalry to throw the Romanians off balance. He employed his cavalry to screen the advance and to seize river crossings. Both cavalry and aircraft were used for reconnaissance, with the cavalry being especially useful when weather grounded the planes. Accompanied by mobile artillery, armored cars, and infantry on bicycles, and in constant contact with the 9th Army headquarters via portable radios, the combined arms team proved unstoppable. Von Schmettow’s cavalry used a leapfrog technique to bypass resistance in order to keep moving.
>>400979
Where do I find other diagrams like this?
>>401155
In various military and military history books. That one was from "Bayonets Before Bullets: The Imperial Russian Army, 1861-1914". This one I'm posting is from "The Great War Dawning".
>>400953
>did they experience the grusomeness of the First World War?
More or less. Nothing before it ever really had the scale though. The Russo-Japanese War, Boer War, and Spanish-American War in particular all had many of the technologies that made WWI what it was.
IIRC they still did a form of line combat, but the lines became very wide and thin.
>>401286
Did the Russo-Japanese war have land combat? I was under the impression it was a purely naval conflict.
>>401441
>Did the Russo-Japanese war have land combat? I was under the impression it was a purely naval conflict.
Yes. There was a singificant land component. In the south was the siege war at Port Arthur. To the north was the maneuver war in Manchuria.
