However, the benefits of uniform, equipment, weaponry and, above all, training led to the development of formations able to carry out pre-arranged tactical maneuvers in the heat of battle.

While the specific weapons have varied, the common factor is that these soldiers have relied on their feet for tactical movements, but since the introduction of the rail and motor transport have been operationally transported behind the front-lines, and have made use of strategic airlift with the introduction of aircraft into warfare.ĭuring Ancient history, infantry was essentially an armed mob, fighting in loosely organized opposing lines, under the vocal direction of individual commanders in the immediate vicinity of the troops' hearing range. With the notable exception of the Mongol Empire, infantry has represented the largest component in most armies of the past, and the present. However, in military history it has become a common English term to apply to troops from earlier historical periods.

As a meaning for an organised type of combat troops, the word dates to 1579 in the French infantrie and Spanish infanteria. The word infantry was borrowed into other Romance languages from the Latin infantem, a 'foot soldier' who served in groups composed of those soldiers who were too-inexperienced or too low in rank for membership to the cavalry. Since the introduction of firearms, classifications have changed initially to reflect their formations on the battlefield as line infantry, and later to reflect modes of transport and type of tactics used by specific units as Mechanized infantry or airborne infantry. During the Ancient and Middle Ages Infantry were categorized by the types of weapons and armour they used, such as heavy infantry and light infantry. Although the term infantry dates from the 15th century, the foot troops of the previous eras in history who fought with a variety of weapons before the introduction of the firearms are also referred to as infantry.

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