The Development of the Combat Division in Eighteenth-Century French Armies

Abstract

The development of the infantry division as a tactical combat unit was a major step forward in the evolution of modem armies. Although historians agree in placing this development during the second half of the eighteenth century, they are at odds as to its cause. The most common assertions concerning the evolution of the infantry division fall into two broad categories. One group of historians asserts that the division was developed by the armies of the ancien regime and that the forces of the Revolution simply adopted this innovation.' A second group of scholars maintains that the division was a creation of the