Napoleonic tactics are certain battlefield principles used by national armies from the late 18th century until the invention and adoption of the rifled musket in the mid 19th century. Napoleonic tactics are characterised by intense drilling of soldiers; speedy battlefield movement; combined arms assaults between infantry, cavalry, and artillery; relatively small numbers of cannon; short-range musket fire; and bayonet charges. French Emperor Napoleon I is considered by military historians to have been a master of this particular form of warfare. Military powers would continue to employ such tactics even as technological advancements during the industrial revolutions gradually rendered them impractically obsolete, leading to devastating losses of life in the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, and World War I.
Infantry tactics Infantry formed the base of Napoleonic tactics as they were the largest force in all of the major battles of 18th and 19th century Europe. Many Napoleonic tactics were developed by ancien régime royalist strategists like Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval; Jean-Pierre du Teil; Jacques Antoine Hippolyte; and Pierre-Joseph Bourcet. They emphasised the "flexible use of artillery" and they "abandoned marching in lines (which maximised a unit's firepower) in favour of attacking in columns." Infantry used the smoothbore, flintlock musket, the standard weapon of the Napoleonic era, which had scarcely changed since John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, directed English troops at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. The flintlock musket had a short effective range for hitting man-sized shops of 50 yards (46 m) to 70 yards (64 m). A highly trained soldier could fire once about every 15–20 seconds until black powder fouled and the weapon had to be cleaned before firing again. The French musket of 1777 could fire about 100 yards (91 m) but "suffered about one misfire out of every six rounds." Many soldiers on Napoleonic battlefields were coerced into staying in battle. To overcome their individual inclination to self-preservation and to provide effective firepower, the infantry regiments fought shoulder-to-shoulder, at least two or three lines deep, firing in volleys. The officers and non-commissioned officers carried swords and halberds which could be used to keep the infantrymen in the firing line. Should a soldier shirk duty and flee from the field of battle, each army normally had a picket line of cavalry at its rear encouraging the soldier to return to his regiment. To assist with command and control of the infantry, each soldier would wear a colourful military uniform visible from a distance, even through the black-powder clouds hovering over the battlefield. Napoleon did not underestimate the importance of morale and said once that, "Moral force rather than numbers decides victory."
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