This is probably false to some extent because I get this perception mainly from movies and other media, but did soldiers in old wars line up in formations exposing themselves and take turns to fire? If so, why?
Edit: Ty for all the detailed responses guys! I had one more question- wouldn’t it make more sense for them to spread out or take cover while fighting?
In: 2518
Better artillery and especially the machine gun is what dramatically changed the way battles were fought.
Before modern artillery and the machine gun, the inaccuracy and slow loading of the muskets meant that having large concentrated formations was key. 100 people would win anytime against 10 with less than 10 casualties. So if 100 people had to fight 10 times 10 people, they were sure to win.
With the advent of modern artillery and the machine gun, 10 people could very easily win against 100 people advancing against them in a close formation in open terrain. So cover became very important and battles shifted to capturing key points with small teams.
The examples with given for the last series of battles war is usually the American Civil War and for the first campaign-based war is the Boer Wars.
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