eli5: why did soldiers in pre ww1 wars have a “turn based” or organized battle?

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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?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Nobody has picked up the key historical point that once armies closed to musket range firing second was an advantage due to the slow reload times.. Therefore ‘waiting for your opponent to take their turn’ meant inching your forces closer to try and get them to fire first and then… between your advance and their charge… Choosing to fire at the ideal range.

As accuracy and reload times improved.. this gave way to rank volley fire (forgotten the exact term). But first rank fire, second rank fire, third rank fire etc, by which time the first line has reloaded.

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