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
Formations had critical purposes for medieval warfare: soldiers not in formation behind a wall of shields could be chased down and killed easily by cavalry, or surrounded and just killed.
When guns were introduced, they didn’t have very good accuracy or range, so it was critical for an entire line of people to all fire at once, to have any sort effect. And then reloading took forever, so they took a step back and the next line of people behind them fired while they reloaded. So formations still had a purpose.
They stopped having a purpose and started being detrimental with the introduction of machine guns (automatic fire / automatic reloading) and artillery.
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