British Light Infantry

By Crusader1307

As we have seen, Light Infantry is a Military Formation Troop of Soldiers, by which speed and mobility is made tantamount. Often, 17^th thru 19^th Century Infantry Formations relied on large numbers and heavy rifles to ''win'' battles. While Light Infantry had become the standard in today's ''Modern Armies'', the idea was greatly fought against in the beginning.

The British Army first experimented with Light Infantry during The French and Indian Wars in North America (British and Native American allies against The French and their Native American Allies). Both The French and British noted that Native American ''field tactics'' (while not subscribing to traditional military movements and formations) – were very successful. As such, several Regiments of Infantry were outfitted and taught such tactics. These were used in both Canada, The Colonial American Northeast and in The Caribbean.

The use of Light Infantry at first was declaimed by British Field Officers during The American Revolution. The first several years of The War still saw the fielding of large and ''heavy'' Regiments of The Line, against a much ''lighter'' Colonial American Army. And while they too did field ''Heavy'' Regiments, many Regiments after 1777 were definitely of a ''Light Infantry'' development and fielding.

It was towards the end of The War that The British Army fielded more and more Light Infantry Regiments. These proved more effective that their previous incarnations, but the tide of The War had changed with French involvement. However, The British Army had learned a valuable lesson – which it would later apply to future Conflicts.