Heavy infantry

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Heavy infantry refers to heavily armed and armoured ground troops, as opposed to medium or light infantry, in which the warriors are relatively lightly armoured. As modern infantry troops usually define their subgroups differently (such as by weapon or type of attack), 'heavy infantry' almost always is used to describe pre-gunpowder age troops.^{[citation needed]}

History of the heavy infantry

Antiquity

Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece the Hoplite was a common form of heavy infantry. All hoplites had a shield and spear, and perhaps a helmet as well. Wealthier hoplites were able to afford bronze breastplate or linothorax armor, while poorer hoplites wore little to no armor. The hoplite armor and shield were designed to block arrows and blows from spear points and swords. Hoplites would act as both a city watch and as an army in the field. Hoplites were thought of as a force to be reckoned with because they would form a phalanx, a tight band of spearmen, which aided them against lighter infantry and cavalry.

Hellenistic Successor States

Alexander's army employed infantry known as the phalangite - soldiers equipped with a small shield and long pike, and employed in a formation known as the sarissa phalanx. Alexander also had a flexible heavy infantry force known as the Argyraspides, or silver shields, who also acted as his elite infantry. Post-Alexander Hellenistic States such as the Macedonians, Seleucids, Ptolemies, etc would employ more heavily armored phalangites, as well as their own variation of elite units such as the silver shields.

Celts

The Celts were a diverse group of people that through migration, lived in an area stretching from what is now Britain to what is now Turkey. The Celts were a diverse people and warrior group that varied greatly in battle and equipment. Some of the heavier armed Celts wore chainmail, "galea" type helmets, and threw javelins in battle - all of these elements were later adopted by the Romans. Celts were respected for their battle prowess and often served as mercenaries for settled agrarian civilizations.

Rome

Roman re-enactors demonstrate a variant of the Roman testudo formation

In the Military of ancient Rome, heavy infantry made up most of the Roman army. The heavy infantry of the pre-Marian Roman republic included the Hastati, Principes, and Triarii. (although depending how the hastati was armed and armored, it could also be considered light infantry) The hastati, the youngest men in the line, were armed with a sword, or gladius, and two javelins, or pila. The pila (singular pilum) were usually thrown at a charging enemy before they engaged in hand-to-hand combat. They were also armed with a helmet, a bronze breast plate or a set of chainmail, and a shield - if they could afford it. The Principes were armed just like the hastati, but they were older, more experienced, and, because they had more money, better quality of arms. Principes were typically armed with pila, a gladius, chainmail, shield, and helmet. The other heavy infantry were the Triarii. These were armed and armored just like the hastati except for the fact that instead of holding pila to throw at the enemy, they used a large spear known as the hasta. The triarii were usually called in to end the battle and break the lines of the enemy. Rome's use of heavy infantry and a general lack of major cavalry forces meant they were stronger in pitched battle but more vulnerable to ambushes. After the Marian reforms of the late 2nd century BCE, the three lined maniples were replaced in favor a single type of heavy infantry - essentially an all principes force, the legionnary.

Early Imperial East Asia

Following the introduction of infantry tactics during the Warring States period, the Qin army developed an infantry force that would help it conquer the other states. Soldiers fulfilling the role of heavy infantry usually wore lacquered leather (and sometimes bronze) coat of plates or lamellar , and were equipped with spears and wooden shields, dagger-axes and large bronze shields, or swords and smaller bronze shields. Some soldiers were also equipped with very long spears or pikes, and fought in a formation akin to swiss pikemen. The Han Dynasty that succeeded the Qin era would equip their soldiers with iron armor, which they were able to mass produce due to state standardized metallurgical improvements. Unlike their contemporaries such as the post-Marian Romans, the Han military did not rely primarily on their heavy infantry, but emphasized a more balanced force of infantry, missile troops, and cavalry.

Middle Ages

Medieval Coat of Arms of king Matthias Corvinus (r. 1458-1490), guarded by Black Army heavy infantry men. Matthias Church, Budapest. The damaged art relic was renovated in 1893.

It's a misconception that all of the Medieval Period was dominated by heavy cavalry, as this trend began only after the 10th Century. For centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, heavy infantry was still favored in Western and Central European warfare, by the Franks, Visigoths, Anglo-Saxons, by the Arabs that invaded Spain and by the Viking raiders. Only after the Carolingian Period and the rise of the Normans in the affairs of Western Europe we see a shifting trend in the course of warfare (i.e. Battle of Lechfeld, Battle of Hastings). With the proliferation and consolidation of the concept of chivalry, much focus was given to the knight as the central figure in warfare, nevertheless it's a false assumption that heavy infantry became obsolete during the period, as evidenced by the Scottish and Irish wars against the English, by the Flemish and Italian citizen-militias, and by the Byzantine methods of war (which was based on the Roman Legionnary and Greek Hoplite models, see Skoutatoi). While the trend in Eastern Europe beyond the Dnieper among the nomadic peoples like the Pechenegs and Kypchaks was essentially based on the archer cavalry, the peoples of modern Ukrayne and western Russia, descended from Scandinavian settlers, favored a mix of heavy infantry and asian-style cavalry warfare. Peoples like the Hungarians, Poles and Bulgarians gradually abandoned their native ways of warfare in favor of imitating the Western European Knights or Byzantine Heavy Cavalry.

All of this would change with the introduction of gunpowder in Europe in the late 14th century, and the highly successful and innovating pikemen tactics pioneered by the Swiss mercenaries led to the increased preference for mostly infantry professional armies. Gunpowder and the skillful use of the pike would give birth to the Middle Age heavy infantry and would push heavy cavalry into an equal part of the army. Heavy infantry would usually be armored like a knight, with mail armor and maybe an iron helmet and would carry a pike (which was a very long thrusting spear, used extensively by the infantry both for attacks on other infantry and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults). Other heavy infantry would probably be armed with little armor and maybe a gunpowder weapon, which were capable of penetrating armor. The introduction of such weapons as gunpowder and the pike resulted in the reintroduction of the infantry into armies and shifted dominance of the battlefield away from the knights.

The Industrial era and beyond

Main article: Mechanised infantry

See also: Panzergrenadier

Arguably, the modern successor of heavy infantry would be mechanised infantry equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs), or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). Unlike their predecessors of yesteryear who were unable to keep up with cavalry on mobile operations, modern mechanised infantry, now equipt with all-terrain armoured vehicles, can now easily keep up with heavy tank units and support them as powerful combined-arms forces to exploit any fast moving mobile operations. This advancement in technology meant quantum leap in combat power and has become an effective force multiplier for infantry forces in modern mechanised warfare.

In addition to mobility and protection, most modern APCs and IFVs also provide limited fire support for the soldiers they carry into combat. Fire support weapons such as machine guns, autocannons, small-bore direct-fire howitzers, and even anti-tank guided missiles are often mounted directly on the infantry's own transport vehicles.

Many APCs and IFVs currently under development are intended for rapid deployment by aircraft. New technologies which promise reduction in weight, such as electric drive, may be incorporated. However, facing a similar threat in Post-invasion Iraq to that which prompted the Russians to convert tanks to APCs, the occupying armies have found it necessary to apply extra armor to existing APCs and IFVs, which adds to the overall size and weight. Some of the latest designs (such as the German Puma) are intended to allow a light, basic model vehicle which is air-transportable to be fitted in the field with additional protection, thereby ensuring both strategic flexibility and survivability.

See also

• Infantry
• Light infantry
• Phalanx
• Roman infantry tactics, strategy and battle formations
• Military history