Rate of fire: A Best Defense update
Studious little grasshoppers will remember that I’ve wondered aloud about the history of the rate of fire in combat.
Studious little grasshoppers will remember that I’ve wondered aloud about the history of the rate of fire in combat. For example, the primary purpose of drill was to increase the rate of infantry fire at a time when reloading was time consuming, and gave time to enemy cavalry or pikers to cross the gap, with lethal results.
So I was interested to read that the turning point came in the mid-19th century, when militaries stopped worrying about organizing combat formations to increase shooting and instead began to worry about soldiers using up their ammunition too quickly. One of the jobs of officers became keeping an eye on men with repeating rifles expending their ammunition too quickly, according to a book I read recently about the Nez Perce “war.”
Studious little grasshoppers will remember that I’ve wondered aloud about the history of the rate of fire in combat. For example, the primary purpose of drill was to increase the rate of infantry fire at a time when reloading was time consuming, and gave time to enemy cavalry or pikers to cross the gap, with lethal results.
So I was interested to read that the turning point came in the mid-19th century, when militaries stopped worrying about organizing combat formations to increase shooting and instead began to worry about soldiers using up their ammunition too quickly. One of the jobs of officers became keeping an eye on men with repeating rifles expending their ammunition too quickly, according to a book I read recently about the Nez Perce “war.”
The less money a country had, the more its officers would focus on this new problem. Cathal Nolan writes that, for example, in the case of the Austrian army of the time, “A main worry guiding rifle procurement by Vienna was … that illiterate and poorly trained persons would exhaust their ammunition before the critical moment in the battle arrived.”
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
More from Foreign Policy

Lessons for the Next War
Twelve experts weigh in on how to prevent, deter, and—if necessary—fight the next conflict.

It’s High Time to Prepare for Russia’s Collapse
Not planning for the possibility of disintegration betrays a dangerous lack of imagination.

Turkey Is Sending Cold War-Era Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
The artillery-fired cluster munitions could be lethal to Russian troops—and Ukrainian civilians.

Congrats, You’re a Member of Congress. Now Listen Up.
Some brief foreign-policy advice for the newest members of the U.S. legislature.