Why were drums used in war?

Today, the modern snare drum tends to act as the driving cadence for marching bands and snare drums are still used in some military contexts to keep the soldiers marching in step. In an important sense, keeping soldiers in step with each other was exactly why drums were used in war.

However, this is far from the whole story – and in fact is a terrible answer!

Marching Cadence in its Modern Context

Today, soldiers march in step predominately to look good. There’s something very pleasing about the symmetry of their movements and crispness of their lines.

It’s also a great exercise in discipline and cohesion, which is important in military training.

For modern marching bands, staying in step also gives a clean, crisp look. More importantly, it helps all the musicians to keep the same time and stay in rhythm with the music they’re playing.

(I don’t mean this in the obvious way where each step creates a metronome-like beat. Instead, think about how swaying to a piece of music helps you to get the “feel” of a song. Think about how when you clap along to a tune: you bring your hands together, then apart, then back together in a continuous, repetitive action. Movement helps to keep the tempo consistent, and so marching in step keeps a marching band in time.)

But, back to the point…

Marching in step today is about the visual. Beyond that, there’s really not much point.

Marching Cadence in its Historic Context

Early modern armies were also concerned about keeping in step. Certainly, well-performed maneuvers made them look crisp and clean and well-trained.

But they were concerned about maintaining their step for far more practical reasons.

Linear Warfare

During the 18^th Century, European armies used linear warfare to overcome the limitations of their muskets. While their muskets weren’t as inaccurate or unreliable as we might think, they certainly weren’t modern weapons.

To work around this, armies formed in 2-3 ranks of soldiers, dozens to hundreds of soldiers long and fired all together in volleys, which you can see in the painting below of a field exercise called “Glasgow Green” (c. 1758).

With this kind of concentration of firepower, 18^th century armies could create a machinegun-like effect that could be quite devastating.

You can image then that maintaining straight, perfect lines was very important to achieve this tactical advantage.

Should their lines bow in the middle or arch on the ends, they put their fellow soldiers at risk of friendly fire.

A strong drum cadence was therefore essential to keep every soldier moving at the same pace and keep the line straight and sound.

Firing in Linear Warfare

Ideally, European armies formed 3-ranks deep (sometimes in 2-ranks or 4-ranks).

This massed their firing more effectively and had a more dramatic effect. The plate below shows a cross-section of this – so one file. Image that this file was shoulder-to-shoulder with dozens more files just like it.

Take a close look at the footwork of these soldiers while firing:

• The second-rank man steps back a little to square his footing.
• The third-rank man steps up and rests his left foot against the second-rank man’s right foot and leans right into him.
• The first-rank man throws his right foot between the second-rank man’s legs.

They do this in order to safely fire.

Now image that, as the soldiers march forward, the different ranks stretched out. When they halted, the gaps between soldiers would make it impossible to efficiently get into this safe firing position.

Once again, marching at a regulation step and in time is vital.

Maneuverability on the Battlefield

Of course, these early modern armies weren’t just marching forward.

With hundreds or thousands of soldiers in long lines, simply shouting directions and orders becomes unfeasible on the battlefield.

Instead, drums can serve a second function. By playing different kinds of cadences, the drummers can both tell the soldiers what maneuver to perform and set the rate of march.

Pictured above is an excerpt from Fisher’s military manual Warlike Direction,which is the first English manual that explains how to use the drums on the battlefield.

Notice how many different ways the soldiers can be moved around. They can be marched forward, marched in retreat, advance at the double quick, charge bayonets, etc.

March in Retreat

The drummers performed The Retreat once through. Then, in response, the soldiers About Faced and then stepped off and marched forward away from the enemy.

The Retreat beating continued after the initial command to provide the cadence.

Once the beating ceased, the soldiers Halted and About Faced.

Because of the cadence, the lines would still be straight and the files would have maintained their correct distance.

This allows the line to continue firing at their enemy and protect their retreat.

Charge Bayonets

Besides the musket, the British army depended on the bayonet as a scare tactic to push their enemy off the field.

While Hollywood often depicts the feared bayonet charge as an all-out sprint towards the enemy, the reality was that the British army ‘charged’ bayonets and marched with discipline at the quick march (120 steps per minute, or a controlled fast walk).

For more on tempos and cadences, check out this discussion on ‘Tempo in Historic Music’.

The point was to create a wall of steel coming at the enemy. If the soldiers broke and ran across the field charging bayonets, they would cover the ground at different rates. Then, only a handful would arrive at a time.

This is not an effective tactic.

Instead, the drummers beat the Points of War. This beating signals to drop the musket down into “charge bayonets”, as seen in the plate above.

If the soldiers aren’t already moving at the quickstep, they would use the Points of War to set the new cadence.

Now, imagine hundreds of well-trained British soldiers, pointing their bayonets at you like in the image above, all while the drummers beat an intimidating, rolling cadence.

What was the role of drummers in war?

Ultimately, drums were used in war to keep a cadence so the soldiers stayed in step.

This was vitally important to maintain the advantage of linear tactics and safety of 3-rank firing.

It was additionally important to communicate maneuvers across the battlefield and regulate those movements.

Once the Swiss introduced drums as communication devices on the battlefield in the 1480s, they forever altered the possibilities of warfare. Armies could now be stationary and defensive as well as rapidly maneuverable and offensive.

While gunpowder might define the era of modern warfare, drum cadences provided the opportunity for muskets to reach their full potential.

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Look out for more research on this topic coming soon!

Interested in learning more?

• Check out my research and discussion of the English March.
• Learn more about ‘Why Armies Marched So Slow?‘