Definition of Military Division

From the pitched battles of classical antiquity to the present day, the organization of armies has come a long way, and today We can see the organization of a troop made up of groups whose names are familiar to all of us: squad, regiment, or division.

The last of these words, division, is perhaps the most popular, although it is a coined term recent in the military lexicon, but whose roots can go down in history to the legions Roman, the Unit more alike in several respects.

A division is a military unit, generally oriented to provide a certain capacity to the whole army (infantry, armored, etc.), but sufficiently armed and equipped to operate independently on the land.

Would become a species of "mini-army", with its own chain of command, its health services, logistics, and so on.

The strength of a division depends on each army, but usually ranges between 10,000 and 20,000 troops.

The personnel assigned to divisions also vary within each army and according to the action they have seen; Throughout the war, if a division has been decimated in combat, it also counts as one unit for command (taking into account its diminished offensive and defensive capabilities).

With notable differences, we can trace the history of the military divisions to the Macedonian phalanges and, above all, to the Roman legions, although the history of modern divisions as we know them today comes from the revolutionary war French.

The success of the new military organization and structure throughout the subsequent campaigns Napoleonic would make the divisional model spread across all armies of the early / mid 19th century.

The increasing specialization of job Military, as well as the appearance of new types of weapon and the consequent change in tactics, made the division conform to the needs of the armies.

Throughout history, divisions have specialized.

Thus, we find infantry and cavalry divisions in the First World War, and with the emergence of tanks, armored divisions in the Second.

The concept of chivalry is not dead either, only that the horse if it is no longer used as a means of transport and combat weapon, being replaced by armored cars or helicopters.

The US Army still maintains cavalry divisions based on these concepts, and its "air cavalry", released in the Vietnam War, has become especially famous.

The concept of modern cavalry divisions is that of a displacement and fast attack, just like the horses assumed until the end of the First World War.

In some military doctrines there are also artillery divisions, as in the Soviet case during World War II, or the army of the Republic Popular China, historically and today.

In recent years, and since just after the US invasion of Iraq, with the insurgency and the need to develop counterinsurgent tactics that require smaller and more flexible units on the ground, with another approach to warfare, the concept of division has begun to be questioned by experts and analysts.

Many armies are already organizing (or, at least, organizing a large part of their troops) in regiments (British case) or brigades (Spanish case) as base units instead of division.

In the event of a war conventional, the usual thing would be to form a strong army nucleus with a few divisions and a large number of auxiliary forces framed in regiments or brigades.

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