Military in the Shakespeare day

In the early 17th century firearms were either matchlocks or wheel locks. A matchlock held a slow burning match, which was touched to the powder when the trigger was pulled. With a wheel lock a metal wheel spun against iron pyrites making sparks. During the 17th century both of these were gradually replaced by the flintlock which worked by hitting a piece of flint and steel making sparks.
Furthermore in the early 17th century the cartridge was invented. The musket ball was placed in a container, which held the right amount of gunpowder to fire it. The soldier no longer had to measure powder from a powder horn into his gun. Apart from artillery there were two branches of an army. The cavalry were usually armed with wheelock pistols and sabres. They were protected by back plates, breastplates and helmets. The infantry consisted of men armed with muskets and those armed with pikes. A musket took a long time to reload and the soldiers were very vulnerable while they did so. Therefore they were protected by men with pikes (a weapon like a long spear). In theory there were two musketeers to each pike man. The pike men usually had a steel helmet but musketeers did not usually wear armour. About 1680 the ring bayonet was invented. With bayonet fixed a musket could be used as a weapon even if it had been fired and was not reloaded. The bayonet did away with the need for pike men. The British army began using grenades in 1677. An early grenade was simply a hollow metal ball filled with gunpowder and with a fuse.
The 17^th century saw the growth in the size of armies, with many of them almost doubling its men. Armies of that time usually consisted of packed formations of pikemen (light armoured infantry with long spears) as they were the efficient when attacking against cavalry. This also led to the replacement of the older heavier cavalry with light more effective skirmish-oriented cavalry. Pikemen often were deployed closely to musketeers, as the muskets took a long time to reload, in doing so the musketeers were vulnerable to attack, hence the pikemen’s close positioning to them. The firearm eventually replaced many weapons like the pike, crossbow and longbow. Although the effective range of the firearm was only about 100 yard, they were an extremely valuable attacking system when in front of the formation. The only thing capable of matching the strength of the firearm front was the artillery, with its longer range. This was essentially how the role of cavalry shifted from defensive to offensive. Overall, this formation of the army was effective and did not change until the 19^th century where machine guns were introduced and significantly impacted the way of warfare.

Captains were responsible for the company - mostly administrative duties such as pay, equipment, discipline, training, siege and garrison duty. He should be experienced with all the lower positions and weaponry, and was the source of morale and discipline. Lieutenants had the same responsibilities as the Captain - and served opposite of him in battle and in his place in his absence. The Lieutenant was second in charge and would settle the Captain's less important tasks like judging minor disputes, managing equipment, quality control, and care of the sick/wounded. The Ensign was responsible for the flag, and would take charge in the absence of the Captain or Lieutenant. There were 2 Sergeants per company who did a bit of everything - kept track of equipment and personnel, maintenance, sorted men by type and conducted drill. There were 5 Corporal's per company who each commanded a squadron of a specific weapon type. They stayed with and trained their squadron, as well as looking after maintenance and provision of equipment. Sometimes he would be assisted by a Lanspassado. Musicians gave the signals for call, march, charge, retreat, and alarm.There would be a surgeon/medic/doctor, who took care of the sick. Pike men defended against horses. Musketeers attacked armour. Calivermen fired while arching every 80 yards. Billmen and Halberdiers were sometimes used for defence to guard wagons or the like.
Jonathan, Kavishan, Kimberly, Stephanie, Swarnaa.