Fusilier was originally the name of a soldier armed with a light flintlock musket called the fusil. The word was first used around 1680, and has later developed into a regimental designation.

History

Various forms of flintlock small arms had been used in warfare since the middle of the 16th century. At the time of the English civil war (1642-1652) the term firelock was usually employed to distinguish these weapons from the more common matchlock musket. The special value of the firelock in armies of the 17th century lay in the fact that the artillery of the time used open powder barrels for the service of the guns, making it unsafe to allow lighted matches in the muskets of the escort. Further, a military escort was required, not only for the protection, but also for the surveillance of the artillerymen of those days. Companies of firelocks were therefore organized for these duties, and out of these companies grew the fusiliers who were employed in the same way in the wars of Louis XIV. In the latter part of the Thirty Years War (1643) fusiliers were simply mounted troops armed with the fusil, as carabiniers were with the carbine. But the escort companies of artillery came to be known by the name shortly afterwards, and the regiment of French Royal Fusiliers, organized in 1671 by Vauhan , was considered the model for Europe.

The general adoption of the flintlock musket and the suppression of the pike in the armies of Europe put an end to the original special duties of fusiliers, and they were subsequently employed to a large extent in light infantry work, perhaps on account of the greater individual aptitude for detached duties naturally shown by soldiers who had never been restricted to a fixed and unchangeable place in the line of battle.

Fusiliers today

• British Army: The distinctive head-dress of fusiliers in the British service is a fur cap, generally resembling, but smaller than and different in details from, that of the Foot Guards. Attached to the beret, balmoral or tam o'shanter badge is the hackle.
  • Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
  • The Royal Welch Fusiliers
  • The Royal Highland Fusilisers
• Canadian Forces: there are five fusilier regiments patterned on the British tradition. Le Royal 22^e Régiment, although not fusiliers, wears fusilier ceremonial uniform because of its alliance with The Royal Welch Fusiliers.
  • The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada (which wears highland uniform, but with fusilier hackles on feather bonnets)
  • Les Fusiliers du Saint-Laurent
  • Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal
  • The Princess Louise Fusiliers
  • Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke
• German Army: In Germany the name fusilier is borne by certain infantry regiments and by one battalion in each grenadier regiment.
• French military: In French service, there are the naval fusiliers and air fusiliers , who secure bases and other facilities.