Jean Martinet
Jean Martinet († 1672 Duisburg) was a French officer, who was known as a strict drillmaster, reformer and Inspector-General of Infantry in the army of Louis XIV.
Martinet was Lieutenant - Colonel in the Régiment du Roi, which was formed in 1663 on the initiative of Michel Le Tellier and his son Louvois, to set an example of discipline for the French army. About Martinet's career before that little is known. He was in 1668 appointed inspector general of the infantry and led on behalf of the Minister of War Louvois in the French infantry strict discipline and a standardized order one, making him very unpopular with the soldiers and officers made , but significantly strengthened the clout of the army. At that time it was customary for noblemen posts in the army bought themselves and each followed their own ideas of discipline and training. They themselves had little idea mostly by the military profession and the army was therefore dominated by mercenaries. Martinet professionalized and standardized the army. He was an early proponent of the bayonet (instead of the then customary pikes ), first used on a large scale on the battlefield in the Dutch War 1672-1678 on the French side. Some him the invention of Tüllenbajonetts to 1688 is attributed, which was set up so that the musket could still fire, but it is usually attributed to Vauban. However, in his advocacy of bayonet attacks as a general tactic he could not prevail at Louvois. He also promoted the use of grenadiers in attacks and is said to have invented portable bridges.
Martinet let the soldiers constantly practice in maneuvers and drill (especially the fast reloading of that muzzle- especially under enemy fire was complicated and required constant drill ) and put on a system of supply depots, so that the army no longer on four act was dependent on the respective population. He accepted no contradiction with his subordinates and punish even the slightest carelessness hard. The twisted under his command soldiers impressed Louis XIV so much that he ordered that nobles who wanted to buy a commission with its own command, had previously used as a single entity Martinet.
He fell by artillery fire from their own side, while he led an attack in 1672 at the siege of Duisburg. It was never clear whether the fire was accidental or intentional. As a Swiss officer named Soury fell beside him, saying, Louis XIV was born in Duisburg have only a small bird ( martinet means sailor or swallow in French ) and a mouse lost ( Souris ).
In French, a whip is named after him ( Martinet ) and in English and French people are so named who use such means to maintain strict discipline. Originally, the English Martinet as mockery word for the rigid disciplinary methods in France, as they have been proven on the battlefields as effectively but this introduced in other armies.