Brigade

Brigade, tactical military unit consisting of a group of regiments or battalions acting together under one commander, a brigadier, brigadier general, or colonel commandant. This system of grouping was introduced in about 1700 in England and France, and was soon adopted by every army in Europe. The brigade consisted of one or more regiments of infantry, each with two or three battalions of 500 to 600 men, and one or more regiments of cavalry, each with four squadrons of 100 to 150 horsemen. Having no separate artillery, each regiment was assigned its own guns.

In continental European armies, the peacetime strength of a brigade is two regiments. In Great Britain the brigade has no fixed strength or place in the organization of the army. The United States abandoned the brigade as a fighting unit from about 1941 to 1963, when it was then revived as a combat command for service in Vietnam. In the modern army a brigade is commanded by a brigadier general, and it consists of between two and five combat manoeuvre battalions with administrative and combat support elements, all attached to a headquarters. It has an advantage over other military groupings in that it is more flexible as a unit. The brigade can perform a variety of duties and operations and thus can be tailored to particular needs.