Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French word fusil – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has been used in contrasting ways in different countries and at different times, including soldiers guarding artillery, various elite units, ordinary line infantry and other uses.
The word fusil, which was the name of the type of musket carried by a fusilier, is itself derived from the Old French and Latin foisil, meaning a piece of flint.
Flintlock small arms were first used militarily during the early 17th century. Flintlocks, at the time, were more reliable and safer to use than matchlock muskets, which required a match to be lit near the breech before the weapon could be triggered. By contrast, flintlocks were fired using a piece of flint. By the time of the English Civil War (1642–1652), one flintlock musket, the snaphance, was in common use in Britain.
The term fusiliers was first used officially by the French Army in 1670, when four fusiliers were distributed among each company of infantry. The following year the Fusiliers du Roi ("King's Fusiliers"), the first regiment composed primarily of soldiers with flintlocks, was formed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.
Guarding and escorting artillery pieces was the first task assigned to the Fusiliers du Roi: flintlocks were especially useful around field artillery, as they were less likely than matchlocks to accidentally ignite open barrels of gunpowder, required at the time to load cannon. At the time, artillery units also required guards to maintain discipline amongst civilian draymen. Hence the term fusilier became strongly associated with the role of guarding artillery in Britain and the English-speaking world, especially after the formation of the first official "Fusilier" units, during the 1680s. As late as the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763, the Austrian Army maintained an Artillery Fusilier Regiment for the exclusive roles of providing support for field batteries on the battlefield and of protecting the artillery when on the march and in camp.
During the 18th century, as flintlocks became the main weapon used by infantry, the term fusilier gradually ceased to have this meaning and was applied to various units.
The Belgian Army has no specific regiment called fusiliers, but the general denomination for infantry soldiers is storm fusilier (Dutch: stormfuselier; French: fusilier d'assaut).
The Belgian Navy used to have a regiment of marine infantry composed of marine fusiliers in charge of the protection of the naval bases. However this unit was disbanded in the 1990s reforms.
Adopting a number of practices from the Portuguese military in the 19th century, the Brazilian Army uses the term fuzileiros (fusiliers) to designate the regular line infantry, as opposed to the grenadiers (granadeiros) and the light infantry (caçadores and atiradores). In addition, the Brazilian Marine Corps is called Fuzileiros Navais (Naval Fusiliers).
There are five fusilier regiments, patterned on the British tradition, in the Canadian Army. The Royal 22nd Regiment, although not fusiliers, wears fusilier ceremonial uniform with scarlet plumes, because of its alliance with the Royal Welch Fusiliers.
The five current Canadian fusilier regiments are:
The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada (which wears Highland uniform, but with white fusilier hackles on balmoral bonnets)
Les Fusiliers du St-Laurent, white plume
Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, white plume
The Princess Louise Fusiliers (which wear a grey hackle as a token of their alliance with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, now part of the Royal Irish Regiment)
Les Fusiliers de Sherbrooke, white plume
Former Canadian Army fusilier regiments include the following:
The Irish Fusiliers of Canada (The Vancouver Regiment) existed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and served in the Canadian Army from 1913 until 1965 when it was reduced to nil strength and placed on the Supplementary Order of Battle. In 2002, it was taken off the Supplementary Order of Battle and amalgamated with the British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught's Own).