Editing Company (military unit) (section)

==Historical background==
The modern military company became popularized during the reorganization of the [[Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War|Swedish Army]] in 1631 under King [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden|Gustav II Adolph]]. For administrative purposes, the infantry was divided into companies consisting of 150 men, grouped into regiments of eight companies. Tactically, the infantry companies were organized into [[battalion]]s and grouped with cavalry troops and artillery batteries to form [[brigade]]s.

From ancient times, some armies have commonly used a base administrative and tactical unit of around 100 men. (Perhaps the best known is the Roman [[centuria|century]], originally intended as a 100-man unit, but later ranging from about 60 to 80 men, depending on the time period.) An organization based on the decimal number system (i.e., by tens, hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands) might seem intuitive. To the Romans, for example, a unit of 100 men seemed sufficiently large to efficiently facilitate organizing a large body of men numbering into the several thousands, yet small enough that one man could reasonably expect to command it as a cohesive unit by using his voice and physical presence, supplemented by musical notes (e.g., drum beats, bugle or trumpet blasts, etc.) and visual cues (e.g., [[Military colours, standards and guidons|colors, standards, guidons]], etc.).

Furthermore, recent studies have indicated that humans are best able to maintain stable relationships in a cohesive group numbering between 100 and 250 members, with 150 members being the common number (see [[Dunbar's number]]). Again, a military unit on the order of no more than 100 members, and perhaps ideally fewer, would perhaps present the greatest efficiency as well as effectiveness of control, on a battlefield where the stress, danger, fear, noise, confusion, and the general condition known as the "[[fog of war]]" would present the greatest challenge to an officer to command a group of men engaged in mortal combat. Until the latter half of the 19th century, when infantry troops still routinely fought in close order, marching and firing shoulder-to-shoulder in lines facing the enemy, the company remained at around 100, or fewer, men.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The advent of accurate, long-range rifle fire, [[repeating rifle]]s, and [[machine gun]]s necessitated highly dispersed combat formations. This, coupled with radio communication, permitted relatively small numbers of men to have much greater firepower and combat effectiveness than previously possible. Companies, however, continue to remain within the general range of 100–250 members, perhaps validating the premise that humans fight best (as well as live, work, socialize, play, etc.) in organizations of around 150 members, more or less.

While historically companies were usually grouped into battalions or regiments, there were certain sub-units raised as ''[[Independent Company|independent companies]]'' that did not belong to a specific battalion or regiment, such as [[Confederate States of America]] state local militia companies. However, upon activation and assimilation into the army, several of these ''independent'' companies would be grouped together to form either a battalion or a regiment, depending upon the number of companies involved. (Usually two to five would form a battalion, while six to twelve would form a regiment.)

More recent examples of ''separate'' companies would be the divisional support companies (i.e., signal, military police, ordinance maintenance, quartermaster, reconnaissance, and replacement companies) of a U.S. Army, Korean War-era infantry division<ref>Ney, Virgil. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20191216014341/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=AD0697844 Evolution of the U. S. Army Division 1939–1968]'', Technical Operations, Incorporated, 1969, p.58.</ref> and the divisional aviation company of a U.S. Army [[Pentomic|"Pentomic" infantry division]]. These companies were not organic to any intermediate headquarters (viz., battalion/group/regiment/brigade), but rather reported directly to the division headquarters.