the.com/battalion
The military's favorite unit size: big enough to matter, small enough for one colonel to ruin.
means A military unit of several hundred to a thousand-plus soldiers, typically made up of multiple companies and commanded by a lieutenant colonel.
from From French bataillon, which traces back to Italian battaglione, itself built from battaglia meaning 'battle' — ultimately from Late Latin battualia, the drills and sparring exercises of soldiers and gladiators. So a battalion is, at its linguistic root, simply 'a body organized for battle' — the word scaling up from the act of fighting to the unit built to do it.
- size
- roughly 300 to 1000 soldiers
- structure
- made of multiple companies
- etymology
- from italian battaglione, little battle
- command
- usually led by a lieutenant colonel