Previously to the Industrial Revolution, the first guns were invented, these were lit with a short fuse which would ignite gunpowder which would proceed to combust. These were early sixteenth-century weapons and were quickly phased out by the Wheelock system, which utilised the sparks generated by the friction of metal-on-metal contact to ignite the gunpowder. These pistols were quickly dispensed to troops on horseback, though given in twos or threes because of their unwieldy reloading times. Muskets were invented using this system, although their reload times left users vulnerable to attacks. Troop deployments were changed to allow for the protection of reloading gunmen. An approximate ratio of one pikeman to every two gunmen was used commonly
