A rout is a disorderly withdrawal made by a military force following defeat, a collapse of discipline, or poor morale. It may involve a single soldier or an entire army. A routed army often degenerates into a sense of "every man for himself" as the surviving combatants attempt to flee to safety. A disorganized rout often results in much higher casualties for the retreating force than an orderly withdrawal.
Historically, lightly equipped soldiers such as auxiliaries, light cavalry, partisans or militia were important when pursuing a fast-moving routing enemy force and could often keep up the pursuit into the following day, causing the routing army heavy casualties or to totally dissolve. The slower moving heavy forces could then either seize objectives or pursue at leisure. However with the advent of armoured warfare and blitzkrieg style operations, an enemy army can be kept more or less in a routing or disorganized state for days or weeks on end.
Routs may be feigned to entice an enemy into chasing the "retreating" force, the intent being to cause the enemy to abandon a strong defensive position or to lead the enemy into a prepared ambush. It is thought that Breton cavalry performed this maneuvre at the Battle of Hastings. However, this is a high-risk tactic as the feigned-rout often turns into a real rout.
A rout is also a synonym for an overwhelming defeat as well as a verb meaning "to put to disorderly retreat" or "to defeat utterly", and is often used in sports to describe a blowout.
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rout under GFDL
