This system of training has historical precedents in the martial skills of the Highland Clans which altered the tactics and methods of the British army following the Clans assimilation and introduction at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. The main Clan Regiments with their separate identities and histories were derived from individual clans who had centuries of development in warfare with each other, against the Lowland Scots, against the English and their Welsh allies and in the mercenary service of foriegn countries such as the French, Swedes and Swiss. The legacy of these martial skills is the modern system of infantry combat training. Additionally, there were Lowland regiments  whose history is even longer. The Royal Scots can trace their origins back to the archer guard in the service of the French kings and this goes back to circa 1550. However, the Lowland soldiers have a different history altogether and their martial skills are separate from those of the Highland regiments.

Famous Highland Clans which are significant in the early formation of the original regiments and dating back to circa 1650 are  - The Camerons, Mackenzies, Gordons, Grants, Campbells, Macraes, Macleods and others. Many of these Clans were historical enemys from both sides of the Hanoverian and Jacobite divide but which finally came together following the Jacobite defeat at Culloden and in the resulting period of genocide and pacification at the hands of the British government. The Clansmen in this period flocked to enlist in the new regiments as a way to return to their historical traditions of skill at arms. This for most was the only way open to them to subsist and live in a new society which had destroyed their traditional way of life in the wilderness of the Scottish mountains.

The tradition of skill at arms was maintained in the regiments until their recent merger by the British government into a single regiment called the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The principal Highland regiments which had existed up to the period of continuous modern eradication were as follows:-

The Black Watch, The Seaforth Highlanders, The Cameron Highlanders, The Gordon Highlanders, The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, The Lovat Scouts.

These 7 had been already reduced through amalgamation in the 1990's to leave only - The Highlanders Regiment, The Black Watch, The Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders.