Fighters only having basic attack was a mistake anyways. They could have researched some historical European martial arts for inspiration, along with adding called shots.
Just having "attack" is like if casters only had the ability to "cast spell" without specifying what type of spell or the intricacies of spellcasting altogether. Sounds silly, doesn't it?
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition initiated its optional "The Complete Handbook" series with PHBR1 The Complete Fighter's Handbook, which introduced new combat rules covering called shots, disarming, grabbing, holding, parrying, pinning, tripping, shield punching/rushing, and more, amounting to 37 pages of new material. This was published before the end of 1989, the year 2nd edition appeared. In 1994, TSR followed this with Player's Option: Combat & Tactics, which covered similar topics more extensively.
Even earlier, BECMI Dungeons & Dragons introduced a few simple combat options for fighters that had reached name level (smashing, parrying, disarming).