Gustavus Adolphus' Masterpiece: The Battle of Breitenfeld 1631 Hour by Hour | Thirty Years War

it's 1631 and europe is all aflame in the 30 years war the swedish king gustavus adolphus commands his man to take battle order on a wide open field near the town of breitenfeld the battle that is about to be fought is deemed a major watershed for early modern warfare scholars and armchair historians alike have argued that it pitched two entirely different tactical systems against each other in this view breitenfeld heralded a new era of warfare some however think that the tactical components of the battle are overrated this video presents an in-depth hour-by-hour analysis of the combat action it is going to explain the movements of individual tactical units and their respective engagements this is how contemporary historiography recounts the battle of breitenfeld [Music] in april 1631 gustavus adolphus king of sweden led his mostly protestant force towards frankfurt on their order deep into germany and closer and closer to the territory of his enemies the habsburgs and the catholic league the swedes laid siege to frankfurt on the 13th of april after only two days they stormed the city this was the first major success in gustavus campaign in the 30 years war however gustavus must have been disappointed while overlooking his men at frankfurt the only number 20 000 a small number considering that the swedish king had been building a bridgehead in pomerania and funneling in further troops to germany for about a year according to the historian peter wilson gustavus intended to have 100 000 soldiers by the beginning of 1631. much to his dismay the german protestant princess mistrusted him and did not join his cause in great numbers despite him championing the liberties of the protestants in germany not even gustavus adolphus's reputation could convince them people mumbled that death and devil themselves marched along his men this was indeed the case as two of his officers had names which meant just that in german toefl devil and tot death peter wilson explains that gustavus desperately needed a major success to convince strong allies such as brandenburg or saxony as well as further german mercenaries to join him this was the real reason he was at frankfurt in the meantime one of his few allies in germany the protestant city of mokteborg had been under siege since march gustavus was too late to help them his opponents johan von tilley and godfrey timeless to poppenheim were besieging macteburg with an army of 25 000 men while another 44 000 men were waiting to be mastered or already marching to join them gustavus was in no position to make the relief of magdeburg his badly needed success and conquered frankfurt instead this worked out all right and until june he actually gained the support of jose castle occupied most of brandenburg and installed a strong position across the elbe at verban another part of his army meanwhile conquered the rest of mecklenburg under akhetot in the meantime tilly had stormed the city of macteburg on the 20th of may what followed was one of the most horrible bloodbaths of a war full of horrific bloodbaths 1 700 of the city's 1900 buildings were burned to the ground another twenty thousand defenders and civilians died and the city's population was reduced to only 449 inhabitants as a census in 1632 reveals the phrase machterborg quarters quickly became a well-known saying used when catholics asked for mercy and none was given of course gustavus's propaganda machinery was quick to use this against the catholics and suddenly the protestant princes changed their minds and sought gustavus protection but more importantly it pressured tilley's army to move the historian peter wilson notes quote with his army swollen by reinforcements it was imperative for tilly to leave the devastated area around mokteborg and enter fertile saxony he pushed to leipzig which surrendered on the 15th of september end quote while tilly hoped to win the saxons for his cause they had already allied with the swedes on the 12th on the 15th saxons and swedes met up at dubin gustav was now wielded an impressive force of about 40 000 men he was eager for battle [Music] tilly moved north of leipzig with about 30 thousand men to meet the swedes in open battle on a broad white plain north of leipzig he found ideal terrain near the small village of breitenfeld it was well suited for both his cavalry and his darthils the famous spanish square-like infantry formations the terrain was slightly inclined towards his position especially on his right at the gallows hill this gave his heavy artillery a ranged advantage he had his man take battle order and then set up camp the fact that he had two different artillery positions suggests that he knew how his opponents would set up their army tilly was aware that he was outnumbered and consequently stretched out his line contrary to the usual way of deployment he had his man form only one line instead of the usual checkerboard formation he had four groups of three tertios each a b c and e and another smaller tartheo covering his left flank tilly was stationed in the center on his wings there were 17 squadrons of cavalry numbering 300 to 900 men each most of them were heavy curious ears most famously poppenheim's black riders others were light skirmish cavalry in the form of mounted archibaziers far on his right hand side there were the croats who were also light cavalry the left was led by poppenheim the right by furstenberg an additional reserve was placed behind the center under ervite they were most likely rather inexperienced troops by nightfall gustavus and the saxons had taken position about five kilometers north of the battlefield they had already discovered tilly's army and were drawn up in battle order when they went to bed on the morning of the battle the 17th of september the swedes skipped breakfast and managed to cover the distance to the battlefield in one and a half hours the river lober which was held by the croats was cleared by gustavus's musketeers many scholars believe that tilly should have held the river lober more firmly however he would have left the high ground and more importantly once the swedes crossed the river they had no proper path of retreat tilly was determined to crush the northern invaders once and for all the saxons and swedes drew up in separate battle arrays gustavus had not much trust in his allies they were inexperienced and not comparable to his battle-hardened troops the swedes were on the right forming up multiple lines the first and second echelon in the center were commanded by tot and hepburn there was just enough space for one cavalry regiment to charge through the formation about 500 horsemen were held in reserve for this task in the center gustavus himself led the right wing he wanted to crush the imperials on their left among his horsemen he placed platoons of musketeers as fire support the reserve was commanded by bonaire the left was arranged similarly but with fewer men it was led by marshall gustav horn the second in command the saxon infantry in contrast was arranged in a hollow arrowhead formation accompanied by cavalry on the left and the right this formation underlines gustavus's intention to decide the battle on the swedish right wing where most of his cavalry was concentrated while drawing up the swedes were bombarded by the catholics artillery they only returned fire when they were within 600 meters of the enemy lines gustavus adolphus posted that quote our guns answered theirs with three shots for one unquote the state-of-the-art swedish artillery indeed outnumbered the imperials however many of them were light artillery pieces which were much easier to reload than the heavy guns the artillery duel lasted from noon to about 2 to 3 pm the densely packed imperials took the brunt of the losses from the firefight the next phase of the battle unfortunately is not entirely clear and still disputed we know that between 2 and 3 pm poppenheim and furstenberg engaged their opposite flanks some argued that papanim acted on his own and advanced without order as he was impatient and a fiery temper others say he saw furstenberg at once first and poppenheim simply followed his lead then there are those who think tilly gave the order for the attack in any case poppenheim led his wing of around four to five thousand horsemen against gustavus right flank these were mostly heavy curious ears he intended to perform the caracal that means he wanted to ride close to the swedish lines fire their wheel locked pistols then retreat and have the next rank fire this would be repeated over and over again he probably intended to charge home with sabres as soon as the swedes showed any weakness for the swedes it must have been a frightening sight however they did not lose their nerves they met the imperials at the halt waiting for the first imperial rank to fire their pistols and only then returned fire the historian william guthrie estimates that 860 muskets and 2 450 pistols fired in one thundering volley this produced perhaps 150 hits on 2500 men however the impact on the imperial morale must have been considerable right after the volley the swedish cavalry sallied forth through the dense smoke quickly charged the enemy lines crossing swords firing pistols at point blank range then they retreated as soon as they had passed the lines of their infantry the musketeers who had reloaded in the meantime poured another volley into poppenheim's retreating cavalryman poppenheim however was far from beaten he ordered his mounted archabazir regiments and the e infantry group to cover the swedish front while he led his heavy cavalry around the swedish flank again and again they attacked the swedish lines gustavus adolphus did not meet their attack but he ordered his rightmost squadrons and one musketeer platoon to curl back to meet poppenheim's second charge the swedes met the second imperial charge as warmly as the first poppenheim still attempting an outflanking maneuver tried to envelop the swedish flank to meet poppenheim's charges gustavus at bonaire feed in his reserve cavalry bit by bit thereby extending the swedish right flank meanwhile the furstenberg flank had been engaging the saxons on the far right the cavalry made contact first while the croats will threateningly around the saxon flank the saxon gunners and infantry were engaged in a firefight by one of the imperial mounted archibazir regiments around 2 30 when furstenberg had made contact tilly ordered his c and d battalions supported by arvita's cavalry to move sharply to the right to outflank the swedish center and engage the saxons the a group should extend out to cover the swedish center and the b group should act as a hinge for the turning movement he expected the saxons to shatter soon and wanted his infantry in place only a bit later the sexes proved tilly right as the remaining two imperial heavy cavalry squadrons baumgarten and kronberg bypass the firefight revolving around the saxon gun line they found an opportunity to charge into the main body of saxon foot baumgarten's men rode by and fired their pistols but kronberg charged them with sabers in hand the saxons who were already under threat by the imperial cavalry and the croats on their left simply disintegrated cavalry and commanders soon joined the route only two veterans sex and cavalry regiments remained on the field and joined horn's swedish left flank with the saxons driven off the field tilly could now envelop the swedish left flank the swedes would be crammed in between his men poppenheim's heavy curaciers and the river luber the crushing blow tilly had intended was suddenly within reach a series of developments delayed the fight on the imperial right flank furzenberg did not manage to hold his men together firstly the croats sure of victory wandered off to plunder the saxon baggage train and many imperials joined them secondly others ran down the saxons who on their flight plundered the swedish baggage train in a very ungracious manner tilly c and d groups hervette's cavalry and the remains of furstenberg's troops slowly moved around the swedish flank to get in position around 3 30 to 4 pm they were ready to attack however on the swedish side hornet quickly reacted to the saxons flight he pivoted his entire flank at a 90 degree angle along the duban leipzig road to present a new defensive position ordered the reserve of the second echelon to extend his line and advised gustavus of the situation around the same time tilley's p group was engaging the swedish blue brigade in a firefight gustav horn had no intention to allow the imperials to outflank his position he interrupted their approach with continuous cavalry attacks and his fast firing light guns bombarded the slow-moving imperial darthils in a continuous barrage when the imperials were in position horn had his left flank anchored by the veteran green brigade the white brigade in the center the scots to their right the cavalry served as a hinge between the two battle lines the remains of the saxon cavalry covered the far left flank and tried to outflank tilly's d group as a result the fight was divided in three separate actions d versus green c versus white and rvt against the swedish cavalry [Music] green was attacked by caracal in cavalry who screened for the approaching dartius of the sea group the swedes could not return fire because they saved their volley for the darthils when the cavalry finally gave way the green brigade greeted sea with fire from their six regimental light artillery pieces and when at close range followed up by a volley and canister shot according to the eyewitness lieutenant colonel moshem the swedes then advanced on them with push of pike and clopped muskets the tartheos returned fire while another cavalry regiment caracalled against them delaying their advance the swedes dropped the cavalry off with musket fire and then engaged at derthio in melee lieutenant colonel mashem wrote in his account of the battle that even after they had engaged the imperial shot the enemy continued to fire at his man and that the fight went on for over an hour eventually it tipped in the favor of the swedes when the spanish commander fell meanwhile the white brigade seems to have had similar success in beating off the imperials we have no first hand accounts about that engagement though so there are no details available horn himself led the cavalry defense he had his musketeers and cavalrymen counter arvita's attacks with volleys and charges so his methods were similar to gustavus's on the right flank against poppenheim at about the same time somewhere around 4pm the fight on the right flank came to a climax when poppenheim launched his seventh charge poppenheim approached the swedish right for the seventh time and for the seventh time he was repelled his men and horses were exhausted disorganized and spread out among the swedish flank likewise the e-infantry group and mounted archibaziers had suffered from fire from the swedish infantry the yellow brigade had intervened too and now turned their guns on them around 4 15 gustavus made his move he had paner's man charge poppenheim's left flank simultaneously two other swedish reserve cavalry regiments burst forward against poppenheim's inner right flank another swedish cavalry unit charged the imperial mounted archabazir regiments and the e infantry group poppenheim's curious airlines simply crumbled under the flat-out charge of these fresh troops the imperial mounted archaebasiers caught on the wrong foot ran for their lives the e infantry groups by contrast formed a ring of pikes and stood their ground around the same time arvid's inexperienced man got the same treatment by the swedish cavalry under horn by 5 pm tilly's line had disintegrated at multiple points most of his cavalry fled or was lost the e infantry group finally began to crack under continuous cavalry charges musket and artillery fire many of banner's men had scattered in pursuit of the fleeing imperials but gustavus still had his small and east gotland and finnish cavalry under his personal command he now began to roll up what was left of the imperial center meanwhile tilly was escorted off the field after he had been shot in the arm some of his darthos however were cut off and could only manage to retreat to the linkelwald around 6 pm they made their last desperate stand which probably allowed many others elsewhere on the battlefield to flee at this point the imperials situation was hopeless gustavus and horn had both conquered the saxon and imperial artillery respectively and began to bombard the remaining imperials at the lincell vault [Music] the battle of breitenfeld was the first major victory for the protestants in the 30 years war till his veteran army simply ceased to exist many of his men perished on the battlefield were captured changed sides or were cut down by the saxon peasantry on their flight and while the imperial army was virtually wiped out gustavus could recruit the remains of tilley's mercenaries and came out of the battle with an even bigger army than before this victory and all it implied convinced many protestant german states to join his cause but what had won the day was it the swedish brigade that triumphed over the darthos or was it a single-minded resolution of the swedes answers differ pretty much from scholar to scholar there is a broad consensus that the swedish reserve was vital if tilly made a mistake it was that he went to battle with too few men and that he stretched them out too much however on many other occasions the presumably all darthius defeated the swedish system so scholars are not in agreement about the tactical benefit of gustavus style of fighting however most scholars accept that the swedish system became increasingly popular only about a year later at the battle of lutzen the imperials would adopt the swedish system and deploy similarly how the swedes could handle their own medicine is a topic for another video

Channel: SandRhoman History

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Keywords: battle of breitenfeld, thirty years war, breitenfeld, gustavus adolphus, gustav adolf, history, documentary, swedish intervention thirty years war, breitenfeld battle, battle of breitenfeld 1631, first battle of breitenfeld, military history, education, educational, sandrhoman, 30 years war

Id: zrcuVOfOr4M

Length: 21min 29sec (1289 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 10 2021