| Battle Of Breitenfeld (1631) |
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The Battle of Breitenfeld was the first major Protestant victory in the religious pretexted conflicts known as the Thirty Years' War . It was the battle where the Lion Of The North , the redoubtable ''Gustavus II Adolphus'' sealed his fame and entered the annals of 'great' military leaders, and from which some have labeled him as the ''Father of Modern Warfare'' for his unique mauneuver warfare style and early use of what is today referred to as Combined Arms tactics. While these matters are debatable as the innovations incorporated by ''Gustavus the Great'' were more derivative of others when taken singly, it is also true that he forged them and trained them into an army uniquely capable of high speed maneuver warfare with an extremely high rate of aimed fire ( Fire Power ) for it's day by both his musketeers and Field Artillery and coupled that to an uncommon ability to exploit developing opportunities on the field of battle by employing both light and heavy cavalry forces closely co-ordinated with his highly trained and disciplined infrantry; this battle would turn on such, so much so that another known for the same battlefield maneuver skill and puissance, Napoleon Bonaparte and the noted Prussia n military philosopher-General Carl Von Clausewitz were both great admirers of this king as a General and leader. PRELUDE In late August 1631 , the Imperial Commander and Champion of the German Catholic League Johann Tserclaes, Graf Von Tilly invaded Saxony in hopes of forcing the ruler of the Electorate of Saxony , John George I to abandon an alliance he planned to conclude with Gustavus Adolphus , King of Sweden . Gustavus Adolphus responded by uniting his army with the elector's forces, hoping to fight Tilly and force him to leave Saxony. Tilly arrayed his forces north of Leipzig at Breitenfeld and prepared to meet Gustavus Adolphus. TACTICS The most important difference between the two armies was tactics. The Imperial & Catholic League forces arranged their army in regiments of infantry and cavalry. The infantry formed up in large blocks of about 1500 men each, with a front of 150 men and a depth of 10 men The centre comprised Pike men with supporting units of Musket eers on each flank. The Imperial army was comprised of fourteen such formations, twelve arranged in groups of three blocks with the center block placed slightly ahead of the other two. The final two regiments were attached one each to the right and left wings. The cavalry was drawn up on each flank, Pappenheim commanding the left and Fürstenburg the right. The left flank was close by Breitenfeld; the right, by Seehausen. Tilly had no reserves except for some cavalry placed behind his infantry. Gustavus Adolphus, however, arranged his forces in two long lines. Each line was five men deep for pikemen, and six men deep for musketeers. The use of linear tactics enabled Gustavus to create a front that matched Tilly's, while still giving him troops to keep in reserve. Gustavus Mixed his artillery, and some cavalry, into the main formation. The Elector of Saxony arranged his forces in the traditional formation on the Swedish left, and all commanders placed most of their cavalry on their flanks. Since the Swedish and Saxon forces deployed separately, this placed cavalry in their center as well as on their flanks. BATTLE The battle began around noon with a two hour exchange of artillery fire, where the Swedish Fire Power was demonstrated in a rate of fire of three-to-five volleys to one. This uneven exchange was ended when Count Pappenheim led a charge of the Heavy Cavalry on Tilly's left. These cuirassiers advanced seven times, but each time was turned back by the Swedes. The Swedes used the tactic of mixing men armed with muskets with their cavalry, who were able to defeat the light cavalry pistol tactics used by the Imperial forces. Swedish reserve cavalry was also able to extend the Swedish line and countercharge with sabers against the Imperial cavalry. Following the defeat of his seventh assault, Pappenheim and his cavalry quit the field in disarray. Pappenheim's heavy cavalry, called the Black Cuirassiers , then retreated to Halle pursued initially by some Swedish cavalry, but these were called back by Gustavus, King of Sweden, while the Swedish guns continued to pound the troops of the Catholic League. During this time, Tilly's infantry remained stationary, but then the cavalry on his right charged the Saxon cavalry and routed it towards Eilenburg. Seeing an opportunity, Tilly sent the majority of his infantry against the remaining Saxon forces in an oblique march diagonally across his front and the whole Saxon body fled the field, stopping only briefly to loot the Swedish camp. Tilly thus defeated forty percent of his enemy and was poised to deliver a devastating flank attack on the remaining Protestants. As Tilly was ordering his infantry to roll up the Swedish line, however, Gustavus Adolphus was able to reorder his second line into an array at a right angle to the front, in a maneuver known as Refusing The Flank . A similar tactic was used at Gettysburg at Little Round Top. This deprived Tilly of the opportunity for an attack on the Protestant flank. Following this, a charge by the Swedish cavalry(the Finnish Haccapelitas ) was able to drive off the rest of the Imperial cavalry. With this help, the Protestant infantry was able to gain the upper hand. Soon under fire from both the excellent Swedish guns and captured Imperial guns, the Imperial infantry was forced to retire from the field. AFTERMATH The Battle of Breitenfeld served as major endorsement of the linear tactics of Gustavus Adolphus. He was able to inflict more than sixty percent casualties on his opponent, and made up his own losses in recruited prisoners. After the battle, the Catholic League or ''Imperial army'' under Tilly only had 6,000 left. Gustavus Adolphus , on the other hand, had a greater army after the battle than before. The battle's outcome also had the political effect of convincing Protestant states to join his cause. France later supported the militarily strong but economically weak Sweden - from 1630 to 1632 , the cost of Gustavus' army was shorted by 80%, but the strength was increased to over 350%. REFERENCES
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