How did Soldiers Train for War in the Early Modern Period? | Soldiers’ Lives
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Warfare in the pike and shot era was not about heroes. Battles weren't won by the heroic deeds of individuals. Winning battles in this time period was all about keeping a tight formation while holding out stoically in the face of an attacking enemy. This required such a high degree of discipline that soldiers needed to be very well trained in performing complex movements. . Although the training methods differed from army to army, an early modern soldier, generally speaking, would be trained in three important areas: Coordinated movements in formations, the handling of weapons and, lastly, a number of seemingly simple yet vital everyday tasks. In this video we will look at a range of important aspects of the training of a soldier in the pike and shot era.
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Chapters:
00:00-01:00 Intro
01:00-02:13 Ad Call of War
02:13-11:55 Training and Drill
Bibliography:
Baumann, Reinhard, Landsknechte, Ihre Geschichte und Kultur vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Dreissigjährigen Krieg, München 1994.
Fiedler, Siegfried, Kriegswesen und Kriegführung im Zeitalter der Landsknechte (Heerwesen der Neuzeit, Abt. 1, Bd. 2) Koblenz 1985.
Fiedler, Siegfried, Landsknechte. Waffe und Waffengebrauch (Heerwesen der Neuzeit, Abt. 1, Bd. 1) Koblenz 1984.
Showalter, D., Astore, W. J., Soldier’s Lives through History. The Early Modern World, 2007.
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Nicely informative video.
I used to have no interest in this era of militarily history. However your videos do really prove that all time periods are interesting. It really only matters how interestingly they are taught and your videos are a testament to that.
I think it’s one of the most interesting eras crossroads of the old and new and so much strategic innovation
I used to think so too, but it was really only because I hadn't been presented with a lot of material about this period. My high school-history book kinda just said that it was a bunch of fanatics who "went at each other".
I love this era.. because it's a combination of different tactics... melee is still important, pikemen, muskets, classic cavalry, cavalry with pistols, artillery improving but not the level of 18th and 19th century.. we also have proffessional soldiers and sieges going on
@@adrianjezierski8093 that's something that still baffles me. The sieges. I never realised how in depth they got and just how long they went on for. It's fascinating.
Thanks for the great videos SandRhoman, so few people cover the pike and shotte era. Between that and your unique animation your videos really stand out in a verrrry crowded market
Be quiet it's not an underrated Era!!
@@samuelwurster2899 it kinda is, but that still doesn’t take away its value :)
@@samuelwurster2899 Only underrated by the people who don't know! ;)
@@samuelwurster2899 calm down haha
@@cantbanme8971 Why do you comment after 6 months
Now that’s soldiering.
This channel needs more Sharpe memes
Hey man, did you ever found out where was GROUCHY?
Making Sharpe references years after the show ended? Now, that's soldiering
I have to say, 16th through 17th century is my favorite period. It was like, half medieval and half modern. Redcoats and heavy full plate cavalry on the same battlefield. Very unique, yet not often talked about.
Thanks for covering the pike and shot era, not only just the battles and formations but camp life and training, not a lot of people cover what you have.
It's a pleasure to see such topics being covered with this amount of detail, for free. thank you.
Prince Maurits was 5 years old, when the 80 years war started. The first warriors against the Spanish, where the Seabeggars, that where having admirals as their men in charge. Buccaneers, thanks William Silent, in order not to be hanged by the British as pirates. The wars at sea where always a main focus, but could not be won without a decent land offensive.
I don‘t mean to be rude but I did not fully understand what you said. Can anyone explain it to me?
@@michimatsch5862 Ya he said it in a badly worded way but what I think he’s trying to show is how the first part of the war wasn’t really about pike and shot but had more just general Protestant revolts and had more emphasis on the coastal naval fights.
@@jamesleliveld9957 Agreed. Thank you.
Nice little fun fact SomeDude
It's interesting that the same could have been said about the age of the hoplite phalanx. It was not the age of heroes, it was also about keeping a tight formation and holding out stoicly in the face of an attacking enemy. However the Greeks didn't believe in drilling their citizen soldiers (apart from Sparta).
The Greeks maybe not, but I'm sure the Macedonian pike phalanx would not have been so effective without drill.
@@talknight2 You are correct. Greek hoplite phalanx involved the charge of heavily armoured soldiers impacting the enemy front almost alike rugby's scrum. Each line pushed the next line with their shields. Their spears would soon break and if the charge and push failed to break the enemy line it was time for their side arm, the sword. It was more a matter of strength of body and will. The Macedonian phalanx was a different beast. Four rows of spears pressing the enemy like a wall, the soldiers of the back preventing the enemy from reaching the first rows. But using long, long spears with two or three men lined ahead of you required skill. Training was fundamental to its effectiveness.
1:42 I have no idea about the game but playing Poland in WW2 takes a fucking madman.
Glad you mentioned pike drilling (it felt very much needed) but I wish you did in greater depth, as I strongly doubt that it only emerged in the Dutch War of Independence, but should be centuries older dating to the Swiss and Scottish pike formations.
In case of the Swiss and the Landsknecht we definitley know of some types of training but more often than not in the villages or on the march. Maurice recruited the men and trained them on the spot as newly formed regiments; that's probably the novelty. Generally, iit's hard to distinguish training of the late medieval ages from early modern drill because we lack sources for the medieval ages compared to later on. Maurice is the first person doing it extensively and for whom we also have a lot of sources because he and his coursins wrote about it; and also because so many Protestant states picked up on it. That's why he is usually mentioned as the one who brought it back. In any case, I think your doubts are quite reasonable but then again we try to portray history according to contemporary historiography; this ethos kinda dictates that we refrain from speculating too much.
@@SandRhomanHistory - OK, fair enough and a very interesting extra bit. TY.
I'm so glad there's a quality channel that focuses on this time period Edit: lmao almost every comment says the same thing I love it
KZhead has been doing everything short of shoving this video down my throat physically
Only 28 minutes late and this is my most anticipated series. Love the work and the research.
I love this channel so much. It's such high quality and vary entertaining
Great to see some Pike & Shotte. A topic that almost always get forgotten nowdays. Now everyone go home and practic your every day basic pike drill.
Le pikeh and le shotte
Great quality as always 🔥
A great video, and I can’t wait for the next one on soldiers’ lives and relationships outside of camp!
Great video! Please keep up the good work!
Spanish Tercios were Europe's best infantry until the disaster of Rocio in 1643. Although Maurice managed in one encounter to make the Spanish Tercios retreat it was the exception rather than the norm
Yeah the drill still had to be perfected after all. It would become the dominant fighting style after a while
Thank you for al the great pike and shot era content
Very well researched and written as always! Channels like these are an invaluable resource. It's a shame that the Early Modern Period is such an interesting and yet somewhat underrated era.
Interesting! Great video, thanks for your work
Wonderful video again Sand! :) If its alright id recommend a YT page " Björn Rüther". He trains proffesionally using the real military manuals of those times. He reenacts and trains with pike 2handers and halberds (+ more). It is really cool seeing it reenacted in real life and by a professional
Huzzah! Form ranks! Form up! It's Sunday and SandRhoman is here!
As always this channel is a blast to learn the common and Grand history of early modern warfare.
Thank you, the content is superb, as it always is.
Hey man this new series is great, really interesting and a breath of fresh air for the channel
Great video one of the best ones yet
Beautiful visuals as always, I like the random stuff that fills up the world like the cross grave marker in the trees
Great video! The guy on 9:03, bottom left with the red jacket and pike, has way too much fun :D
As a small history youtuber, your channel is truly an inspiration and has always brightened my day. Keep up the great work.
Animations are getting better and better!
Great video and excellent content.
Glorious video
Always wanted a video about the hierarchy of the nobility 🙏
Absolutely love your videos, the topic you teach has inspired me. Now if only yt can actually showcase your videos more when they are released.
As a military history lover, and teacher this channel hits all the sweet spots.
now that's fresh video right there
really high quality videos. A really underestimated channel
Great video SandRhoman. More like this on the Pike and Shot era would be great. 👍
People, who consider drilling to be mindless, are mindless themselves- they clearly have no idea, how fighting works, how human mind works, how human body works, and how all those elements work together... To this very day, fighting men- be it a soldier, or a sport fighter, or civilian learning self defense- all fall back to formulaic, but effective mantra of training, beecause there is no real presence of intelect, when somebody suddenly is trying to take our head off. And body moves, for those few very short, but very crucial moments, practically, on its own, and muscle memory can save the brain, that still isn't capable of understanding, what is going on, much less to strategize. Practising teaches, how to handle panic, pain, how to control breathing, how to negate tunel vison, how to relax- i know how much of a scary sight it is, when a man takes a swing at me druing a brawl. I can only- maybe- imagine, how much more scary wold it be, if there was a battle raging around me... But thanks to traing, movements become faster, more clean and effective- and all this comes down to making same movements time and time again. To drilling them into our body and brain. And instead of freezing, turning our head away, and closing eyes, or running on stiff legs of terrorized person, which makes us easier target, we can respong properly... I think, that anybody, who went through training, and then went into combat, was thankful in the end, that they could respond and survive- i sure as hell am, that i drilled 45 degrees side step and hard straight punch counter with either hand, till i almost vomited just thinking about this technique...
This guys so brilliant
Dini videos entüsched nie! Sehr interessant, danke!
Excellent video, like the others one; I think that the Spanish Tercio need one video talking about his training and drill in specific, because as an empire, they have different training according the theather of operations in which they were deployed. They had different way to fight, for instance, against the turks and the moors in Africa (raids, organizeed looting, defensive formations and quick retreats), against the dutch (amphibious warfare, "Encamisadas", extensive sieges, flexible formations) or against the frenchs (anti-cavalry tactics, compacts formations, etc), among other things. They were known as the most versatil army in two centuries for something.
One of the most intelligent answers in this comment section! Very true, one of the main reasons the Spanish were so successful for so long was their ability to change and adapt. This is something that is often overlooked and some people even say the opposite, that the Spanish were very traditional and would not change which is false and incredibly stupid! For example the Spanish tercios in the 17th century looked much different than the tercios from the mid-16th century. Both were very successful.
@@KZ-sg4es Exactly, I readed a lot of documents about the evolution of Spanish tactics and was like you said; Throughout two centuries the Tercio formations are changed so much in the number of Pikes and in the use of Musketers, the squad goes from being a deep square to a long rectangle and decreases in number of soldiers per company until the end of XVII century. A mistake that I always seen in comentaries and videos, it's thinking that the Tercio is a combat identity, when in reality are the companies who play that role in the battlefield; The Tercio is an organizational and logistics identity. Every company had an independent military command and they deployed depending to situation, probably the most flexible military units in those centuries.
Very good video and I like the channel because it speaks about the pike and firearms era, very interesting for me at least
Would love a video on the Cossacks, great work by the way.
Great video! Would it be possible for you to go into detail on the training, drill and disciplinary measures of the cavalrymen of the time?
Legit, can't wait to hear about the relationship between civilians and pike and shot era soldiers were like
great material, ure best history teacher in known history👌
Always the most fascinating and informative documentaries!
Excellent
No Matter the times we either return to the spear, or the spear returns to us.
Hey man! Can you do a video on the English Civil War / the New Model Army? I would love to know more about the equipment / training / tactics of those armies. Thanks
Please do some about food again!!! Also i love your content keep it comming!
"Ungentle advice" That was a very nice way to put it ;D
Did the Roman armies of the Middle Ages engage in drill? I don’t know if they have sources like Vegetius for that era
Willem Lodewijk got his information from a 9th century Byzantine emperor who was discussing in bookform how to drill/train your troops. So i guess that person atleast did that (i can't remember the name of the emperor unfortunately).
@@TimDutch that’s pretty damn cool to know! Thanks!
@@chrisleonard2066 Oh, and good to know is that Willem Lodewijk was the mentor of Maurits. It was Willem Lodewijk that introduced the contra mars (counter march) etc.
@@chrisleonard2066 I looked it up for you; Willem Lodewijk mainly took inspiration from the Greek Aelianus and Leo the 6th, emperor of the Byzantine empire from 886 till 912. The book that the Greek Aelianus published was called 'Tactics' and was published circa 106 A.D.
Please do video on how the Ottoman Turks fought. I believe they used the tactic called Tulgama, would love to know more about that.
that's a good topic. i have been reading a book on the Janissaries, but it doesnt explain how this army without pikes did so well in an era that cavalry was still dangerous
The hel is a Tulgama?
@@hannibalburgers477 It's the fighting doctrine of the Turko Mongol Armies. Seljuks, Saffavids, Uzbeks and Mughals all reportedly used Tulgama
Oh you mean Crescent (also called wolf's bait). It was more associated with early Pre-Fetret (Otroman Interregnum) Turkic military. Basically feigned retreat + Pincer. You draw enemy heavy cavalry away from main army then suddenly turn back and swarm them. Just don't call it Tulgama near a turk.
@@apokos8871 What period in ottoman history to be specific. Because Janissaries were an infantry force only used as imperial guard for a long time. It took years for them to become the main fighting force (and the fact that they allowed everyone in the Kapikulu including rich folk, muslims, literal clowns and acrobats etc.) Your answer is grenadiers btw. ALOT of grenadiers.
5:52 Viggo!!
Hoooooold...!
Man the preview of your video. I put my cursor on it, and suddenly there are tanks going around! Scared me for a moment!
Great
What really helped the Dutch was Spain had so many enemies. If it was 1v1 Spain would win hands down as they did in the first revolt.
10:38 Slow reveal of the guy in the right made me laugh.
Hi i want to ask do you plan to make videos about Eugene of Savoy ? War of Spanish succession and Otoman wars.
OH SHIT I FORGOT TO STOP DRILLING BEFORE DECLA*stackwiped*
yeah i saw that movie ..its okay for a spanish one [although i knew it as the spanish musketeer] ....and there are some small battle scenes that are worth a watch :)
That's one of the most beautiful representations of that era,that i could find. And i'm a huge movie buff. Literally you can stop any scene-and there you go,you have a baroque painting. I remember in the beginning,where they are doing a stealth attack,them muddling through waist deep waters,muskets held up high not to wet the match. I heard that it's an oversimplification of many books-so the story may be stunted. But as a period impression-i reckon it's quite good. battles are small,but realistic,the rapier fights raw and hairy...There aren't enough movies about the spanish tercios and the portuguese explorers,to be honest!
could anyone tell me the music used in SandRhoman's videos, I've been searching for it for a while now
Did match locks ever have a steel butt end? if you had to use it as a melee weapon.
hey, heres a question for ya, SandRhoman. ima reenactor who uses a spear 10ft long in fairly small combats... and.. this makes me curious about how pikes might have been used outside of the bigger blocks and formations we usually see Do we have written, or pictoral references maybe showing smaller groups of pike wieldig soldiers, fighting in smaller scale combat, i.e a few dozen people all up... and more importantly ones that maybe describe what they did with said pikes.. did they.. drop the pikes and just fight with their hand weapons.. did they just make two dense lines and fight that way?, did they fan out and skirmish?, using the pikes in much more open fashion?
I don't understand the claim that it was the Dutch that reintroduced drill. Surely the Spanish Tercios did extensive drill to be able to move on mass effectively as well as change formation to deal with specific threats and the Caracole would also require extensive drill in order to perfect the manoeuvre.
everyone trained, this isnt exactly the same as "drill". Maurice took inspiration from the Romans to codify a more specific rigid system that could be used by all troops, in any place, by any officer and had it printed (it also got translated in many languages). the Spanish in your example, depended on their local officers to conduct the training, so it didnt have to be the exact same in every regiment of the empire. if you have served in the armed forces in your country, you might remember marches and manuevers that dont have a specific logic, but they are just used to teach cohesion and obedience, this is "drill", the rest is practical training. a book on the Dutch reforms by Bouko de Groot has more details if you want to read on that
@Old Tercio being "great warriors" is subjective, the Romans considered the Thracians to be very brave and skilled, yet they defeated them almost every time. you can say that every army in history had motivated skilled warriors, so what is the difference? the Tercios were very innovative in their begining, combining arquebuses and pikes (and swords but they quickly droped that idea) in a way that was much more effective than the German or Italian or French styles of warfare.
@Old Tercio well, yes and no. there were other armies at the time that based their training on more experienced officers teaching the rest, it wasnt exactly a new idea when the Spanish started it. the main advantage of the Spanish army was the great combination of pikes and guns in a completely new formation and also the very good logistics of the empire, that helped them move units to the Low Countries and Italy very efficiently.
@@apokos8871 Except the Spanish did use written down drill instructions to train their troops consistently, such as the 42 step treatise on firing a musket from 1606.
@@Cervando 1606 is around the same time Maurice published his. that means its around a century after the introduction of the tercio. im not trying to bash the spanish or anything, im only going by my book sources, they spanish were very innovative in their day, but the "drill" as we know it today was passed from the ancient romans to Maurice, due to his studies. edit for correction
I love this era. Even with the new add on's by the Swedes the Tercio were still able to destroy them at Nordlingen.
What about learning to use a sword. Both pikemen and musketeers received swords. Swords are not simple weapons to use (eg pike vs pike fencing can be tought in a metter of days, swords would require weeks)
I really like your videos. +1 Sub Please do more gunpowder age stuff
Might be really random but has anyone ever made it far to the end in Total War Medieval 2? I thought Empire was going to be the Pike and Shot era lol. In Medieval can I make it to the end and start doing Pike and Shot tactics?
Either with Renaissance mod or editing descr_events file. Yes. Well, kinda. You basically make every event (not plague) trigger in turn 1 or 2. You still have to built the necessary buildings and wait until your city/castle is big enough. It changes the game and you will have pike and shot era units, but sadly your enemy still keep spamming militia spearmen and levy archers. (even you give them alot of money, instead of upgrading buildings, they will create more and more spearmen that just stands around in their borders and make them lose all of their money to upkeep)
This upkeep issue seems to be in almost every TW game (I only play tw games before Rome 2). Only game that giving alot of money work is R:TW (Darthmod) it seems. In this game enemy will actually use the money. (Except Gaul, they will keep spamming Warband and harassing Julii)
I'm wondering if you ever plan to re-record any of your videos in German or if you know any similar channels like your's in German? I really love your videos. They have a good balance of entertainment and information. I'd love to share them with my father who's very interested in history but doesn't understand english.
we already have a channel in German! It‘s called SandRhoman Geschichte. we remastered all the videos (got rid of previous errors, updated the visuals in some videos etc)!
@@SandRhomanHistory Thanks! That's good to know. I haven't found anything linked on this channel (maybe you should put a link somewhere, unless it's there and I just didn't see it) but I found it now and subscribed to it.
I wouldn't say heroism didn't win battles. Collective heroism, that is. You have to be quite the hero, or quite the madlad, to march straight into an enemy pike formation, with nothing to keep you alive other than the prospect of using your own pike to kill the enemy and the hope that they will lose their nerve first.
Any competitive parade band vets having flashbacks??
Okay, don't twist my arm. Ready to watch _Alatriste,_ yet again.
were muskets used to fire multiple projectiles like shotguns?
Generally no.
I read that military drills were revived by the Swiss in the 15th century not the Dutch revolutionaries in the 16th century.
I wonder if early modern boot camp had as much gay jokes as modern ones do
I guarantee it. And probably more hazing. This is an era where soldiers getting into fist fights with each other was tolerated because it meant they were fighting men after all.
Tight formations vs cannon balls. What could go wrong..
The ads... Please. Please put them at the end where we can ignore them. xD
Catholic Spain was absolutely Glorious. *DEVS VVLT* *¡VIVA CRISTO REY!*
What movie is that clip from
it should be written on screen, probably bottom right corner
Hey, thanks for the video. Hadn't the armies of Europe already been in the Pike and Shot-era for some years by the 1580's, when drill was reintroduced in the dutch armies? I thought the Tercios of the spanish empire at least would have some measure of drill-training. What were the european, and particularly spanish, armies like in this period right before 1580?
God, that would please you, wouldn't it, if you were in a unit facing an enemy shooting at you; if they start going back through to reload and set light to someone else's black powder - enemy soldiers start going pop pop pop like a string of fire crackers!
KZhead: Puts "Training and Drill in the Pike and Shot Era" in my recommended list. Me: *Hovers mouse over thumbnail and preview shows a M4 Sherman tank* Me: Well, I guess drilling was extremely unfair when they have to go up against tanks.
Fear our cannons or get turned into pixels!
hey :)
6:35 hehehe...
Video starts at 2:15
Is it just me, or does the recruit looks older than other soldiers lol
Pike and shot or how I like to call it peanutbutter and jelly
A
id rather get slapped than called up to quarterdeck!
Comment for the BS KZhead algorithm
i understand your need for funds, but anything with $ to gold/jewels/silver/diamonds/etc screams pay to win shovel-ware. you make cool videos and it's a shame youtube can't support its creators like twitch. can you youtubers find your own sponsors? ie calling a game or book publisher and working out a ad deal
Well, we do understand what you're saying. In regards to twitch-like sponsoring deals: for some KZheadrs it works but usually only when you are really big. You also have to be on cam with you face, so you can promote the sponsored products. So far, nobody has really approached us about such a thing and I think it won't change anytime soon.
love your content but you need to learn how to pronounce a "V" in English.