Imperial Masterpiece: The Battle of Nördlingen 1634 | Thirty Years' War
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It’s 5 a.m. on a cold and foggy morning on the 6th of September 1634. The Protestant army, mostly Germans and Swedes, stands at the foot of a hill close to the German city of Nördlingen. Everyone is waiting for the order to attack. Suddenly, the artillery breaks the silence with the cracking thunder of its bombardment. The protestant war cry “god with us” resounds along the frontline. It is mirrored on the other side by the Catholic “long live the house of Habsburgs” in German, Italian, Spanish and Flemish versions. The battle of Nördlingen has just begun.
In this video, we analyze the battle of Nördlingen with the aim of answering three questions: Firstly, what political, strategical and tactical constellation led to an immense battle of four different armies? Secondly, why did this battle change the course of the war and initiate the so-called ‘French phase’ of the Thirty Years War? And thirdly, does this battle really justify the assertion that the Spanish Tercio formation was just as effective as the Swedish Brigades as is commonly argued?
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Bibliography:
Guthrie, William, Battles of the Thirty Years War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635, 2001.
Höbelt, Lothar, Von Nördlingen bis Jankau. Kaiserliche Strategie und Kriegführung 1634-1645, 2016.
Wilson, Peter, The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, 2009.
Ribas, Alberto Raul Esteban, The Battle of Nördlingen 1634. The Bloody Fight Between Tercios and Brigades, 2021.
Fiction related to the Early modern period:
Alexandre Dumas,The Three Musketeers amzn.to/2CJVAuu
Alexandre Dumas, 20 Years After amzn.to/32g82Lv
Alexandre Dumas, The Vicomte de Bragelonne amzn.to/2EnIOCB
Markus Heitz, The Dark Lands amzn.to/3ntZgEu
Military Si-Fi recommendations:
Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe (Series of 22 books on the Napoleonic Wars), amzn.to/3RZyty0
Dan Abnett, The Founding: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) amzn.to/3vdGxkZ
Dan Abnett, The Lost: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) amzn.to/3osvFvA
Dan Abnett, The Saint A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus (Gaunt’s Ghosts) amzn.to/3orikUk
Glen Cook, Chronicles of the Black Company (Chronicles of the Black Company Series Book 1) amzn.to/3PVgyGV
Historiography:
Neville Morley, Writing Ancient History 1999. amzn.to/3NCyoNl
Despite focused on ancient history, it's a brilliant book for anybody who is interested in what history actually is. Is it a story? How does it work in practise? Can writing history be objective? Is it "scientific"? What makes it a proper discipline at university?
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next up rocroi?
Nicely done video
You forgot to mention that the Spanish and Italian Tercios were trained to kneel down when the Swedish and German musketeers discharged their weapons. The Tercios would then standup and fire a devastating volley at their enemies.
19:43 about the spanish infantry, a swedish coronel wrote: "they advanced in a serene manner and in closed ranks , they were almost exclusively battle hardened veterans, without a doubt, the strongest infantry force we ever came across in the field"
source?
@@migueliyominecraftero7778 he witnessed it personally
@@migueliyominecraftero7778 Just trust him, bro. Don't be so negative.
@@LeaffordesAsshole
@@olivercromwell432Bismark said "its only gay if you make eye contact"
Ferdinand of Austria is called like that not for being from Austria but for being a Habsburg whom are also know in Spain as Austrias
I recently did a tour of all of the key battlefields in this area between 1634 and 1805 (I live near Ulm). I was stunned to get to the top of this Albuch hill (@19:20) and discover YOU CAN STILL SEE THE REMNANTS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS!!!! They are shallow humps, but we were there with snow, and this made it all very easy to see. It was unbelievable!
Our world is a system of abandoned & Earthed-over fortifications.
We should not forget that actually a Tercio was only a military unit and not any particular battle formation, as it could be deployed in many different ways.
I find them similar to the french corps system Napoleon used much later.
like many other military units
@@olivercromwell432 like many other units, yes. But very unlike other formations, which is the trivial part
The Tercio, as you rightly say, we’re more and administrative unit than a tactical one. Even as early as in the times of Duke of Alba campaigns, during the first Dutch revolt, arquebusiers and musketeers where used all together as separate tactical units (mangas or squadrons) when the situation asked for.
Next sunday, 6th Nov, will be 390 years from the battle of Lützen. Where Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus fell.
The most Chad of kings... 😭
@@scottanos9981 what about tamurlane?
@@taxevader6444 gustavus adolphes was the chad of kings. Tamerlane is the gigachad of kings
Wrong.
By the Croatian sword! Ripbozo, smoking that Swedepack.
As someone living in a city just between Nördlingen, Zusmarshausen and Blindheim (Blenheim in English), every of them in half an hour reach, I absolutely love your videos discovering our pretty unknown swabian province history 😅. Keep up the good work, it's very detailed and the sources are always given, I appreciate that :)
Guenzburg? :)
its weird to know exactly which specific hills a video is talking about
same here :D I knew about Blindheim, mostly because there were 300 year anniversary exhibitions during my time at school in the nearby town - several other battles in the region were utterly unknown to me until KZhead (and especially SRH) told me about them
Just out of curiosity, nowadays are you catholics over there? Or protestants?
@@PedroLopez-zs4ko Southern Germany is absolutely majority Catholic (although on a national level, Germany by now is 42% Atheist/Non-Denominational) - most larger settlements have a community of both, but among villages with only a single one, that one being protestant is a rarity
Your way of telling the stories of history is so informative and well put together. You're really good at keeping the audience (or at least me) interested. The middle character of your thumbnail is used a lot but still no r34 for him. If you want something done right, do it yourself I guess.
I am Swedish and I love history, with the thirty years' war as one of my favourite historical events to learn about. I think you very much nailed this video! Excellent analysis and fantastic Quality! Your conclusion regarding the Swedish brigade and the Tercio seems sensible. The brigade was better suited for fire and movement warfare while a Tercio on a hill is effectively a castle, not so easily taken. If you decide to take on the battle of Wittstock it would be incredible to hear what you have to say about Johan Banér. A brilliant and effective commander, but also a brutal, alcoholic villain of a man. He became known as "the cruel arsonist" for a reason after all… I truly believe this is one of the best history channels on KZhead! (Also, I love that Wallenstein has Gustav II Adolf on his wall at 6:28).
Well i think that kill the tercio was the new rifles and cannons but the swedish took the error of an direct frontal assault and that was his down, the tercio even at the late 1600 still be very effective
@Swedish and Nordic. Absolut! Torstensson och Banér är de enda i svensk historia som ens kommer nära Gustav II Adolf i krigföring. Båda två är väldigt intressanta människor att läsa om.
@@deteon1418 Karl XII (even if he is overrated) and Magnus Stenbock were also excellent commanders
@@Emil.Fontanot Karl XII is both overrated and underrated i would say he was the best tactical general sweden ever had but we have had alot of generals that were better strategically than him, magnus i agree with and Carl Gustaf Rehnskiöld was an good commander as well.
@@funnyjupiter4499 agree with you. Also yeah Karl XII was very brilliant tactically and he had an excellent army.
New 30 years war video yess 🥵🥵🥵😩😩
Bro wtf are those expressions 💀💀💀
@@TITANia69420 💪😎🤢🤯🖐😨🤳😳🥶👐
@@TITANia69420 hot 🥵🥵🥵
Good to see more Spanish history videos!
would be interesting if you made a video about the spanish road, since you've mentioned it in so many videos by now ...😃
Really appreciated the conclusion showing it's diplomatic consequences - what an inflection point. Among the very best video you've ever done.
Thanks for the quality history videos mate.
Its important to point out that deep formations were used up until the mid 19th century both linear and square formations were situational
It is really interesting to see the evolution of infantry tactics at this time. It’s like world war one when it starts it’s infantry in line and when it finishes it’s tanks and assault platoons. Quite amazing.
I really enjoy your videos, the quality is great and this era is a bit of a blind spot in my historical knowledge so I get the benefit of the elucidation and the enjoyment of the suspense to see who wins lol
Great video as always. Nice to see more events covered in the Thirty Years War. This brings back some memories of Cossacks, I believe this is a set battle you can play (might be mistaken, but I know there are battles from the Thirty Years War).
Love the little pointy hand pointing things on the map. Great addition to the animations!
Imagine hearing your enemy call upon God before battle and the best your side has is the Crimson Chin dynasty
Chinlet cope
Spanish armies used to invoke the name of the apostle Santiago ( St James) before battles, nothing about the habsburgs.
haha, they also didn't understand it as it was in spanish and other languages.
Los tercios
Santiago y cierra España!
Congratulations for this magnificent presentation of such complicate battle. I anxious wait for more!!!
Excellent historical coverage of this significant battle thanks for sharing
Few things. Albuch was defended by 2 regiments of germans troops commanded by salm and wurmser in the front, to the right was the italian tercio of Gaspar de Toralto and behind was the spanish tercio of idiaquez. The germans regiments were the vanguard and who did dig the fortifications on albuch, spaniards refused to dig . And cardinal infant knew it . Wurmser served the spanish king and thus was given the command of the front. total spanish forces on the hill. Germans: 4500.+1600 from regiments of leslie and fugger. Italians:750(used to be 1200 but a outbreak cut the numebrs in half). Spaniards:1800 Escobar wasnt captured on Heselberg, his orders were to held the forest while the germans fortify it, he had 400 musketers of the tercio del conde de fuenclara(count whitewell),He was captured on the forest. Salm and wurmser died under the attack of the scottish and yellow regiment, at this point germans flee the albuch hill.They where not spaniards as u claim. The swedes did not choose to retreat, they where charged by the spanish from albuch and flanked by Gallas and the croatian cavalry wich made their retreat impossible. Albuch held 13 charges of the swedish troops ,quite a feat for the age , ur video is great but u realy side to much on the swedish account and totaly ignore the spanish or german sources. Final note The tercio himself was a organic formation, what u call escuadron was the unit when adopted a battle formation, it was the role of escobar rank officers to form, and the classic square u see on most books was know as Cuadro de terreno or land field wich was the standard 15 century early one model, by the time of nordligen and after fighting the dutch for so many years the spaniards used thiner formations,
I love the focus this channel puts on an often undiscussed time of history
love this series thanks for the great video looking forward to a video about schmalkaldic war
finally!!! some more thirty years' war! I've been waiting for this ever since your lützen video!
Excellent as usual. Thanks for the great work
Honestly the platoon fire described here is interesting because it sugests that the Salvo batallion was not end all tactics of the time. Mainly the idea that musket fire would be innefective at range, which is why you would save your fire to a salvo style attack at point blank range, but that may require your musketeers to be stationary to better reload and maintain fire Cohesion Its not the Tercio per si, but that which made it relevant even at this time.
You can still see the earthworks on Albuch hill today reaching about 30 cm above the ground. And if you dig with your bare hands inside the position only 10 cm deep you reach a big black layer of earth, which really may come from the mentioned explosion. Truly interesting! Great video!
Good video, although I would have loved more an hour by hour format like in Lutzen, however I guess the sources are not as descriptive as the Swedish ones, it makes me happy that you have talked about this battle. There are three pieces of information that you do not mention, but they are also interesting: the first is of vital importance to understand the arrival of the Tercios and their first confrontations with the Swedish armies, which has to do with the Campaign of the Duke of Feria in 1633 through Alsace ( which had the role of ensuring the passage to the Cardinal-Infante before his arrival in Germany), in this after the Spanish troops arrived in Italy, he set out to successfully dislodge Horn's Swedish troops who were attacking the cities of Constanza and Breisach and recover under Catholic control the cities near the Helvetic Confederation and Bavaria, in this campaign it shows that the tactical and maneuvering capacity of the Tercios is up to the Swedes, so their actions in the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 are only confirmation of what had happened a year before. The other two curiosities have to do with the same battle, it is said that one of the reasons why the Swedes lost that battle was because they underestimated the Spanish, who despite having expelled them from the Rhine passes the previous year, they still seemed inferior to them due to their unregular and unprofessional appearance, compared to the Germans, which took its toll on them by concentrating their attacks against the supposedly weak Tercios who demonstrated their experience of more than a century of wars by rejecting their attacks (the appearance it is not everything in an army and it deceives the unsuspecting); the second piece of information is a bit funny, but striking in demonstrating the ingenuity of the Spanish troops, it is said that knowing the great Swedish firepower, which could easily destroy their formations, they found it appropriate to counteract this by crouching every time the Swedes hit them. They fired, preventing the rounds of shots from having an effect, while they responded with their own musketeers afterwards (a reason that explains the lower number of casualties that the Catholic army had compared to the Protestant). It would be great if you could also make a video of the battles of the first phases of the Thirty Years' War, such as that of White Mountain in 1620 or that of Fleurus in 1622.
Very interesting. About the Uniform part, maybe the Spanish did in purpose to have the Tercio having no official uniform, psychologically, the enemy could be to greedy to attack a force of non uniformal dressed army as it could mean they are mere peasant or militias. If you have a proud drilled army with uniforms and you send them to fight an enemy that seems noobish, wouldn’t act as greedy? The soldiers would think its easy prey
@@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014 Well, actually it was not intentional, it is known that during the 16th century due to the better economic status of the Hispanic Monarchy, the Spanish used to go to the battlefield with the best armor and clothing of their time (both infantry and cavalry), since it was said that in this way they made sure to die with the best attire they could afford, it was a sign of the pride they had and the enemies used to identify the seniority of each Tercio according to how well dressed they were in the unit (the war was lucrative). However, by the 17th century, the constant economic crises made it unfeasible to organize a similar uniform for the entire troop, therefore they allowed each soldier to dress as he could; In any case, what the Tercios always wore to identify themselves since they were created, were the red sashes, which they used to wear on the chest or waist (the Dutch used an orange sash, while the French used white, Protestants used to wear a blue sash like the Swedes, although I have also seen them wear yellow). It took until the end of the 17th century to begin to see a uniformity in the Tercios, according to the fashion of the other European armies.
@@IsaacRaiCastillo very complete and interesting analysis
at the battle of nordlingen, the tercios faced only the remnants of that great army. the one who defeated the military genius of the Swedes and their elite army was Wallenstein at the battle of Lutzen.
@@olivercromwell432 Hahahahaha, ¡Vae victis! Dum excusare credis, accusas. Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore.
My weekend just got better. Thanks!
Thx for the video love what yall did with the animation
I love your videos, please never stop making them!
This battle is giving me some serious Gettysburg vibes, what with the smaller army banging it's head repeatedly against a larger army in a fortified hill top position.
The 30 years war really doesn't get enough coverage in school.
Nearly 2am. I’m sad, job and work looks tomorrow. But I am glad to see this video being posted. Thanks, will enjoy and try relax
Great video and epic battle!
In the Battle of nordlingen ; It was show once again that well equiped the legemdary spanish tercios were invincible and was consideres de most " modern" and "aspiritional" army of the time was defeated and sweden gave up its recent dreams of being something beyond scandinavian peninsula
@Swedish and Nordic. I mean they lost because they where figthing agains England, France, half the HRE, the Dutch, rebels in Catalonia and Portugal. Its true that Tercios where outdated by 1690, but that particular war wasnt lost because of them
@Swedish and Nordic.what a war ? The first nordlingen first that fiirst that you lost are the second that did lose but i was not sweden but France and Germán saxony protestamts; The swedush empire in europe thst It to say the máximum extensión of terrotory occupied finland and norway why do you about the other countries you be a patriot why a los fantasy if id had some baltic countries and enclaves in north europe poland never dominated if and of russia It only had the part of prusia 1630-1648.with a dificult swedish balance with the elector until the peace if westfalua in 1.648 when the swedish abandoned orussia one of the consequences was the defeat in nordlingen3 years ago as i say sumarizing that the thruth IS a sweden took a secundary role in that historical moment
You only "study" they battle of nordlingen in the thirsty year's war and non beyond that..... right ????
I did read Europe's Tragedy but i couldn't bring myself to finnish it (it's up to 900 pages). I remember stopping at the death of Gustavus. Thank you for this video, it encourages me to keep reading the book.
These videos are so well made and engaging
11:52, 12:43 - Beautiful example of the employment of cavalry in counter-reconnaissance and security, respectively.
A general who, oddly enough, is rarely mentioned in these contexts is Carl Gustaf Wrangel. He became one of the world's richest men thanks to the raids that the Swedes were involved in in Germany and the Czech Republic. He was also one of the world's largest landowners and owned large parts of Pomerania, Estonia and Sweden. Thanks to his insolent wealth, he was able to build a stately castle outside Uppsala, which today is considered perhaps the world's most well-preserved and lavish Baroque castle. Those who choose to visit Skokloster Castle have the chance to see the world's largest collection of Baroque weapons in the large armory at the top of the castle.
Great series of battles. please cover Jankow in the future. One of the most decisive battles of the conflict.
Tercio was always an administrative unit, a 2000 men strong "regiment", not the battle formation. The most commonly depicted formation in which tercios fought is actually called bastion, so indeed the tercio was on par with brigades and battalions. All would by 18th century transform into regiments.
Love it! Too many cooks spoil the broth - many ferdinands seemingly don‘t
This one helped me understand the 30 years war so much better and it’s connections to the 80 years war and Franco Spanish war. Great video!
what connections with Franco exactly? what the hell are you talking about?
The tercio never was a formation supposed to be behemoth to march down against the enemy lines. Look at the invasion of Zeeland. The tercios always organized in companies for battle even from the XVI century. That was the main combat unit, a company formed up of men from tbe same tercio but many times ad hoc units from different tercios like the roman vexilationes. Thats why they were so flexible. But they never were what anglosaxon historiography made them look like. A lumbering hulk grinding their oponents with iron discipline and pine blocks. They were disciplined, more than anyone, but flexible and adaptable. One of their favourite tactis were the encamisadas, called like that because men would dress their shirts (camisas) over their armour or without it and cover helmets with cloth in order to perform.night attacks.
yeah , but it had a disadvantage in case they would be discovered they were easily identifiable and slaughtered
@@olivercromwell432ANY unit discovered while infiltrating is vulnerable. They were the most profesional units of their time. If they did it it meant it was a good idea.
@@ibonarzua2811 yeah sure
@@olivercromwell432 dude, they were the navy seals of their time.. they could swim and walk through shallow waters, with a freaking knife in their mouth and the massacrate hundreds of guys infiltrating their camps at night.. i doubt they gave a flying damn about being "identificable"....
Another great video 👍😁
The spanish habsbourgs are known as Austrias in Spain because of their origin. Hence the name for the cardinal-infante.
Great video thanks
Love it. Your videos are the best
Commonwealth in 1635 wanted to declare war on Sweden and take back Riga and whole of Livonia. They had concetrated ~30k army in Prussia and Northern Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Now I understand why Sweds wanted so much for peace negotiations.
Great video. Great channel.
Excellent documentary. There are many military history channels out there, but you still hold the title of “go-to” guy when it comes to pike&shot. (By the way, it’s “esCuadrones”).
Love this
Amazing job! Great video! When will the next one be out?!
probably the end of the year but we will go back and cover the beginning of the thirty years war first!
More battle videos!
Add option of showing our thanks with monetary donation off your episode page if possible. Good work sir!!!
I would advice you to take a look at Siege of Nagykanizsa 1601, as it is probably the most succesfull and perfect siege defense in history, it would be a great content for your amazing channel
Excellent video! You have a remarkable attention to detail. I hope, you will continue this series on the Thirty Years War. Sweden would strike back at Wittstock two years later and its commanders would use impressive tactical maneuvers at later battles. In some way, the opposite to Nördlingen happened at Jankau in 1645: Sweden would gain the high ground early in battle at the Chapel Hill. This time, the enemy was threatened in its flank, did not retreat in time, and was heavily defeated. If the Swedes would have taken the Albuch eleven years prior, it could have changed everything.
Excellent video. Smashed the like button as a sacrifice to the Algorithm. Cheers.
The only complaint I have with SandRhoman History is that you don't post enough!!! :)
Axel Oxenstierna is probably the best leader Sweden has had. He laid the foundation for how the Swedish state should function. His administrative legacy still lives on in Sweden.
Some comments on the geography of the region - the "Jura Hills" are more of a steep cliff from the direction the Swedes are coming, it's not like the "classic" idea of a freestanding hill where you climb up one side and down the other or maybe even can go around. Aalen is at 430m NN, the top of those hills are at around 600m NN. However, from there the entire landscape does continuously slope down again, with the additional feature of the Nördlinger Ries - basically, some meteor crashed into the Earth there, flattening the land and throwing up those smaller hills people were now fighting over. It puts Nördlingen into a unique situation where the city is practically naturally encircled by small hills, at the edge of the meteoric crater the city was build in. And again, many of those hills, though not necessarily very high, can be quite steep, overlooking very flat land. It can be a lot like standing atop a city wall or similar fortification (though the Albuch isn't one of the more extreme ones).
28:46 Protestant leader 1: can we blame our defeat on the red coat guy? Protestant leader 2: but he isn't even wearing our colours! PL 1: ... PL 2: yeah, let's do that
I'm glad somebody likes salt as much as I do! And insane choices by Horn a bit I'd argue, we all should understand his ideas here. But attacking a larger army, when they also have the high-ground & stable camp positions and such - whereas your army has just arrived.
Yeah, the battle went the way I would have imagined. The High ground was key to winning the battle, and so the battle came down to who could take and hold the high ground.
@@shorewall If they created a defence-line after taking the hills in the centre & towards the river. And hold them as the main defensive line, then they could have upgraded the passage of supplies through the pass & held the area. By holding instead of attacking they probably could have helped the besieged city a lot indirectly (without participating in the defence itself). They would also have been capable of stabilising their intelligence on the enemy formations alongside information such as when Oxenstierna's army would arrive to assist.
@@justincronkright5025 I think you have a good point there. It would have been good to take the whole hill line, but seeing what happened, it would have been better to be satisfied with what they had, and split the besiegers attention, like you said. I would just say that this would have been hard to see in the moment, and there have been many battles that started because of skirmishing for position in the build up to the actual planned battle. Not knowing the outcome, perhaps attacking more decisively would have won the entire hill line. Or they could have thought so. Leaving that hill to the enemy allows the enemy to fire down their flank line, which could have compromised a defensive strategy.
@@shorewall I was thinking along the same lines as you for a bit. But I am a bit more reserved in my thinking/ideas - especially for this period of warfare. For me the main thing I worry about - even if they took the whole hill line, was the larger Catholic force. The Catholics could both besiege the few defenders in the fortress and still outnumber the Swedes who wouldn't be able to make their position tenable against dedicated countre-attacks over the next days or weeks - all whilst having to manage their supply situation. Bite & hold tactics are a go-to for me most of the times... if you're making the enemy pay in lives, money, political influence, etc. Then even if Nördlingen falls - they've taken it only at a high price.
@@justincronkright5025 It's funny, because on another comment, I was defending the more conservative tactics in this era. Muskets, pikes, and artillery, along with trenches and earthworks led to defense being the superior arm, so I would agree with you. Always try to be the defender, even if you are attacking, as in this battle. You have a good point about the numbers advantage. I mean, the battle in itself was a political expediency, not militarily advantageous. Sieges are drawn out affairs anyways, so the Swedes made the error in hastening on rigid objectives, and ending up losing the battle in dramatic fashion, when any other outcome would have been more advantageous for them.
Those eyes twitching out on Ferdinand of Austria between 9:50 and 10:02 really fucked with me
Sure, I am indeed at the moment I need ads to remind me I could start up my Wows install... but I guess I don't feel like it today.
It's amazing how Ferdinand II could takes this great victory and then so completely bungle taking advantage of it that the war still lasted for more than a decade afterwards and had to be concluded by his son. Meaning Ferdinand II spend basically his entire reign at war.
I'm always amazed just how much of each army was held in reserve in battles like this. It seems like it goes against the maxims of _"fight concentrated"_ and _"charge in a deluge, not a trickle"_ especially when it comes to cavalry. Obviously you don't want to overstretch and have no reserves left to counter any subsequent enemy moves, but an attack that's too feeble to do the job is pointless. I'm not saying the generals were fighting wrong, only why I don't fully understand why what they did is best.
Reserves win battles! Best exmple of the Thirty Years' War is probably Breitenfeld. On the Swedish side the second line held despite all Saxons fleeing while the Imperials crumbeled because they overstretched in their attack. On the Imperial left, this left a big gap between Pappenheim and the infantry that was exploited that could then be exploited by Gustavus.
"Look how puny that little army of Hannibal is, our gigantic armored Roman fist of TWO WHOLE consular armies will punch right thru the middle of them!" -Cannae 216 BC
It worked for the Romans though. Their manipular-based Legions and later on their cohort-based Legions basically always kept 2/3 of their infantry in reserve behind lines. (Triple Accies). I also had (and still have) a hard time understanding why is somehow better to keep so much of the army "temporarily inactive" instead of using your full force to extend your lines as much as you can and surround the enemy. The Greek hoplite armies did exactly that. Forming in a 6 to 8 man deep formation and going all out while always trying to outflank and break the enemy's formation. But no one of us ever witnessed an ancient battlefield, and it's hard to judge without an accurate mentality.
@@rotciv1492 Because this isn't total war and there is limits to lines of communication. The farthest a commander can issue immediate orders is an ear reach. So while they could do that, it would be uncoordinated and confusing. Also, stretching or overstretched lines were foolish back then. The Spartans and Greeks exploited weaker lines by reinforcing one side over the other.
@@SandRhomanHistory I get that it works, I just dont _feel_ why it works to be attacking/defending with (like in the video) just a handful of battalions while dozens stand by. In Breitenfeld, if the Swedish second line had been deployed with the first line, would it not have also held, but without the huge danger of an entire line fleeing first? As for the Roman manipular army, the Hastati and Princeps were committed virtually at the same time, in a 1-2 punch. Including the Velites that saw action even before that during the skirmishing, that's ~85% of the Roman army that was either directly fighting or in an immediate supportive role once the main lines clashed. Only the half-strength line of triarii stayed as back as a proper strategic reserve.
I love SandRhoman's video's they are always a couple of levels deeper and richer than the other top-down battle review themed channels.
Ihr macht sehr sehr gute Videos. Bitte macht aber mehr davon auf Deutsch. Ihr seid klasse.
Interesting
I only know Nordlingen, apart from the fact that I studied it at school, because I have a piece of cutlery with that brand or name.
What is the music that you use for "Chapter 5: Foreseeable Consequences" at 26:27? You use this song in many of your videos and I can never figure out what it is.
Sir, could you do the battle of Lepanto and use the eu4 song battle of Lepanto in the video ❤️
Little nitpick on the "Oxenstierna" pronounciation: since Swedish is a funny language, it's pronounced [ˈʊ̂ksɛnˌɧæːɳa] [hook-sen-h(u)e-na]. Why? Hell if I know, I'm not Swedish, but I was corrected so many times admining a 30YW mapgame this nitpick has been etched into my mind ever since.
Correct. I am Swedish so I can tell a bit more about why exactly it sounds like it does. Basically the name Oxenstierna is a combination of the words *Oxe* (Ox) and *Stjärna* (Star). However, because this is the 16th and 17th century and because the name is nobility the word Stjärna is written stierna. The stj-sound is [ɧ], and so it also sounds like that in Oxenstierna.
Oxenstierna was a Swedish surname?
@@albertmont3411 Sort of. The name of a noble family.
thanks. I really have to start looking up all the names prior to recording. Some of them I've simply been saying in a certain way all my life and I often just assume that's correct.
Please a video of the battle of Lepanto, the siege of castelnouvo, the siege of oran and the jenissaries.....
@Kemalistphobia Does it seem little to you to capture Oran in the middle of enemy territory and then hold it for more than 3 centuries of various sieges? If that's not epic, then I don't know what is. XD
@Kemalistphobia I suppose it refers to the defense made of the city of Oran and the fortress of Mazalquivir in 1563, where they withstood a combined attack by the Ottomans and the Barbary pirates, the garrisons of all the Spanish strong points did not exceed 3000 men, while the Ottomans supposedly reached 100,000 soldiers, so it would be at the height of a siege like Malta or Vienna, in the end a rescue fleet managed to expel the Turks from the place.
@@IsaacRaiCastillo 100000??? ....quite an imagination!!!
Hey just a note the metric system wasn't invented until 1670 and wasn't standardized until the 1790's in France . Which would have meant it came into use during the French Revolution as an accepted system of measure. An out with the old thing more than anything that turned out to be accepted across Europe.
Babe! Babe! Wake up! He’s back with another upload! This time, it’s the 30 years war!
you never get tired of that joke right?
I have a question about the map. At 5:47 during the animation there is a small yellow square in between the Kingdom and France depicting Habsburg lands. Did they controlled parts of France at that time?
It's also present in the map at 2:46 , for reference.
It was a small county from the Burgundian inheritance.
@@blugaledoh2669 Aha ok, thank you.
It's the Franco Condado, a domain of the Spanish Crown inherited through the burgundian line
Maybe you are not used to doing chronological videos, but a series on the franco-spanish war, which really was the beginning of the end for Spain, would be really interesting!
I don't know if it was you, SR, who mentioned it, but the transition from tercios to line formations was not a straightforward process. When the Dutch and good old Gustavus switched to shallower formations, it was more if a 50-50 thing is who would win and it works also depend on many, many other factors. Of course with further improvements, tercios made way for the line formations of the 18th century, but it was a complex and long process.
Yeah, we know that line formations eventually won out in the end in terms of being adopted and used, but then we make the error of taking that backwards and thinking that the line formation was always superior. If we look at the strengths of each formation, we can deduce where each would be superior. Line formation allows you to get more muskets in the attack, and are thinner to give less target to artillery, while tercios are deeper to resist charges, and can defend from multiple angles. So just as a simple overview, line formation is more efficient for attack, while tercios are more resilient for defense. And that is all without considering each side's cavalry and artillery, which were no less essential to success.
But what happend With oxenstiernas reinforcements
man, the tittles, you are having too much fun jaja
interesting for me who lives in the near of Nördlingen
Even during the "downfall" of the tercio,they were by far the most effective military unit of the world at the time under the right conditions,aside from the tercio,nobody ever achieved this type of dominance since the time of the roman legions,which were vastly different No matter the commander,the terrain or the enemy,the tercio always performed remarkably and was only defeated by the constant advances in artillery forces which were the only thing that could defeat the tercio soldiers
Of course, Horses don't want to die throwing themselves on a wall of pikes And using soldiers with pikes was an archaic method And a sacrifice of many professional soldiers. So canons have to be used
10:36 i guess im to late to the party, but id like to hear a source for the claim that nördlingen is a part of franconia. it was under the rule of regensburg (palatinate), than a reichsstadt and than part of bavaria from that to today(swabian bavaria to be precise)... edit: minor critique: would have been nice, if the geography would have been better explained. nördlingen lies within a meteorcrater. been there myself by bike, its quite an effort nowadays probably even more with an armie plus heavy equipement than.
An excellent video like always from you guys. I only have to do one small correction. Nördlingen is part of Swabonia, not Franconia.
Explore Golgumbaz with Guide Jahangir, South India 🇮🇳
The württembergian troops in this battle had been only militiamen with low quality training and equipment.
Sorry it it was pointed out by someone before, but you made a mistake with the Catholic counters: according to them, they had almost only cavalry at the battlefield, even in the center.
They should've just called this conflict, The War of Ferdinands.
If this phase of the war was a separate conflict, historians absolutely would. After all, they call the Swedish-Danish conflict from 1643 to 1645 the "Torstenson War", after the Swedish commander.
Dios bendiga a España e irlanda
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Long live the tercio!
Otra batalla ganada gracias a la mejor infantería de la epoca. Plus Ultra
Roman legionaries still strong during the beginning of the gunpowder age.
Not to be that guy, but Leganés has the accent in the last syllable.
I have a saying; Strategy is for the victorious. I make a point of that this was taking place in a time and place where Sweden was a militarily great power, and it was due to that the Swedes were victorious. It was a requirement for the Swedes to win almost all battles or they would lose much of their army to the enemy or respective mercenaries hometown because the mercenaries would not want to fight for a losing side. It was not an easy thing to lose and be taken captive, you could lose limbs and life to torture by the enemy. Sweden in the 17th century had only some 1 million plus inhabitants. Thus we relied heavily on foreign mercenaries, about half of the soldiers in the Swedish army were mercenaries, not counting the Finns who in this time and era were Swedes. Many Scottish men fought for the Swedes. Even Germans fought in the Swedish ranks. That's why the Swedes could not retreat totally from the battlefield even though it clearly was a bad idea to attack the hills repeatedly from a tactical viewpoint. Or was it? Sometimes you are dealt bad cards and the given terrain is just not to your advantage. The Swedes had to relieve Nördlingen. Deal with it. Today it is the US that very much cannot back down or they will lose their high ground in the world.
I understand the point you are making, of maintaining a "military status" as a rising power, however it sounds as if you were trying to come up with excuses to justify the Swedish defeat, no matter how victorious they were under Gustavus Adolphus, they were not entirely invincible and Nor had they faced highly professional troops like they had before, such as the Spanish Tercios. The Swedes were very confident of their chances and even being forced by circumstances, they would not have tried to attack the Imperials if they did not know they had a chance of winning (in the past they were always at a disadvantage and could have won outright), in fact though the terrain did not favor them, they managed to capture most of the hills the day before, the difference in everything is that in front of them, in addition to having a fortified point with trenches, there were professional Italian and Spanish troops, who were in their years much better than the Germans they faced many times in the near past. There are sources that talk about how much the Swedish commanders like Horn and the Saxon underestimated the imperials because they were drunk from previous victories and all those who go into battle with such a mentality end up losing them (they chose their strategy wrong) and in this case it was a decisive defeat; They don't need to be excused, they were simply thoroughly outclassed, just as the Swedes had decisively outclassed their opponents years before without objection.
@Swedish and Nordic. Correct.
@@IsaacRaiCastillo No, no excuse but one. Well, to be honest it was a bit of an excuse. It is more costly to attack a fortified high ground, at least three times as costly. But the Imperials won fair and square. And it seems like the Imperials did mostly the right thing in these series of battles. But I don't want to live in the past. Learn from the past, live in the now and plan for the future. If I couldn't give the Spanish the credit they deserve I could not be said to learn from the past, and if I cannot learn from the past I cannot plan ahead, can I? It wasn't the first time the Swedes received a beating by continental armies and it wasn't the last time either. This should in no way imply that I plan for a war against Spain. ;) Happy?