Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

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Battle of Breitenfeld
Part of the Thirty Years' War
Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle at Breitenfeld .
Date September 17, 1631 Location Breitenfeld, Saxony, north of Leipzig, Germany Result Decisive Swedish victory
Combatants
Sweden Saxony	Holy Roman Empire Catholic League
Commanders
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden John George I, Elector of Saxony	Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly
Strength
41,500	35,000
Casualties
5,500 dead	7,600 dead 6,000 captured 12,400 deserted

Thirty Years' War

Plzeň – Záblati – Dolní Věstonice – White Mountain – Wiesloch – Wimpfen – Höchst – Fleurus – Stadtlohn – Dessau Bridge – Lutter am Barenberge – Stralsund – Wolgast – Frankfurt – Magdeburg – Werben – 1st Breitenfeld – Rain – Fürth – Alte Veste – Lützen – Oldendorf – Nördlingen – Wittstock – Rheinfelden – Breisach – Chemnitz – Honnecourt – 2nd Breitenfeld – Rocroi – Tuttlingen – Freiburg – Jüterbog – Jankov – Mergentheim – 2nd Nördlingen – Zusmarshausen – Lens – Prague

The Battle of Breitenfeld (German: Schlacht bei Breitenfeld; Swedish: Slaget vid Breitenfeld) was a battle fought near Leipzig on September 17, 1631. Under the leadership of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the Protestant forces achieved their first major victory during the Thirty Years Wars.

The victory confirmed the Swedish king as a great tactical leader and induced many Protestant German states to ally with Sweden against Catholic Austria.

Contents 1 Prelude 2 Tactics 3 Battle 4 Aftermath 5 References

[edit] Prelude

In late August 1631, the Imperial Commander and Champion of the German Catholic League, Tilly, invaded Electoral Saxony in hopes of forcing its ruler, John George I, to abandon an alliance he planned to conclude with Gustavus Adolphus. The Swedish king 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.

[edit] 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 pikemen with supporting units of musketeers 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.

[edit] Battle

The battle began around noon with a two hour exchange of artillery fire, during which the Swedish fire power was demonstrated in a rate of fire of three-to-five volleys to one. This uneven exchange 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 were 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 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 and stopped 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 Hakkapeliittas) 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.

[edit] 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%.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References