13 BEST INFANTRY OF ALL TIME[NO ORDER]

[AUSTERLITZ]

@indushek
Napoleon, His Army and Enemies : Napoleonic Battles : Uniforms : Maps : Tactics

Earlier link for info on the napoleonic age.

iacta alea est – The Realm of Chance
Lots of important battles in epic detail.

The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps
Superb site for battle animations.Needs powerpoint viewer[free download] .View as slideshow.

Apart from these recommend 2 great military history forums.
Historum - History Forums
Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

Another forum for extensive info on ww2 german military.
Axis History Forum • Index page

This site is my primary source of learning.
Osprey Publishing - Military History Books - Campaign
The campaign series is epic,truly in every sense of the word along with the command and elite serieses[elite series deals with indivual soldier types].See the catalogue ,pick which one u want to know about.If u are confused about one do a google wiki search on it.Wikipedia is a much maligned but very easily obtainable source of info as it gives u a background info on the whole thing pretty quickly.

Anyway now that u have seen the catalogues but can't read the books.Check ur message box for how to download and read as i don't want to violate forum rules.

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/

Earlier link for info on the napoleonic age.

http://iactaaleaest.wordpress.com/
Lots of important battles in epic detail.

http://www.theartofbattle.com/
Superb site for battle animations.Needs powerpoint viewer[free download] .View as slideshow.

Apart from these recommend 2 great military history forums.
http://www.historum.com/
www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/

Another forum for extensive info on ww2 german military.
http://forum.axishistory.com/

This site is my primary source of learning.
http://www.ospreypublishing.com/campaign/
The campaign series is epic,truly in every sense of the word along with the command and elite serieses[elite series deals with indivual soldier types].See the catalogue ,pick which one u want to know about.If u are confused about one do a google wiki search on it.Wikipedia is a much maligned but very easily obtainable source of info as it gives u a background info on the whole thing pretty quickly.

Anyway now that u have seen the catalogues but can't read the books.Check ur message box for how to download and read as i don't want to violate forum rules.
Wait i can't seem to send PMs ,requires 10000 posts wtf.Ok sent a friend request ,accept and then i can post in profile i think.
All i can say is when reading military history keep an open mind and read about all great militaries,though everyone has favourites.Usually the trend is to learn only about the military of his own country/religion and since they usually know in depth only about them insult the rest all too quickly.Its better to study both western and eastern armies than engage in futile glorification based on nationalism or religion.Because in the end,whatever they were is gone and won't matter today.So popcorn,coke,chill.

Also another great source of interest in military history comes from playing video games.
For lots of time over the week grand strategy games with lot of brainwork play europa universalis 3,deals with age of discovery of america from late medieval to modern era and industrial revolution.
Another superb grand strategy game is hearts of iron 3,deals with ww2.

Other great games are age of empires 3,especially the expansion pack asian dynasties deals with asian factions india,china and japan so might be of interest to u.Note this is a fast ususally 30 mins to1 hr Real time strategy game.

One of the best RTS games is Company of heroes .Set in ww2.I play this even now online one game per night.

Another turn based grand strategy game is civilization .Try civ 4 and civ 5.

A classic is rome total war,dealing with the ancient age and medieval total war.
New additions are empire total war and napoleon total war.
The new shogun total war deals with samurai japan.

U can download ******** of all these from u know which site.
Regards.

 

[indushek]

@indushek
Napoleon, His Army and Enemies : Napoleonic Battles : Uniforms : Maps : Tactics

Earlier link for info on the napoleonic age.

iacta alea est – The Realm of Chance
Lots of important battles in epic detail.

The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps
Superb site for battle animations.Needs powerpoint viewer[free download] .View as slideshow.

Apart from these recommend 2 great military history forums.
Historum - History Forums
Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

Another forum for extensive info on ww2 german military.
Axis History Forum • Index page

This site is my primary source of learning.
Osprey Publishing - Military History Books - Campaign
The campaign series is epic,truly in every sense of the word along with the command and elite serieses[elite series deals with indivual soldier types].See the catalogue ,pick which one u want to know about.If u are confused about one do a google wiki search on it.Wikipedia is a much maligned but very easily obtainable source of info as it gives u a background info on the whole thing pretty quickly.

Anyway now that u have seen the catalogues but can't read the books.Check ur message box for how to download and read as i don't want to violate forum rules.

Napoleon, His Army and Enemies : Napoleonic Battles : Uniforms : Maps : Tactics

Earlier link for info on the napoleonic age.

iacta alea est – The Realm of Chance
Lots of important battles in epic detail.

The Art of Battle: Animated Battle Maps
Superb site for battle animations.Needs powerpoint viewer[free download] .View as slideshow.

Apart from these recommend 2 great military history forums.
Historum - History Forums
Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

Another forum for extensive info on ww2 german military.
Axis History Forum • Index page

This site is my primary source of learning.
Osprey Publishing - Military History Books - Campaign
The campaign series is epic,truly in every sense of the word along with the command and elite serieses[elite series deals with indivual soldier types].See the catalogue ,pick which one u want to know about.If u are confused about one do a google wiki search on it.Wikipedia is a much maligned but very easily obtainable source of info as it gives u a background info on the whole thing pretty quickly.

Anyway now that u have seen the catalogues but can't read the books.Check ur message box for how to download and read as i don't want to violate forum rules.
Wait i can't seem to send PMs ,requires 10000 posts wtf.Ok sent a friend request ,accept and then i can post in profile i think.
All i can say is when reading military history keep an open mind and read about all great militaries,though everyone has favourites.Usually the trend is to learn only about the military of his own country/religion and since they usually know in depth only about them insult the rest all too quickly.Its better to study both western and eastern armies than engage in futile glorification based on nationalism or religion.Because in the end,whatever they were is gone and won't matter today.So popcorn,coke,chill.

Also another great source of interest in military history comes from playing video games.
For lots of time over the week grand strategy games with lot of brainwork play europa universalis 3,deals with age of discovery of america from late medieval to modern era and industrial revolution.
Another superb grand strategy game is hearts of iron 3,deals with ww2.

Other great games are age of empires 3,especially the expansion pack asian dynasties deals with asian factions india,china and japan so might be of interest to u.Note this is a fast ususally 30 mins to1 hr Real time strategy game.

One of the best RTS games is Company of heroes .Set in ww2.I play this even now online one game per night.

Another turn based grand strategy game is civilization .Try civ 4 and civ 5.

A classic is rome total war,dealing with the ancient age and medieval total war.
New additions are empire total war and napoleon total war.
The new shogun total war deals with samurai japan.

U can download ******** of all these from u know which site.
Regards.

Can't thank u more than once, have copied the post and links in notepad. I assume to even get an idea properly will take some months for sure.

I have accepted the request sent buddy.

Also is it better to start with basics like terms etc etc or go straight into the soup?? My knowledge is all over here and there and zero on tactics and the kind of forces involved etc etc. I am in no hurry and want to be thorough.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Usually follow a chronological order and try to get a sense of geography.Meaning u know where the stuff is hapening.Best way is to start from the ancient age,usually graeco persian wars,cyrus the great etc.Documented history in detail starts from here.
And maintain an idea of what is happening in a timeframe in both east and west to gain a better understanding .for example while alexander's succesors are fighting for his empire[egypt,persia,greece,asia minor],the mauryans are the masters of india.While most of europe are semi naked tribal barbarians.Rome a city state slowly unifying italy under it,but still weak.
Carthage is the mistress of the western mediterranean and the premiun maritime power.

Thus if u get an overall basic idea of the political situation and geography of a certain time period and then follow events chronologically,u'll be very well delve into military tactics.

What the hell,still can't mesage u.
Fine,here's the link anyway.Search for the ebooks u need from here.
http://************.com/index.php?q=osprey+ebooks+napoleon
That link is given on a napoleon search,just delete and type whatever u need to search from catalogue.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

8.The JAPANESE SAMURAI.

Samurai,the word has become legend.Synonymous with fanaticism and loyalty and a unique warrior code.A 'death over dishonour' style slashing machine armed with the most badass sword ever forged and fanatically loyal to their lord and emperor to the death .


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Samurai are regarded among the most skilled swordsmen in history,the katana was a part of their very existence.Dueling was common,and master swordsmen came to be known as kensei[sword saints].There were very few sword saints in one generation.Probably 3 to 4 in the whole country.The title was not given lightly.



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Samurai were the nobility of pre industrial japan,each feudal warlord or daimyo[the guy sitting] would have a band of loyal samurai.The samurai code stressed the importance of loyalty unto death for his master.It was considered an honour to die for one's master.


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It is a common misconception that samurai only fought with swords.In battle they carried two other excellent weapons.First was the lance.Richer samurai fought on horseback,but these were not used as heavy charge cavalry until later.



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The second was the yumi longbow.This was a very powerful weapon at the time.Had great range though less than the english longbow,penetration was good but again less than the english longbow.But one huge advantage was that it was designed to be used from horseback,unlike the english longbow which could only be fired from a standing position.Samurai were proficient in archery.



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Early samurai exchanges included arrow fire,followed by melee combat with spears,and close combat with swords.



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Arsenal of the samurai.



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The famed daimyo takeda shingen introduced the massed cavalry charge and takeda cavalry were feared throughout japan.However they met their end at the battle of nagashino by oda nobunaga's rotating volley fire arquebusiers deployd behind stakes after shingen's death.Nobunaga,the first super daimyo would be the first unifier of japan.



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The introduction of gunpowder revolutionized samurai warfare.New formations and tactics evolved to make use of these gunpwder armed samurai arquebusiers .These guns were traded from chrsitian jesuit missionaries and portugese and dutch traders.

Part 2:Samurai tactics.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Part 2:Samurai tactics.


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With the advent of gunpowder infantry tactics matured greatly.Especially in the sengoku age under the two famous daimyos takeda shingen'the tiger of kai' and his legendary arch rival uesugi kenshin 'the dragon of echigo'.Their rivalry was legendary,they fought 5 battles over 20 yrs on the same plains of kawankajima.Shingen won 1,kenshin 1 and other 3 draws.None of the victories were decisive.At one battle kenshin charged out of the protection of his army straight into shingen and these 2 badasses went head to head in mano a mano combat before their bodyguards intervened.
They also respected each other,once when shingen's province was short of rice and another daimyo wouldn't sell him ,kenshin sent him rice with a letter saying battles were fought with swords and honour not with rice.
7 traditional formations evolved.


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The half moon formation.Used as a desperate defense when an army had its backs to the wall with no chance to retreat.The army was not surrounded, but because of heavy losses, had no opportunity to respond in case of an attempted encirclement. The wounded are collected on the rear lines and formed the vanguard with a half moon that could be adapted according to the evolution of the situation. The musketeers[arquebusiers] were deployed in depth with a long line of spearmen and archers behind a line.



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"Birds in Flight": It is a relatively flexible disposition of troops who could at any time easily change configuration. It was made ​​of solid lines of arquebusiers who protected the front and rear of the troops. But there was enough on the sides to go around, in case the enemy positions change. General is located at the back, but near the center, so that his orders are respected.



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The fish scales.An attack formation.It was adopted if ur army was larger than ur enemies.It is essentially a blunt wedge/arrowhead formation,designed not to gamble everything on one blow but rather keep sustained pressure on an area slowly attriting down the numerically inferior enemy.



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Arrowhead Formation.A all out assault breakthrough formation very similar to the roman wedge.
Formations of arquebuses is placed in the first line, which create gaps in opposing defenses , which will be exploited by the cahrge of the samurai advance guard. As it is a very mobile form, drums, banners and other means of transmission of orders are covered by the bodyguard of the Lord. The "arrowhead" was designed for rapid penetration, so that the sides were slightly protected by archers and spearmen.



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"The crane wing". The best formation to encircle the enemy. Again, arquebusiers and archers thinned enemy lines, followed by samurai advance guard who engaged in melee combat, while the second company took the opportunity to encircle them. Note how the convex shape of the formation of the second company, does not suggest to the enemy, an immediate threat of being surrounded. Indeed, from the front of the "arrowhead" such movement was not expected, it was exactly what the general wanted his enemy to believe.


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"The yoke". This form is similar to yoke oxen. It was a elastic defense, against an ideal "crane wing", but equally effective against an "arrowhead". The enemy advance guard was separately absorbed by a frontal attack long enough to reveal the intentions of the enemy. The second and third companies could then react accordingly, either by adopting the 7th form "keyhole" against a "arrowhead" or spread out to avoid encirclement against a crane form.



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"The keyhole." A heavily defensive formation.This formation was considered the best defense against the "arrowhead". Six lines of musketeers, supported by two rows of archers, forming a V to receive the attack "arrowhead" and take it in a crossfire. The samurai are formed up in a keyhole to take the shock of the attack.

Next-Part 3- Fall of the samurai.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

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While kenshin and shingen were duking it out with each other,a new player oda nobunaga had risen and defeated daimyo after d aimyo and become a super daimyo,but these 2, the only ones capable of stopping his rise were busy bruising each other.Another powerful daimyo tokugawa leyasu allied himself with oda nobunaga.When shingen was free from kenshin's attention,he dealt a heavy defeat to leyasu.These 2 daimyos were the ones in nobunagas path to total domination,shingen died of natural causes and his son was crushingly defeated by nobunaga at nagashino as stated earlier.With the takeda clan out of the picture,he turned his attention to uesugi but uesugi kenshin gave nobunaga his only large defeat.Before he could follow it up though he would die of natural causes.On hearing of his death,nobunaga reportedly said"Now the empire is mine".
Nobunaga unified all japan under him,but was betrayed and forced to commit suicide by one of his subordinates.
Toyotomi hideyoshi avenged his master and took his place,consolidating the unity.At his death tokugawa leyasurevolted and ignoring hideyoshi's infant son assumed supreme power.He had played his cards right,always remaining on the winning side and waited for the oppurtune moment,he had outlived all the other great men of his age and founded the tokugawa shogunate which would rule japan till the industrial reformations of the late 19th century.
Thus the japanese saying-
"Nobunaga made the rice cake,hideyoshi shaped it and leyasu ate it''



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Samurai fought to the death.Disgrace by defeat in battle or imminent capture would lead them to commit ritual suicide or sepukku/harakiri.They shoved their katanas into their stomach and disembowelled themselves,as epic balls out a way to take the exit as any.



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Samurai matchlock muskets.



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Samurai melee weapons.The katana is usually considered the most balanced,deadly and beautiful sword design of all time.The japanese construction method was unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMPLmG2fvPc
The last stand of the samurai.The tokugawa shogunate fell when american ironclads entered japanese waters and used their cannons to bully the japanese into a unfair trade treaty.In the clamour for reforms,the samurai were increasingly rendered obsolete.Most accepted this change.But a few last samurai held onto their traditions prefering to go out in one last stand against impossible odds.Death over abandoning their way of life.The video above depicts the last stand of the samurai at satsuma.

Though samurai themselves died out,the samurai spirit didn't.In ww2 japanese soldiers often fought to the death,when out of ammunition fixing bayonets charging all out to the cries of 'tennoho kou banzai'[ten thousand years to the emperor] choosing death over the shame of surrender.

The samurai has become legendary in popular media,and several excellent animes are available.Recommend this one.My favourite.Rorouni kenshin english dubbed.The whole series is available on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be7Y0SFUIBM.
The anime is around 60 episodes.for the great first season.



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Next: Spanish Tercio

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

9.THE SPANISH TERCIO

A moving battle fortress bristling with pikes and covered from all angles by musketeers these all arms juggernauts with a fearsome reputation and nicknamed the 'invincibles' fought in Spain itself, Oran and Tripoli, Italy, Ireland, France, South and Central America, holland and belgium always eager to give a bloody lesson in pain the spanish style to all those who incurred the displeasure of 'his most catholic majesty' be they protestants,turks,french or inca and aztecs.



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For over 150 years[1500-1650] the tercio was the dominant military force on the european battlefield.SPAIN WAS VERY definitely the dominant military power of 16th Century Europe, primarily because her troops were the only real 'Regulars' west of the Ottoman Empire .They were permanently employed, since Spain was permanently at war; Spanish forces alone provided anything like a career-structure for officers also, and partly for this reason enjoyed the best generalship of the period. Spanish armies were far the most efficient, and acted as model and training-school for many others.



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It was designed to defeat the swiss pike squares which had been the dominant force in the european battlefield for 2 centuries.
Gonzalo cordoba,the great spanish general invented the tercio during the italian wars around 1500 to defeat the swiss pikes[mercenaries in french service] and french heavy cavalry combo.
He took the basic of the pike square,a big square block of pikes,and added a sleeve or musketeers all around the pike square and a block of arquebusiers at each corner.Within the block of pikemen 5-10% would be sword and shield swordsmen.The musketeers would skirmish and soften up an opposing force,being especially effective against densely packed swiss pike squares.While their very slow rate of fire meant they needed protection from cavalry,which the pikes provided.A disrupted enemy would be charged in the style of a more flexible macedonian phalanx by the pikes.While engaged with opposing infantry,the musketeers would keep giving fire support and the mobile legionary like swordsmen would find gaps in the opposing pike squares and sneak in to close combat in which opposing pikemen were very vulnerable.It was like a hellish nightmare combo of the phalanx,legionary and musketeer for their enemies.
The above pic depicts the 3 troop types,the pikeman,the rodelero swordsman and the arquebusier/musketeer.



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The original tercio formation.Pikemen in centre with musketeers front and arquebusiers on each corner plus a sleeve of them on thesides[called garrison],provided perfect balance of the firepower from guns and shock from pikes.With time the rodeleros slowly began to disappear.
The arquebusiers on each corner were mobile fire groups called manga.While the garrison arquebusiers would stay with the main square,the mangas fought generally in vanguard or on the flanks like the light infantry of the XVIII - XIX century. They would fight skirmish to disorganise enemy formations. A lot of battles (like the battle of Jemmingen) were won by these detachments of gunmen fighting in front of the main squadrons of pikemen.
When skirmishing,To protect the arquebusiers from cavalry, some halberdiers/pikes would go with the mangas. If the enemy cavalry decided to charge the mangas, the halberdiers would form a hollow square where the arquebusiers could be safe.



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Firing Tactic: If needed, a mangas of arquebusiers would be sent in vanguard. From this formation, Officers would select a section of a minimum of 15 men deployed in 5 files of 3 gunmen. The section would advance towards the enemy. When the section was at point blank range (30 m), the first row would fire quietly and then go to the rear to reload. The second and third row would do the same. Almost a continuous fire, the important was the precision of the shot. When each arquebusier had fired 4 bullets, the section would go back to the mangas.[remember reloading took huge amount of time with early firearms] Officers could detach several sections like that to harass and disorganise the enemy.Pikemen detachments would come along to provide cover from cavalry.

Want to know in depth about firing systems of the mangs?Go to this link,click on the different types and watch the animations.
Battle of Breitenfeld - Alternative to Tercio



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Late tercios were much smaller in size,around 1500 men to refelct declining manpower and clumsiness of the older formations.This is a reformed tercio.In late tercios number of pikes began to decrease heavily while gunmen increased.

Anyone who can't understand the difference between musketeer and arquebusier?
At the beginning of the 16th century, the arquebus was considered a general-purpose firearm. It generally weighed ten pounds or less--no heavier than a modern assault rifle--and fired a fairly light lead ball to an effective range of 150 meters or more, although its accurate range was only about 50-80 meters, depending on the arquebusier's skill and environmental conditions. As a matter of fact, it was light enough to be fired comfortably without a rest (but the arquebusier often used one anyway, since a rest does help with accuracy--note how modern snipers prefer to use bipods or tripods rather than supporting their rifles entirely with their hands). On the other hand, the musket was a much heavier weapon devised by Spanish gunsmiths to achieve greater penetration against both steel armor and the wooden planks of naval vessels. It weighed at least eighteen pounds and had a much larger bore that could consequently take a much heavier projectile and a greater gunpowder charge. Both the weight of the musket and its prodigious recoil made it difficult (if not outright impossible) to use without some sort of rest or mounting hook. Perhaps it would not be inaccurate to say that the early musket resembled a portable artillery piece more than a personal firearm.
With those considerations in mind, it is not surprising that arquebusiers always outnumbered musketeers by a large margin in 16th-century armies. Where the arquebusier was a general-purpose soldier, the musketeers were regarded more as specialists due to the greater strength and skill needed to handle their weapons. In a typical army there would usually be three arquebusiers or more for every musketeer in the field.
But with improvement in gun technology and with soldiers no longer using heavy armour,the musket design evolved.Like the assault rifle became a middle evolution of the bolt action rifles with range,accuracy and penetration and the sub machine gun's rate of fire,the new muskets would eventually replace both these earlier types becoming a general purpose firearm.



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What u see above is a quincunx,the same formation the roman legions used.Tercios in a battlefield of 1500/3000 men would be deployed in a quincunx.Just replace each tree in the pic with a tercio box and u get the picture.Each supported by another in checkerboard formation.If a enemy force got into the gap between the tercios they would be caught in the crossfire of 3 tercio squares.



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The tercios were the enforcers of spanish power for over half a century,exemplified by emperor charles v's boast of the'empire on which the sun never set' composed of south and central america,parts of north america,plus spain,holland,belgium,italy and the holy roman empire[parts of germany].Serving as the muscle of the spanish empire while incan and aztec gold provided the sinew.
The problems began with the dutch reforms of maurice of nassau,whose formations stressed greater firepower and massed musketeers in a liner formation.They would be perfected under the swedish king gustavas adolphus,the father of the european military revolution who used his new style carolingian swedish infantry to devastate the imperial tercios.The end came with
Adoption of the socket bayonet,as pikes became obsolete for each infantryman had now his own protection against cavalry.

Next: The swedish carolingian infantry.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

People still reading this?Or are the formations and tactics too complex and i should stick to just pics?

 

[meghdut]

People still reading this?Or are the formations and tactics too complex and i should stick to just pics?

Please continue sir, its the only interesting stuff going admist all the usual stuff here.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

10.SWEDISH CAROLIAN INFANTRY

1630.Religious war is raging in germany and holland,the spanish holy roman empire led catholic league seeks to permanently destroy the protestants of europe.The catholics under tilly and his invincible imperial tercios have defeated the protestants in every battle and look poised to take all their last bases.At this juncture the protestant king of sweden,gustavas adolphus lands in germany with a new reformed army .This army will go on to inflict devastating defeats on the hitherto invincible tercios and in the process start a military revolution that would usher in european military dominance.


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For 2 centuries tercios had dominated the european battlefield.But the way forward began with the dutch reforms that emphasized massive increase in musketeers and far less pikes.The swedes under gustavas adolphus would lead this to its perfect form.


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Gustavas introduced the brigade[a designation most armies use today]as a alternative tactical formation of the tercio.Each brigade consisted of 2 regiments.1st picture is brigade second regiment.Note the T formation of the regiment for massive increase in firepower.The reserve lines could move up deliver fire as well.
Gustavas's another great innovation was the regimental artillery guns.12 light field guns per brigade added to the firepower and devastation.These guns were usually deployed in front of the front row pikes.[see pic 1,the guns would be deployed ahead of the pike blocks]



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The standard firing formation of the day.Each man fired and went to the back to reload and next man took his step.While this provided almost continous fire,only the front rows could bring their muskets to bear and also to keep the fire continous a lot of musketeers had to be kept in line.Also each man fired individually and went back individually.So density of fire was low.



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The swedes for normal firing used the new dutch model,where all front rank muskets fired simlutaneously then went back.This had greater density of fire.


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Gustavas's real great firing innovation.The Triple Rank Volley Fire: was achieved by advancing the rear ranks upon the front ranks, while echeloning to the right. Triple rank volley fire was performed with the first rank kneeling, second rank stooping, and third rank standing.For a company of 60 musketeers. In 50 -60 seconds 2 volleys of 30 bullets could be fired. When the last three ranks were deployed on the right a massive volley of 60 bullets could be fired.
By using this tactic three ranks fired simultaneously from point blank range adding to the fire of the regimental guns,then rear 3 ranks fired their own salvo.Result was a devastating hail of shot.The swedish tactic would require these salvos at point blank range followed by a limited charge of the pikemen to finish off remnants that survived the enfilade.While the 6 ranks reloaded.The swedes would often use both firing systems together providing continous fire and concentrated salvo fire.




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The swedish brigades were much more mobile than the cumbersome tercios,had less pikemen.Gustavas adolphus had ascended the throne at 17 with a financially poor sweden at war with denmark,russia and poland and its armies disorganized.He did away with mercenaries who were a financial burden,enacted conscription.Drilling and discipline were superb in this new largely national swedish army. A sign of what the catholic imperials would taste came in the war against poland where the hitherto invincible polish winged hussars often refused to charge into the hail of storm and shot from the swedish infantry.
Gustav's another great innovation was to place bodies of musketeers on the wings intermixed with his cavalry when defending and also giving them light guns.When the opposing cavalry charged they would be met by salvoes of the infantry to break up the momentum of the charge,then the swedish cavalry would charge the disorganized foe.This combined arms approach in all parts of the army would make sweden a nation with small population and economy a great power for the next few decades.For protecting their religious freedom the germans named him 'the lion of the north'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u0HwgnTeO0
Gustavas adolphus tribute video with epic song from swedish band sabaton.

Adolphus was also personally brave charging into battle with his signature war cry 'gott mitt uns'(god with us).Having been injured 13 times leading cavalry charges in his short career his luck ran out and He was killed in the fighting at lutzen,but his new army won the day.The swedish tactics were copied all over europe with national armies,drilled and emphasizing firepower the road to the future.Thus he is called the father of modern warfare.

Next: British Redcoat.

 

[Koovie]

BTW: @AUSTERLITZ Do you play Total War games???

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Avid fan of rome total war.Especially with europa barbarorum,roma surrectum 2 and rome total realism mods.
waiting for rtw2.

Haven't played medieval total war or barbarian invasion much.
Haven't played shogun total war 2 or empire total war much.

Massive fan of napoleon total war.Especially with darthmod napoleon or napoleon total war all in one mods.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

11.BRITISH REDCOAT

While britannia ruled the waves,the largest empire on earth was sustained for over 2 hundred years by the dependable,indomitable and immovable british redcoat,it fought from america,to africa,mainland europe,india,middle east just about anywhere the royal navy would carry the union jack.Any enemy facing the redcoats knew they were in for a fight,they symbolized british imperial arrogance,defiance,immovability and a 'stand and take it' attitude that screamed to their enemies 'we shall not be moved'.
'British infantry is the best in the world,good thing there aren't too many of them'.-a french general.


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Take that!Redcoats using the triple rank salvo fire invented by gustavas adolphus.With the advent of the bayonet the pike became obsolete.The favourite redcoat formation was the double line,providing 2 lines of usketeers dealing devastating firepower.However it was very vulnerable to cavalry.British infantry were the best shooters of their day ,mainly because it was best drilled and had most live firing practice.This was because unlike the huge continental armies,britain's army was small protected as it was from invasion by the all powerful royal navy.At the same time britain was also the richest country in the world,and thus the small army recieved superb training and equipment,no expenses spared.

"Well posted, as Wellington knows how to post it, and attacked from the front,
I consider the English infantry to be impregnable ..." - General Reille

Wellington's favourite tactic was to post his infantry behind reverse slopes,invulnerable to flat projectiles of most artillery save howitzers.The advancing enemy infantry when they appeared on the slope would surprised by volley after volley as the british suddenly revealed themselves.



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For protection against cavalry charges.The infantry of the age used the hollow square.99 out of 100 times cavalry charges would fail to break a square.Any cavalry that got into the middle of the squares would be caught in the crossfire of 2-3 squares.



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How the square worked.The first rank would dig their muskets into the ground,bayonets pointing out like a hedgehog of pointed steel,while other 2 ranks standing would fire and reload alternatively.No horse would charge into this wall of steel,even if some got inside they would be bayoneted.The infantry squares were largely responsible for the defeat of eastern cavalry based armies,and the artillery ofcourse.



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Redcoats hold their ground at waterloo against massed french cuirassier charges despite tremendous pressure.They provided time for their prussian allies to arrive and defeat the french once and for all in the napoleonic wars.



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"Come on ya rascals,ya fighting villains.God save the king"-leading the charge
The other tactic was the bayonet charge,after shattering the enemy with volleys they would lower bayonets and charge.Only disciplined troops could stand and recieve the bayonet charge,most panicked.The redcoats of marlborough saved europe from french domination at blenheim 1704.In the seven years war they were again triumphant in the colonial battles.In the american war of independence they were trumped by irregular american warfare and their disiplined french allies.Their greatest moment came at waterloo under wellington in the napoleonic wars.They fought in the crimean wars and all colonial wars in africa,india,middle east and america.



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Russian cavalry tasting lead at balaclava,crimean war 1856.Badass scottish highlanders in their kilt skirts and bagpipers.



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The brown bess musket,the most accurate and durable musket of the napoleonic age though it had lesser range than the french charleville.Bayonet attatched.



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The redcoat was replaced by the khaki,but is still used in ceremonial parades.These coldstream guards are a direct descendant of those that fought in the napoleonic wars.

Next;French Napoleonic infantry/the imperial guard.

 

[Koovie]

Avid fan of rome total war.Especially with europa barbarorum,roma surrectum 2 and rome total realism mods.
waiting for rtw2.

Haven't played medieval total war or barbarian invasion much.
Haven't played shogun total war 2 or empire total war much.

Massive fan of napoleon total war.Especially with darthmod napoleon or napoleon total war all in one mods.

We should fight out a MP match My MP rank was 5 stars as far as I remember

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Mostly a campaign player but why not?
play coh online every night though.