Battle of Breitenfeld

Background

By 1630 the Catholic Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II seemed close to victory in the Thirty Years War. His generals, Albrecht von Wallenstein and Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, had defeated the Protestant princes and the king of Denmark. In July 1630 Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, landed in Pomerania with a small army, partly to protect the Baltic and partly to support the German Protestants. At first the Protestant princes held back. In May 1631 Tilly's army stormed and sacked the Protestant city of Magdeburg, and most of its people died in the massacre and fire. The horror of Magdeburg, and Tilly's invasion of Saxony that summer, drove Elector John George of Saxony into alliance with Sweden. Tilly took Leipzig in mid-September. Gustavus and John George joined forces and marched to meet him on the open plain near the village of Breitenfeld, a few miles to the north.

The Battle

Gustavus had perhaps 23,000 to 24,000 Swedes and the Saxons about 16,000 to 18,000. Tilly had some 31,000 to 35,000 men, though figures vary. Tilly drew up his infantry in a single line of large, deep blocks, with cavalry on both wings, the left under Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim. The Swedes formed two lines of smaller brigades, with detachments of musketeers placed between the cavalry squadrons on the wings, and the Saxons stood separately on the left. After a cannonade of about two hours, in which the Swedish guns fired faster, Pappenheim led his cavalry against the Swedish right. He charged repeatedly, seven times by some accounts, but was driven off each time by musketeer fire and Swedish counter-charges. On the other flank the Imperial right attacked the Saxons, who broke and fled, taking the elector with them. This left the Swedish left, under Gustav Horn, exposed. Tilly swung much of his infantry against it, but Horn turned his line to face the new threat and brought up troops from the second line. Gustavus then led cavalry from his right across the field, seized the Imperial artillery on the rising ground and turned it on Tilly's infantry. Caught between fire from several sides, the Imperial army collapsed by evening. A few veteran regiments withdrew in order.

Weapons

Both armies were built on the Pike and the Matchlock Musket. The Imperial tercio-style blocks were deep and slow, while the Swedish brigades were shallower, used more musketeers in the front, and are often said to have fired in salvoes of several ranks at once. Each Swedish regiment had its own light guns, the Swedish Regimental Gun, which moved with the infantry. Tilly's cavalry included many cuirassiers in Cuirassier Armor, who fired the Wheellock Pistol and then closed with heavy swords such as the Pappenheimer Rapier, a type named after Pappenheim himself. The lighter Swedish and Finnish cavalry were trained to charge home with the sword after a single pistol volley.

Aftermath

Imperial losses are usually put at about 7,000 to 8,000 killed and 6,000 or more captured, along with almost all of Tilly's artillery and baggage. The Swedes lost roughly 2,000 men and the Saxons perhaps 3,000, though estimates vary. Tilly, wounded, escaped. Gustavus marched across Germany to the Rhine and wintered at Mainz. Tilly was mortally wounded at the crossing of the Lech in April 1632, and the emperor recalled Wallenstein. At Lützen in November 1632 the Swedes won again, but Gustavus and Pappenheim were both killed. The war went on until 1648, but Breitenfeld ended the danger of complete Habsburg victory, and its tactics were studied and copied across Europe.