Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

The Battle of Breitenfeld (Schlacht bei Breitenfeld; Slaget vid Breitenfeld) or First Battle of Breitenfeld (and so sometimes just First Breitenfeld) was a "World Changing Battle"And proved, once again, that the truth of history is always concrete. Abstractions are the stuff of argument, but the concrete is given. Whatever might have been, was not. Not because of tactics, and ...}} fought at the crossroads village of Breitenfeld near [, now a suburban neighborhood within Leipzig] the outskirts of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, 1631

Under the leadership of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the Protestant forces, who had been steadily and systematically defeated hitherto, achieved their first major victory during the Thirty Years' War—for it was a true "world shaping event", and Gustav II Adolf, became famous as one of the best generals in all of history known soon thereafter as Gustavus the Great. The key outcome was that it ensured that the Germanies would not be forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism or remain subject to the Holy Inquisition— that Gustavus had all but destroyed a Catholic field army (for the first time in over a century); that he had defeated a heretofore undefeated commander with twice his experience as a general— was all just icing on the cake, of interest mainly only to students of military science.

A monument to Gustavus, the Swedish king, was later erected on the battles site two centuries later, since he had ensured the principal of religious freedom for all by his victory that day. It is true, at least in Europe, despite the later confirmation by treaty of the base cause underlying the near-century of religious conflicts, of the principle of cuius regio, eius religio during the Peace of Prague (1635). While an individual's freedom of belief in the Germanies had to wait for changes induced by Napoleon, at least the first steps leading to peace and some stability of religion across the region was established by the battle's outcome and that of its successors. Under the statue of Gustavus the Great, the monument's simple inscription reads:

FREEDOM OF BELIEF FOR ALL THE WORLD The victory confirmed the Swedish king as a great tactical leader and induced many Protestant German states to ally with Sweden against the German Catholic League lead by Maximilian of Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria.

Gustavus reforms the army

After coming to power in 1611, Gustavus had campaigned in Poland and Prussia with mixed results, though with results mainly going his way, advanced seven times, but each time was turned back by the Swedes, whose muskets proved upsettingly bloodthirsty, and whose combined arms formation remained unshaken. Swedish reserve cavalry (Swedish and Finnish light cavalry) were also able to extend the Swedish line and at times countercharge with sabers against the Imperial cavalry while Field Marshal Banér held his heavy cavalry in place with their fire power aiding the infantry pouring fire into the confused Black Cuirassiers. Gustavus had also trained his men to aim for the cavalry mounts, and the falling horseflesh did nothing good for the Catholic formations. The same tactics would work a while later in the charge against the Swedish left. Following the defeat of his seventh assault, General Banér sallied with both his light (Finnish and West Gothlanders) and heavy cavalry (Smaanders and East Gothlanders) and Pappenheim and his cavalry quit the field in disarray, retreated to Halle. He was initially pursued 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 seemingly poised to deliver a devastating flank attack on the Swedish forces. As Tilly was ordering his infantry to march ahead diagonally to the right, looking to roll up the Swedish line on its abandoned left, Gustavus was able to reorder his second line, under the capable and steady General Gustav Horn, into an array at a right angle to the front, in a maneuver known as refusing the flank. The Swedish line thus developed a strong angle anchored in the new center under General Lennart Torstenson about the artillery with its preposterously high of rate of fire for the era. Tilly's right flank cavalry preceded his infantry who had yet to engage, save for the Musketeers. Tilly's seventeen Tercios could only angle across the field, as Tercios don't turn easily owing to the length of pikes extending through the faces of the essentially square formations. As they advanced obliquely, it left the Swedish right uncovered and free.

While this was taking place, the Swedish cavalry re-formed, and then preceded by the Finnish light cavalry (Hakkapeliittas), personally lead by Gustavus a few minutes ahead of Field Marshal Banér's heavier units, attacked across the former front to capture the Imperial artillery, followed by the shortly thereafter by Banérs heavy cavalry and three regiments of infantry. This not only freed up the Swedish field guns from engaging in the ongoing artillery duel, but allowed Gustavus' cross-trained cavalry to turn the captured Imperial guns upon Tilly's seventeen, now out flanked and badly out of position, Tercios.

With the captured artillery hurriedly re-deployed into a new line angled so it could fire on the catholic body while enjoying a position slightly to the rear of the Catholics on what was now the extreme right flank of the developing infantry battle, the unwieldy Catholic infantry was trapped and caught in a crossfire of grazing artillery balls which were aimed to bounce and careen into the rank and files between knee and shoulder height—killing and wounding dozens with each ball. With these guns cutting into one end of Tilly's line, and the Swedish center showing no signs of breaking, the exchange of gunfire soon wore down the Imperial troops, and their lines ground to a halt against Horn's infantry.

After several hours of punishment, nearing sunset, they finally broke. Tilly was injured twice, regaining his horse after the first, both times by a so-called "piece of battle"—artillery propelled debris, such as a careening pikehead. He was carted off to safety under the cover of night, unconscious during the ensuing retreat, which quickly became a rout as the Catholic forces reached the nearby woods. The totally disorganized and demoralized force effectively lost all cohesion after the fall of night, and the desertion rate was consequently higher than the battle losses. In effect, Gustavus had entirely destroyed the only army the Catholics had in the field, reducing them to an defensive posture. The result, with Tilly's recovery at the age of seventy-two far from certain, gave Emperor Ferdinand II no choice but to rehire Wallenstein.

The world had changed. The Lion of the North was now loose in central Germany, and there was nothing left to stop him. Eleven years of successive Protestant defeats were set aside in one pivotal historic moment. Gustavus could take his army anywhere in the Germanies as he desired. He elected to proceed rapidly on Halle, following the track back that Tilly had taken coming east to enforce the Edict of Restitution on the Electorate of Saxony. Two days later his forces captured another 3,000 men after a brief skirmish at Merseburg, and took Halle two days after that.

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 7,000 men 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%.

See also

• Breitenfeld (1631) order of battle

References

• C.V. Wedgwood, The Thirty Years War (New York: Book of the Month Club, 1995)
• Richard A. Preston, et al., Men in Arms, 5th ed., (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1991)
• Archer Jones, The Art of War in the Western World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987)

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