The military reforms of Gustavus Adolphus’ changed the face of European Warfare. His legacy truly was long lasting both in practical and historiographical terms. The historian Geoffrey Parker once noted that: “If Gustavus Adolphus rose up from the dead … and was magically transported to the western front in 1914, he would have understood the underlying concepts governing warfare with little difficulty.” Gustavus Adolphus is often dubbed the ‘Father of Modern Warfare’ - a title often linked to his famous success during the ‘Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years War’. But there is more to this story. In a time when musketeers and pikemen were becoming the most important part of the armies of western Europe and cavalry relied heavily on arquebuses and pistols instead of swords and lances, Gustavus faced an entirely different way of warfare in the east: the Polish Winged Hussars. Many of Gustavus’ later successes were due to lessons he learned in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - and they were learned the hard way. But let there be a word of caution: It is both very easy to overstate and understate Gustavus’ military achievements. Much of the scholarly literature on this topic is contradictory and the opinions of scholars on such an influential figure inevitably vary. As always, all works cited are listed in the description below or will appear on screen. This video dissects how varying historiographical traditions discuss Gustavus Adolphus’ military reforms.
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Our reading list on military history:
Duffy, C., Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, Vol. 1, 1979. amzn.to/32dvvwM
Rogers, C.J., The military revolution debate. Readings on the military transformation of early modern Europe, 1995. amzn.to/3geVDMM
Rogers, C.J., Soldiers' Lives through History - The Middle Ages, 2006. amzn.to/3j2kQvG
Parker, C., The Cambridge History of Warfare, 2005. amzn.to/32ggn1L
Van Nimwegen, O., The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688, 2010. amzn.to/2E3Fc95
Bibliography:
Clifford, J. R., Tactics and the Face of Battle, in: Tallet, F., (editor), European Warfare 1350-1750.
Eltis, D., The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-Century Europe, London 1995.
Frost, R., Northern Wars, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558-1721, 2000.
Grbasić, Z., / V. Vuksić, L'âge d'or de la Cavalerie, 1989.
Kloosterhuis, J., “Cavalry” in: Encyclopedia For Early Modern History.
Love, R.S. «All the King’s Horsemen”: The equestrian Army of Henri IV, 1585-1598, SCJ 22 (1991), 511-33.
Meyer, H., Geschichte der Reiterkrieger, 1982.
Oeser, E., Pferd und Mensch. Die Geschichte einer Beziehung, 2007.
Parker, G., Dynastic War, in: Parker. G., (editor), The Cambridge History of Warfare, 2005.
Roberts, M., Gustav Adolf and the Art of War (first printed 1955), in: Essays on Swedish History, 1967.