How the Caroleans Won Their Battles - Military Tactics #shorts

New Kings and Generals animated shorts video on military tactics will talk about Caroleans of the King of Sweden Charles XII and how they won their battles.

Previously:

Script: David Muncan
Video: Arif Azaman

#Documentary #Kingsandgenerals #shorts

[mrsnrub]

The amount of discipline and bravery required to march straight through several enemy volleys without running away or firing back is remarkable

[shashumgadimbo]

"to compensate for the lack of mannpower we are gonna march through enemy volleys"
I mean ok

[samwill]

"Hold your fire 'till you see the whites of their eyes". It's a decent strategy, especially in an era of slow reloading and heavy, hard to carry ammo but you've got to have soldiers with half the carrying capacity anyway so they can lug around their massive brass balls.

[brainflash]

It also didn't hurt that they were classified as "grenadiers", a type of soldier that was chosen for being physically imposing. As a general rule in most European armies, grenadiers had to be over 6ft tall. Although their name derives from ostensibly being armed with grenades (which were usually clay fuse bombs at the time) grenades not often used due to unreliability and volatility. Instead, grenadiers relied more on hand-to-hand combat. Hence the preference for larger soldiers.

[Confirmed]

One interesting thing about this aggresive tactic was that for some reason the caroleans would get more and more "motivated" the further they got while not answering the incoming fire.
In sweden we call this phenomenon the "the flight to the front", because the only way out of the situation is to continue marching forward unto the enemy lines and beat them.

Atop of this the caroleans had a mentality drilled into their head; "Ingen kula träffar människan utan guds vilja, antingen man går rätter eller luta.", Which would translate to "No bullet hits a man without god's will, either you go straight or fall." They believed their fate was preconceived by god. If you would die that it won't matter if you are at home or in the field- you will die that day anyhow. Thinking that it was god's will made dying on the field much easier.

The caroleans were pretty much an entire army of religious fanatics thinking their king was directly chosen by god.

[Mrkabrat]

Enemy: Surely melee is obsolete in this age!
Caroleans: *Blood for the Blood God!*

[barbiquearea]

Gustavus Adolphus was also the first to experiment with light, mobile field artillery. The Swedish king realized that heavy cannons were only effective at the start of a battle, however they could not be moved from their positions and be redeployed without much difficulty. As such, artillery generally could not keep up with the rest of the army as they advance across battlefields. In order to bridge the gap between hand held muskets and heavy bombard cannons, Gustavus Adolphus commissioned the leather cannon. These were made of relatively thin copper tubes that were reinforced by heavy cords and finally clad in leather. While the weapon was light enough to be mobile and was cheaper to make, the basic design proved to be flawed. The reinforcing materials acted as an insulator that did not allow heat to dissipate fast enough. After only a few shots the gun would become too hot for further use. Nonetheless this did demonstrate the usefulness of mobile fire support. And while they were short-lived, the leather cannon was copied by numerous nations of Europe, most notably Scotland.

[ccerrato]

This is brutal discipline. Truly impressive.

[ch]

A song you can hear by reading;

See the white in their eyes Caroleans are marching on
Put their lives in God's hand for their kingdom and fatherland
See the white in their eyes Caroleans are marching on

[robertm.]

See the Caroleans standing tall, all for one and one for all, enemies fall at their feet, begging for their mercy!

[nattygsbord]

The Swedish army was very effective in the 1600s as well. But this new Carolean tactics was a further improvement of the army.

[kandam]

see the white in their eyes caroleans are marching on

[alfiansofakhair]

I thought they won because of... Sabaton

[kelechirichard]

Sun Tzu: ...and you never bring a knife to a gun fight
Caroleans: *hold my rapier*

[barbiquearea]

Their muskets were also smaller and lighter compared to other European armies at the time. This meant they wouldn't be able to pack as much punch and lacked as much range compared to other European gunpowder armies, but this paid off as it allowed the Caroleans to become highly mobile and not become encumbered by otherwise heavy muskets, which worked well in their tactics of getting up close and engaging their enemies in melee.

[yancourchesne]

See Carolus rise!

Proved in battle
Led my men to victory
No man alive or dead commands me
I answer to the Lord
-Sabaton

[louishardiman]

I love these quick tactical videos. Please keep making more

[herbderbler]

Sounds like the Caroleans figured out how to work the meta of European warfare. Guns made everyone move away from heavy melee combat to focus on volley fire tactics, and they saw that as a prime opportunity to maximize shock and awe tactics by bringing back oldschool brawlin' and stabbin'.

[holyfreak]

Corellians: "You only have bullets and the hope that we are death after you run out of them"

[groundedorca]

All that is thyne shall be mine
-Sabaton's Carolus Rex