Battlefield 1866
Established Users
Here is a little information on the 30 Years War and weapons.
The 30 Years War (1618-1648) started as a religious war, the Catholics against Protestant reformation. As the war dragged on it became a struggle for power and wealth, during this war about 1 in 3 towns in Germany was destroyed and about the same number in population killed. It was extremely violent and spread throughout the continent involving just about every European country.
The two camps: Catholics on one side and the Protestants in the other. In Germany most of the western part of Germany was Protestant and had Swedish allies helping them. The Imperialist or Catholics were in the other, armies from Italy, Spain and eastern Europe made up this group.
The weapons were virtually the same for both armies. The primary instrument on the battlefield was the Musketeer who was armed with a matchlock rifle. The matchlock was also known as the Arqebus and the soldiers that carried them Arqebusier or Musketeer. The caliber of these weapons varied greatly. The Musketeer carried a matchlock rifle, a rifle rest (forked pole), a bandoleer which held pre-measured powder, a priming flask, a rapier (narrow blade sword), and sometimes a dagger or side knife. He could have a helmet made of iron and also a breast plate or cuirass.
The next figure on the battlefield was the Pikeman, he carried a very long spear designed to dismount cavalry, plow paths through infantry squares, and to provide a very intimidating sight to the opponents as they marched forward in square with pikes raised. They would be equipped about the same as the Musketeer minus the matchlock.
Next would be the mounted troops which could also be armored and carried a variety of weapons ranging from any combination of sword, spear, matchlock rifle or pistol, wheel lock pistol and so on.
Some troops were stilled armed with crossbows, especially troops from Croatia as in the 1634 battle at Noerdlingen. Cross bow bolt finds there support this.
The King of Battle.....The artillery. Swedish King and General Gustavus Aldolphus revolutionized the way artillery was employed during the 30 years war. He reduced the size of the field artillery and even constructed light guns with leather barrels! Typical Swedish field guns were 3, 4, 6, and 12 pounder. Of course, in these times it was very hard to standardize anything and many cannon had to have ammunition specially created for it’s own unique bore diameter. There were siege and garrison pieces, which could be very large, also big stone throwers and bombards, which would fire explosive shells (cannon balls). For the most part field guns fired solid iron shot and canister, the canister could be iron balls, lead balls, or square – cubed iron shot.
Please see attached scans of Musketeers, Matchlocks, Wheel locks, Musket accessories, Pikeman, and a nice shot of the Coburg armory, which has a display of equipment to outfit about 100 musketeers.
One additional note: Matchlock gun parts and other finds from this period have been made in the US! The excavations at Santa Elena SC, a Spanish colonial fort. Matchlock gun parts, crossbow bolts, pieces of armor, bullet molds, musket balls, rapier parts, and other finds from the Spanish settlements there. As well should be mentioned the numerous Spanish ship wrecks from the 16th century off the southern US coast.
Keep the questions coming!
Brad
The 30 Years War (1618-1648) started as a religious war, the Catholics against Protestant reformation. As the war dragged on it became a struggle for power and wealth, during this war about 1 in 3 towns in Germany was destroyed and about the same number in population killed. It was extremely violent and spread throughout the continent involving just about every European country.
The two camps: Catholics on one side and the Protestants in the other. In Germany most of the western part of Germany was Protestant and had Swedish allies helping them. The Imperialist or Catholics were in the other, armies from Italy, Spain and eastern Europe made up this group.
The weapons were virtually the same for both armies. The primary instrument on the battlefield was the Musketeer who was armed with a matchlock rifle. The matchlock was also known as the Arqebus and the soldiers that carried them Arqebusier or Musketeer. The caliber of these weapons varied greatly. The Musketeer carried a matchlock rifle, a rifle rest (forked pole), a bandoleer which held pre-measured powder, a priming flask, a rapier (narrow blade sword), and sometimes a dagger or side knife. He could have a helmet made of iron and also a breast plate or cuirass.
The next figure on the battlefield was the Pikeman, he carried a very long spear designed to dismount cavalry, plow paths through infantry squares, and to provide a very intimidating sight to the opponents as they marched forward in square with pikes raised. They would be equipped about the same as the Musketeer minus the matchlock.
Next would be the mounted troops which could also be armored and carried a variety of weapons ranging from any combination of sword, spear, matchlock rifle or pistol, wheel lock pistol and so on.
Some troops were stilled armed with crossbows, especially troops from Croatia as in the 1634 battle at Noerdlingen. Cross bow bolt finds there support this.
The King of Battle.....The artillery. Swedish King and General Gustavus Aldolphus revolutionized the way artillery was employed during the 30 years war. He reduced the size of the field artillery and even constructed light guns with leather barrels! Typical Swedish field guns were 3, 4, 6, and 12 pounder. Of course, in these times it was very hard to standardize anything and many cannon had to have ammunition specially created for it’s own unique bore diameter. There were siege and garrison pieces, which could be very large, also big stone throwers and bombards, which would fire explosive shells (cannon balls). For the most part field guns fired solid iron shot and canister, the canister could be iron balls, lead balls, or square – cubed iron shot.
Please see attached scans of Musketeers, Matchlocks, Wheel locks, Musket accessories, Pikeman, and a nice shot of the Coburg armory, which has a display of equipment to outfit about 100 musketeers.
One additional note: Matchlock gun parts and other finds from this period have been made in the US! The excavations at Santa Elena SC, a Spanish colonial fort. Matchlock gun parts, crossbow bolts, pieces of armor, bullet molds, musket balls, rapier parts, and other finds from the Spanish settlements there. As well should be mentioned the numerous Spanish ship wrecks from the 16th century off the southern US coast.
Keep the questions coming!
Brad
