SPANISH FIELD ARTILLERY MIDDLE 17CENT

In the course of the 17th century, Spanish troops, including the Spanish infantry, were involved in many armed conflicts, including the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the war with France (1635-1659) or - although it is a war rather eternal - the war of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). Spanish artillery, at the very beginning of the 17th century, was a highly ossified type of weapon and required reform. Attempts to implement them - in the Habsburg army of Flanders - began around 1609-1610, on the initiative of Count de Bucquoy and Captain Diego Ufano. Their changes were to standardize the weights of the guns used (before their operation, the artillery of the Spanish Habsburgs had as many as 23 weights!) And to improve their quality. The aim was to introduce siege guns weighing 40 and 24 pounds and field artillery weighing 10, 6 and 5 pounds. It is worth adding that during the Thirty Years' War the Spanish artillery did quite well, and in the course of this conflict - similarly to the imperial army - "regiment" guns were introduced. However, after 1659, the Spanish artillery began to experience a very deep crisis that was closely related to the the disastrous condition of the state budget. This state of affairs did not change until the War of the Spanish Succession.