SWEDISH ARMY WITH CULVERIN (1618-1648)

The Thirty Years' War, fought in 1618-1648, was one of the most important conflicts of the 17th century, which had a huge impact on the relationship of power between the then powers. In some simplification, it can be assumed that the peace ending it, i.e. the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, made France (along with the Pyrenean Peace of 1659) a leading power in the Old Continent, and significantly weakened the position of the Habsburgs in Europe. It is also worth remembering that the great winner of the Thirty Years' War was also Sweden, which owed its superpower position primarily to its great army. Its profound reforms (including artillery) were carried out by Gustaw II Adolf of the Wasa dynasty, ruling in the years 1611-1632. First of all, he introduced a fairly clear division into siege artillery and field artillery. The former - as the name suggests - was used to besiege fortresses, the latter - more mobile - was used on the battlefield. The field artillery included guns weighing 24, 12, 6 and 3 pounds. A huge novelty was the appearance of the 3-pounder cannons as regiment cannons, designed to closely support infantry operations. At the same time, standardization of artillery was also introduced. What's more, the Swedish army was - by contemporary standards - very saturated with artillery, which gave it a significant fire advantage over almost every opponent. There was also an emphasis on better coordination of artillery and infantry. Undoubtedly, it was artillery that greatly contributed to the Swedish victories at, among others, Breitenfeld (1631) and Lützen (1632).