Anyone can explain me what made Gustavus Adolphus so great...

Anyone can explain me what made Gustavus Adolphus so great? How did he manage to turn Sweden from a backwater to a force to be reckoned with? What was special about his battle strategy, tactics and organisation?

Other urls found in this thread:

militaryhistoryonline.com/17thcentury/articles/geniusofsweden.aspx
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

It has something to do with cannons. I think he used small swivel cannons drawn by horse. This essentially acted mobile artillery that was deployed where ever needed.

Yearts of getting his ass-handed by Poland-Lithuania.

Until he became that good that he could hit back.

militaryhistoryonline.com/17thcentury/articles/geniusofsweden.aspx

When covered in short, volley fire is the main point my professor pointed to.

Good read.

LION COME FORTH COME FROM THE NORTH

French Cardinal ((One of those responsible for electing a new pope)) gave him money to kill his fellow Catholics in the HRE.
Remember that the next time papist cucks accuses Luthers of destroying Europe.

If they object and claim that's a single case, Remind them it was the Pope who destroyed the Unity of the HRE by destroying their internal systems and challenging their rightful rule in Italy.

Checked

He was good at taking the initiative. Sweden had benefited from years of nation building policies (like Frederick the Great some years later in Prussia).
Sweden actually had a professional military while much of europe was still feudal based militaries.
The Swedish used the church for conscription, which sped up the process and linked the church to military service in the minds of the Swedish soldiers.
The Swedish army was very well organized into even very small units.
The Swedish used some new artillery and gunnery tactics.
The coupled this with effective, varied, and direct cavalry usage...and said cavalry was always armed with pistols.
The German troops that Gustav heavily used were very hopeful that the Swedish king would save them from the HRE, so they were effective as well. Foreign officers were given high command from merit, and the French subsidized Swedish usage of mercenaries.
Gustav was also adept at logistics. He and his staff protected their supply lines, put forth significant resources to moving supplies with the army (like the Romans for example), and were good at setting up camps in the correct places.

COME FROM THE NOOOOOOOOORTH

Everyone was like
>muh tercios
And Gustavus, being a full-blooded autist, was like
>Why don't they just stand in a line and shoot?
And the rest is history

Yup, they were smashed by the Tercios so hard that France has to come to save the day.

Still butthurt over the deluge?

And once again the autist saved the day.

Funny thing is that the one single time they met the Tercios, and outnumbered them, the Swedes were virtually annihilated.

>what is Nordlingen

It was all because of the superior Finnish spurdo cavalry of course.

The German troops that Gustav heavily used were very hopeful that the Swedish king would save them from the HRE
No, most landsknechts fought for money and some even changed sides over the period of the conflict. Other soldiers were forced to join the swedes after their town was conquered and some joined because it was more safe to be part of the military then being a peasant. I think ideology played a minor role from 1635 onwards

>Anyone can explain me what made Gustavus Adolphus so great?
Historians mostly.

His wars against Poland-Lithuania were not very impressive.
Used mostly tactics invented by the Dutch rather than some kind of special Sweden-only tactics some people claim.
Had one great victory against the Germans, then later got shot while leading a blunt frontal assault.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he was crap or anything. But the hype attributed to him is a bit over the top at times.

Is it true that he could have became holy roman emperor?

Did he really ride into the thick of battle completely unarmored like all the artwork depicts? Seems he was asking to get killed.

quints for volley fire TRUTH

>
His tendency to personally lead the charge, which was certainly a factor in his death at the Battle of Lutzen in 1632, is perhaps the only reason he did not emerge on the world’s stage as a significant figure in Europe’s course after the war’s conclusion in 1648.

From

?
I was stating the facts. He got hardened in battle.

Well Sweden basically saved the day for the protestant/anti-Habsburgs faction. So there's a combination of muh protestant saviour worship and fascination with >Sweden being the country that pulled it out completely out of nowhere.

Both points are shredded with bias, because Sweden under Gustav Adolphus was as much interested in dominating the Baltic and cucking the North German states and took the chance to converge this realpolitik state interest with the broader idealistic protestant cause. It also didn't exactly came out of nowhere, as Sweden had been at odds with Denmark and Poland for quite long by then, but with mediocre results, and their success in their initial campaigns in the 30yrs, as opposed to the failure of the Danish intervention, owes much to French financial support and Wallenstein's removal from commanding the Imperial Army.