THE ITALIANS Italian mercenaries, often light horsemen and arquebusiers, served with the French although they were disparaged and reputed to give way at the first crisis, and the French rarely showed sufficient confidence in them to put them in the line against Landsknechts or Spaniards. It may well have been that these Italians were employed to make up the grave shortage of French foot soldiers skilled in the use of firearms. At Fornovo in 1495, when the brutal directness of the French shattered the old Italian condottieri system of scientific and bloodless warfare, it taught the Italians a great deal. They realised that their chessboard manoeuvre battles were no longer practical and that an army had to have infantry who, if humanly possible, could compete with the Swiss. Realising that there were no high-class pikemen capable of this, the Italians imitated the Spaniards and specialised in arquebusiers. Sometimes massing as many as 3,000 arquebusiers who made up the celebrated "Black Bands", the Italians could only field about a tenth that number of light horse, often Stradiots, light irregular horsemen invaluable for desperate raids and surprises although unable to stand the charge of gendarmerie or other heavy cavalry. Although Italian mercenaries gained some reputation in the wars of the period, they were usually casual and temporary formations assembled by some adventurer and disbanded when peace came. THE FRENCH Until the middle of the 17th century, the French had little faith in their own infantry and the bulk of their foot soldiers were Swiss mercenaries, whom French commanders of the day regarded as the dominant power in war. If they could not be enlisted, German Landsknechts were hired as the best substitute. Those French infantry who did take part in the early years of the Italian Wars were mainly crossbowmen from Gascony, one of the most militant districts of France. The arquebus superceded the crossbow in the later stages of the Great French and Italian Wars, although for a long time this early firearm was regarded with repugnance as a rather unsporting weapon when compared with the crossbow! Realising that it was the Spanish arquebusiers who in 1525 had decisively turned the battle of Pavia against them, the French began to systematically introduce firearms into their army, at the same time as they recognised that unless arquebusiers had a covering force of pikes, they were helpless against cavalry. In open country it only took 500 horsemen to scatter as many as 5,000 arquebusiers but if they had 1,000 pikemen with them, they would have little difficulty in driving off the cavalry. During one of the Spanish-African campaigns a retreating force of 4,000 pikemen and arquebusiers were constantly assailed by a mob of 18/20,000 Moorish horsemen, but received and beat off dozens of charges with a loss of only 80 men against 700 Moorish cavalry casualties. The parallel to Kleber's small squares at Mount Tabor in 1799 was made possible through the enemy having neither infantry nor artillery. Francis I of France in 1581 raised "legions" of French infantry on the Spanish pattern, originally from Picardy, Champagne, Normandy and Languedoc, formed into groups of about 600 pikemen, 500 arquebusiers and 100 halberdiers. But the peasant-material and lack of training made them bery dubious bodies and during the last twenty years of the great struggle between Valois and Hapsburg, French commanders much preferred to have Swiss or Landsknechts infantry instead of their own native foot soldiers. The legions continued on a diminished scale during the Wars of Religion, those of Picardy and Champagne, after many reformations and reorganisations, persisted into the 17th century and may be considered ancestors of the similarly named regiments famous in later glorious days of French military achievement. CAVALRY As the efficiency of firearms increased, heavy cavalry made fewer desperate charges to break hostile lines, and the combination of pike and arquebus added to the well-known resisting powers of the old Swiss phalanx. Cavalry could be held off by pikes, their chances being greatly lessened if their ranks were being thinned by musketry whilst they were striving to break through the out-thrust points. Gradually it became the custom to only loose heavy cavalry in attacks on infantry who were already engaged by other infantry, or to use them to thrust aside the enemy's equivalent force of cavalry who might be attacking their main central block of infantry. The heavy gendarmes of the old Campagnies d'Ordonnance charged in line, although a tactical problem of the age was whether the line or the squadron-in-column was best. In the end, encouraged by the Germans, the deep order prevailed at the same time as the lance disappeared from the French army for 200 years. By 1600, the lance and complete suit of plate-armour had been discarded in all Continental armies save the Spanish, where they lingered on. As a general rule there were always bodies of light horse cavorting way out on the flanks, not often used in the general clash but for scouting or to pursue broken hostile troops. The success of the Venetian Stradiots, and later the Spanish genitors, persuaded the French kings to raise chevaux-legers for the same typical light horse duties because, when the Great Italian Wars began, there were no light cavalry in the French armies, except for some mounted crossbowmen used as skirmishers although the crossbow must have been an extremely awkward weapon to handle when mounted. The mounted crossbowmen were replaced by Arquebusiersa-Cheval, seemingly an equally difficult weapon to use from a horse's back. Towards the end of the Great French and Italian Wars, many light horsemen had become "pistoleers", wearing breast plate and armoured helmet with mask and sleeves; they did not wear leg armour. Often used in the line of battle, they were not expected to have the same weight as the gendarmerie and, at best, the pistoleer was a rather ineffective soldier because of the method of working on the "caracole" (riding up by successive ranks to fire, wheeling off to let the next rank discharge its pistols etc.). However, the pistol was a doubtful weapon, particularly when used in formation because a mix-aimed shot could hit a neighbouring horseman or a pistoleer could blow the ears off his own horse. Unless the pistoleers wre experienced and courageous, they fired too soon in the knowledge that they had to with draw and reload quickly; therefore rear rankmen often fired in the air, and when men in the second rank started firing (it was often difficult to get nervous troops to hold their fire), the men in the front must have felt their spines tingle. When the first rank went back, the faint-hearted often rode back with them instead of halting and firing their own pistols. Only very brave and experienced troopers could make a success of the caracole because pistol fire was of little value except at extremely close range; The only effective way of using pistoleers was for the riders to wait until they could see the whites of the enemy's eyes and then blaze away but it took a brave man to do so. The Germans were the first to arm their horsemen with small firearms, these pistoleers were known as Schwartezreiters, (soon shortened into "Reiter") from the black armour they wore, reputedly to impress the enemy by their forbidding appearance. The Reiters who fought in the French Wars of Religion were all German mercenaries who fought freely on both sides and gained as bad a reputation as the Landsknechts for desertion, mutiny and looting. Occasionally one comes across them called cuirassiers because they wore a cuirass and a closed helm, with high leather boots in place of leg armour. By the end of the 16th century the Reiter, originating from the light horse crossbowmen, were classified as heavy cavalry while the lighter troops, lacking body armour, were called Stradiots, Croats, Pandours or Hussars. The first campaign in which the Reiters fought on both sides was when the Protestant league was opposed to Charles V, ending at Muhlburg in 1547. In a cavalry engagement of the 16th century involving Reiters on a large scale at Sievershausen in 1553, Maurice of Saxony was mortally wounded leading his black Reiters against those of Albert of Hohensollern Kulmbach. German Reiters alwars advanced in very deep formation which was not particularly advantageous because, when the front rank closed with the enemy and were fighting with lance or sword, the rear ranks were unable to push on and had to pull up their horses and halt. When charging a firm front of pikes in square, the rear ranks could not assert any impetus and the massed ranks of such a deep cavalry formation was extremely vulnerable to artillery fire. ARTILLERY Early pioneers in the use of artillery, which brought them eventual victory in the Hundred Years War, the French retained their superiority into the 16th century and at Ravenna in 1512 and Marignano in 1525 their artillery was decisive, being mobile in use, with gunners skilful in rapid reloading and change of firing direction. But this was a period when more battles were won by infantry or cavalry than by artillery fire and when battle occurred unexpectedly there was little time to set up the gun-line; but artillery were invaluable in set-battles where a defensive force had entrenched itself and placed its guns in commanding positions. At this time, the Italians owned and built cannon although they were relatively unskilled in their use; the Swiss did not use them; the Germans were knowledgeable in the use of field artillery; more so than the Spaniards, although they used guns at sieges during their Moorish wars. Lacking mobility, guns were often captured and recaptured as battles ebbed and flowed; the gunners and drivers were usually civilians and were prone to vanish as soon as the fighting began. Later in the period, the fusilier conpanies, originally organised as artillery guards, spent as much time preventing the gunners from running away as protecting them from the enemy. Ammunition supply was made difficult by bad roads and communications. As the period progressed, the arquebus was superceded by the longer-ranged musket which, although it possessed a range as great as the flintlock of later years, had a much slower rate of fire. Fouling of musket barrels soon affected the performance of firearms. This can be represented on the wargames table by adding 1 point to the first volley (because the muskets were loaded with care before the men came under fire, whereas all later loading was carried out to a background of noise, stress, and fear). The second and third volleys are normal, but the fourth volley deducts 1; the fifth 2; and the sixth 3. Musketeers maintained a continuous fire by retiring to the rear of the six or ten deep file when they had fired, or advancing to the front when they were ready to fire -- in the one case the unit gradually retired and in the other it gradually advanced. Another method was to have the infantry drawn up in small columns six or ten deep with an interval of at least one file between the columns; the front rank of each column filed off right or left of the interval to the rear of the column before starting to reload. On the wargames table this can be reproduced by disposing infantry in two or three ranks with intervals between each file (this is a scaled-down representation of the six or ten deep formations of real-life). In each move, the musketeers can load but only the front rank are allowed to fire; infantry in single rank (representing three-deep) are only allowed to load or fire in any one move. Artillery was used with mixed effect in the Pike-and-Shot period, although in its later stages the Swedish artillery of the Thirty Years War played a most significant role and in the open field their small battalion guns were highly effective. On the other hand, during the English Civil War artillery seemed to play a relatively insignificant part, except at First Newbury and a Langport. When sumulating the artillery of this period on the wargames table, heavy guns should be considered to be immobile while the lighter guns (lakers, minions and drakes) can be given a degree of mobility, a quicker rate of fire, (being allowed to load and fire in each move) and their range twice as long as a musket. Heavy guns fired 4/5 times further than the musket. THE SWEDES -- GUSTAVUS ADOUHUS The Pike-and-Shot period extended into the 17th century, marking the beginning of the modern concept of warfare as devised by Gustavus Adolphus, who was about 36 years old at the time of his death at Lutzen. Successfully campaigning since the age of seventeen, the Swedish King became not only one of the greatest warriors ever to stride the pages of military history but also the first great exponent of scientific warfare. Alone, he built up the first truly national army of modern times which consistently defeated the conventional armies and mercenaries of the period. This was accomplished by an original method of warfare based on the Swedish brigade system, a tactical formation composed of 1,000/1,500 men. It combined small battle groups of musketeers and pikemen in a wedge-shaped formation, drawn up in three lines with three groups of pikmen (648 men) forming a protecting triangle and 864 musketeers in five groups behind them, in the intervals and along the flanks. Based on fire-power and mobility, the Swedes increased the proportion of musketeers to pikemen and created small units -- a company consisted of 72 musketeers and 54 pikemen and there were four companies in the battalion, eight battalions in a regiment and two to four regiments in a brigade. Using their light and faster loading musket with prepared charges carried in a slung bandolier so that, with fire discipline and training these Swedish formations produced maximum fire-power, each musketeer could fire 30 shots in an hour. Usually closing up to three ranks in the firing line with the front rank kneeling and the other two firing over their heads, a Swedish brigade had far greater fire-power than the square formation invariably adopted by the enemy. In contrast to their plumed and colourfully uniformed opponents, the Swedish army were drab in their sleeveless peasant smocks, loose knee breeches and woolen stockings, all of home-spun drab. Their regiments were distinguished by silk ensigns of white, blood-red, yellow, green colour, blue and black in solid colours with embroidered emblems and mottos. With only pikemen and heavy cavalry wearing the cuirass, the Swedish army were far more mobile than their opponents; they used the pike, shortened to 11 feet, as an offensive weapon. Gustavus Adolphus revolutionised the use of artillery, introducing 4-pdr infantry support field pieces that could be handled by four men and drawn by a single horse; each infantry regiment of 1,000 men had two guns and, using the first ever artillery cartridge, 8 rounds could be discharged while the musketeers fired 6 volleys. The 2-pdr swivel breech loaders could fire three times as quickly as the enemy artillery and even the heavier brass guns and howitzers were light enough to keep up with infantry and cavalry. The Swedes abandoned the idea of partially armoured cavalry sacrificing their shock-potential by caracoling. Instead, large men on heavy horses, the Swedish cavalry formed up two lines three ranks deep and in small manoeuverable squadrons so that the combination of weight and momentum in controlled shock charges at speed made them greatly feared. Prince Rupert owed much of his early success to adopting this Swedish method, insisting on his cavalry taking the offensive and both he and Cromwell had advanced ideas of shock tactics with the charge made knee-to-knee in close order. Scottish cavalry had no Rupert to make tactical experiments and it was not until David Leslie reformed them that they copied the methods of the New Model Army. The Swedes also had a trained dragoon corps that operated as light horse, or infantry when on the defensive. More Pike and Shot Pike and Shot Period: Introduction Pike and Shot Period: Spanish, Swiss, Germans Pike and Shot Period: Italians, French, Swedes Pike and Shot Period: English Civil War Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. III #1 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1981 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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