Gustavus Adolphus Benjamin Limbaugh They say the name makes the man, well in this case Gustavus

Adolphus, Gustav Adolph The Great, Gustavus, Gustav Adolph den store, and the Lion of the North makes the name. Gustavus Adolphus was one of histories greatest kings, military strategists, leaders, and overall rulers. As one of the most accomplished rulers in Europe, and the first in Nordic region, Gustavus created the Swedish Empire along with many other more military based accomplishments. Taking the lead, he led Sweden to a valiant victory in the Thirty Years War. The most notable military victory for the general was his victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld. The man behind the military is intriguing, but his military accomplishments and strategies are what make him standout in European history.

Gustavus rise to kingship was not all-smooth sailing for the young ruler. Gustavus cousin, Sigismund, originally held the thrown of Sweden. Born to a Vasa Dynasty Duke, Duke Charles, Gustavus was raised to lead. The Catholic Sigismund was removed from the thrown of Sweden by Duke Charles and was hence replaced by Charles as a regent ruler. Upon the Dukes death, Gustavus took over the role of king at the ripe old age of seventeen. His cousin Sigismund held quite the grudge, and later caused the Polish-Swedish Wars. These wars lead to Gustavus invasion of Livonia, with the utter acceptance of the Germans, which adored the Swedish ruler. The Lutherans of Germany allowed the ruler to stay graciously in their towns and dine with them as their honored guest. Approximately one year after the kings

victory in the Polish-Swedish wars he entered Sweden into one of the most important wars in European history, the Thirty Years War.

The breakout of the thirty-years war on the continent will undoubtedly have drawn the interest of Gustavus. If there is one thing that Gustavus Adolphus loves more than war that is winning a war. This strong desire to succeed in all of his endeavors perforated throughout the short life of this great ruler. The wanting for success could also possibly explain his reasoning for joining the Thirty Years war in the first place, Sweden was not in direct contact with the Continents super powers and was only indirectly affected by the war at its outbreak. After very shortly coming off of his victories in the Polish-Swedish Wars, Gustavus was willing and raring to go when that time in sixteen-thirty happen to arise. With the landing of Gustavus in Germany, the outset of the war, the fate of continental Europe, and the course of history would be changed forever.

The true genius of Gustavus was shown not just in his charismatic leadership, but also in his militaristic mind. The title of king was a less important than the distinction of general to Gustavus. The grand amount of military innovations with which he is given credit are actually quite false. He is only personally responsible for the introduction of two new gun and cannon designs, played with uniforms slightly, and tinkered with the strategies of war for his entire life. It was the use of the se aforementioned new age military strategies of his, which made him one of histories most memorable generals. Twas not the amount of men he killed on the battlefield,

was not how staggering the his victories were, was not how innovative the weapons of his armies were, it was only the use of a slightly modified strategy which changed Europes wars for the next one hundred and fifty years. Coming from a man where charisma was a major part of his personality, one would not directly suspect that shock would be the name of the game when it comes to how he would go about planning his strategies for war. All other rulers and generals of the time were concerned with how they could most easily obliterate the oppositions army, and not how best to win the war. This tactic was to be employed by Gustavus so that his armies could unload the greatest amount of shot possible in the shortest amount of time, this would cause the greatest moral shock value to the opposing armies. Once the opposition are in a state of confusion due to the first round of volleys, the pikes men and cavalry charge in and finish the job. It is imperative to understand that Gustavus did not eliminate the pikes men from his brigades, but more accurately he decided to find a way to best integrate them with the musketeers. For the best utilization of the musketeers as well, Gustavus decided to employ a different system of alignment, make long lines of troops, which were shallower in depth. This alignment would allow for the quickest and most repetitive amounts of fire to be unleashed, but with the strong emphasis on time the shots would be less accurate. These new ideas seemed to help Gustavus gain that slight edge he needed to out maneuver his enemies.

Formation and shot theory were not the only innovations for which Gustavus is well known. The invention of the Gustavan Musket (Jurgen 22), the integration

of lighter cannonry, and his use of cavalry are all new to the battlefields of Europe. Gustavus wanted to find a way to create a musket, which allowed for quicker reloading on the battlefield, while still giving the most affective range. His solution was the invention of the Gustavan Musket. This musket of his was much shorter than the average musket, lighter in weight, but made up for this weight loss with its ability to hold ten balls per pound. Since the barrel of the musket was shorter than most, it made reloading time much shorter for the Swedish troops. The only problem with the weapon was how inaccurate the shorter barrel made it, this was of little concern to Gustavus. The inaccuracy of the gun was made up for by the musketeers ability to unload more shot quickly, thus reducing the need for high accuracy. The second of Gustavus innovations was the integration of lighter cannonry into his ranks. The traditional larger cannons were to heavy and slow for Gustavus tastes, making them hard to lug into battle and causing a slow rate of fire. This slow rate of fire would mean smaller shock value, thus diminishing everything Gustavus is trying to accomplish. The solution? Bringing in smaller cannons, which had a much higher rate of fire, and could be pulled more easily into affective range. With the lightweight of the cannons, one horse or three men could easily take them into battle (Jurgen 23). Yes, the range of these smaller cannons was much shorter than their heavier counterparts, but with the decrease in weight they could be easily pulled right up to the front lines in a short amount of time. Once they were in the front, these cannons caused all sorts of mayhem for the Swedish army. The ability to rapidly fire both cannons and muskets, with a complementary pike and cavalry force made them the most successful army in Europe. The change in ideologies over

cavalry was not a homerun at first for this military genius. Gustavus wanted to be able to switch all of his cavalry to heavy riders so that they could take the lead in a charge and simply mow over and opposition they faced. This strategy did not work out so well for the general, the heavy riders were much too easily countered by opposing pikes men. To fix this problem, Gustavus decided to make the cavalrymen lighter, allowing for more agile movement. This would allow for the first volley of musket fire to be shot, then the cavalry will quickly charge and take advantage of the chaos caused by the volley. These men were among the best cavalry in the world (Jurgen 26). This use of cavalry was quite affective and had staggering results on the battlefields of Europe.

Many a time, people try and attribute only certain attributes to prominent historical figures. In this case, Gustavus Adolphus was labeled a strategic military genius and not much more. Yes, he did have many an innovative invention, he revolutionized military formations, and he introduced an affective means of instituting shock value, and was more than once successful on the battlefield. These accomplishments are great, but historians have also simply tried to pile any innovation militarily from the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century on Gustavus, simply untrue. His innovations did not only simply include the ones listed above either, but to give him credit for every innovation is to discredit many an apt general in their own right. Gustavus Adolphus was a profound and charismatic leader who was loved not only by his own people, but also by many a person on the continent. The extent of the affects of his military innovations was

overtly extensive, with his strategies dominating the battlefields for the next one hundred and fifty years. Thus is the life, and genius of Gustavus Adolphus.

Literature Cited

Fletcher,C.R.L. Gustavus Adolphus. New York: AMS Press, 1980. Guthrie, William P.. "The Later Thirty Year's War: from the Battle of Wittstock to the Treaty of Westphalia(2003), 1-200, http://0www.netlibrary.com.library.wofford.edu/Details.aspx. (accessed December 2, 2010). Jurgen, Braur. "Castles, Battles and Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History(2008), 21-34, http://0-www.netlibrary.com.library.wofford.edu/Reader/. (accessed December 1, 2010). Smtih, Helmut W.. "Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in Germany(2001), 336, http://0-www.netlibrary.com.library.wofford.edu/Details.aspx. (accessed December 1 2010).