16th to 18th century battle maps / schemes

[Domen]

I will post here some battle maps / schemes (made by me) of 16th to 18th century not very well-known battles.

At first - battle of Cesis fought on 7 January 1601 (Poland-Lithuania vs Sweden):

Location of Cesis (nowadays in Latvia):

https://www.google.pl/search?q=Cesi...&rls=org.mozilla:pl:official&client=firefox-a

Strength of both armies (detailed composition explained in the pictures):

1. Swedish army - ca. 1200 infantry, over 1800 cavalry
2. Polish-Lithuanian army - ca. 160 infantry, ca. 560 cavalry

Battle of Cesis, 7 January 1601 (on the day the battle was fought, the Gawia River was completely ice-bound):

Deployment and strength of both armies:

First stage of the battle:

Second stage of the battle:

Last stage of the battle and its aftermath:

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Thats pretty impressive. I thought by the first picture the Polish are defeated before they even start. Who were the commanders?

 

[Antilogic]

How did the Polish cavalry charge scatter something like 3x their number on each flank? Were the Swedish cavalry not prepared for melee combat?

 

[Domen]

The Swedsh cavalry were mostly Landsryttare (Reiters) - armed with rapiers, pistols and / or arquebuses:

Spoiler :

Their main method of combat was caracole, they were poorly trained in melee combat at that time (Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm tried to implement melee combat to Swedish cavalry tactics, but with moderate results - only later Gustavus Adolphus was more efficient in introducing shock charge tactics).

The Polish cavalry were mostly Winged Hussars (lance-wielding heavy shock cavalry):

Spoiler :

And also some Pancerni (who at that time were partially light, partially medium cavalry - also lance-wielding, but usually having shorter lances):

Spoiler :

Medium variant:

Light variant:

===================================

Who were the commanders?

Commander of the Polish-Lithuanian army was Captain (and Voivode of Parnu at the same time) Maciej Dembiński.

Also Georg Farensbach (Voivode of Wenden since 1598) - who arrived with that unit of 60 cuirassiers as reinforcements.

Commander of the Swedish army was Hans Bengtsson (also some rather medium-ranking officer).

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Great job! Keep it up. I want some mooore.

 

[Domen]

Their main method of combat was caracole

The caracole tactic:

The caracole was performed by first drawing up the riders in a column at least six ranks deep and anything from six to 20 files wide. This cumbersome formation would slowly trot towards the enemy. They would get to within 28 metres (30 yards) and fire first one pistol and then the second.

 

[warpus]

Interesting stuff. Makes me want to play Total war

 

[Domen]

Interesting stuff. Makes me want to play Total war

Or more old school "Cossacks" series (because unfortunately so far there is no any Total War game about the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe - we only have MTW and MTW2 in the Middle Ages and then ETW in the 18th century, which however is the worst game of the entire series).

 

[bonefang]

Awesome man ... please provide some more.
That image of the Winger Hussars is now on my desktop...

 

[History_Buff]

Or more old school "Cossacks" series (because unfortunately so far there is no any Total War game about the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe - we only have MTW and MTW2 in the Middle Ages and then ETW in the 18th century, which however is the worst game of the entire series).

Indeed, Cossacks was way more fun than I've ever found the TW games to be. I think the studio basically imploded after they made it and the not-as-good sequel though.

Edit: Nope, seems they're the guys that make STALKER.

 

[Domen]

The battle of Warsaw in 1656 was the largest (in terms of number of combatants) of all Polish-Swedish battles. It lasted for 3 days.

2nd day of the battle of Warsaw - afternoon charge of Winged Hussars (combats near Bródno village):

Overall situation on the 2nd day of the battle (including orange area - events described by me below):

Deployment of opposing forces prior to the charge:

Polish-Lithuanian forces included up to 8 squadrons of husaria (4 from the Crown and up to 4 from the Grand Duchy of Litva):

Polish (Crown) squadrons:

Machowski, Lanckoroński, Wilczkowski, Zamoyski

Lithuanian (Grand Duchy) squadrons:

Połubiński, K. Radziwiłł (not to be confused with traitor B. Radziwiłł, who was in the Swedish army in this battle), Kruniewicz, Chalecki

Brief description of daily plans of opposing forces on 29 July 1656:

First phase of the charge:

Second phase of the charge:

Third phase of the charge:

Final phase and the belated order to send in reinforcements for the charging units (soon cancelled):

=====================================

My main sources:

- book "Warszawa 1656" by Mirosław Nagielski from "Historyczne Bitwy" series
- http://rozprawy.uph.edu.pl/gsdl/collect/rozprawy/index/assoc/HASH7024.dir/Sikora Radoslaw.pdf
- http://www.husaria.jest.pl/warszawa1656.html
- http://forum.historia.org.pl/topic/7473-bitwa-pod-warszawa-1656/
- http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/Warsaw.htm

======================================

Famous painting showing Swedish king Charles X Gustav clashing against a "Winged Tatar" with a short lance in the battle of Warsaw 1656 (painting is from 1684). In real battle of Warsaw king Charles clashed against a Winged Hussar - not a Tatar - because Tatars (Tatarzy - 2,000 of them fought in the battle on the Polish-Lithuanian side) fought in a different part of the battlefield (near Białołęka and near Żerań - check the first of maps posted above):

Aleksander H. Połubiński (commander of the Royal squadron of hussars) - here depicted in his old age - most likely was the "main leader" of the charge:

Panoramas of the battle of Warsaw (28 July - 30 July 1656):

 

[Domen]

Some pictures of Polish-Lithuanian and Muscovite (Russian) forces in the battle of Orsha in 1514:

Infantry shooters with gunpowder weapons - so called rusznicas:

http://www.historycy.org/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=17793.jpg

(not sure about how "rusznica" is in English, but in Czech it is rusnice):

Heavy cavalry lancers (and above them light hussars with lances and shields; below them infantry weapons can be seen):

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza4.jpg

Pikemen-halberdiers infantry (we can also see that they carry pavises shields), as well as an artillery cannon and its crew:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza5.jpg

Heavy infantry - one with two-handed sword and one with a long pike / lance (so called foot lancer - pieszy kopijnik):

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza8.jpg

Hussars (at that time light cavalry with lances, shields and sometimes bows) and heavy cavalry:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza6.jpg

More heavy cavalry:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza7.jpg

Muscovite (Russian) soldiers, trampled by Polish heavy cavalry:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza9.jpg

Muscovite (Russian) forces:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza11.jpg

Muscovite forces and a Polish heavy infantryman with a lance (so called foot lancer - pieszy kopijnik):

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza12.jpg

Drowning Muscovite soldiers:

http://enroutepictures2.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/bitwa-pod-orsza10.jpg

========================================

All photos posted above and also some more photos of this painting, available here:

http://enroutepictures2.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/europa-jagiellonica/bitwa-pod-orsza1/

And here entire painting can be seen:

http://nowa.choragiew-husaria.ogicom.pl/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/rys7.jpg

Spoiler :

Battle of Orsha 1514 is often considered as "the last Medieval" major battle in Polish history.

On the other hand, the battle of Obertyn in 1531 as "the first Early Modern" major battle in Polish history.

 

[Wrymouth3]

How did the Polish cavalry charge scatter something like 3x their number on each flank? Were the Swedish cavalry not prepared for melee combat?

Because Polish lancers are named Uhlans, and therefore everybody is afraid of them because the name Uhlan is scary.

 

[Domen]

Those lancers were named Hussars, not Uhlans. Also scary though.

Hus! S[c]ars!

Uhlans were the 19th century Polish lancers (and late 18th century too, already).

 

[Kolyana]

Or more old school "Cossacks" series (because unfortunately so far there is no any Total War game about the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe - we only have MTW and MTW2 in the Middle Ages and then ETW in the 18th century, which however is the worst game of the entire series).

I'm hoping I'm not bumping an old thread here, but I noticed this comment and wanted to point out the Empire: Total War that has been out for a couple of years.

It is based in the 18th Century (1700-1799), spans the world (including India, Middle East, Americas, Spanish Main, etc), introduces a technology tree, solid economic system, and literally dozens of playable countries. If you snag the pack (including DLCs) on Steam right now it is available at a low cost and adds all sorts of special units etc. Heck, the Winged Hussars are in the game =D

 

[Dachs]

Yeah, he mentioned ETW in the post you quoted. He doesn't like it very much.