Military affairs at the turn of the eras. Everyone knows about the influence of war on the development of military affairs. Imagine that the warriors and military affairs of the beginning of the Hundred Years War and its end were very different. However, there was another war in Europe, which was also very long, and it also greatly influenced the development of military affairs. And it got the name of the Eighty Years War, although in our traditional Soviet historiography, no one called it that, but called it the first bourgeois revolution in Europe. Meanwhile, this war, which lasted from 1568 to 1648, and yes, indeed, also known as the Netherlands Revolution, was in fact a war for the separation of seventeen provinces of the Netherlands from the Spanish Empire, although economic and religious issues were resolved there along the way. However, to a much greater extent it was a war for national sovereignty. And 17 provinces in this war managed to defeat the Habsburg empire, using all the most modern military achievements at that time.
The peculiarity of this war was that it was fought between two very rich countries, but rich in different ways. Spain received silver and gold from America and could buy everything. The slightest delay in the delivery of precious metals from the New World turned into hardest trials for Spain, since its soldiers in the same Netherlands in this case refused to fight. At that time, the Netherlands had already embarked on the capitalist path of development, corvee died out in the country, commercial agriculture developed in the countryside, like mushrooms after rain were built manufactories. All of Europe was interested in Dutch goods. It was here that the English landlords sold their wool, who just at that time began to pursue an active policy of fencing and all because of the fact that due to the cold snap in Europe, the demand for cloth increased greatly, and at first they could only make it in the Netherlands.
As a result, the war was fought to a large extent by the forces of mercenaries, who were hired by the Spaniards, Dutch nobles, and merchants wherever possible. Yes, of course, there were also sea and forest guezes ("ragamuffins"), that is, essentially the same privateers and partisans. But they could not fight in the field against the Spanish infantry paid for in gold, so they were not at all winning this war. It was in the battles of this war that, first of all, the types of cavalry and infantry that have become traditional for the modern era took shape, and most importantly, when they were formed, they were tested in battle.
It should be noted that, like the Hundred Years War, her younger “partner” did not go on all the time, but with interruptions and truces. So, after 41 years of war in 1609, peace was concluded between Spain and the Netherlands. Part of the wealthy Dutch provinces freed themselves from Spanish rule and gained independence, and it was a small professional Dutch army under the command of Maurice Nassau who was able to win important victories over the Spaniards. And, what is also important to emphasize, very serious changes in the Dutch War of Independence were carried out primarily in the cavalry. In 1597, out of the total number of horsemen numbered in eleven regiments, eight regiments were turned into cuirassiers armed with pistols, and three into equestrian arquebusiers. In the same year, at the Battle of Turnhout, the Dutch cavalry virtually independently defeated the Spanish cuirassiers armed with spears and the infantry with long pikes. Imitating their Dutch counterparts, the imperial cuirassiers also abandoned the heavy spear and began using a pair of pistols.
And then at the beginning of the 17th century, the imperial craftsmen began to produce the corresponding armor, discarding all unnecessary parts, but strengthening the breastplates of the cuirass and helmets. As a result, the cavalry armor became heavier and more massive. The heaviest armor in existence today is exhibited in a museum in Graz: it weighs 42 kg. Their surface is not decorated, and their shape is not so refined, but they protect well. Later, the cuirassiers played a very prominent role in the Thirty Years' War, where they were commanded by Field Marshals Gottfried Pappenheim (1594-1632) and Albrecht Wallenstein (1583-1634).
Interestingly, Pappenheim used cuirassier regiments of about 1000 people, consisting of ten companies of 100 people each, and at the same time narrowed the front of the attack. Wallenstein, on the other hand, preferred to strike on a wide front, and his tactics were more successful.
Here we have already written about the number of formations of Reitars and Cuirassiers and the differences in their tactics. Now is the time to emphasize that in the mercenary units of the Eighty Years War, the armor used by the horsemen could range from a simple chain mail shirt or even a cloak to the already well-known "three-quarter armor". Helmets also ranged from simple "iron hats" to burgers and "pot-helmets" - called "sweat" in English. Later, “lobster tail” helmets appeared, distinguished by a lamellar collar, really similar to a crustacean tail, and a lattice on the face made of rather rare twigs. The main weapon of both cuirassiers and reitars was a pistol with a wheel lock. The standard barrel length of such rider pistols was about 50 cm, but there were also longer samples with barrels of 75 cm. The weight could be 1700 g or about 3 kg. The weight of the lead bullet was usually about 30 g, that is, it was the weight of the bullet of the then infantry arquebus. Moreover, even in 1580, there were muskets that fired bullets weighing 31 g, and very light arquebus with bullets weighing 10 g. It is not surprising that such light bullets did not penetrate cuirassier armor, which gave rise to the hope of protecting them from the fire of foot shooters.
But already in 1590 Henry IV introduced more powerful muskets into his army, and now they began to pierce the armor *. True, and their weight was significant, and demanded the use of a stand - a fork. From a rider's pistol, it was possible to quite accurately hit the target from about 20 steps; non-aimed, but dangerous for the enemy fire could be effective at a distance of up to 45 m. However, against an enemy dressed in armor, a pistol shot was effective only a few steps away. Liliana and Fred Funkens report that the pistols were often loaded with steel darts and even Carro crossbow bolts. True, except for them, no one seems to have written about this. It is clear that it was only possible to shoot with such a dart almost point-blank, until it began to somersault in flight, but in this way it was guaranteed to break through any armor! Reitars, who preferred firefighting, had up to six pistols - two in holsters, behind the cuffs of their boots, and two more in their belts.
Three regiments were converted into equestrian arquebusiers. There are many variants of where the very name of this type of weapon came from: from the Italian arcbibuso - derived from the distorted Dutch hakebusse, which in turn originated from the German hakenbuchsen, but the translation of the latter is unambiguous - “gun with a hook”. The first arquebus weighed up to 30 kg; and fired from them from the fortress walls, hooked with a barrel hook on the prongs, which made it possible to compensate for the recoil. There is also such an explanation that his butt was in the form of a hook, hence the name.
The lighter arquebusses of the early 16th century had wooden stocks and a stock made of walnut, birch or maple wood. The length was up to 1.5 m, the caliber was 12-20 mm. At first, the barrels were made of bronze, later they began to be made of iron. The lock was simple: an S-shaped lever (serpentine - "serpentine") was used to fasten the ignition cord from hemp dipped in a solution of nitrate. By pressing the trigger, he lowered himself onto the powder shelf and ignited a charge of pilot powder. Bullets were first stone, then lead, iron, and for rifled arquebus - iron, covered with lead or wrapped in sheepskin. Even the most experienced shooters could, at best, fire only 40 shots per hour, but with the advent of wooden cartridges (usually there were 12 in the sling, which is why they were colloquially called "12 Apostles"), the rate of fire increased.
The best German arquebusses had a maximum firing range of about 400 steps. However, the effective range was much less, not to mention the range at which an arquebus bullet could penetrate a rider's armor. Nevertheless, it was still more than the firing range of a pistol, which led to the appearance of equestrian arquebusters. Their weapons were of better quality than those of the common foot soldiers, and on horseback or dismounted, they could support the attacks of pistol riders with their fire.
Arquebusier (as such shooters were called in the French manner) did not wear heavy armor. Initially, they used helmets, cuirasses, and arm and hip protectors. In the XVI and XVII centuries. this armor was dropped by the arquebusier one by one, until only the helmet remained with them. For personal protection, like the rest of the heavy cavalry, they wore a long, heavy sword on their thighs. However, the arquebusiers of the mercenary detachments were real arsenals on horseback: in addition to the arquebus, they had up to six pistols in holsters and chest harness sockets. Their pistols were weaker and shorter than those of the cuirassiers, since their main weapon was a relatively long-range arquebus. But they were quite capable of "shooting back" from the unexpected attack of the enemy horsemen, without resorting to the help of the infantry!
* In 1600, an arquebus on average weighed 5 kg and fired a bullet weighing 25 g. A musket weighed 8 kg, and a bullet for it - 50 g.
