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Schematic plan · Thirty Year's War

Battle of Breitenfeld (1642)

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseCentreReserveHorseHorseLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

Sweden (Sw Army, 25,000 men under Tortensson) attacked Holy Roman Empire (Imp Army, 30,000 men under Leopold William) in Saxony. The CAA Database of Battles records 3 hours of fighting on a front of 3.5 km, a single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that Sweden won. Losses: Sweden 5,000 (20%), Holy Roman Empire 15,000 (50%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

Sweden

Tortensson

UnitArmMen
Sweden left wingInfantry3,348
Sweden centreInfantry4,464
Sweden right wingInfantry3,348
Sweden reserveInfantry2,790
Sweden cavalry of the leftCavalry5,000
Sweden cavalry of the rightCavalry5,000
Sweden artillery (70 guns)Artillery1,050
TortenssonCommander—
In this plan25,000

Holy Roman Empire

Leopold William

UnitArmMen
Holy Roman Empire left wingInfantry5,114
Holy Roman Empire centreInfantry6,819
Holy Roman Empire right wingInfantry5,114
Holy Roman Empire reserveInfantry4,262
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry4,000
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry4,000
Holy Roman Empire artillery (46 guns)Artillery690
Leopold WilliamCommander—
In this plan29,999

What the sources report

SwedenHoly Roman Empire
Strength, this plan25,00030,000
Losses, this plan5,00015,000

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 12, “Breitenfeld Ii”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
3 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
3.5 km (attacker), 3.5 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Swedenattacker25,0005,00010,00070Single envelopment; Left flank; Breakthrough; Pursued
Holy Roman Empiredefender30,00015,0008,00046Defensive/offensive plan; Single envelopment; Right flank; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages leadership +1 · initiative +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.