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Schematic plan · Thirty Year's War

Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

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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 groundCentreCentreHorseHorseLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseLeft wingRight wingReserveReserveGunsGuns01 km2 kmN

Holy Roman Empire (Imp & Holy League Army, 32,000 men under Tilly) attacked Sweden (Sw & Sax Army, 37,850 men under Gustavus Adolphus) in Saxony. The CAA Database of Battles records 4 hours of fighting on a front of 3.2 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, left flank against hasty defense, and that Sweden held. Losses: Holy Roman Empire 13,600 (43%), Sweden 6,100 (16%).

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

Holy Roman Empire

Tilly

UnitArmMen
Holy Roman Empire left wingInfantry4,946
Holy Roman Empire centreInfantry6,595
Holy Roman Empire right wingInfantry4,946
Holy Roman Empire reserveInfantry4,122
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the leftCavalry5,500
Holy Roman Empire cavalry of the rightCavalry5,500
Holy Roman Empire artillery (26 guns)Artillery390
TillyCommander—
In this plan31,999

Sweden

Gustavus Adolphus

UnitArmMen
Sweden left wingInfantry5,640
Sweden centreInfantry7,520
Sweden right wingInfantry5,640
Sweden reserveInfantry4,700
Sweden cavalry of the leftCavalry6,425
Sweden cavalry of the rightCavalry6,425
Sweden artillery (100 guns)Artillery1,500
Gustavus AdolphusCommander—
In this plan37,850

What the sources report

Holy Roman EmpireSweden
Strength, this plan32,00037,850
Losses, this plan13,6006,100

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 6, “Breitenfeld I”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
4 hours
Winner
the defender
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Autumn, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
3.2 km (attacker), 3.6 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
Holy Roman Empireattacker32,00013,60011,00026Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Left flank; Penetration; Repulse; Withdrew with heavy losses
Swedendefender37,8506,10012,850100Defensive/offensive plan; Single envelopment; Left rear; Breakthrough

Attacker’s advantages none recorded

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.