Contrary to common belief swedes weren't always swedecucks We've all heard about the vikings obviously but this thread is dedicated to the Caroleans, the swedish army under Charles XI & XII in the 17th and 18th century.
A song dedicated to the Caroleans that could be nice to listen to while you read on:
Now i won't make this a history lesson, just describe a little and show some of their weapons since it's a muzzleloading forum after all.
The Swedish Empire was at this point in time stretched across a great distance and the Caroleans were known at the time to be probably the most feared troops in all of Europe. Sweden was at this point a military superpower in Europe.
This is how big sweden is today apart from the bottom red "Skåne" also belonging to us:
And during the Caroleans:
The Caroleans under Charles XI & XII was obviously christian, and you can imagine their devotion to God was even more zealous back then.
They were known to pray before battles and ask for Gods blessing.
The Caroleans would fight very aggressively by marching forward into the enemy at a steady pac,e they were told not to fire until they were close enough, this led to them drawing fire from the enemy until they were closer and then they would all fire with a much more devastating effect.
A saying went "No bullet hits a man" meaning only God decides if a bullet will hit you or "Crouching or standing straight won't matter if a bullet hits you" i guess to keep the men standing straight and marching on without seeming to be frightened or bothered, it would have a pretty scaring effect.
This devotion to God could obviously boost morale you can imagine the fear on the other end while firing and seeing them just marching and taking fire like a zombie army not stoping or caring that even people are dying around you.
After they fired at close range they would draw their weapons and charge at the enemy.
Usually the enemy fled at this point.
The cavalry used a wedge formation, unlike other cavalry at this time that would charge, fire from horseback and then back off to repeat, the Caroleans would charge at a wedge formation, be known to fire their flintlock pistols once then draw their swords and smash into the enemy ranks creating chaos in the enemy lines.
This aggressive no backing down tactic was one of the reasons they were feared and effective.
There are people in sweden reenacting as Caroleans just like civil war reenactors in america.
I'm not that knowledgeable about history so i'm sure i have some things wrong but feel free to add, this thread is dedicated to the Caroleans
Now for the muzzleloading part:
(Note not all these weapons would be used by the Caroleans)
M1688 Rifle
Flintlock pistol m1683
Pistol from 1680
Rifle m1704
Rifle m1770 (This was later but it's cool)
Cannon 1699
Cannon 1675
Cannon 1665
Ship Carolus XI
It had 84 cannons and weighed 1700 tons. Sadly there are no pictures of it but i'll show some of a ship that survived that was 1200 tons and had 64 cannons. It was longer though.
Just thought i'd add a swedish section, it can't all be about the civil war
A song dedicated to the Caroleans that could be nice to listen to while you read on:
Now i won't make this a history lesson, just describe a little and show some of their weapons since it's a muzzleloading forum after all.
The Swedish Empire was at this point in time stretched across a great distance and the Caroleans were known at the time to be probably the most feared troops in all of Europe. Sweden was at this point a military superpower in Europe.
This is how big sweden is today apart from the bottom red "Skåne" also belonging to us:
And during the Caroleans:
The Caroleans under Charles XI & XII was obviously christian, and you can imagine their devotion to God was even more zealous back then.
They were known to pray before battles and ask for Gods blessing.
The Caroleans would fight very aggressively by marching forward into the enemy at a steady pac,e they were told not to fire until they were close enough, this led to them drawing fire from the enemy until they were closer and then they would all fire with a much more devastating effect.
A saying went "No bullet hits a man" meaning only God decides if a bullet will hit you or "Crouching or standing straight won't matter if a bullet hits you" i guess to keep the men standing straight and marching on without seeming to be frightened or bothered, it would have a pretty scaring effect.
This devotion to God could obviously boost morale you can imagine the fear on the other end while firing and seeing them just marching and taking fire like a zombie army not stoping or caring that even people are dying around you.
After they fired at close range they would draw their weapons and charge at the enemy.
Usually the enemy fled at this point.
The cavalry used a wedge formation, unlike other cavalry at this time that would charge, fire from horseback and then back off to repeat, the Caroleans would charge at a wedge formation, be known to fire their flintlock pistols once then draw their swords and smash into the enemy ranks creating chaos in the enemy lines.
This aggressive no backing down tactic was one of the reasons they were feared and effective.
There are people in sweden reenacting as Caroleans just like civil war reenactors in america.
I'm not that knowledgeable about history so i'm sure i have some things wrong but feel free to add, this thread is dedicated to the Caroleans
Now for the muzzleloading part:
(Note not all these weapons would be used by the Caroleans)
M1688 Rifle
Flintlock pistol m1683
Pistol from 1680
Rifle m1704
Rifle m1770 (This was later but it's cool)
Cannon 1699
Cannon 1675
Cannon 1665
Ship Carolus XI
It had 84 cannons and weighed 1700 tons. Sadly there are no pictures of it but i'll show some of a ship that survived that was 1200 tons and had 64 cannons. It was longer though.
Just thought i'd add a swedish section, it can't all be about the civil war