voudit

[voudit]

Livrée of a Swedish servant, ca. 1630 Another example of the elaborate uniforms of early 17th century servants! This suit, once worn by a servant of King Gustav II. Adolf of Sweden, consists of a doublet, a pair of knee-length breeches and a cloak; all garments are decorated with trim made of silk and metal. The breeches and doublet sleeves are also decorated with dozens of buttons (wooden beads covered with silk yarn).

During the first half of the 17th century, the fashion remained stiff - collars could be interlined with several layers of pad-stitched linen or wool, many doublets had their bellies stiffend with cork, cardboard, bones or fabric. Long legs in combination with a short, slender upper body were fashionable - as can be seen here. Exhibited at the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, Sweden.

[voudit]

Carl Larsson, When the Children Have Gone to Bed from A Home, 1894, watercolor.

[voudit]

Swedish Wedding Crown

early 18th century

Walters Art Museum

[voudit]

Livrée of three Swedish servants, ca. 1660 Livrée worn by servants in service of the Swedish crown, possibly used during the coronation of King Karl XI. in 1660. The suits consist of doublets, breeches and coats; two of the suits also feature knee-lenght stockings, while the suit on the left also features a detachable skirt.

While the garments are made of "plain" wool, they are heavily decorated with trim and silk bows. The suits follow the fashion of the mid-17th century, yet some details (like the voluminous breeches) might have been designed to resemble the fashion of the late 16th century, which was considered to be a Golden Age for Sweden. Exhibited at the Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, Sweden.

[voudit]

Evening dress of blue silk damask and pearls (1860s) at the Gothenburg City Museum.

[voudit]

This is a part from my school work (why i haven't  posted in a while) about The Battle of Breitenfeld, hope you will like it^^

PS: You better fucking like it, toked me 2 days..O_O


Battle of Breitenfeld - The Eagle is Defeated

Landing


They Swedish forces were met with joy from much of the Protestant population, but were disappointed in their prospective allies, the North German rulers George of Saxony and Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg, which remained neutral. It was not surprising that none of them wanted a war on their land as they did not want to see their people suffer. It was on the whole not very many people who wanted to ally with the Swedes. The only cities that did it was: Magdeburg and Stralsund.
But while Gustavus Adolphus negotiator’s traveled around Germany he pushed his troops down to Pomerania and made himself master of the cities that lay in their path. This meant that by the end of 1630 the majority of Pomerania and Mecklenburg was Swedish.

The Sack of Magdeburg


A key development came in 1631 when the imperial troops commanded by Tilly attacked and sacked the Swedish allied town Magdeburg. According to contemporary sources the looting were extremely cruel and disgusting. Eyewitnesses tell of the dead and maimed people, sometimes without heads, lay in the streets. soldiers burned the people who had taken refuge in the church. Mass rape, families who committed suicide in desperation. Children who took shelter behind their dead parents, children who were impaled on spears. Of the city’s 30,000 residents there were eventually only between 5,000 and 10,000 left.
What happened was terrible, it was not just that the war was being brutalized as even Tilly could not always keep control of the troops.
Peter Englund (Swedish historian) describes the event as follows in his book “Ofredsår” about the incident: 
 “Something evil and dark, slightly stronger than the human will, had been solved in Germany, which won the energy from events like this and started to spin like a big heavy wheels - round and round - with ever greater momentum. "


Clouds goes dark


Magdeburg’s sack  aroused disgust across Europe and had many of the neutral states to revolt together against the emperor. under the summer many allied with Gustavus Adolphus in fear of the Emperor, including Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg. (George Wilhelm’s decision is said to have been stimulated by a battery of  Swedish cannons, with mouths pointing to his palace.)
Tilly’s army was now forced to venture into the rich Saxony due of the Swedes had cut off the army’s supplies. This led to George, Duke of Saxony to quickly allied with Gustavus Adolphus after plundering imperial troops have pulled through.
Now that the Swedish-Saxon army was united George of Saxony wanted to attack the imperial army at once. But Gustavus Adolphus hesitated however, and would rather see that starved them out. But finally he gave in to the Saxon prince’s argument that "deliver a public field of slaughter."
It was to take place a few miles north of Leipzig, September 7, 1631. The result was a bloodbath.


Gustav II Adolf’s art of war


The battle came to be a contest between two different martial arts. On one side, the Spanish, that the undefeated Imperial Army applied. It was to the infantry were set up in large, dense squares, called "Tercio”. It was very awkward but successful with the mixed frontal and stable defense. The cavalry was heavily armored and formed in dense columns slowly rode to the attack to shoot their heavy wheel-lock pistols at the enemy to disorganize them  and then ride back without attacking with his sword. This operation is also known under the name karakoll (it’s the Swedish name, don’t know the English) and was quite harmless. The artillery was heavy, immobile and high caliber , intended only for the opening clash firing some cannonballs and other scrap in the enemy ranks.
The Swedish army used an entirely new art in battle that had developed in the war against Poland. The system was based on Moritz of Orange fighting style but had as base firepower and mobility, which Moritz had failed. The battle was the army into two lines, called “träffen”, with infantry brigades in the middle and cavalry at the sides. The soldiers  were lined up in long lines with six heads deep that looked thin but in practice was more powerful than an equal Tercio. It is unclear if there were more than musketeers than pikemen in the brigade.
What is clear however is that pikenerarnas (Swedish for Pikemen) number has increased compared to other war arts. Gustavus Adolphus had also experimented with a new technique for musketeers to fire. The fire took three musketeers ranks. The first shot kneeling,second crouching, and the third standing. In this way you did not get the even firing that was  pursued but instead you got a fierce and concentrated fire, In the words of Sir James Turner:
"… Pours just as much lead in the enemy’s breast at a time as done at two different times in the second way, and thereby do them more harm. Man frightens and amazes them three times more, for a single and continuous clap of thunder is dreadful and terrible than ten short “


Since those days muskets could not fire so many rounds a minute, plus that they were unprotected when they had fired. Before, they had let dig ministers protect them but Gustavus Adolphus turned the pancake, he sounded dig ministers to attack when the musketeers had fired his salvo and was about to reload. The result was that after the enemy brought into disarray with little musköteld sounded to them do not get to recover but did dig ministers attack and cause more confusion. When muskets were recharged pulled dig ministers back and a new salvo was delivered against the enemy.
As for the cavalry was the most common among contemporary armies that used the previously mentioned kara check. It did not come Gustavus Adolphus of news but with an old art. kara cols were abandoned and he almost sounded cavalry attack almost exclusively with swords and rapiers. For that it would succeed were needed fire support in the form of ditkommenderade musketeers who delivered his eldchock to unravel the enemy ranks. This meant that the cavalry was very slow since musketeers could not keep up with the horses in any great speed. Despite this, the cavalry attack very effectively.
Artillery played a central role in Gustav II Adolf’s army. The guns were made lighter and more mobile each customer and thus could be transported at will around on the battlefield to be used to support the infantry. Each regiment had been awarded approximately three guns were.
Another innovation was the high number of officers and NCOs who made the devices became independent and could take initiative.
These administrative and tactical changes was about 1630 Sweden an army that was far better equipped than any of the contemporary armies in terms of firepower and mobility. Mobility in slogans estimates, the good standard when it came to education, the capacity for autonomous action and the various weapons law effective collaboration enabled them to repel attacks by numerically superior enemies. It is said that when Tilly saw how quickly the Swedish army regrouped before the battle, he was quite white in the face and did not answer any questions.

The Clash

On September 7, the combined Swedish and Saxon army marched toward Tilly’s army that had set up on a favorable long sloping ridge with the sun and the wind at their back.

The Swedish army consisted of approximately:

27,000 foot soldiers,

13,000 Cavalary and

66 cannons.

Against this had Tilly’s army of approximately:

21,000 foot soldiers,

11,000 Cavalry and

some 30 cannons.

Of the two Swedish wings, which consisted of cavalry interspersed with musketeers, Gustaf Horn commanded the left, and Johan Baner the right.The middle was commanded by Artilery-General Lennart Torstensson who also was one of Gustavus Adolphus favorite officers, on the left of Horn was the Saxon troops.

The battle began with the imperial cannons fired volleys against the Swedish warriors. Then, put Tilly his right wing cavalry in motion against the Saxon part of Gustavus Adolphus’s army. We went there as so many times before. The Spanish school showed their worth and the Saxon army was literally run over by the frequent imperial columns. The Saxon army took flight and left the battlefield. The Protestant forces had now been decimated by two fifths. (On top of looted the fleeing Saxon troops on Swedish baggage.) The Swedish army was now exposed from the left, but thanks to his mobility could quickly sent reinforcements there and astoundingly quickly form a new left wing.

Meanwhile rode the left wing imperial cavalry attacked the Swedish right wing. But to his great surprise, the imperial horsemen back threw the categories of musketeers who were wedged among the Swedish cavalry. Again and again they were thrown back by the aforementioned eldchockerna from the Swedish infantry. On top, they were quick-firing Swedish regimental cannons to overwhelm them with scrap and bullets. The combined effect was devastating for the imperial cavalry. The same thing happened on the left wing. Finally retreated the proud imperial cavalry backwards in panic. Then came the Swedes attacked the unprotected enemy infantry.

Victory

The battle should not be seen as a single big battle but more as a variety of smaller battles where regiments fought regiments, as the Swedish army had trained their officers to exploit the imperial army’s immobility to the utmost and attacked thereby regiments that did not managed the Mobility that the Swedish army had mastered.

The summer of 1631 had been a hot and dry summer and enormous clouds of dust were driven up by the men and horses moving across the battlefield, which was a parched field. The dust and the smoke was a tight smelly fog that covered the fighters. Eyewitnesses say that you could not see more than four steps ahead.

The terrible pressure of the interacting cavalry, infantry and artillery, enabled Gustaf Horn to penetrate Tilly’s center and cause chaos. The remains of the imperial army took to flight. Gustavus Adolphus mentions that most of his cavalry pursued the enemy but when darkness fell over the field the fighting ended, they usually stop fighting when night comes as troops needed to rest. The victorious Swedes camped in the fields, between the dead and dying, and made a fire of assorted broken pikes and broken wagons.

The battle had lasted from two o'clock in the afternoon at about seven o'clock in the afternoon.

The losses for the Swedish army was modest: about 2,100 men. The loss of the Swedish horses were great as usual: 4,000. Peter Englund conjures up the macabre picture of the battlefield after the battle end: "When we imagine a picture of the battlefield after the battle’s end, we conjure up an image with dense crowds of three-legged horses limping around and crying wreck lying around in the fields in their guts, and relics of soldiers in droves. ”

Opponents losses were catastrophic, seven out of ten imperial soldiers were either killed or taken prisoner. Many thousands were killed by the Saxon peasants who drew around and took revenge on their tormentors by torturing, mutilating and killing soldiers they got hold of.

And throughout Germany circulated a show about Swedes great victory over the Imperialists. In the song cry Gustav Adolf triumphant after the fleeing Tilly:

“Ich bin Löw van der Mitternacht,

Mit dir will ich Frisch Fechten,

Ich streite yes durch Gottes Krafft,

Good helfe them Gerechten”

It means something like “I am the Lion from the land of midnight, with you, I want fresh fencing, I fight with God’s power, God helps the faithful”, I am not the best in German so it can be a bit mistranslated but it is about what it means.

Now had Gustavus Adolphus won one of the greatest victories in the Thirty Years War. He had defeated the invincible army, he had gained popularity among the Protestants and the Catholics sat in fear. He was now in the highest degree the mythical lion from North!

Now it’s only the Battle of Lutzen left then i will write about Queen Kristina, but after he have writen about her i will write about my favorit part of Swedish histroy…the Swedish VIKINGS!

Gott mitt uns dear readers.

[voudit]

"In 1613, three servants of the notorious nobleman Jochim Berndes appeared at the house of the Nimismies in Porvoo demanding boarding. It was a clear case of bullying, as Berndes' manor was not far away and there were disagreements between the Nimismies and Berndes. In the Nimismies' house, Berndes' servants had been partying and drinking beer, and when the master had not agreed to the men's demands when they had asked for more to drink, one had hit the Nimismies on the head with a beer mug. When the Nimismies had staggered in his own blood, another of Berndes' servants had drawn his sword and hit him on the ear with the flat of it. The beating had only ended when the Nimismies' terrified wife had fetched a nearby captain. Berndes' servants had stopped beating the Nimismies, but had scolded the captain and threatened to beat him too. They had even drafted the caption to the mayor of Porvoo and demanded that he be locked up in a "box". The honorable mayor had not agreed to this and had written to Berndes and demanded that the men be fined. He had replied haughtily that the men had only beaten him as much as he had wanted them to."

Pohjolan Leijona Kustaa II Aadolf ja Suomi 1611-1632 by Mirkka Lappalainen

[voudit]

homer simpson fails his Konekarhu field trials

[voudit]

Red Guard Fighters, Finnish Civil War, 1918.

[voudit]

"The kingdom of the young Lion of the North was extensive. It was a land of light and darkness, a sparsely populated wilderness whose ragged, rocky shores were joined by the sea. In the eastern part of the kingdom spread swamps and forests, in the middle of which small villages and fields peeked out. Sneaky spies his in the wilds. The ruler's power only extended to gloomy castles and small coastal towns. There were few roads and they were hardly more than horse tracks. In autumn and winter, the land was covered in darkness, which was illuminated by the moon, stars, and northern lights.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Finland was a chaotic corner of the earth, ravaged by the civil war and famine. In the storms of the turn of the century, it had been on the verge of being completely torn away from the kingdom. In the 1590s, Finland was in the hands of Sigismund's fiercest supporter, Baron Klaus Fleming. Fleming had suspected Duke Charles' intentions and kept the army prepared. At the same time, he had isolated Finland from the motherland. The hard-working Fleming made sure that the Finnish nobility was loyal to him and the king. Fleming's administration and especially the accommodation of soldiers in the castle camp with the peasants caused the peasants, who trusted the Duke's support, to rise up in rebellion. Fleming's forces crushed the rebels in a short but bloody cudgel war in 1596-1597."

Pohjolan Leijona Kustaa II Adolf ja Suomi 1611-1632 by Mirkka Lappalainen

[voudit]

1. CAVALRY BOOT This sealed pattern for a cavalry boot is from the 1690s. When it was approved, Sweden was still an autocracy, and the king had final say in the approval of the boot. This meant that just a single seal of approval was needed – the king's own, with the letters CRS (Carolus Rex Sueciae = Charles, King of Sweden).

2. SHOE M/1763 In 1763, a new type of shoe for soldiers was approved for the infantry. Unlike the previous models, this type had a rounded toe. This 1760s sealed pattern for a shoe displays multiple seals. During the Age of Liberty, the power of the king was somewhat limited in Sweden, and the four estates of the Riksdag controlled government finances. Therefore, this shoe bears no royal seal. At this time, military equipment was instead approved by representatives of the four estates, with their personal seals.

Photo taken at Stockholms Armémuseum

[voudit]

UNIFORM M/1765

FOR ENLISTED MEN OF THE SÖDERMANLAND REGIMENT, SEALED PATTERN

Even though the cutlass was officially designated a sidearm in 1748, it took time and money to equip all regiments. The Södermanland Regiment, for example, was still using the m/1685 soldier's sword during Gustav III's Russian War in 1788- 1790. Coat, vest and knee breeches m/1765, hat, shoes, cartridge pouch and sword belt m/1763.

Photos Taken at Stockholms Armémuseum

[voudit]

I've made this blog mostly for myself to help keep track of all the neat tidbits of information on my special interests, but I'm very happy to see that there are others on here who are also enjoying these things!

[voudit]

A wonderful video of the building and upgrading of Turku Castle through the centuries! Posted by the Turku City Museum.

[voudit]

1582 Johan Baptista van Uther - King Johan III of Sweden

[voudit]

Tre Kronor (Three Crowns) - the place of Christina’s birth. Its construction started in the 13th century and it was destroyed by fire in May 7, 1697, when Christina was already dead. The castle was reconstructed in the 18th century.

It is now the Stockholm Palace or the Royal Palace in the centre of Stockholm.

The offices of the King, the other members of the Swedish Royal Family, and the offices of the Royal Court of Sweden are located here. The palace is used for representative purposes by the King whilst performing his duties as the head of state. - W

[voudit]

Day 5 - may 27, pt1 Went to visit a castle :) turku castle! We all got dressed up and everything, so much fun and history! Also found a bunch of harpsichords, I wanna playyyyyyy