Caroleans
Caroleans (Swedish: karoliner), from Carolus, the Latin form of the name Charles, is a term used to describe soldiers of the Swedish army during the reigns of Kings Charles XI and Charles XII of Sweden, and specifically from 1680, when Charles XI instituted an absolute monarchy and embarked on a series of sweeping military reforms, to the death of Charles XII in 1718.[1]
The Caroleans are particularly associated with Charles XII and his campaigns in the Great Northern War (1700–21), during which they achieved a series of impressive victories, often against considerably larger enemy forces, and established themselves as one of the most feared and respected armies in Europe. However, the main Swedish field army was almost entirely annihilated after defeat at the Battle of Poltava, and the war eventually ended in utter defeat and the dissolution of the Swedish Empire.
Overall, 350,000 soldiers from Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic provinces died in the service of Charles XII during the Great Northern War, mostly from non-combat causes. Two-thirds of these, or over 230,000, died in the years 1700 to 1709. These losses constituted an unusually large percentage of the pre-war population of 2.5 million. The losses of their enemies (principally
Creation of the Carolean army
In the early and mid-seventeenth century, the
The neglect of the armed forces almost led to disaster during the
The travails of the Swedish army during the Scanian War convinced Charles, who was by now
New allotment system
Since the sixteenth century, the Swedish army had used the so-called allotment system (Swedish: indelningsverket; Finnish: ruotujakolaitos) to raise troops. In 1682, Charles completely reformed it, establishing what modern historians refer to as the "new allotment system" (Swedish: yngre indelningsverket).[5][6]
Under the new system, Swedish farmers were to provide the crown with regiments of 1,000 or 1,200 men, complete with weapons and uniforms. Either independently or as rotes (groups) of no more than five, farmers would contract with the crown, with each rote providing and supporting one soldier, including giving the soldier a cottage and a garden plot.[7] Each cavalryman was additionally provided with a horse. In exchange for these burdensome policies, each rote was granted a reduction in taxes.[1]
The allotment system provided Charles XI with a professional army of 18,000 infantrymen and 8,000 cavalrymen. The system also provided for the deployment of 6,600 seamen, bolstering Sweden's navy. Adding to Sweden's numbers, Finland provided an additional 7,000 infantrymen, 3,000 cavalrymen, and 600 seamen.[1]
Equipment
Uniforms
Carolean soldiers wore the Swedish Standard Uniform introduced by Charles XI—which featured blue
Weaponry
About two thirds of each infantry company were armed with muskets, and the rest with a 5.55 meters (18 foot 2 inches) pikes. Every infantryman was also armed with a sword, a straight-bladed rapier designed principally for thrusting.
At the outbreak of the Great Northern War, the Swedish musketeers were mostly equipped with a 20 millimetres (0.79 in) calibre flintlock musket without a bayonet. Twelve men of each company—typically the strongest and tallest—were grenadiers, who were the only soldiers to have bayonets affixed to their muskets, as regular musketeers were meant to use their rapiers for hand-to-hand combat. Grenadiers were often placed on the flanks of a unit to protect against cavalry. A bayonet-equipped musket was considered to be more practical for that, as it gave greater reach than a sword when facing a mounted opponent and could be braced against the impact of a charge. Eventually all musket-armed soldiers were issued bayonets as well in 1704, though they also still retained their swords.[9]
The Swedish heavy cavalryman was equipped with a rapier almost one metre long (primarily for thrusting and secondarily for slashing), a carbine and two pistols.[10] They also wore a steel breastplate and a buff coat. Each dragoon was equipped with a rapier, a musket (with bayonet), and two pistols.[11]
Rations
A soldier's daily ration was to consist of 625 grams (22.0 oz) of dry bread, 850 grams (30 oz) of butter or pork, 1⁄3 litre (0.59 imp pt; 0.70 US pt) of peas, and 2.5 litres (0.55 imp gal; 0.66 US gal) of beer. The butter or pork was often replaced by fish if the latter were available.[12] Water was generally avoided since it was often contaminated.
Units and formations
A Carolean infantry
A cavalry regiment consisted of roughly 800 men with 1000 horses among them, divided into four squadrons of 200 men each.[15] The squadron was the tactical unit of the cavalry and consisted of two companies of 100 men each.[11]
The Drabant Corps was a special unit made up of approximately 150 men under the personal command of King Charles XII, of which he was captain. To become a private in the corps, one had to attain the rank of captain in the regular army. The corps second in command was a colonel with the title of Kaptenlöjtnant (Lieutenant-Captain). This corps fought to the bitter end, and some of its veterans carried Charles XII's coffin to Stockholm for burial in 1719.
Certain
Tactics
Swedish
Gå-på tactics enabled the Caroleans to repeatedly overcome much larger enemy armies, as the psychological impact of their rapid approach and their steely discipline under fire, combined with their fearsome reputation, often served to unsettle the opposing troops even before physical contact was made. Moreover, if some enemy troops lost their nerve and fled then panic could quite easily spread through the rest of the enemy force, so a quick success against even a relatively small enemy unit was often enough to trigger a general
The downsides of the gå-på doctrine were that it required strict discipline on the part of the soldiers (see below), and that it was, like all shock tactics a fundamentally risky strategy which could backfire horribly if the commander misjudged the time or place to mount an attack, or if an assault was mounted against enemies with high morale in prepared defensive positions. The latter scenario occurred at the Battle of Poltava, where Peter the Great was able to lure Charles XII into mounting an attack against a Russian camp protected by field fortifications, leading to an overwhelming Swedish defeat.
Infantry Gå–På
Never have I seen such a combination of uncontrollable dash and
perfectly controlled discipline, such soldiers and such subjects
are not to be found the wide world over except in Sweden
Magnus Stenbock on the Battle of Gadebusch (1712)[19]
According to army regulations of 1694 and 1701, infantry attacks were to be executed as follows: In four
Directly after the final volley, the Caroleans charged the enemy ranks with pikes, bayonets, and rapiers.[21] Note that the pikes were used as an offensive weapon; in close combat, they had the advantage over their foes' weapons due to their long reach. Often, complete ranks of enemies fled before physical contact was made, frightened by the long pikes and the fact that the Swedish battalions had previously calmly withstood their fire.[18]
Later modifications
This method was slightly changed during the Great Northern War. The slow march was replaced by running, to take fewer casualties and begin combat sooner, while optimally still frightening the enemy with a swift, unflinching advance into their fire. The Swedish firing distance was reduced from 50 metres to 15–20 metres for the first volley of the rear ranks who would no longer fall into their previous position behind the front ranks. Instead, they would follow in the gaps within the front ranks. As a result, the battalion attacked in two closely formed ranks, which made the final charge more effective, as the Carolean troops would be closely packed together, making a heavier impact than before.
Cavalry Gå–På
The Swedish cavalry fought in a similarly aggressive way, also called the "Carolean manner".[14] Whereas in other European armies, cavalry would form up "knee to the knee" (i.e. in a line, usually only one or two ranks deep), the Swedish cavalry would form up in a tightly packed wedge formation several ranks deep, "knee behind knee" (Swedish: knä bakom knä), in order to ensure that their charge struck the enemy with the maximum possible force. They were moreover armed with rapiers, swords specifically designed for stabbing rather than slashing.[10]
The cavalry would not normally use their
Coordination between units
Close coordination between infantry, cavalry, and sometimes artillery was needed to break down enemy defences successfully. Only infantry would normally risk a
Coordination between the different branches of the army was especially important for the Swedish victory at the Battle of Gadebusch, which was achieved largely through close coordination between the Swedish infantry and artillery.[22]
Morale & discipline
Religion
Religion played a crucial role in the Carolean army.
The chaplains' sermons often reminded soldiers that they had God's protection and assistance in battle, a notion originating when Sweden fought in
Discipline
Good discipline was vital for the Swedish army's highly aggressive gå-på tactics, which required the Caroleans to keep in formation and hold their fire as they approached the enemy, even if coming under a hail of bullets themselves. One way of inculcating such extreme self-control was by encouraging a sort of fatalism among the troops: soldiers were told not to be afraid of battle, since if God wanted them to survive then nothing could harm them, and conversely if He had decreed that they were to die then death would come even if they tried to flee. On a more practical level, the army enforced draconian codes of discipline in order to encourage immediate and unthinking obedience among the men.[25]
Deliberate efforts were also made to boost the soldiers' morale in various ways. New recruits were sorted into regiments based on particular provinces and districts, in order to encourage a sense of local pride and
Similarly, Charles XII is known to have tried to foster a sense of fraternity within the army by granting commissions and promotions on the basis of merit rather than social status or wealth, as was common in other European armies at the time. A famous example of this policy concerns the young Count Oxenstierna, grandson of the famous statesman Axel Oxenstierna, who began his military career as a simple cavalryman, later promoted to corporal. Carl Piper urged Charles to promote the count to cornet, but the king refused, declaring that, "Old nobility and new nobility mean nothing as to the quality of a man. We have many regimental officers in the army who are not nobles and yet good folk. When a cavalryman is good, it is just the same, whether he is a nobleman or nothing. "[26]
The army's efforts were generally successful; the Swedish army was renowned for the high levels of battlefield discipline among its troops, and the ability of the Caroleans to advance steadily through barrages of punishing enemy fire often served to impress and unsettle their opponents, giving them a moral edge when the melee fighting began. On the other hand, the Caroleans' discipline was not always flawless away from the battlefield. Even though looting was strictly forbidden in the Swedish army, Swedish soldiers were known to engage in the practice from time to time, most notoriously in the aftermath of the Battle of Narva (1700) and Storming of Lemberg.[23] Abuses against civilians were also not unheard-of, although Charles XII issued strict ordinances against such excesses during his Polish and Saxon campaigns; several instances are recorded of Swedish soldiers being sentenced to death after flouting these orders.[27]
End of the Carolean period
The term "Carolean" is not used for Swedish soldiers after the death of Charles XII in 1718, the return to
See also
- Military of the Swedish Empire
- Swedish army
- Swedish allotment system
- Great Northern War
- Carolean Death March
Notes
- ^ a b c Åberg & Göransson 1976, p. [page needed].
- ^ Clodfelter, M. (2008). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015 (3rd ed.). McFarland. Page 94.
- ^ a b Harrison, Dick (2019). Stormaktens Undergaang. Sveriges Dramatiska Historia. Lund: Historiska Media.
- ^ "Arkeologer undersöker slaget vid Lund". sr.se. 1 May 2006. Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ^ "YNGRE INDELNINGSVERKET". Förvaltningshistorisk ordbok. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ^ "INDELNINGSVERKET". Förvaltningshistorisk ordbok. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
- ^ The Allotment Soldier and Root Farmer. Elfred Kumm 1949
- ^ Larsson 2022, pp. 239–240.
- ^ OCLC 185430337.
- ^ a b c Sjöström 2008, p. 217.
- ^ a b c d Konovaltjuk & Lyth 2009, p. 19.
- ^ Åberg & Göransson 1976, pp. 26–27.
- ISBN 82-525-2548-2.
- ^ a b Lars-Eric Höglund, Åke Sallnäs, The Great Northern War 1700–1721 Colours and Uniforms. p 22.
- ISBN 978-185532350-6.
Officers were required to provide a different number of spare horses depending on their rank, but these were mostly riderless or in contemporary/jargon 'empty'. Thus a company of 125 'horses' numbered in reality about 100 troopers.
- ^ Konovaltjuk & Lyth 2009, p. 117.
- ^ Sjöström 2008, p. 216.
- ^ a b Sjöström 2008, p. [page needed].
- ^ Bain, R. Nisbet. Charles XII and the Collapse of the Swedish Empire, 1682- 1719. p. 243.
- ^ a b Konovaltjuk & Lyth 2009, p. 244.
- ^ a b Larsson 2009, p. 68.
- ^ Larsson 2009, p. 250.
- ^ a b c Laidre 1996, p. 157.
- ^ a b Åberg & Göransson 1976, p. 55.
- ^ a b Laidre 1996, p. 156.
- ^ Grimberg, Carl. "587 (Svenska folkets underbara öden / IV. Karl XI:s och Karl XII:s tid)". Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
- ^ Grimberg, Carl. "615 (Svenska folkets underbara öden / IV. Karl XI:s och Karl XII:s tid)". Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ^ Markelius, Martin (2020). Gustav III:s armé. Stockholm: Medströms bokförlag.
Bibliography
- Laidre, Margus (1996). Segern vid Narva : början till en stormakts fall. Stockholm: Natur och kultur. ISBN 9789127056015.
- Åberg, Alf; Göransson, Göte (1976). Karoliner. Stockholm: Trevi. ISBN 91-7160-208-9.
- Sjöström, Oskar (2008). Fraustadt 1706. Ett fält färgat rött (in Swedish). Lund: Historiska Media.
- Konovaltjuk, Pavel; Lyth, Einar (2009). Vägen till Poltava. Slaget vid Lesnaja 1708 (in Swedish). Svenskt Militärhistorisk Biblioteks Förlag.
- Larsson, Olle (2009). Stormaktens sista krig. Lund: Historiska Media. ISBN 978-91-85873-59-3.
- Larsson, Anders (2022). Karolinska uniformer och munderingar åren 1700 till 1721. Östersund: Jengel Förlag. ISBN 978-91-88573-43-8.