Why Gustavus Adolphus Beat the Imperialists

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How and why did Gustavus Adolphus defeat the imperialists at the battle of Breitenfeld in 1631? Gustavus Adolphus has been called “the father of modern warfare”[Footnote]. The innovations he brought to the largely medieval battlefield of the time were revolutionary. The Battle of Breitenfeld, Saxony, in 1631, in which Gustavus Adolphus commanded a joint Swedish and Saxon force against an Imperial Germanic army commanded by Tilly shows the clash of two armies who are in completely different leagues in all respects. So why were Gustavus and his Swedish army even in Saxony to fight Tilly? And more importantly, how did the Swedes have such an advantage over their Imperial counterparts even before the battle lines were drawn, and how did they succeed in pulling victory from the jaws of defeat, not just defeating an army under an undefeated general, but destroying it? Aspects of professionalism, discipline, hitting power, maneuverability, reaction to situations, and integration of infantry, cavalry and artillery must all be analysed to answer this question. Gustavus had led his army through Denmark, Russia, and Poland, and had established Sweden as a rising European power. The Thirty Years War was becoming one of the bloodiest conflicts in Europe, as the loose collection of Germanic tribes in the Holy Roman Empire split between Catholics and Protestants. However, what had begun as a religious conflict soon turned into a struggle for European dominance between the Kings of France and the Hapsburgs of Spain and Germany[Footnote]. Gustavus was approached by the English and the French requesting his intervention in the conflict[Footnote], to aid his fellow Protestants who were finding themselves on the losing side of the conflict. Gustavus turned them down initially, but eventually decided to enter the bloody fray, not just to support the Protestant cause,
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