Pike and shot

Spain and the Military Revolution

By Efrain.Velez
  • 1453

    Cannons over Take Constantinople

    One of the first and most important major uses of cannons to over take traditional walls of a city.
  • 1477

    End of the Burgundian Wars showed that tight pikeformations could dominate

  • 1522

    Battle of Bicocca

    Showed that Swiss strategy of JUST having pike men wasn't all that great and that you needed fire power to back them up or they'll be destroyed by guns
  • 1540

    First Ventian Galeass is made

    Oar-Sail ship. Longer than a galley and more armed.
  • 1550

    Galley's Start Carrying Cannons

    Traditionally galleys were used as large battery rams, but in the 1550's they started to have 1 sixty pound cannon,2 sixteen pound cannons, 15 lesser cannons
  • 1560

    England drops longbows in favor of guns

  • Dialogues on Military Art

    Bernardino de Escalante. Merit needs to be in the Spanish Military

  • First Permanent Military Hospital

    By the Spanish in Holland (Mechelen). Saved cost because you could save your veteran soldiers and didn't have to hire new soldiers.

  • Treatise on the Way of Reducing Military Discipline to Its Ancient and Better Form

    Don Sancho de Lodonno

  • The Perfect Captain Instructed in the Military Discipline and the New Science of Artillery

    Wrote a very technical work on sieges and artillery. Don Diego de Alava y Viamont

  • Dutch invent the Volley Technique with Muskets

    forces armies to have to spread out for both defense and offense. Instead of Squares that are fifty men deep you had musket lines that were ten people deep. Now higher chance to engage in hand to hand combat and demanded more discipline and unison in troops.

  • Frigates become popular

    Started with the Dutch, they were sailing ships that were fast and had lots of guns.

  • Sweden Confirms Military Dominance

    Battle of Breitenfeld 1631. Also showed that tight square formations aren't always the best (30 Year's War). Also Sweden could keep a constant musket firing with six regiments.

  • Battle of Nordlingen

    Shows that 1) Pike and Shot formation can still destroy the more thin lined strategy of the Swedish forces. 2) You can lose nearly your entire army and still recover and fight another day