The wrath of Charles XII was now aimed directly at Poland-Lithuania. But their leader had a plan! ..A terrible plan. Support us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/ExtraCredits
@Maldus Most homeless people I know don't spend much time on YT. Maybe It's just in brazil, but homeless people usually can't even afford food, let alone internet connection.
Guilherme Sabino a lot of homeles people at least here in Sweden will have a phone and places that offer free Wi-Fi so they can more easily look for work
He was a pretty good commander but his main advantage was very well trained, very experienced Swedish troops while Russian troops often had little training and very bad moral.
Fun fact number 1: Augustus II and Charles XII were actually cousins. Fun fact number 2: Poland-Lithuania never declared war upon Sweden in the Great Nordic War, as Augustus could never get the Polish parliament to agree to do so. Instead, Augustus declared war in his capacity as Lord of Saxony. Fun fact number 3: Augustus II was also known as "Augustus the Strong". Irony was a thing even back then, it seems. ^^
I sense a mystery Yeah, it refered mostly to the actual physical strength. Supposedly his favorite party trick was bending (or even breaking) the horseshoes with bare hands. Also he had many kids, mostly illegitimate, with many women. Only eight are officially confirmed, but rumors spoke about nearly 300. I guess that this was also considered a sighn of "strength".
@@domicioannioulpiano6845 Losing against a superior force, having no reliable allies helping out and still surviving somehow? That's the most Polish thing there is.
Well in Sweden we have long had a faith in quality over quantity. Mainly because we were too poor to actually afford cheap stuff. As odd as it might seem. But the thing is that if you get high-quality stuff you won't have to replace it so often. This goes for the army too. Sweden always had a bit of a low population. So by focusing on having high-quality troops you try to offset the shortage of manpower.
Nah Luigi Cadorna is the master of losing. He understood the best strategies for losing like arracking the same place twelve times, so that the enemy will always know where you are going to attack.
**wakes up** **eating breakfast** **hear report that swedish armies are advancing** "what should we do?" "hmmm have we tried letting them use our cannons to kill us?" "THATS GENIUS" **the battle was a collosal failure** it's good to be king of Poland
Barley Sixseventwo I have to say that in a certain light, Russia has made a fine art of losing to win- or else, destroying Russia better and faster than any foe could. There's this war with Sweden, there's the Napoleonic invasion and the burning of Moscow, the scorched earth policy of Stalin... For whatever reason, they have made it work!
@@billdehappy1 The term comes from Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia. It was the common military practice of the era for an invading army to forage or commandeer what it needed as it advanced deeper into enemy territory, rather than rely only on its own increasingly long and vulnerable supply lines back to its home country. As the Russian army retreated, Tsar Alexander I ordered the soldiers and inhabitants to "leave nothing [of military or economic value] but scorched earth" in the invaders' path. I said first coined, not first use
playing china in hoi4 you win using 10 guns per división the rest are rock doesnt mather you have 10 million manpower in the field and a couple million training
The swedish army had a lot of seasoned veterans but because of the lack of manpower and money usually only 2/3 men had muskets, the other 1/3 had pikes. However this was turned into an advantage. While most battles in this era was a shooting war, you'd line up your lines of infantery and shoot volleys at each other until one side was either outflanked or broke from low morale. The swedish army could not survive these kinds of battles in the long run, because they had such low manpower and as a result was almost always greatly outnumbered. What the swedish army did was cut the whole "shooting"-bit out of battles. They would approach the enemy lines in an ordinary fashion, they line up and wait within musket range of the enemy until the enemy had fired, then they would quickly march (or even run) up to the enemy line while they were reloading and fire two volleys (half the line would fire at a certain distance, the other half would afterwards move ahead of them and fire their shots even closer) almost point blank. Afterwards the entire line formation would immediatly charge into melee. This was absolutely devestating, especially vs the untrained conscripts that usually made up a significant portion of the enemy army, which is why they ususally targeted those first, rout the conscripts and then outflank the veteran forces. Remember what i said about the pikes? If you didnt have a sword your rifle and bayonet was your only proper melee weapon, which is used mostly like a spear, the length of your rifle and bayonet is important in these situations since if you have longer reach you can stab your opponent without them being able to reach you, well, there are no rifles capable of outreaching a pike! You'd either have to charge forward and try and get past the pike, stand your ground and probably get stabbed or you'd back up and avoid the pointy end, in either way this would disrupt your formation making the fight easier for the swedes. The cavalry tactics was also changed into, just like the infantery tactics, into a shock and awe. Instead of skirmishing the enemy cav and trying to find gaps in enemy formations, circling around and harrasing the flanks. The swedish cavalry would form very, very tight formations, the different riders would be knee to knee with each other and charge in a wedge formation straight into and plowing through enemy formations, waiting to fire their carbines and pistols until they were point blank range and then continuing to melee them. I've heard it being described as the musket era version of blitzkrieg tactics. But i personally belive that shock and awe is a better term. This is how sweden's armies were capable of inflicting such enormous casualties on the enemy during most major battles in this period.
"The swedish army had a lot of seasoned veterans but because of the lack of manpower and money usually only 2/3 men had muskets, the other 1/3 had pikes." Lol, no. At that times you could buy 100 muskets or 1 horse. The reason that Sweden was winning is because noble men, not soldiers fought wars in Poland. They often went to war for loot. The King of Poland had little power and no standing army. The only good thing about the Polish drafted nobles was that they had more horses than the Swedes cause a horse and a saber were the symbols of nobility. Most Infantry formations in the whole Europe had this 1/3 of pike-man ratio and there was no point to change that. If an infantry unit wasnt surprised, a cavalry had no chance getting thru a wall of 3m long pikes. Cavalry was only good for slathering surprised or retreating men. Napoleon Bonaparte quote: "Without cavalry, battles are without result". Thats why you see the Pl, Lit and Rus forces defeated time and time again but coming back for more. For Sweden, a defeated would be much more painful.
Thank you, that actually does help. I was wondering how Sweden was able to field armies like this when they live so far up north, but it turns out they developed military doctrines to make up for such a deficit.
@@Paciat Augustus had his Saxon troops mate thousands of them. Not many know this but most of the ''polish'' troops were Saxon not polish. Those who first attacked Sweden at Riga, yeah all Saxon.
I'm guessing Augustus wasn't actually _trying_ to lose. I can understand why it's portrayed that way, though; mucking things up that badly can make it look as though you really are trying to lose.
The story was told oddly here. It could have initially been that Augustus had some plan to lead the Swedes to a trap before it turned out to be just a joke.
The words "fired upon their own forces" should never be said in a military sense. The words "fired upon their own retreating forces from their previously encamped position" even less so.
I know, right, vetren23? I mean, it's so easy to fall into that trap of thinking that Augustus was some sort of RPG villain whose entire plan hinged on his enemy winning.
Sometimes reality makes less sense then a joke. Trying to explain what went through Augustus mind would require its own video series and several psychologists as well as therapists for said psychologists before it was done.
This episode is like, "let the good times roll" for Karl XII, he had/got delusions of grandeur and suffered humiliating defeats after this, had to flee to Constantinople with his main boys where he hung out until he was very unwanted. Returned to Sweden in shame with a MASSIVE national debt to the Ottomans.
Poland-Lithuania only started to become absolute garbage in the second half of the 17th century. It's a shame that these videos capture us in the worst period imaginable. (aside from the 19th century when we basically didn't exist)
At the very lest they could have explained the reasons behind those failures instead of making it into one long joke, which apparently confused a lot of people.
Augustus the Strong is a pretty fascinating character in his own right, known for breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and fathering over 300 children (one of which even with his wife !). He tried to make his money back from all the lost battles by forcing an alchemist to create the philosopher stone. It paid off because said alchemist discovered how to produce porcelain.
This episode had me clutching my sides in laughter. Not literally rolling on the floor, but definitely having to steady myself in my chair to prevent that from happening. Awesome work! Something tells me that the "just keep losing" bit is going to get a segment in the Lies episode given how many people are asking if that was actually the goal or not. Still a hilarious joke, though.
I admit I took it literally the first time...I thought it was going to be some sort of scorched earth tactics. Them I realized I overestimated the Polish king
Charles XII our good and old Carolus Rex was a goddamn genius madman. Voltaire, the fabled philosopher, actually lived in his court during this time and wrote a biography of the man (which can be found on Google docs). According to Voltaire, When Charles XII stormed Polish Lithuanian and he heard the noise of musket fire he cackled maniacally and said "Henceforth, this shall be my music!".
Its ''this shall hence become my music'' and I am sure he said this the first time when he heard a volley being fired at the danes on Själland in 1700 at age 17.
The writing is hilarious and the delivery is perfect. Love how the joke “just keep losing forever” just keeps building on and on while also being fact 😂
Frozen ground Ride with the wind Emerge from the gunsmoke like demons Rehnskiöld’s men Charging their flanks The enemy trembles with fear One by one the Saxons disband Or die where they stand Killing ground Even though you surrender Turn around You will never survive Killing ground At the battle of Fraustadt Fall in line Battle formations Show no fear Riding them down Break their will Show them no mercy Caroleans attack Round them up, look into their eyes They beg for their lives See the Caroleans standing tall All for one and one for all Enemies fall at their feet Begging for their mercy See the Caroleans standing tall Conquer lands and slaughter all Enemies fall at their feet Victory and great defeat
Charles XII sounds like he should have a "Great" in his title somewhere. Any person who takes point leading his or her troops into battle (literal or figurative) is the hallmark of the best kind of leader
If he hadn't been born a king, but a lesser noble, and the king were merely average, he would be an ideal general, and we would be talking today about that king as "The Great." The trouble is that leading troops into battle was the only thing he lived for. You can't have someone like that deciding which fights you're going to take. Because then the decision is going to be "Take ALL the fights." And that's just not going to work.
This was his titles combined into one phrase: We Charles, by the Grace of God King of Sweden, the Goths and the Vends, Grand Prince of Finland, Duke of Scania, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, Lord of Ingria, Duke of Bremen, Verden and Pomerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, and also Count Palatine by the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria, Count of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleve and Berg, Count of Veldenz, Spanheim and Ravensberg and Lord of Ravenstein. I think that's long enough
See the Caroleans standing tall All for one and one for all Enemies fall at their feet Begging for their mercy See the Caroleans standing tall Conquer lands and slaughter all Enemies fall at their feet Victory and great defeat
Killing ground Even though you surrender Turn around You will never survive Killing ground As the battle of Fraustadt turns The last battle mentioned in this video actually was Fraustadt. So you commenting that was quite fitting.
He had Gustavus Adolphus to thank for the elite troops he had at his disposal. Not to discredit him entirely, he was still a good commander and leader, but he lost Sweden the war by refusing any treaty that wasn't a complete victory.
Inconclusive because he didn't gain anything strategically from those victories. If he had signed the treaty with Russia after defeating their army he could've won.
He was a lot like Alexander the great. Raised from birth to be a warrior king, deified by his men and leading the most advanced and best drilled military force in the known world. So it was a bit unfair to his enemies.
its like playing total war war fielding an army of the best units while going up gainst tier one units and just crush them with superior skill, tactics and morale.
What a century the 1700s was. At least five of the greatest military leaders in all of history within 100 years: Charles XII, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great, George Washington and finally the rise of Napoleon.
@@austinford1530 Agreed. Peter was certainly a competent commander, but a brilliant one? No. As a ruler of his nation though, he does deserve his title of the Great, I reckon.
Lets just say he is not a very popular figure in that countries history and that his incompetence combined with Augustus II basically destroyed the nation. He might classify as one of the most inept rulers ever in European history in fact and much of it is because of the electoral system in place and how it was corrupted by foreign influences to enact puppet kings. As we all know you dont want a skilled puppet king or he would not serve you or your causes.
This series seems to focus on the quality of strategic decisions, but seems to forget just how impactful the quality of the soldiers was. In my limited knowledge, what I know is that the swedish troops were extremely well disciplined, to the point of marching straight till they could see the whites of the enemy's eyes, which requires an extreme amount of discipline as it honest-to-god was a miracle to convince soldiers to do so without breaking from the casualties they would sustain. This may seem counterintuitive, as people may think, "so they can march somewhere when being shot at, that doesnt stop them from dying", but from a strategic view, the ability to trade some increased casualties in turn for being able to attack a key position was extremely vital in warfare, and could turn battles. This is due to how warfare worked back then. Most losses occurred not from units being slain to-the-man but rather when soldiers routed and ran *because* of their fear of losing a fight. When you have soldiers that can fight much longer despite losses around them, or despite a high chance that they could die, you could find scenarios such as a small amount of brave soldiers being able to overrun artillery guns, or cavalry that disrupt a key portion of an army to win a fight, at the cost of their own lives. Personally, the quality of men was as effective as any amount of strategy. After all, the earlier episode saw the Swedes fighting 1 to 4, on the offensive. Something never before heard of except for defeat-in-detail tactics. An undisciplined army couldnt have been able to be convinced to commit such an attack, which could make such a victory, and other victories, impossible no matter how good your general's genius is. Another more modern example could be the polish during WW2. To my knowledge, there was a fort or so that was heavily outnumbered (700 or so defenders against tens of thousands of soldiers, helped by tanks and bombers) That army was halted by those defenders for several days, which is, from the viewpoint of a general who is in desperate straights, an extreme victory considering the tactical advantage gained from halting an entire offensive for the price of those men, even if all of them became casualties. Needless to say, the quality of training matters a lot in a fight
Augustus: Okay men. I have a great plan. This army moves in to lose against the Swedish. This army makes it obvious that Russians are part of the army and rout. This army gets encircled. All of you will lose many men. That's the plan. Ghost of Scipio: *Slow Clap
An argument for him having a strategy of losing is that a civil war is a chance to topple the old political institutions and instate a stronger monarchy.
As EU4 player you should know more about the HRE. You can consider it a strategy after the treaty of westphalia was installed 50 years before. A war declaration against saxony would have brought in the entire empire. So perhabs he was aiming for this or for at least using the saxon army in this war, as he could not as the war was between PLC and sweden. So no realm troops :D
Some fun trivia - Karl XII, Carolus Rex, or Charles the Twelfth, was actually NOT the twelfth Swedish king named Karl. Karl the 9th should have been Karl the 3rd, but some mythical kings who never even existed were taken into account when denominating as such. And then the rest followed. Our current King, Karl XVI Gustaf should be Karl X Gustaf, and the protagonist in these series should have been Karl VI.
I just realized...Charles the 12th is the Carolus Rex figure Sabaton sings about in their song. From what I've heard in the comments section of said song. Charles was said to be one of the greatest leaders of all time
Honestly this is a bit disappointing. You only briefly mentioned Saxony once, without any indication that Augustus was it's ruler (beside and before being Polish-Lithuanian king). This is kind of important, as he started the war without the approval of Polish-Lithuanian diet (sejm), and for example all of the "Polish-Lithuanian" troops and commanders you talked about in context of the crossing of Düna were actually SAXON. Many Polish nobles were understandably angry with their foregin king for dragging their country into his stupid war, which puts the start of civil war and Swedish-backed anty-king in different context. BTW You could mention the rival king's name. I know that Stanisław Leszczyński looks intimidating, but you could at least take a shot at Stanislaus (commonly used in English latinisation of Stanisław).
How much money did this guy have? castles, wars, buying the crown of Poland, having party fucking drinking like crazy and even creating an anti-temperance organization togheter with Friedrich Vilhelm of Prussia. Seems like this guy had an endless number of expensive hobbies, so where did this guy get all his money from?
+Alataristari It's not about "caring". The only reason he is remembered as a bad ruler in Poland is because none of his reforms passed because of nobles who opposed him at every turn to keep their golden liberty.
Augustus' advisor : "my king, do you remember those absurdly OP winged hussars that kicked the Ottoman's asses 20 years ago and were great at beating the Swedish during the Deluge ?" Augustus : "nope, I won't use them"
I think it wouldn't have made a difference since the Swedish army or the Carolean army was one of the best if not the best Army in the world at the time. They also was more modernised than the PLC and had better generals. So they were only used for some battles.
Charles XII is not all that popular in Finland. Much of the Swedish Army was recruited from here and after the Russian counter-invasions the population had dropped by a half.
Like I want it to be known that I have been going through and watching alot of your vids (and still have plenty to go haha) I love how your doing it m8. From your beginning stuff to the content you have now, well done. Hope you see this Haha, I learn and enjoy it by how you present it. From how you word it or just some of the other cheeky stuff you do Haha. Love it all and I'll be sure to let the ads do their thing for the revanew 👍
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 63 | คู่เอก "ยอดภูผา vs โซเนอร์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RGVmBsegKEI/mqdefault.jpg)
The wrath of Charles XII was now aimed directly at Poland-Lithuania. But their leader had a plan! ..A terrible plan.
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Extra Credits can't wait for part 3
Extra Credits "arguably better idea: winning"
loved it
I am always watching your video! Can you make the story of King Sejong?
Reminds me a lot of the "HOW I FINALLY TAUGHT THE BIG GUY A LESSON" story.
Titan are you refering to Augustus loosing? That's a joke.
What do you mean losing isn't a good idea. Ive been doing it my whole life
Give this man a medal... In Losing!
What a loser. o7
Sadly you are winning at TH-cam comments. So you fail at losing.
@Maldus Most homeless people I know don't spend much time on YT. Maybe It's just in brazil, but homeless people usually can't even afford food, let alone internet connection.
Guilherme Sabino a lot of homeles people at least here in Sweden will have a phone and places that offer free Wi-Fi so they can more easily look for work
...Is this kid a tactical genius, or is he just getting really lucky?
He was kind if a military genius. But he is not really well known because some stuff that happens later.
Ok, I'm having a difficult time understanding if he know's what he's doing, or is just being super aggressive and it keeps working.
He was a military genius AND he got very lucky.
both, he was getting lucky but he was a great tactician aswell, theres not much room for luck in a war, especially not this much luch
He was a pretty good commander but his main advantage was very well trained, very experienced Swedish troops while Russian troops often had little training and very bad moral.
When you select easy mode and blitz through the campaign.
If you played EU 4 , you would know that with 105% discipline as Sweden and a decent general, this can hapen
that +20% infantry combat bonus is pretty neat
@@yourfriendlyinternetintern4731 European Union 4?? Why and how did it happen??
Drew Senna actually Europa Universalis IV. It's an extremely complex simulation of grand strategy applied to historical starting conditions.
@@irrelevant_noob R/woosh
King Charles to the swedish people: "You are going to have so much winning, that you are going to get tiered of winning!"
That’s why they started losing because they didn’t wanna win
😅😅😅
You know what? You're right. KING CHARLES FOR PRESIDENT.
(4 year I know but) *tired
Swedish people let us lose we're sick of winning
Losing > Winning
Tried and tested method that took down the mighty Swedish Empire!
And the Swedish king got unlucky and got shot by a Norwegian soldier in 1718
OTT-OTT 1 They dont know who shot him...
if you kill your enemy they win
Hi Indonesia Ball! Where is Polan?
"How to pull victories out of your ass! The official guide."
Written by Charles XII of Sweden, "Carolus Rex"
"Losing for Dummies"
Written by Agustus II of Saxony
"How to beat the Swedish Navy"
Written by Frederick IV, King of Denmark and Norway.
How to be beaten by a child
By Denmark Russia and Poland
Step 1: recruit soldiers from Finland
Step 2: Let ur Plans be so stupid and impossible that ur enemy has no fucking idea of what the ur doing and then fall like a thunderbolt
Fun fact number 1: Augustus II and Charles XII were actually cousins.
Fun fact number 2: Poland-Lithuania never declared war upon Sweden in the Great Nordic War, as Augustus could never get the Polish parliament to agree to do so. Instead, Augustus declared war in his capacity as Lord of Saxony.
Fun fact number 3: Augustus II was also known as "Augustus the Strong". Irony was a thing even back then, it seems. ^^
I sense a mystery Yeah, it refered mostly to the actual physical strength. Supposedly his favorite party trick was bending (or even breaking) the horseshoes with bare hands.
Also he had many kids, mostly illegitimate, with many women. Only eight are officially confirmed, but rumors spoke about nearly 300. I guess that this was also considered a sighn of "strength".
no matter what, the power of boners is stronger
Ah... That certainly explains why swedish history books keep talking about the saxons instead of the poles.
@Liberty or Death Learn how to spell.
nice to know. But I cant find the duna river in the baltic, can you help here?
We polish need to be taught more about Augustus, we could really benefit from his strategic genius
Ohhhh daam
Polish = Resilience.
Just like the romans. Doesn't matter how many times you defeat them. They keep coming
@@domicioannioulpiano6845 Losing against a superior force, having no reliable allies helping out and still surviving somehow? That's the most Polish thing there is.
Didn't you try it again during WW2?
"And then he found a new plan, winning." Hands down one of the best lines of extra history.
Comes before "Let's not let a little X stop a Y."
I saw this comment before he said the line
haljoa s
It's like Baldrick from Blackadder saying "I have a cunning plan"!
besides "He had thought the one sentece that he needed to think and that sentence was: Cool, now seems like a good time for a civil war"
oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh thaaaaaaaaats why the swedish are so good in europa universalis?
AxDhan The 1600s and early 1700s are the reason Sweden is op in EU4
No, Sweden is good because the developers are Swedish so naturally they want to make their home country over-powered.
Sam Otten not really theyre not biased. Sweden at this time had the best army in the entire world. That's why they're good in euiv
The Sweden had small number of men and small economy so wars were really expensive. So I would not call it the best army but one of the best.
Well in Sweden we have long had a faith in quality over quantity. Mainly because we were too poor to actually afford cheap stuff. As odd as it might seem. But the thing is that if you get high-quality stuff you won't have to replace it so often. This goes for the army too. Sweden always had a bit of a low population. So by focusing on having high-quality troops you try to offset the shortage of manpower.
Sounds like Luigi Cadorna was trying to copy Augustus as much as possible during The Great War lmao
Feels like Hotzendorf deserves that more.
Nah Luigi Cadorna is the master of losing. He understood the best strategies for losing like arracking the same place twelve times, so that the enemy will always know where you are going to attack.
No mr. Haig. Lions lead by donkeys indeed!
'It was a very sharp mango, sir!'
Augustus was just trapping the swedish king, but didn't work. Still nice tried of him.
**wakes up**
**eating breakfast**
**hear report that swedish armies are advancing**
"what should we do?"
"hmmm have we tried letting them use our cannons to kill us?"
"THATS GENIUS"
**the battle was a collosal failure**
it's good to be king of Poland
Lithuania
@@morrishellgrn its a poland lithuanian commonwealth
Im reading this as im at that part of the video lolz
@@Donut-fr7is thats why he said lithuania
So many famous and ingenious strategies on this show!
The Bull Formation
The Fabian Tactics
The Hannible Envelopment
...Losing
Barley Sixseventwo I have to say that in a certain light, Russia has made a fine art of losing to win- or else, destroying Russia better and faster than any foe could. There's this war with Sweden, there's the Napoleonic invasion and the burning of Moscow, the scorched earth policy of Stalin... For whatever reason, they have made it work!
@@unclejoeoakland Scorched Earth was coined first during Napoleon
@@HaydenLau. no this is clearly long before as its during 1700 and not 1800 like napolic wars
@@billdehappy1
The term comes from Napoleon's 1812 invasion of Russia. It was the common military practice of the era for an invading army to forage or commandeer what it needed as it advanced deeper into enemy territory, rather than rely only on its own increasingly long and vulnerable supply lines back to its home country. As the Russian army retreated, Tsar Alexander I ordered the soldiers and inhabitants to "leave nothing [of military or economic value] but scorched earth" in the invaders' path.
I said first coined, not first use
"which surprisingly was more men than they were fielding themselves"
Infinite manpower, baby !
Ask Groogy how that worked out for him..
A Hearts of Iron has taught me.
LFG Mapping Productions
A surprise to be sure but a welcome one
playing china in hoi4 you win using 10 guns per división the rest are rock doesnt mather you have 10 million manpower in the field and a couple million training
I somehow come across you in every history-related comment section...
You gotta give Augustus some credit, few people could suffer so many failures, yet still remain positive and confident of success
The swedish army had a lot of seasoned veterans but because of the lack
of manpower and money usually only 2/3 men had muskets, the other 1/3
had pikes. However this was turned into an advantage.
While most battles in this era was a shooting war, you'd line up your
lines of infantery and shoot volleys at each other until one side was
either outflanked or broke from low morale. The swedish army could not
survive these kinds of battles in the long run, because they had such
low manpower and as a result was almost always greatly outnumbered.
What the swedish army did was cut the whole "shooting"-bit out of
battles. They would approach the enemy lines in an ordinary fashion,
they line up and wait within musket range of the enemy until the enemy
had fired, then they would quickly march (or even run) up to the enemy
line while they were reloading and fire two volleys (half the line would
fire at a certain distance, the other half would afterwards move ahead
of them and fire their shots even closer) almost point blank. Afterwards
the entire line formation would immediatly charge into melee. This was
absolutely devestating, especially vs the untrained conscripts that
usually made up a significant portion of the enemy army, which is why
they ususally targeted those first, rout the conscripts and then
outflank the veteran forces. Remember what i said about the pikes? If
you didnt have a sword your rifle and bayonet was your only proper melee
weapon, which is used mostly like a spear, the length of your rifle and
bayonet is important in these situations since if you have longer reach
you can stab your opponent without them being able to reach you, well,
there are no rifles capable of outreaching a pike! You'd either have to
charge forward and try and get past the pike, stand your ground and
probably get stabbed or you'd back up and avoid the pointy end, in
either way this would disrupt your formation making the fight easier for
the swedes.
The cavalry tactics was also changed into, just like the infantery
tactics, into a shock and awe. Instead of skirmishing the enemy cav and
trying to find gaps in enemy formations, circling around and harrasing
the flanks. The swedish cavalry would form very, very tight formations,
the different riders would be knee to knee with each other and charge in
a wedge formation straight into and plowing through enemy formations,
waiting to fire their carbines and pistols until they were point blank
range and then continuing to melee them.
I've heard it being described as the musket era version of blitzkrieg
tactics. But i personally belive that shock and awe is a better term.
This is how sweden's armies were capable of inflicting such enormous
casualties on the enemy during most major battles in this period.
"The swedish army had a lot of seasoned veterans but because of the lack
of manpower and money usually only 2/3 men had muskets, the other 1/3
had pikes." Lol, no. At that times you could buy 100 muskets or 1 horse. The reason that Sweden was winning is because noble men, not soldiers fought wars in Poland. They often went to war for loot. The King of Poland had little power and no standing army. The only good thing about the Polish drafted nobles was that they had more horses than the Swedes cause a horse and a saber were the symbols of nobility. Most Infantry formations in the whole Europe had this 1/3 of pike-man ratio and there was no point to change that. If an infantry unit wasnt surprised, a cavalry had no chance getting thru a wall of 3m long pikes. Cavalry was only good for slathering surprised or retreating men.
Napoleon Bonaparte quote: "Without cavalry, battles are without result". Thats why you see the Pl, Lit and Rus forces defeated time and time again but coming back for more. For Sweden, a defeated would be much more painful.
Thank you, that actually does help. I was wondering how Sweden was able to field armies like this when they live so far up north, but it turns out they developed military doctrines to make up for such a deficit.
@@Paciat
Augustus had his Saxon troops mate thousands of them. Not many know this but most of the ''polish'' troops were Saxon not polish. Those who first attacked Sweden at Riga, yeah all Saxon.
Mr BigCookie There’s a very good example of they cavalry shock in LOTR: Return of the King, when Rohan’s army arrive at the battle against Mordor
Hey
I'm guessing Augustus wasn't actually _trying_ to lose. I can understand why it's portrayed that way, though; mucking things up that badly can make it look as though you really are trying to lose.
Wow you are so intuitive, here we all were thinking Augustus wanted to be defeated.
The story was told oddly here. It could have initially been that Augustus had some plan to lead the Swedes to a trap before it turned out to be just a joke.
The words "fired upon their own forces" should never be said in a military sense. The words "fired upon their own retreating forces from their previously encamped position" even less so.
I know, right, vetren23? I mean, it's so easy to fall into that trap of thinking that Augustus was some sort of RPG villain whose entire plan hinged on his enemy winning.
Sometimes reality makes less sense then a joke. Trying to explain what went through Augustus mind would require its own video series and several psychologists as well as therapists for said psychologists before it was done.
Charles XII is basically Sweden's Alexander what a badass
great comparison.. Alexander to another looser
Nice
Ryan Sansaricq Charles XII doesn’t even begin to approach Alexander in any way lmao
I’d more compare Frederick to Alexander, Charles couldn’t even win
This episode is like, "let the good times roll" for Karl XII, he had/got delusions of grandeur and suffered humiliating defeats after this, had to flee to Constantinople with his main boys where he hung out until he was very unwanted. Returned to Sweden in shame with a MASSIVE national debt to the Ottomans.
I love how Charles constantly smiles proudly as if everything he does is effortless and/or he just could not give two fucks about anything.
"soon the iron was beating up both the hammer and the anvil."
Pretty clear sign of Epic Fail if I've ever seen one.
I hope we can cover Poland Lithuania more
And maybe with slightly less salt :/
Compatriot Their history is really interesting to me. I hope we get a series about some period in their history sometime.
Compatriot Winged Hussars hype!
Poland-Lithuania only started to become absolute garbage in the second half of the 17th century. It's a shame that these videos capture us in the worst period imaginable. (aside from the 19th century when we basically didn't exist)
At the very lest they could have explained the reasons behind those failures instead of making it into one long joke, which apparently confused a lot of people.
TO THE SKY
*SEE* *CAROLUS* *RISE*
No allegiance, I will swear no oath!
FIFTEEN YEARS HAVE I BEEN WAITING TO SIT UPON MY THRONE
THEY THOUGHT I WAS TOO YOUNG TO RULE THE LAND
JUST AS THEY FAILED TO UNDERSTAND
BORN TO RULE
MY TIME HAS COME
I WAS CHOSEN BY HEAVEN!
SAY MY NAME IN YOUR PRAYERS
You have to admit, asking the enemy to open the door is a big brained military genius
Dumb but smart
3:32 Aww this drawing looks so cute, Charles XII having a snowball fight with his soldiers
Augustus the Strong is a pretty fascinating character in his own right, known for breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and fathering over 300 children (one of which even with his wife !). He tried to make his money back from all the lost battles by forcing an alchemist to create the philosopher stone. It paid off because said alchemist discovered how to produce porcelain.
Or a green splat?
not the philopher stone, just plain gold, like the alchemist was braging about
This episode had me clutching my sides in laughter. Not literally rolling on the floor, but definitely having to steady myself in my chair to prevent that from happening. Awesome work!
Something tells me that the "just keep losing" bit is going to get a segment in the Lies episode given how many people are asking if that was actually the goal or not. Still a hilarious joke, though.
I definitely agree with this, and I'm also shocked just how many people in the comments seem to be taking things so literally. :/
I admit I took it literally the first time...I thought it was going to be some sort of scorched earth tactics. Them I realized I overestimated the Polish king
My favorite part was when Charles just walks up to warsaw and opens the door letting his men
Because it is a valid military strategy in some circumstances. With as messed up as the PLC was at this time, such a strategy could have been viable.
I died at the visual for "Just. Keep. Losing."
Charles XII our good and old Carolus Rex was a goddamn genius madman. Voltaire, the fabled philosopher, actually lived in his court during this time and wrote a biography of the man (which can be found on Google docs). According to Voltaire, When Charles XII stormed Polish Lithuanian and he heard the noise of musket fire he cackled maniacally and said "Henceforth, this shall be my music!".
Its ''this shall hence become my music'' and I am sure he said this the first time when he heard a volley being fired at the danes on Själland in 1700 at age 17.
The thing to learn here: Sweden was fucking badass back then
Wow! Who would have thought that strategy wouldn't work... I'm absolutely baffled!
Ya i know right!(sarcasam levels 5000)
I know! It’s incredible!
Dorothy: Just keep Swimming!
Augustus: Just keep Losing!
I know Augustus is a laughing stock and all, but the fact that the iron was stronger than both hammer and anvil just made me roll on the floor.
The writing is hilarious and the delivery is perfect. Love how the joke “just keep losing forever” just keeps building on and on while also being fact 😂
And with Augustus just digging into a hole is genius.
Frozen ground
Ride with the wind
Emerge from the gunsmoke like demons
Rehnskiöld’s men
Charging their flanks
The enemy trembles with fear
One by one the Saxons disband
Or die where they stand
Killing ground
Even though you surrender
Turn around
You will never survive
Killing ground
At the battle of Fraustadt
Fall in line
Battle formations
Show no fear
Riding them down
Break their will
Show them no mercy
Caroleans attack
Round them up, look into their eyes
They beg for their lives
See the Caroleans standing tall
All for one and one for all
Enemies fall at their feet
Begging for their mercy
See the Caroleans standing tall
Conquer lands and slaughter all
Enemies fall at their feet
Victory and great defeat
I love how theres always someone in these comments reminding me of Carolus Rex
What?
Its the lyrics to Killing ground by Sabaton they did a whole album on Charles XII
Get ready the Poltava Lyrics for next episode m8
William Haward correction, they had a whole album for the Swedish Empire. Carolus Rex just happened to take up half of it
Charles XII sounds like he should have a "Great" in his title somewhere. Any person who takes point leading his or her troops into battle (literal or figurative) is the hallmark of the best kind of leader
He lost the war though so Peter got the title instead
Yes I think he should have that title as well
If he hadn't been born a king, but a lesser noble, and the king were merely average, he would be an ideal general, and we would be talking today about that king as "The Great."
The trouble is that leading troops into battle was the only thing he lived for. You can't have someone like that deciding which fights you're going to take. Because then the decision is going to be "Take ALL the fights."
And that's just not going to work.
This was his titles combined into one phrase:
We Charles, by the Grace of God King of Sweden, the Goths and the Vends, Grand Prince of Finland, Duke of Scania, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, Lord of Ingria, Duke of Bremen, Verden and Pomerania, Prince of Rügen and Lord of Wismar, and also Count Palatine by the Rhine, Duke in Bavaria, Count of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, as well as Duke of Jülich, Cleve and Berg, Count of Veldenz, Spanheim and Ravensberg and Lord of Ravenstein.
I think that's long enough
@@TheFenderBass1 he could of won the war If he accepted russias peace treaty. Greed defeated him just like Napoleon.
See the Caroleans standing tall
All for one and one for all
Enemies fall at their feet
Begging for their mercy
See the Caroleans standing tall
Conquer lands and slaughter all
Enemies fall at their feet
Victory and great defeat
Killing ground
Even though you surrender
Turn around
You will never survive
Killing ground
As the battle of Fraustadt turns
The last battle mentioned in this video actually was Fraustadt. So you commenting that was quite fitting.
WHILE EUROPE SPEAK OF PEACE
ALL OTHER BATTLES CEASE!
THERES A MAN WHO AIMS FOR MORE THAN HE CAN REACH!
1648-SABATON
Some Thing it’s about 30 years war
SEE THE WHITES IN THEIR EYES CAROLEANS ARE MARCHING ON
TILLS HAN VITÖGAT SER, KAROLINEN MARSCHERAR FRAM
Jesus is Charles a god of war?
1. No, that was Genghis Khan
2. It was more or less the actual quality of the soldiers then Charles
He had Gustavus Adolphus to thank for the elite troops he had at his disposal.
Not to discredit him entirely, he was still a good commander and leader, but he lost Sweden the war by refusing any treaty that wasn't a complete victory.
Inconclusive because he didn't gain anything strategically from those victories. If he had signed the treaty with Russia after defeating their army he could've won.
no hes just Swedish
Square Square Triangle
Kick Poland's ass
This kinda portrays Charles as someone who just stumbled into victories.
Partially true.. I mean he did fight against Augustus.
I mean, it doesn’t take much to look that way when you fight Augustus...
Well he crushed the danes and russians too.
He was a lot like Alexander the great. Raised from birth to be a warrior king, deified by his men and leading the most advanced and best drilled military force in the known world. So it was a bit unfair to his enemies.
its like playing total war war fielding an army of the best units while going up gainst tier one units and just crush them with superior skill, tactics and morale.
The problem with dragging out the joke about Augustus trying to lose is that you aren't telling us WHY the Swedes were able to win again and again.
They…
They are?
They told you that they had their artillery turned against them, not that he just “decided to lose lmao”
“Now he had a better plan. He would just keep losing even more.”
I love this show.
Charles XII of Sweden may have often been naive and filled with youthful overconfidence, but he could also be shockingly brilliant and tough.
What a century the 1700s was. At least five of the greatest military leaders in all of history within 100 years: Charles XII, Peter the Great, Frederick the Great, George Washington and finally the rise of Napoleon.
@@thunderbird1921 George washington would be a great stretch but sure.
@@thunderbird1921 Washington is a huge stretch as is Peter
@@austinford1530 Agreed. Peter was certainly a competent commander, but a brilliant one? No.
As a ruler of his nation though, he does deserve his title of the Great, I reckon.
I'm confused. Did Augustus intend to fail so much, or is the joke that he fucked up unintentionally so much it's like he was trying to fail?
Yeah sorry
The second thing.
Agreed, if this is sarcasm it's played way too straight to be easy to decipher.
He tried to weaken nobles, which had real power in Commonwealth, and with his own trooops and supports of russians become absolute king.
Lets just say he is not a very popular figure in that countries history and that his incompetence combined with Augustus II basically destroyed the nation. He might classify as one of the most inept rulers ever in European history in fact and much of it is because of the electoral system in place and how it was corrupted by foreign influences to enact puppet kings. As we all know you dont want a skilled puppet king or he would not serve you or your causes.
This series seems to focus on the quality of strategic decisions, but seems to forget just how impactful the quality of the soldiers was.
In my limited knowledge, what I know is that the swedish troops were extremely well disciplined, to the point of marching straight till they could see the whites of the enemy's eyes, which requires an extreme amount of discipline as it honest-to-god was a miracle to convince soldiers to do so without breaking from the casualties they would sustain.
This may seem counterintuitive, as people may think, "so they can march somewhere when being shot at, that doesnt stop them from dying", but from a strategic view, the ability to trade some increased casualties in turn for being able to attack a key position was extremely vital in warfare, and could turn battles.
This is due to how warfare worked back then. Most losses occurred not from units being slain to-the-man but rather when soldiers routed and ran *because* of their fear of losing a fight.
When you have soldiers that can fight much longer despite losses around them, or despite a high chance that they could die, you could find scenarios such as a small amount of brave soldiers being able to overrun artillery guns, or cavalry that disrupt a key portion of an army to win a fight, at the cost of their own lives.
Personally, the quality of men was as effective as any amount of strategy. After all, the earlier episode saw the Swedes fighting 1 to 4, on the offensive. Something never before heard of except for defeat-in-detail tactics.
An undisciplined army couldnt have been able to be convinced to commit such an attack, which could make such a victory, and other victories, impossible no matter how good your general's genius is.
Another more modern example could be the polish during WW2. To my knowledge, there was a fort or so that was heavily outnumbered (700 or so defenders against tens of thousands of soldiers, helped by tanks and bombers)
That army was halted by those defenders for several days, which is, from the viewpoint of a general who is in desperate straights, an extreme victory considering the tactical advantage gained from halting an entire offensive for the price of those men, even if all of them became casualties.
Needless to say, the quality of training matters a lot in a fight
Good point
You have to put Sabaton into one of these videos, it's of paramount importance.
Killing Ground would be a good one for this
Augustus: Okay men. I have a great plan. This army moves in to lose against the Swedish. This army makes it obvious that Russians are part of the army and rout. This army gets encircled. All of you will lose many men. That's the plan.
Ghost of Scipio: *Slow Clap
This is a good plan!
Narrator: "It was not a good plan."
And now I realize why the Great Northern War is almost never talked about in Poland.
Yep
@@starboys3407 polakiem jestes ?
@@spartancolonel nie
3:30 No one's gonna talk about how dang cute this moment is? 💕
Gotta love that Swedish +5% discipline idea.
Did he seriously think that continuously loosing was a winning strategy or was that added for comedic effect?
I think it was not that he couldn't win, but that he was just so bad at war, and he never really ended up winning.
An argument for him having a strategy of losing is that a civil war is a chance to topple the old political institutions and instate a stronger monarchy.
As EU4 player you should know more about the HRE. You can consider it a strategy after the treaty of westphalia was installed 50 years before. A war declaration against saxony would have brought in the entire empire. So perhabs he was aiming for this or for at least using the saxon army in this war, as he could not as the war was between PLC and sweden. So no realm troops :D
Daniel Reick HRE didn't work exactly like the game just similarly, they obviously had to simplify The HRE for the sake of the game
And Austria was already caught up in the War of the Spanish Succession
Killing ground
Even though you surrender
Turn around
You will never survive
Killing ground
As the battle of Fraustadt turns
Gjuter blod
Möter döden vid Fraustadt
Syndaflod
Genom fiendens led
Gjuter blod
Ingen nåd kommer givas, där
Some fun trivia - Karl XII, Carolus Rex, or Charles the Twelfth, was actually NOT the twelfth Swedish king named Karl. Karl the 9th should have been Karl the 3rd, but some mythical kings who never even existed were taken into account when denominating as such. And then the rest followed. Our current King, Karl XVI Gustaf should be Karl X Gustaf, and the protagonist in these series should have been Karl VI.
I just realized...Charles the 12th is the Carolus Rex figure Sabaton sings about in their song.
From what I've heard in the comments section of said song. Charles was said to be one of the greatest leaders of all time
Well one of them maybe but he is far down on a long list with many other Swedish kings above him.
He surely stood out in the tactical aspects as one of the best, not as good when it came to stratergy (but still good) and lacked in diplomacy
I also realized that Gustav is the Gustavus Adolphus from the Sabaton song, The Lion from the North
Polandball: Poland can into empire?
Swedenball: No.
But who put losing in Augustus' mind? Did he put this ingenious and cunning plan together by himself?
Or was it Walpole?
These Swedish just keep winning, and I love how easily they beat the odds.
The image of Augustus digging his own grave still kills me, though.
Probably the funniest episode you've written so far!
ever.
Great Northern Lion.
The great northern.... cub?
Carolus Rex!
What's the Scumegg got to do with any of this?
Maybe the Great Northern Wolf?
Hostile EGGSCUM!
If only the Swedish Empire responded to the letters the Empire would have lasted longer than it did R.I.P Swedish Empire
Charles the XII is super badass commander. He acted like a superhero
I'm sure that James had an even greater hand in the writing of this video than normal. It's very much filled with his brand of humor.
who would have guessed that genius strategy of losing we end up with you losing.
I love this series, I wasn't sure about extra history at first, but I gave it a shot and I'm loving it! Keep up the good work
4:45 the way they worded this is hilarious to me. I’m just imagining the officers going: “What is the king doing? … Oh, @&$? !”
I think Augustus' mind is too complex for me
This kid would do pretty well in GoT. Imagine if he had been King Robert's successor.
4:35 let me guess, KEEP LOOSING!
This was an amazing episode, thanks for all the work everyone over there does on these
Charles is fucking badass
He's my favourite king that Sweden has had throughout its history. Him and Gustav II Adolf.
Carolean what about the candy loving gustav vasa
The scissors of loss loosing needs to become a regular gag
*scissors of loss cutting
Redsand how?
The characterization of Augustus was hilarious! I could see a satirical version of this battle either on stage or on tv. Great entertainment!
I think this might just be my absolute favorite extra history episode.
8:20
When even Wapole is tired of winning.
Honestly this is a bit disappointing. You only briefly mentioned Saxony once, without any indication that Augustus was it's ruler (beside and before being Polish-Lithuanian king).
This is kind of important, as he started the war without the approval of Polish-Lithuanian diet (sejm), and for example all of the "Polish-Lithuanian" troops and commanders you talked about in context of the crossing of Düna were actually SAXON.
Many Polish nobles were understandably angry with their foregin king for dragging their country into his stupid war, which puts the start of civil war and Swedish-backed anty-king in different context.
BTW You could mention the rival king's name. I know that Stanisław Leszczyński looks intimidating, but you could at least take a shot at Stanislaus (commonly used in English latinisation of Stanisław).
Artur M. ^This. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
Pfft, Saxony...they may have been Saxon by name/title but those thuringian-slavic pretenders will never be real Saxons!
c4blew OK, the Electorate then, that is kind of beside the point here.
Artur M. Yeah, sorry that was just a general rant of frustration that had nothing to do with your point...sorry for hijacking your post!^^
c4blew No worries, I get it :)
Keep up the good work. I love your videos as you entertain me and I learn alot.
"Sire, what is you plan?" Some random Officer "We shall loose every.God.Damn.Time" Augustus "Please no..." Officer
You know, it's weird seeing incompetence being the main focus in an Extra History video.
Anyone else notice Walpole?
somepersonnamed Bob Yeah, he took away Augutus' sash. Wonder what he plans to do with it.
Give it to someone more deserving.
I noticed. ;)
What do you think that blue thing is he's always wearing?
This is one of the best written episodes you guys have done. The loss in the swamp may be actually laugh out loud.
This spawned one of the greatest albums ever written, sabatons "carolus rex"
And still Augustus is reminded as one of the greatest rulers Saxony ever had.
Well, he does apparently decide to give winning a try later on down the line, so there's still time!
No, not for his war affords. He is known for his finacing of architecture, art, science and mostly his legendary affairs ^^
Cause he cared for Saxony and made it prosperous. He didn't care for PLC, he liked the title of king but that's it.
How much money did this guy have? castles, wars, buying the crown of Poland, having party fucking drinking like crazy and even creating an anti-temperance organization togheter with Friedrich Vilhelm of Prussia.
Seems like this guy had an endless number of expensive hobbies, so where did this guy get all his money from?
+Alataristari It's not about "caring". The only reason he is remembered as a bad ruler in Poland is because none of his reforms passed because of nobles who opposed him at every turn to keep their golden liberty.
This was a 9 minute long savage roast of Augustus.
I approve
I love the tone of this storytellling so much.
The narration is simply too good...My cheeks are bursting with pain and face is ripe like a tomato from laughing so hard
Augustus' advisor : "my king, do you remember those absurdly OP winged hussars that kicked the Ottoman's asses 20 years ago and were great at beating the Swedish during the Deluge ?"
Augustus : "nope, I won't use them"
I think it wouldn't have made a difference since the Swedish army or the Carolean army was one of the best if not the best Army in the world at the time.
They also was more modernised than the PLC and had better generals. So they were only used for some battles.
They actually used them, at Kliszow but failed.
"We trained him wrong on purpose, as a joke" Augusts' Advisors and Teachers
This is the best episode on this channel. Change my mind.
I love these videos! This makes me much more interested in history!
Probably the funniest episode of extra history.
Charles XII is not all that popular in Finland. Much of the Swedish Army was recruited from here and after the Russian counter-invasions the population had dropped by a half.
Hopefully Isoviha or the Great Hatred (sounds odd in English) is covered here properly.
Cant fault a man for trying. That said he really did fuck up by the end of it.
MrBurgeri Only 50 000 of the 200 000 recruited soldiers were finns. The rest where mostly swedes.
Fredrik Dunge He didnt lose the army, Lewenhaupt did at Perevolotjna after Poltava.
he/she said much, not the majority. 50 000 out of 200 0000 is 1/4th of the entire army which is really a large fraction.
I love your videos!! thank you for making them =)
This was AWESOME!!!
Thank you!!!
Please - PLEASE - do the Wars of the Roses - that would be... simply... EPIC!!!
Dutch: I've got a god damned plan
Arthur:is it losein?
Augustus: “OUR MEN ARE FLEEING THE BATTLE! SHAMEFUR DISPRAY!”
The sarcasm/snark in this video is beautiful.
I've always enjoyed these videos, but I don't think I've ever laughed half as much watching one before.
poles getting slammed again for the 77788989743849023th time:This is fine
Poor Augustus, where are Winged Hussars when you need them?
Great video. I like the humor! Enjoyed every bit of it
Like I want it to be known that I have been going through and watching alot of your vids (and still have plenty to go haha) I love how your doing it m8. From your beginning stuff to the content you have now, well done. Hope you see this Haha, I learn and enjoy it by how you present it. From how you word it or just some of the other cheeky stuff you do Haha. Love it all and I'll be sure to let the ads do their thing for the revanew 👍