Lion of the North

Paracelsus' prediction was dire ... Germany would be torn by fire and sword, brought to near destruction, until there would arise from a distant, northern land, a golden beast who would save them...

The war for minds and souls had been raging for ten destructive years when the vaunted, virtually undefeated Catholic army of the Hapsburg emperor and his allied German states looked across the gentle valley of Breitenfeld directly into the blinding rays of the dawn of modern warfare. By the end of the day, Tilly's lumbering army lay smashed beyond redemption, the victim of rapid-firing artillery, fast-moving infantry and hard-charging cavalry. The prediction had come true: Breitenfeld signaled the ascendancy of Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden, the Lion of the North.

Lion of the North is the third volume in GMT's heralded Great Battles of History Series. The Thirty Years' War signaled the dawn of modern warfare ... a return to the supremacy of linear tactics, drill and discipline, to what some historians call "the return of the legion." Lion of the North represents two of the most famous battles of that period:

Breitenfeld, 1631: Swedish linear musket-pike brigades against Spanish-system tercios ... Polish-style saber charges against pistol-firing caracolers ... non-moving, slow-firing gigantic cannons against grapeshot-spewing regimental pieces that seem to move as fast as the cavalry ... all in the battle that announced that 1200 years of Macedonian-style phalanx fighting was dead. However, Gustavus' army is saddled with a left wing of Saxons whose main ability if flight. Can Tilly's huge tercios smash the Saxons and turn in on the cavalry charge, sweep the gallant Pappenheim off the field, and save the day?

Lutzen, 1632: The highly capable Count Wallenstein has revamped the Imperialist/Catholic army. Their infantry is more linear, and their black-armored cuirassiers, under the "sinister" Piccilomini, Duca d'Amafli have been instructed to charge with the sword. In a heavy fog, the Swedish army of Gustavus, reduced by marching and fatigue to a shadow of its former self, approaches the Catholic position, well-deployed behind a ditch lined with musketeers and with flanks anchored by a treacherous stream and a burning, walled city. But Gustavus still has his salvo-firing infantry, his crack Finnish and Smalander cavalry regiments, his pounding artillery, and, most of all, himself. Can Gustavus avoid his historical fate -- death? ... Can the redoubtable Pappenheim arrive in time with his cuirassiers and axe-swinging Croats? ... Will the fog save the Imperialists? ... Or will Gustavus smash Wallenstein and march on Vienna?