Prussian Infantry under Frederick the Great

Prussian Infantry during the time of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Basic background on infantry types like Grenadiers, Fusiliers, etc., organization and combat formations.
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» SOURCES «
Guddat, Martin: Grenadiere, Musketiere, Füsiliere. Die Infanterie Friedrich des Großen
Fiedler, Siegfried: Taktik & Strategie der Kabinettskriege
Ortenburg, Georg: Waffen der Kabinettskriege
Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt: Friedrich der Große und das Militärwesen seiner Zeit. Vorträge zur Militärgeschichte. Band 8.
Chandler, David: The Art of War in the Age of Marlborough
Buchner, Alex: Handbuch der Infanterie 1939-1945
Bucher, Alex: Handbook on German Infantry 1939-1945
Haythornthwaite, Philip: Frederick the Great’s Army (2) - Infantry
Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt: Deutsche Militärgeschichte 1648-1939. Band 1.
Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt: Deutsche Militärgeschichte 1648-1939. Band 6.
Clark, Christopher: Iron Kingdom, The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947
Guddat, Martin: Kürassiere, Dragoner, Husaren. Die Kavallerie Friedrichs des Großen.
Hawkins, Vincent B.: Frederick the Great, in: Brassey’s Encyclopedia of Military History and Biography, p. 339-345
de.wikipedia.o...
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» CREDITS & SPECIAL THX «
Song: Ethan Meixsell - Demilitarized Zone

[@oliviastratton7097]

Frederick the Great was awesome. I've heard some military historians say that when you factor in the size of his army vs the size of his opponents' armies, he may have been a greater military commander than Alexander the Great. His tactics were really innovative, he was a Renaissance Man who could play the flute and appreciated the arts, and he overcame a pretty abusive childhood to get there. Very impressive. He needs a good biopic.

[@Nazdreg1]

Frederick was an interesting guy and I think he was one of the most grounded monarchs that ever lived. “A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.” and "I am the first servant of my state" are pretty typical statements. This levelheadedness towards himself legitimised him as a pretty radical meritocrat who mostly demanded conscientiousness of his subjects over everything else.

[@FlagAnthem]

He was the German Frank Underwood

[@astrotecn]

@James Scoles what is awesome about being gay?

[@astrotecn]

@James Scoles I am not homophobic, its just that being gay is nothing to be proud of, its just a sexual orientation, thats my point.

[@lc9245]

Friedrich wasn't a brilliant general, he was rather average. He wasn't even the best Hohenzollern general at the time. His brothers, Augustus was a more capable general, especially Henry who was much wiser and brilliant. However, he had something not many military leaders have, sound of mind. While he acted rashly many times, losing many battles due to his temper, at the end of the day, Friedrich always pull himself back together. It started as a child when he was severely punished by his father for his rash action, in which he pulled through and claim the throne in spite of his father's wishes. He also acknowledged his father's accomplishment, despite personal animosity. He started wars, with decent preparation, following principles he laid out which brought him initial successes, thinking he could win, got figured by his enemies, defeated, and ultimately saved by great fortune, but also his reputation as a philosopher and progressive. In spite of bitter defeat yet fortunate position after the Russian pulled out, having occupied a large part of Saxony and regained Silesia completely; instead of pushing the issue with the Austrian, when Maria Theresa proposed peace by reverting to the status quo, he agreed immediately. Napoleon would have tried to get as much as he can, ignoring the ramification of such aggression down the line. That is why his conquest remained after he died, while Napoleon's empire disappeared, despite being a much better general and a much more charismatic politician.

[@egoshOOter14]

That's why germany lost the second world war... there were no musicians...

[@nattygsbord]

Well, not every country have their military music written by Beethoven, Haydn and other great masters... kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZ-xg6FjYtutgK8 kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnnddKx4nNOkkJY

[@egoshOOter14]

Naturally^^

[@0utc4st1985]

No no no, it was not having the tall grenadier hats that did it.....

[@insertnamehere001]

Cow-bells are the crux of any good infantry fighting force. Any infantry fighting without them is doomed to lose.

[@smokyondagrass2353]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6i6ZGSra9yMrKc the MG-42 was their instrument and the red communists were their audience.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

7:20 - The Prussian eagle is holding a Holy Hand grenade.

[@useraccount306]

İt's actually an sovereign's orb symbolism of earth and a cross on top of it, supposed to represent christian hegomony on earth.

[@lilboicumstain4211]

User Account No, it’s a Holy Hand grenade.

[@bobbemis8911]

@@lilboicumstain4211 The design of the holy hand grenade was modeled after it, because let's be honest, Friedrich the Grat would have use a holy hand grenade

[@Opa_der_Kranke]

This is the Holy Roman Empire of the german nation grenade. Halleluja!

[@michaelm3691]

I was also pleased to see the historical military symbol for cavalry used at 1:07

[@l0lLorenzol0l]

137.5% DISCIPLINE BABYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY *FRIDERICUS REX BLARES AT 210 DECIBELS*

[@HaloFTW55]

I didn’t expect the Adeptus Mechanicus here.

[@mtsoskappa6184]

[partitioning Poland intensifies]

[@techpriest8965]

Heh.

[@draconianscout]

Prussian Space Marines are the best Space Marines

[@mtsoskappa6184]

How bout' you chill 4/10 I was dissapointed there was no Prussian earrape :(

[@dejabu24]

when Napoleon went to the tomb of Fredrick the great in 1806 , he said if you were still alive....I would not be standing here , 134 years later Hitler visited Napoleon’s tomb in paris

[@dejabu24]

The Legionary Romanian I wonder if it was really a coincidence

[@VRichardsn]

Napoleon had those moments... Take the famous 1632 battle of Lutzen (where Gustavus Adolphus famously died) In 1814, when things were looking rather poorly, Napoleon still found time to visit the 1632 battlefield, playing tour guide with his staff by pointing to the sites and describing the events of 1632, in detail from memory, when he heard the sound of cannon. He immediately cut the tour short and rode off towards the direction of the artillery fire, to go on and win his own battle of Lutzen.

[@dejabu24]

oh really I guess great military leaders respect those of the past even if they were enemies at the time , hey Gustavus Adolphous was an other military leader with a legendary reputation

[@VRichardsn]

_great military leaders respect those of the past_ This is specially true for Napoleon. He put great emphasis on reading and re-reading past commanders in order to build a good generalship.

[@alganhar1]

@ Richardson All great commanders did to be honest. If you look into accounts of all the great generals you will find that all of them avidly read the accounts of great generals before them. Even going so far back as Julius Ceaser who specifically mentioned reading accounts of Alexanders battles avidly. Alexander probably did as well :P

[@DrHansLuger]

Grenadiers 2:34 Musketeers 4:30 Fusiliers 6:16 Huntsman on foot 7:11 Pioneers 8:34 Garrison troops 8:57

[@iisai9109]

Thank you

[@thenoobinator3508]

Here's a little anecdote involving a prussian and a french soldier. Two prussian soldiers walk up to a captured french soldier. One of the prussian soldiers says "you see? The french fight only for money". The french soldier asks "and you? What do you fight for?" "For honor" the prussian say The frenchman replies "So it's true that all men fight for what they lack"

[@dubsy1026]

The Noobinator ayyyy

[@Damo2690]

The Noobinator That sassy frenchman

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

lol

[@mtsoskappa6184]

but the French fought for bravery ;)

[@zach8269]

The Noobinator wrong that quote was from Robert Surcufe a french privatere while fighting a British ship....

[@Razzy1312]

He's Frederick the Great. He became the first servant of the state with oblique attack tactics. He ain't exactly straight. He's got creative talents and battle malice - hard as steel on the field but genteel in the palace.

[@dankcrossaint9668]

i see what you did there hnghhh

[@sheldon-cooper]

Russia's f*cked up but no wonder why, with their tundras and taiges and their bears.

[@sheldon-cooper]

@Amey Tiwari now bring him his chair, he's wear from tearing you a new derrière from there to red square

[@PineappleOnPizza69]

@@sheldon-cooperfought a 7 years war and ain't scared of a Czar!

[@scaryanarchist1260]

Your style is great and simple. I like that. The subject can be understood because of clear images and voice. Great job!

[@irongeneral7861]

*Preußens Gloria intensifies*

[@generalfisch2017]

you know without the earrape it wouldn't be as glorious

[@stormyprawn]

*Cries in Prußen* I hope I spelt Prussia right there ^^

[@Marco-bf4uu]

@@stormyprawn Wtf? He wrote it in the comment above. Preußen

[@thenoobinator3508]

Does every grenedier get 60 bullets?

[@terminator572]

The Noobinator and his payment every week

[@hussite7235]

You are a great man

[@Erikaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Don't forget about General Schwerin and Field Marshal Von Keith and General Major Von Zeiten!

[@yochaiwyss3843]

Jen'ari-asha But are they ready to obey all commands?

[@kaiser10298]

Who receives his money as fast as the Prussian?

[@SkipperPlaysTW]

That Mount & Blade reference! Very interesting video, I find Prussian Military history can be used as an interesting guide on tackling certain parts of life.

[@goodsous]

No-one expects the My Little Pony Cavalry

[@mariuspequeno2175]

Prussia probably had these

[@mitamajr]

Wasn't the mlp horse also in the cavalry tactics video?

[@kye6375]

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition

[@rixille]

Weak cavalry, you see.

[@spark5580]

Yes the my little pony Cav are way more skilled than the royal guard

[@Scientist118]

Prussia, that one country that sent an officer to whip the Revolutionary Army during the American Revolution.

[@antiochusiiithegreat7721]

Are you talking about the Prussian officer that trained the Americans before the battle of Monmouth?

[@Scientist118]

Aidan Christy Yes, that guy.

[@ryankiser4639]

Kamzil118 The Baron von Steuben.

[@zubstep]

Baron von Steuben was great and made decisive contributions to win the war, but no, Prussia wasn't the only country to send a desperately needed officer. From France, Gilbert du Motie, the Marquise de Lafayette, left a lasting impression for valor on the field. From Poland, Casimir Pulaski became the founding father of the American Cavalry. Also from the Commonwealth, Tadeusz Kościuszko made his impact with engineering and field fortifications, most notably at West Point and Saratoga. All of these figures are commemorated in the US with various monuments and are noted in the early grade history classes.

[@kyoukoumarleau7633]

@@zubstep I mean I've never heard these names in elementary or middle school. Hell, I didn't even know Prussia existed until high school.

[@josepmariabartomeu7140]

Thank you for this video, very informative and interesting, glad to see channels like this on KZbin. Greetings from Tijuana , Mexico. Gracias

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

Thanks for watching!

[@casparcoaster1936]

Many tanx! You can imagine as an old(er) north American, how little history we learn of northern Europe in general, Prussians and Prussia in particular. The breadth of history channels has made me love KZbin late in life (I thought was just going to be another stupid form of television). My parents & grandparents were Germans & Swedes, my son married a Dane, so all things Germanic, recent and ancient, interest me. again, many thanks.

[@3uujh656]

*sigh* time to start another Brandenburg run...

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

:D which EU?

[@robertjarman3703]

Like the rout of the US Army from the British who burned down the White House?

[@3uujh656]

Military History Visualized EU4 of course

[@mrbrainbob5320]

Robert Jarman the white house was actually burnt by the US

[@dirt0133]

Not only is your content HIGHLY informative, i really enjoy your sense of humor. :) Also, although i don't understand German, the only words i know relating to the military, i enjoy listening to you read the text first in it's original form and then with your translation. Please keep up the Great Work you do, and thank you for all the terribly interesting facts i take from your videos.

[@jmgonzales7701]

i like prussian history too bad they are gone

[@austenbin4068]

Great timing! I have been doing some casual looking into the Seven Years War and Fredrick the Great, so this video is much appreciated .

[@KillaArmadilla]

Can we get a video on the German unification, and/or the dreyse needle rifle, and/or Prussian army and equipment in the 19th century?

[@ME-hm7zm]

Forgotten Weapons has a thing on the Dreyse, as memory serves.

[@KillaArmadilla]

Michael Eversberg II yes they do, as well as the gewehr 71

[@VRichardsn]

The Dreyse would make for a wonderful 3 minute short video. _Die Deutschen_ did a small segment on it some time ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roTGm56omMZ0mcU

[@Janshevik]

capanball made a great video about it too

[@DagarCoH]

Are you planing on doing more about the time around Frederick, other nation's militaries and significant battles?

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

yeah, but might take a while. Did a lot of reading up for this and continued.

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

of course, view count is always important, but less and less so as the Patreon support is growing.

[@KaiserFranzJosefI]

Military History Visualized I would suggest the Kaiserlich-Königliche Landwehr

[@spenadam]

Please do, I enjoy the time period.

[@BountyFlamor]

Could you make a video on early grenades. As in the grenades grenadiers used?

[@sullivannix4509]

Frederick the Great was undoubtedly one of the best leaders of men of all time, if not the best, whether it was in peace or during war. He fought off France, Russia, Austria, and Sweden simultaneously, probably unrivaled in all of history. It's quite silly for some to say that his success was owed to the appointment of a pro-Prussia king. It was Frederick that never fought a battle without superiority in numbers, it was Frederick that went largely without English help, and it was Frederick that made Prussia a name that will never be forgotten.

[@TheApocalypticKnight]

When Napoleon conquered Prussia and visited the grave of Frederick, he is reported to have said "If he was still alive, I would not need to be here".

[@Fallout3131]

I personally think Fredrick was overrated. He inherited the super disciplined organised army from this father, he often fought inferior armies both in command and troop quality. His army could be told to march forward and they basically obliterated anything upfront of them due to quality and his officer core. Not as much unimaginable tactical genius. I like the guy, he's definitely an alright leader, but I think the god complex of the Prussians he gets is over-done.

[@a-drewg1716]

hey nothing beats that flute busting Prussian except maybe sleep

[@johansmifthelry9307]

@Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin i would argue that Napoleon was greater than him. Unlike Friedrich, Napoleon inherited a ruined, decimated, and sick country, utterly divided, and with a corrupt and inefficient army. Yet, he soared through the ranks out of his own genius, and single handedly fought 7 coalitions of the most powerful powers in Europe, and defeated 6 of the 7. At the same time, he fought off Prussia, Austria, England and Russia, and managed to stay on top, until his time came

[@hughjass5156]

"like in mount and blade" Its the little touches like that that make this channel special. Love it.

[@tabasco599]

anybody else saw the mount and blade refrence

[@sasanek12]

It's almost harvesting season!

[@reviveempires]

That's a nice head you have on your shoulders!

[@kempodle4665]

The way you said “donkey” “Dainky”

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

it's in Prussian dialect

[@peterlynch1458]

Fantastic episode! I hope you can do many more of these. Please examine the French batallions throughout the Revolutionary Wars.

[@GeneralKenobiSIYE]

lo at the Stormtrooper icon. I remember the day well. It was the day I became more powerful than Vader could have ever imagined.

[@hussite7235]

Frederick the Great is probably my favorite King\General of all time save maybe Napoleon

[@benaud5790]

Hussite really? I think Napeleon was over rated. He never dealt woth or managed logistics but stole off the land ultimately causing his own downfall.

[@oliviastratton7097]

Frederick > Napoleon the Great. He was never as throughly defeated for one, so his accomplishments actually held for a long time. And considering the proportions of his army vs his enemies, and the status of his army when he came to power, his success was more impressive. He also didn't have the whole invading-russia-during-the-winter flub. Also, he was a better person and was actually a great political leader as well as a military one.

[@hussite7235]

Olivia Stratton I think youre forgetting that Fred was largely saved by God and Austro\Russian ignorance in the seven years war

[@nattygsbord]

Frederick won many impressive victories despite he was heavily outnumbered in the battles he fought. He might have been defeated, but he would then still be remembered as a great General, a 18th century Hannibal. One could paraphrase an MHQ-article and say that battlefields of the 1700s usally was a fight between armies who dealt equally large losses to each other, and the side with more men to spare usally went off with the victory. Frederick revolutionized warfare with his bold warfare and threw the old rules of the game out the window. And he scored crushing victories against superior opponents at Hohenfriedberg, Leuthen, Rossbach and other places. But his problem was that his victories never ended up in anything decisive.

[@hussite7235]

nattygsbord Frederick was used to one and done wars. He underestimated the will power of Maria Theresa and the Austrians. Which is why he didn't get his decisive battle. But back to the point. Napoleon revolutionized warfare just as Frederick did. Perhaps even more, since he made cavalry relevant again.

[@MrFleem]

Strong infantry, weak cavalry. Something like classical Rome, then?

[@vladdrakul7851]

Yet by the Napoleonic era the Prussian Cavalry had the reputation of being amongst the very best cavalry in the world like the French Cuirassiers. And the later Eastern Rome developed the Cataphracts as the new mobile Elite legionaires when facing Eastern enemies!

[@arsenal-slr9552]

Making me want to play Empire:Total War. Great Video!

[@ME-hm7zm]

So much lost potential :(

[@Fallout3131]

Michael Eversberg II yeah

[@FieldMarshalYT]

just Use Darthmod and you got the potential.

[@duane8620]

Great video, was interesting seeing the breakdown of Prussia's military structure. Not sure if you have done it already but I would love to see a Korean War Overview/Comparison of Tactics, military might , Challenges leading to the end result of the war. Thanks for some amazing videos, I really enjoy watching!

[@Kevin-pj4yd]

I was reading clausewitz so the timing is great. Also, I kinda like you quoting text in german but when it lasts too much I have trouble "picking up" the video again. But that's just my opinion

[@jholtzable]

I really liked this video. Living in the US and not knowing a lot of German makes finding great quality information like this kind of difficult.

[@gratefulguy4130]

Living in Germany would make it 100x harder to find out anything about German/Prussian/Holy Roman Empire history.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

If I had one part of Prussia for every gender there is Danzig would be a free state.

[@IllicitGreen]

excellent analysis, thank you!

[@microraptorguy1387]

Excellent video, i really loved how it was made. The easy, simple and very flowing way both animations and info were made created a really enjoyable and pleasant video to watch. Now that i have a more basic knowledge of this army i can start to study more in depth. Thank you for this video and keep it up!

[@cosmiclive4437]

I love how much I can hear you trying to say Preußen.

[@robertfisher8359]

It might have been worth mentioning that the musicians essentially were part of an 18th century signal corps, acting to pass on orders from higher commanders (a task often made difficult by the sound of musket fire). In 1940, this was replaced with modern communications such as radios and runners, hence the need for officials and musicians dropped considerably. Great video MHV!

[@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506]

gotta love the Jäger

[@yochaiwyss3843]

Konrad von Schnitzeldorf Like you know anything about strategy, Schnitzeldorf...

[@konradvonschnitzeldorf6506]

It was a hundred years ago. Get over it.

[@qck1234]

Another reason for more NCO's in the 1940 was that in the time of Fredrick the Great the formations were massive, whereas by 1940 squad level tactics were important. Large formations in 1940 would have been great targets for artillery and machineguns and would cause massive casualties, also formations were a lot more spread out to cover a larger front since battles occurred in fronts measured in miles instead of yards.

[@Desintyx2]

Wow. Great work, especially with the final graphics on formations.

[@AnnaMarianne]

I miss Prussia. The map of Europe is lacking... or at least the map of Germany.

[@hazzmati]

Aye, Germany looks meager without elzas-lotharingen and east and west prussia

[@edi9892]

Anna Marianne as an Austrian, I want my glorious empire back!

[@308473mb]

Don't trigger the Poles and Lithuanians, please!

[@sergeantpanther678]

Nö one cäres aboüt them.

[@kaiserwilhelm3933]

Looking at it, the west actually supports the Polish invasion of Prussia around the end of the middle ages.

[@looper1486]

“Fighting Looters like in Mount & Blade” Now we’re talking

[@SantiFiore]

Best comment section ever

[@freitag424]

10:37 Am I the only one who loves the Mount&Blade homage? Thanks for that, made me smile. It´s my favourite game!

[@Horesmi]

I'm Frederick the Great, out the gate first servant of state Oblique attack tactics ain't exactly straight I've got creative talents and battle malice Hard as steel on the field, genteel in the palace Russia's fucked up but no wonder why With your tundras and taigas and bears, oh my! I would pay a guy to tear out my eyes If I had to look at your troll face every night Now bring me my chair I'm weary from tearing you a new derrière from here to Red square Fought a Seven Years' War, I ain't scared of a Tsar Cause beating you only took me twelve bars

[@Oliver-kw4to]

Ivan the terrible vs. Alexander the great :D

[@farzet3937]

Prussian officers don't mutiny!

[@nattygsbord]

like Blücher

[@farzet3937]

nattygsbord Yeah and like Fedor

[@heightdifference8644]

British officers don't duck!

[@andrewgrandfield7214]

- von Manstein

[@askkedladd]

Preussische Feldmarschälle meutern nicht

[@mememem]

Please keep making videos on Prussia this is great fap material.

[@goksir5845]

dude i am so hard right now

[@dnimlarebil]

Rule 34 - confirmed

[@orthoff123]

Gute Arbeit! Interessanter Überblick über die Pr. Armee!

[@MFvanBylandt]

You covered one of my favourite subjects! Thanks a lot. I hope if CA ever decides to make an Empire 2 Total War that they watch and use this video. That would put in some much needed accuracy.

[@kapas2070]

Great video, please do more like it!

[@jamesnave1249]

Yeat another great video! Would love you to do a video going into detail about training of a solfier of the day

[@nykolap.5484]

Please do Prussian stuff again.

[@SkyForceOne2]

What is that symbol on your flag? I seem to recognize it from somewhere.

[@nykolap.5484]

It's a Ukrainian Flag with a Ukrainian Trident in the center. flagspot.net/flags/ua-arms.html Thank you for your curiosity!

[@GenBuBlu]

Some additional info: A musketeer-regiment in this age consisted of ordinary hatmen-companies (“ordinaire companies”) and usually two grenadier companies. So, strictly speaking, grenadiers were not proper units of their own. However, it became typical to bring together the grenadier companies of tweo regiments for the course of a campaign as a “converged grenadier battalion”. Due to the fact that the grenadiers came from two different regiments, the grenadiers in that battalion had two types of uniforms. What might also be interesting for wargamers: The depiction of Prussian uniforms for the Seven Years War is - generally speaking - wrong. It’s mostly based on 19th/early 20th century depictions, which, in turn, are based on the original uniforms that are maintained in the “Deutsche Historische Museum”. True, these are originals, but they stem from the 1780s and thus have a decidedly different cut than uniforms in the 1750s and earlier. It’s also worth noticing that regiments in that age were usually named after their owner. Typically, aristocrats and even princes owned these regiments and had a lot of freedom in managing them (appointing officers, jurisdiction, allowance for marriage, etc), although I’m not really informed about the extent of the authority of the owners in the Prussian army. Often, you can still find references to the owner in the uniform - e.g. the color of the pompoms often refered to the colors in owner’s coat of arms. In the Habsburg army at that time, the owner’s monogram was very often found on shabracks, etc.

[@KitteridgeStudios]

That Total Biscuit reference though

[@dzejrid]

Every time he says "Prussia" I keep hearing "Croatia".

[@kern1000]

Thank you. Excellent presentation. A great companion to watch with Christopher Duffy's book " The Army in the age of Frederick the Great"

[@purefucknmetal]

Frederick the Great and his father are basically like the German version of Alexander and Philip. Philip built the army and Alexander mastered its use in warfare.

[@lightninginmyhands4878]

Well done and I appreciate your reading of native languages

[@Mkoivuka]

My great great something grandfather was a captain in the Pori Brigade (enlisted men from Finland serving under the Swedish king), his 15 year old son was the drummer boy of the company

[@michaelsnyder3871]

There was one administrative-tactical disadvantage, though other armies suffered from the same issues. The company was an administrative organization. The tactical organization was the eight zugs the battalion adjutant divided the battalion into. He paraded the battalion, the officers and NCOs stepped from the formation and then he divided the battalion into eight evenly numbered zugs. The officers and NCOs were then divided among the zugs. This allowed the battalion, which was also a tactical organization to execute the drill regulations especially in moving from line to column and back and in controlling the battalion's fire. This had to be done before every battle. Most of the northern German states adopted Prussian organization and drill. One reason for Washington's success at Trenton was that the Hessian regiments were billeted by company and were not prepared to execute a defense before reorganizing for combat.

[@schlawa]

Very cool video again. In the "Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg", they actually have drawings of full Prussian (and other, especially Hessian formations) on great (3x3 meter) maps with each single soldier represented in full marching order.

[@supergockel5309]

Nice das du deine Videos jetzt auch telis auf deutsch machst, über die Logistik und die Supplylines könntest du auch ein Video machen da gibt's wirklich nicht viel 🙂 was auch interessant wäre, der unterschied der ganzen französischen Einheiten unter Napoleon ( speziell bei der leichten infantry verstehe ich den nicht ganz)

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

> Nice das du deine Videos jetzt auch telis auf deutsch machst da liegt ein Mißverständnis vor, dass ist ein altes Video, da hatte ich das Zitat auch auf Deutsch gelesen. Das mach ich schon lange nicht mehr. Zu nap. Infanterie hab ich ein Video, ebenso zur Kavallerie.

[@supergockel5309]

@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized achsooo schade, das Video zu nap. Inf. Hab ich schon gefunden danke 🙂

[@supergockel5309]

@@MilitaryHistoryVisualized was ist den der Unterschied zwischen Franz. Voltigeure, chasseure und carabiner 😅 das würd mich sehr interessieren.

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

kA zulange aus und ich hab mich nicht mit spezfisichen Streitkräften beschäftigt, weil sonst würde ich 2 Monate an einem Skript sitzen ;)

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

Excellent summary. 6:02 While I do not speak German, I believe you may have mistranslated Patronentasche. My experience from reading about and researching ammunition suggests that rather than "patron's bag" it should read "cartridge bag" (i.e. ammunition bag) or possibly (more loosely) "bandolier".

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

"Ihr Racker, wollt ihr ewig leben?" Frederick the Great to his faltering Guard Units Battle of Kolín on 18 June 1757 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kol%C3%ADn (Though this has a slightly different version of the quote). Both versions are generally translated as: "You Rascals, do you want to live forever?" .

[@plnbdy]

my family emigrated from Prussia to Wisconsin... low German speakers... Northern German southern Danish type folk. saving money for a picklehaub 🤣 great content 👌

[@warrenhapke2091]

At around 5:40, the word "Patronentasche" is translated as "patron's bag," but it should be "cartridge pouch."

[@rafiky3703]

Good video but would be better if you show some images about the soldiers like their clothes and all that

[@Albukhshi]

@ 2:41 Fun fact: the guardsmen were all grenadiers, regardless of the headdress.

[@grett5519]

A dankey.(I once believed i heard all your mispronunciations but then i heard that)

[@TheEk94]

Would love a similar video about the swedish caroline army. During the swedish empire.

[@AinsleyHarriott1]

Ah nice I always wondered about the Prussian military. Just last night it kept me up for at least 2 hours.

[@elimgarak8785]

Frederick the Great is the one commander that I don’t know if he is overrated or really was as good as his reputation states. He did win brilliantly at Rossbach but at Zorndorf and Kunersdorf he performed poorly. And in the end it took the Tzar to save him. Which I imagine would have been awkward seeing as how Russian cavalry had held Berlin for ransom in 1760.

[@burntorangeandblue]

Thanks so much for this. If you could fit an episode about Clauswitz' reforms, that would be interesting.

[@johnfluker1034]

Just for future occurrences, "patrone" in German equals "cartridge" in English, so it would be a cartridge bag or cartridge case. "Haber's bag" is more recognizable as a "haversack".

[@viliussmproductions]

Cool, I was just reading up on the Prussian millitary (on wikipedia, though). They always mention various army reforms, so this is very interesting.

[@SoporowskiAlexander]

Here is a tip for your English: there is a word for "Habersack" in English, it is "haversack", not haber's bag Good video

[@valhalla9688]

Excellent video. Could you do Gustavus Adolfus video in the future?

[@thomasconnors4338]

I've watched several of your videos but this is the one that made me subscribe. I appreciate the quality of the introduction, in which you explain historical political context by pointing out that two diametrically opposed modern groups (nazis and anti-nazis) BOTH claimed to be heirs to the Prussian ethos. I honestly don't know who was right (i assume everyone was a little bit wrong because...well you know they were shooting eachother's brothers) but my basic indoctrination is "Prussians are Germans, Germans are Nazis, so screw the Germans but let's be glad that Germans have good timing because Napoleon would have won if Blucher had been any later". It's interesting to know more than that now, thanks to your video.

[@scottfoster2639]

I might add that there were far more NCOs in the 1940 regiment that the 1743 due to the small unit tactics that a modern army conducts. Other than a few 'raiding ' parties, in 1743, units conducted no smaller operations than a battalion sized unit, with some exceptions (other than guard duties, etc).

[@HighwayMule]

I think it's worth to add that Jager units were the first to be equpied with rifles (weapons with rifled barrels), while the rest of infantry had smoothbore muskets. This was to give accuracy for long range fire.

[@neues3691]

Ich finde du solltest mehr über Neuzeit oder Mittelalter machen. Sehr interessant!

[@tomservo5347]

One of my German mom's friends that lived in Berlin (and saw some terrible things during the battle in 1945) was from an old Prussian family of note. After the war, when Prussia was broken up (and I have strong opinions over this) she received a large amount of money from the West German government for land that used to be her family's estate but was now Poland. When she received mail from family still there the original German name of the town was crossed out and changed to the new Polish/Soviet one. It was a treat seeing the one heirloom she was able to save-a Prussian dress sword adorned with Iron Crosses that had been passed down in her family for generations. It's rather sad how the Allies destroyed this once progressive and honor bound military state.

[@ZS-rw4qq]

Interesting video, have you considered making a similar one for the Prussian army of the period?

[@MrPh30]

Great episode, the Loden in the dark green is the color associated with the Jaegers , and the Brits under Major Rogers copied much of his unitmon the Prussian and Hessian Jagers.

[@truecerium4924]

In the British Army fusilires were outfitted with the more modern flintlock gun; as the guns posed a lower fire hazard than the muskets fusiliers were used to protect artillery and train

[@hotbam37]

I love tbis channel but if the English was spoken just a little bit more clearly it would be much bigger channel I'm sure. I have to rewind and listen to certain sentences many times to try and figure out what he says. I think some type of subtitles would be a great addition to the videos. The user-generated subtitles don't catch the hard to understand words. If he could add his own subtitles instead of the auto-generated ones it would be so awesome.

[@footslave4asian]

"Hats off gentlemen, if he were alive, we wouldn't be here today" - Quote from Napoleon to his officers, standing by the grave of Frederick the Great in Berlin, 1806 (Nancy Mitford, Frederick the Great published in 1970)

[@LibertarianJahbulone]

Friedrich II. gambled with the fate of Preußen and could lost all, but he was lucky at the end of the seven year war. Otherwise he most likely had commit suicid. Does this make him a hero or rather a maniac?

[@nattygsbord]

Well the major powers was conspiring against him so I don't see he had much of choice other than to start a war at point of time that he choose. Taking Schlesien was immature and I think he greatly underestimated the political consequences of his actions. But besides from that I think he was a great statesman. He greatly expanded the countrys territory and population during his reign. The economy grow greatly. The big army had a reputation that made the country an enemy to fear and an ally everyone wish they had. So I think he deserves much credd for his effort to promote new industries, his infrastructure projects such as canal building and draining of swamp, his tradepolicies that diverted money away from other places into his empire. He was also early in seeing the benifits of growing potatoes in Germany. But he also made mistakes grounded in backward thinking, such as his efforts to trying instanly trying to go back to earlier pre-war value of the Thaler directly after the Seven years war and all war inflation. And the result was of course a severe deflationary economic crash. But on the military and political field his mistakes were greater. He made himself enemy of Austria and France and were close to seeing his country lost to the enemy despite all many impressive victories. But afterwards he would repair his foreign relations and improve his economy by taking land from Poland togheter with Russia and Austria.

[@nattygsbord]

"Frederick’s financial policy was successful inasmuch as he ‘contrived to produce on the economic resources of what was then the least prosperous section of Germany, a public revenue which was greater than that of Russia (under Catherine II), with a per capita burden of taxation no greater than of Austria, and considerably less than that of France’. Moreover Frederick ‘managed to support the army of a first-rate power on the resources of a third-rate state and at the same time accumulated a large reserve in the public treasury’." - Studies in the Economic Policy of Frederick the Great, by Bill Henderson

[@Fallout3131]

I personally think Fredrick was overrated. He inherited the super disciplined organised army from this father, he often fought inferior armies both in command and troop quality. His army could be told to march forward and they basically obliterated anything upfront of them due to quality and his officer core. Not as much unimaginable tactical genius. I like the guy, he's definitely an alright leader, but I think the god complex of the Prussians he gets is over-done.

[@raulmaximo5810]

"Fighting Looters like in Mount & Blade", great quote bro.

[@mountainhobo]

2:10 "To intimidate or impress foreign guests" - Your graphic says "intimate" instead of "intimidate". I doubt that was his intention. ;)

[@MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

oops

[@phinix250]

Well if you were a military leader wouldn't you want to use your house guard to get intimate with foreign guests?? ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@mountainhobo]

"Well if you were a military leader" - That depends on the amount of facial hair. Oh, and helmets. Were they wearing those pointy helmets? Risky...

[@htf5555]

flexing his muscles, you see.

[@justinpyke1756]

Cool! 18th century through Napoleonic warfare is a secret passion of mine. :P

[@jadger1871]

Not so secret if you're telling everyone on the interwebs

[@kreol1q1q]

Do the contemporary Habsburg forces under Maria Theresa! :)

[@BountyFlamor]

I would like to know the tactics of grenadiers while still carrying grenades and why they were phased out.

[@anglohistorian8687]

Interesting breakdown. When comparing to the modern troops I feel it's also worth noting that the increase in NCOs is also a result of a greater degree of devolved initiative; unlike in Frederick's time small sections of troops are now expected to act with a degree of autonomy. More NCOs are thus required as troops fight in smaller units yet still need to be led.

[@5herwood]

I hope you make a video about Prince Eugene-- the soldier, not the ship. He is one of my favs.

[@rolland890]

yes, more videos on 18th century please !!! :)

[@99Hokusai]

For an insight into Frederick, I would recommend Mitford's biography; very much to the point.

[@jamesbarca7229]

Scouting and sharpshooting, experienced with terrain, operating away from main force...The Feldjäger zu Fuß sounds like the forerunner to the modern scout-sniper.

[@gunnerr8476]

Idea of skirmishing, scouting does gained popularity since 1700. Every nations doing the same thing back in 7 years war.

[@iskandartaib]

5:13 - Patronentasche = cartridge case. Habersack = haversack. I suppose "flinte" is short for "flintlock".