Later 17th century cavalry proportions

[rbodleyscott]

Does anyone have any good information on proportions of cavalry and foot in later 17th century armies (1648-1698), with particular reference to various northern wars and the Nine Years War (War of the League of Augsberg)?

[stefankollers]

No doubt you will have tried Nafziger ? Certainly looks an interesting period.

[rbodleyscott]

Thanks

[Philippeatbay]

Page 17 of Playbook II of GMT's Nothing Gained But Glory is mostly bibliography. A lot of entries and you might want to take a look at it if you haven't already.

[TLord]

Just so happens I have Professor John A. Lynn's work "The Wars of Louis XIV: 1667-1714" next to me at work. I know he gives the sizes of battalions for French foot and squadron sizes for French cavalry. I have a modest War of the Spanish Succession library at home so when I get off work I'll look through my books by Grant, Chandler, Falkner etc to see what they have to say. I also recall I may have a large book on Habsburg regiments from the 1680's to the 1720's somewhere at home too.

Anyway, from Lynn:

Foot (French army)
1676-77, official battalion Size-800 men. Actual-712
1689-92, official-800 men. Actual-644
1695-96-official-715. Actual-422
1702-04-official-585. Actual-421
1710-11-official-650. Actual-422

Horse (French army)
1676-77, official squadron size-150. Actual-144
1689-92,official-160. Actual-139
1695-96, official-160. Actual-140
1702-04, official-140. Actual-135
1710-11, official-140. Actual-121

This is taken from pg.61, Table 3.1 Titled "A Sample of battalion and squadron sizes in the French army." The numbers listed for "official" are from French regulations and his figures for "actual" are based on his approximations after recruitment, desertion, and other factors. There is some other info about the ratio of pike to musket which I can give if necessary. As soon as I get home I'll have a look in some other books I have. Hope that helped a bit!

[TLord]

Oh more from Lynn and I may need to quote him here (from pg.60): "Infantry were organized as regiments but the tactical unit was the battalion. An infantry regiment could contain one or more battalions. The number of men in a battalion varied, but regulations usually set the size of a French battalion during the great wars of Louis XIV at about 800 men grouped into from 12-16 companies. Of course, during wartime the number of men in a battalion almost always fell short of regulations."

Pg.62-63 on cavalry: "By the Dutch War French cavalry were organized into regiments as was the infantry. Each regiment contained two or three squadrons at first but included four squadrons by the 1690's. Like battalions in the infantry, squadrons constituted the tactical unit for cavalry. Squadrons usually included three companies, which numbered fifty men each in the Dutch War,but only thirty or thirty-five during the Nine Years War or the War of The Spanish Succession. Thus a cavalry regiment with four squadrons, each of three companies containing thirty-five men, numbered 420 men if it was at full strength."

[rbodleyscott]

All good stuff, for which I thank you.

However, what I am trying to determine is the overall ratio of horsemen to foot-soldiers in the armies of this period (rather than the composition of individual units).

For example, the paper strength of the Restoration British army as listed by Nafziger is approximately 20% cavalry (by numbers of men, not units).

Given the relative numbers of men in Pike and Shot units, this translates in-game into approximately 1 cavalry unit to each 2 foot battalions.

This of course assumes that cavalry and infantry units were equally understrength, which may or may not be the case. (In-game units starting at approximately 60% of your quoted full paper strength for the French army).

[TLord]

I'll quote Lynn on that subject then (pg.68): "As a general rule, cavalry made up about one-third of field armies. French armies had about 30 percent horsemen during the Nine Years War and this figure only shrank slightly to 27 per cent during the War of The Spanish Succession."

As for army sizes during the period your inquiring about: "The Nine Years War witnessed field forces that swelled again to reach an average strength of 39,000." However he notes that Luxembourg led 80,000 at Neerwinden in 1693 but notes that this was rare and French armies rarely went over 50,000 in the late 17th century.

[rbodleyscott]

As for army sizes during the period your inquiring about: "The Nine Years War witnessed field forces that swelled again to reach an average strength of 39,000." However he notes that Luxembourg led 80,000 at Neerwinden in 1693 but notes that this was rare and French armies rarely went over 50,000 in the late 17th century.

Unfortunately the 64 units per side limit imposed by the engine means that the largest battles cannot be represented without some scaling.

[TLord]

Oh well I suspected that game engine limitations would play a part. That's not a problem for me really. Neerwinden's numbers would be pretty hard to replicate for any game engine out there right now I suspect. I know I'll be fine with as close as you can get it. I'll see if my other books give the proportions your looking for, for other field armies later today if I can.

[Aryaman]

David Chandler, The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough pg. 30-31 show percentages of cavalry in different armies and periods. The numbers are for armies in campaign and some of them could be rather unreliable, anyway here they are3.

From 1618 to 1648

Between 30% to 40%, exceptions Denmark 50% and Poland 60%

1648 to 1715

between 27% (England) and 45% (Sweden), exception Poland 60%

In page 31 there is a list of Battles from 1690 to 1747. Fleurus 21.6%, Steenkirk 22.5%, Landen 37.7%. Poltava 19%. Malplaquet 27.3%.
In general, according to Chandler cavalry was on a temporary decline from 1660 to 1760, but local conditions makes any general assumption dangerous.

[rbodleyscott]

Thanks!

[TLord]

Ah that work by Chandler was exactly what I was going to make for when I got home! Excellent that someone posted that! He's a good source and that book should be in the library of anyone interested in late 17th/early 18th century warfare.

[Athos1660]

Does anyone have any good information on proportions of cavalry and foot in later 17th century armies (1648-1698), with particular reference to various northern wars and the Nine Years War (War of the League of Augsberg)?

This is an old thread (2015) so I guess that, by now, you have all the information required.

However, J. A. Lynn provides additional informations on proportions of cavalry and foot in later 17th century French armies that don’t appear in this thread and that might interest you.

Proportions of cavalry (on average) :

• Over the entire period 1635-1715 : one third of field armies

• Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659) : 35%
  • the Battle of Avein (1635) is the exception with only 18%
  • Battle of the Dunes (1658) : 40%

• Dutch War (battles of Sinsheim, Seneffe and Enzheim in 1674) : 47 %

• Nine Years' War : 30%

• War of the Spanish Succession : 27%

Such data give a clear picture of the evolution of the proportion of cavalry in later 17th century French armies that seems to fit into a bell-shaped curve. Lynn also mentions that, according to Chandler, "during the Thirty Years' War, cavalry composed 35 percent of French field armies, a figure that declined somewhat to 30 percent for the period 1648-1715" (The Art of Warfare).

This of course assumes that cavalry and infantry units were equally understrength, which may or may not be the case. (In-game units starting at approximately 60% of your quoted full paper strength for the French army).

The author warns about the proportions I mention above : « These percentages assume that units were at full strength. In fact, because cavalry compagnies were more likely to be full than were infantry compagnies, the percentage of cavalry is probably understated by official tallies. » (p. 528-529)

Sources :
Giant of the Grand Siècle, The French Army 1610-1715)

[rbodleyscott]

Thanks