Rocroi 1643 - THIRTY YEARS' WAR DOCUMENTARY

<3 We have been thinking about making this series longer and covering more events - this is our favorite series, as it features some of the most iconic battles with unique tactics. However, this is also one of our least viewed series. It is difficult to explain why, but in short, youtube reacts to the number of likes/shares/comments and the more a video gets, the more it is promoted, so if you like this period, please engage with this video as much as you can. We want to cover more conflicts of this era - Eighty Years' War, English Civil War, Torstenson War, Nine Years' War, Polish–Muscovite War, Huguenot Wars and others, but youtube needs more encouragement :-) Thank you for your support!

We really need a Total War in that Period

Random fact: General L'hospital is father of Guillaume de L'Hospital, the mathematician who is the namesake of L'Hospital's Rule.

Not even Spanish....but that last stand of the Tercio paintings is among one of my favorite wartime artworks.

I always found the 30 years war fascinating.

Spaniads duck whenever the Swedes fire a volley Swedes: "Wait, that's illegal!"

the movie Alartiste and the books it it based on ends on this battle, featuring Viggo "Aragorn" Mortenson.

I can't tell you how long I have waited for someone to do this battle! I think a lot of people have a somewhat Anglo-centric perspective just because of the latter British Empire, and it is easy to forget just how much of a colossal power house Spain actually was during the early modern period.

rumor says hes still waiting for beck

What I really don't like these days is the very Anglo-Saxon-centric way of teaching history (I am from Czech Republic btw). Maybe it was just my particular secondary school (or a teacher), but I remember that we were for example taught American Civil War and War of Independance in much bigger detail than European history of 1500-1789. We studied in bigger details the parts important for Czech history (War of the Austrian succession and Seven-Years War for example, as well as Battle of White-Mountain, of course), but when it came to the overall picture of European politics, we were just taught relatively basic stuff. When it comes to the Battle of Rocroi (essentially a turning point between Spanish and French domination of the continent), I don't remember that the teacher ever mentioned it in the class (maybe she did, but either way, it was not considered to be a major and important information - eventhough it was something much more relevant for Europe than for example Battle of Bosworth in 1485, which I still remember to this day as we discussed the War of Roses in much bigger detail)

Finally someone who brings this conflict to the international audience!

"On the fields before Rocroy there stands an unassuming grey monolith, the grave stone of the Spanish Army; almost, one might say, the gravestone of Spanish greatness." - C.V. Wedgewood

I am French so I can say without being suspected of nationalism that the Spanish Tercios were incredibly strong and that they ruled the battles in Europe for a very long time. I had been told that one of their "secrets" was that they didn't separate the soldiers coming from the same city, same region or same family and never split into differents units like were doing all the other Europeans armies (and like they are still doing today)! So those soldiers were highly motivated to help or revenge their brothers in arms and knowing they would be helped by their full unit! This plus their long experience were creating some fabulous communities of fighters!

Everyone: Stands in a line and hopes to not get shot. Spanish: 4:30 what if we just ducked?

Conde did his multitasking well in this battle wow Can't imagine synchronizing all of that while leading a cavalry charge around the back

Watching Louis Conde destroy all those units with his cav made me think of how many kills his cav unit/'s would have gotten in a total war battle

España mi natura, Italia mi ventura, Flandes mi sepultura.

French cavalry stood up to their glorious reputation that dates back to the Frankish era. Louis Condé is amazing. Also Richelieu is one of my favorite French politics, he basically conceived the French modern statist approach later enforced by Louis XIV and after that by Robespierre and Napoléon.

I'd like to see more Spanish battles! Back when Spain dominated the world then the decline in the 17th century, the 18th century colonial renewal and the 19th century loss of Spain's colonial empire in the Spanish American independence wars

Conde is one clever young man. And audacious too.