Karolinsk Stridstaktik
artilleriets och pikens roll 1700-1712 samt bataljonens stridsformering
From a new perspective, this paper will examine the artillery and the pike role in the period 1700-1712 and the battalion´s battle formation in the Caroline combat tactics. Carolinian battle tactics were practiced during the period 1700-1721. The results from my study will be compared to existing research opinion regarding the selected subject areas, if the result confirms the thesis or question the existing research opinion. The source material used consists of eyewitness accounts from the period consisting of diaries, memoir, biography, general muster rolls and historical literature covering the subject. The analysis shows that the Caroline artillery took part in 12 battles during the period of 1700-1712. The analysis also shows that there was a close working between the infantry and artillery in attacks. This result contradicts the existing facility research mixture view that artillery was subordinate other weaponry because it prevented the Caroline attack tempo. In the analysis of the pike role in Caroline combat tactics, reveals nothing that confirms existing research opinion that the pike was an offensive melee weapon. Instead it seems that the pikes role was a support weapon with a defensive focus. The analysis of the battalion`s battle formation shows that the Caroline battalion battle formation did not follow the regulations of the battle formation. According to the existing research the battalion´s battle formation was as required by regulations. But according to the general muster rolls, there are differences between the battalions when it comes to the relationship of forces. So the Caroline battalion battle formation could not have been strictly required by regulations.