Hakkapeliitta facts for kids
Hakkapeliitta (Finnish pl. hakkapeliitat) is a historiographical term used for a Finnish light cavalryman in the service of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648). Hakkapeliitta is a 19th-century Finnish modification of a contemporary name given by foreigners in the Holy Roman Empire and variously spelled as Hackapelit, Hackapelite, Hackapell, Haccapelit, or Haccapelite. These terms were based on a Finnish battle cry hakkaa päälle (English: strike upon [them]; Swedish: hacka på), commonly translated as "Cut them down!"
The hakkapeliitta-style cavalry was first used during the Polish-Swedish Wars of the late 16th century. In the early 17th century the cavalry led by the Field Marshal Jacob De la Gardie participated in campaigns against Poland and Russia. The Hakkapeliitta cavalry men led by Field Marshal Gustaf Horn were vital to the Swedish victories in Germany during the Thirty Years' War.
The Finnish military march Hakkapeliittain Marssi is named after hakkapeliittas.
Contents
Tactics
The Hakkapeliitta were well-trained Finnish light cavalrymen who excelled in skirmishing, raiding and reconnaissance, as well as in pitched battles. The greatest advantage these lightly armored horsemen had were the speed and ferocity of their charge. They were equipped like the typical harquebusier light cavalry of their era; armed with a broadsword and two wheellock pistols and protected by a buff coat and a pot helmet. A steel breastplate was often worn as well.
They would attack at a full gallop, the troopers on the front rank firing their pistols at near-contact distance and the whole formation crashing through the enemy at sword point. The horses themselves were another weapon, as they were used to trample enemy infantrymen.
The horses used by the Hakkapeliitta were the ancestors of the modern Finnhorse; they were strong and durable.
Organization
The Swedish army then had three cavalry regiments from Finland:
- Nyland and Tavastehus County Cavalry Regiment (Swedish: Nylands och Tavastehus läns kavalleriregemente)
- Åbo and Björneborg County Cavalry Regiment (Åbo och Björneborgs läns kavalleriregemente)
- Viborg and Nyslott County Cavalry Regiment (Viborgs och Nyslotts läns kavalleriregemente)
Their most famous commander was Torsten Stålhandske (surname meaning "steelglove"), who was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel with the Nyland and Tavastehus Cavalry Regiment in 1629 and led it for the first time in the Thirty Years' War.
The original provincial regiments (landskapsregementen) had been raised by splitting the old Grand regiments (Storregementen, also "Land regiments" (landsregementen), organized by Gustavus Adolphus at the end of the 1610s, forming 21 infantry and eight cavalry regiments as written in the Swedish constitution of 1634.
Notable battles
The main battles in which the Hakkapeliitta took part during the Thirty Years' War were:
- Breitenfeld in 1631
- Lech in 1632
- Battle of Alte Veste in 1632
- Lützen in 1632
- Nördlingen in 1634
- Leipzig in 1642 (also known as the Second Battle of Breitenfeld or the First Battle of Leipzig)
- Jankau in 1645
200 Hakkapeliitta were also part of the army which King Karl X Gustav of Sweden led across the frozen Danish straits in the winter of 1658, which enabled him to conquer Skåneland from Denmark in the Treaty of Roskilde.
Many Finnish soldiers served under the Swedish Empire. During the era of the Swedish Empire of the 17th century, the Finnish cavalry was constantly used in Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and Denmark. Parts of the cavalry were stationed in Estonia and Livonia.
See also
In Spanish: Hakkapeliitta para niños
