Hi, I'm new to this site, and I have this question that has fascinated me for years. For via various sources I've often gleaned that both the Irish and Scots mercenaries serving within the Swedish and other ranks during The Thirty Years' War were the most ferocious and feared fighting men ON THE BATTLEFIELD, the baddest badasses in that most badass respect. How true is that??
For I know that the Croatian soldiers acquired this fearsome and bloodthirsty reputation, YET were at times beaten back viciously and resolutely by Irish and Scottish swords and pikes, and that trained Scottish warriors made the finest, fiercest and most feral missile/hand to hand shock troops throughout much of that horrific conflict. True??
Thank You Very Much!
Also, many of the Gaelic Irish and Antrim Highlander mercenaries (Ulster Irish of Scottish Highland descent) who fought under Montrose during The Year of Miracles throughout much of the western Scottish Highlands (1644-1645) were actually these hardened and seasoned veterans of Continental conflict, most of whom gained such renown and fame fighting under the banners of Spain, and that particular Irish contingent was deemed as ""magnificent,"" and for which ""there were no better soldiers in the World (or something to that effect).""
Moreover, it was thoroughly documented that Montrose's Irish were SOOOO fearsome and tough that they invariably ""struck home with the effect of charging cavalry,"" and were as rabid in battle as they were skilled in warfare, AND that ""The Irish/Highland Charge,"" perfected by Montrose's top subordinate and right hand man Alistair MacColla MacDonald, eventually proved as the finest and most devastating offensive weapon/tactical doctrine in all of Europe for well over a century (as those outstanding Gaelic warriors utilized and unleashed it to spectacular effect on several occasions).
And many if not most of those primevally and tribally inspired Gaelic Irish/Antrim Irish Highlanders saw service at some point during that savage Thirty Years' War, and thus established quite the savage and bloodcurdling reputation themselves.
Their intrepid battlefield exploits and near superhuman feats up in the mountains of Scotland certainly lend a tremendous amount credence to that claim of the Irish and Scottish Highlanders as being the most visceral and ferocious soldiers in all of Europe during that era, OR so as to reinforce the validity and veracity of my original question.