"Squares in the SYW" Topic

How common were the use of squares in the SYW?

I don't think they were common at all. Infantry who were organised and disciplined could see off cavalry with musket fire (unlike the later Napoleonic period) or fight them with bayonet if reached. Squares were a feature of Napoleonic Warfare not Seven Years War warfare. I recently researched 24 battles from the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War and if I recall correctly there was mention of infantry forming square in just one of them (I forget which).

Uncommon, but search the Kronoskaf Project Seven Years' War website and you'll see that there are occasions when they were used and sometimes overrun.

Very rarely. There was almost never a need to. Here is an old discussion:

TMP link

Used by the Russians later in the 1770s when facing the Ottoman Turks / Crimean Tatars, with their preponderance of mounted troops.

As noted very rare – reasonably well trained linear infantry could see off a cavalry charge pretty well – there were rare instances (for example, one when the Irish brigade formed a square in town around some Austrian cavalry, which didn't turn out well for the Austrians) but overall not used much at all

Also the Prussian (and maybe Austrian) grenadier battalions which anchored the outside flanks of the first and second battle lines were normally formed into closed columns to protect the flanks of the battle lines. That would be the closest most battles saw to formed squares.

Jim

I did find one example in the ACW (a North Carolina regiment during Day 1 at Gettysburg), but I have never found an example from the 1740 to 1763 period.

The soldiers in some armies were trained to turn the rear rank about face and fire at charging cavalry (British at Dettingen and Minden are two examples). The first battalion of the Prussian Garde at Kolin allegedly went prone and let the Austrian dragoons ride over them, then arose and fired back at the cavalry. Not a recommended tactic though…

Did the Suisse or french troops form square at Rossbach?

@dogtail, Swiss rear guard if I am not mistaken.

As ColCampbell wrote: Prussian infantry formed a huge square at Mollwitz.

Friedrich liked that.

"Ferner stelle ich der Sicherheit halber je drei Bataillone in die Abstände zwischen dem rechten und linken Flügel beider Infanterie, treffen, wie Ihr aus Plan VII erseht. Wird dann auch die Kavallerie geschlagen, so kann sich Eure Infanterie doch halten, wie es bei Mollwitz der Fall war."
link
I do believe that SYW wargaming starts when you have enough room to do exactly that, but one bataillon of Grenadiers is enough for 28mm imho.
cheers!