Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

Gustavus Adolphus and of Charles XII. The contributions made by it to the military science of the 17th century have been noticed above. The triumphs of the small and highly disciplined army of Charles were often such as to recall the similar victories of the Greeks under Alexander. The then nebulous armies of Russia and Poland resembled indeed the forces of Darius in the 4th century B.C., but Peter the Great succeeded at last in producing a true army, and the resistance of the Swedes collapsed under the weight of the vastly superior numbers then brought against them. The _Danish Army_ has a long and meritorious record of good service dating from the Thirty Years' War.