Gustavus Adolphus

Swedish king and military genius who transformed Sweden into a major European power, revolutionized warfare with combined-arms tactics (integrated infantry-cavalry-artillery), and died at the Battle of Lützen fighting for the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War — called the Lion of the North and the Father of Modern Warfare.

Revolutionized European warfare — Gustavus's thin, flexible Swedish infantry formation (opposed to the massive Spanish tercio), mobile artillery, and disciplined cavalry working in combination created the template for modern combined-arms tactics that would dominate warfare for two centuries.