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Shyning
No, muskets and Argubusiers and pistols were in very wide use in the time period of this manga. The army portrayed in the manga is around the start of the Pike Era, which is 1480's-1500.
It's not accurate to the 1600's, where Pike and shot, Reiter and Cuirassier age of Warfare was in full swing.
Below is an overview on the history of the developments of warfare leading up to the 1600's and the 30 years war.
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The Rise of Pike and Shot 1490's to 1530. The Spanish Tercio, a Response to French Dominance in Italian Wars.
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The French army was almost unstoppable after the 100 years war and were incredibly dominant 1500s+ because the French army was a professional paid force that consisted of Swiss Mercenaries and French Gendarme. It was in response to the incredible melee potential of the french force that the Imperial Catholic forces of Hapsburg Spain adapted to consist more and more of defensive pike formations with Gunpowder units and resisted the French in Italy. The earliest and most decisive of these victories was the Battle of Cerignola in 1503. Thus signalling the Start of the Pike and Shot era and the beginning of the Tercios, who replaced Spanish Pike only formations, the colunellas in the 1530's.
The battle of Pavia in 1525 cemented the Tercio and the age of Pike and Shot into the modern era and hinted at the rise of the Reiter horsemen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cerignola
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pavia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_and_shot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tercios
The Pike and shot era over time reduced the importance of Crossbows and Long Bows, as Crossbows and Longbows required costly wood which had been denuded throughout Europe due to incessant war. Gunpowder weapons required less skill and cost less, so they gradually replaced all other ranged weapons for standardization purposes.
The last recorded use of an English Long bow for example, was in 1644 at the battle of Tippermuir in Scotland.
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1600's the fall of the Caracole, the rise of the Swedish empire and Gustalphus Adolphus, father of Napoleonic warfare, using mobile canon to break Pike formations and the return of aggressive heavy armored cavalry charges to route poorly used Reiter and Pistolier cavalry and enemy infantry.
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The cavalry and troops of this manga, are not historically accurate. The cavalry for example would have very high contingents of pistoliers and heavily armored pistol cavalry pre-Gustavus Adolphus reforms and before the reintroduction of shock Cavalry adopted from Polish Hussars.
In 1600's
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reiter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demi-lancer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
appenheim_Curassiers.PNG
Gustalphus Adolphus himself is credited with inventing the precursors of Napoleonic warfare involving mobile artillery to break Pike Squares and to exploit the Caracole maneuver from enemy cavalry by charging his own armored cavalry into enemy pistoliers and routing enemy cavalry. His artillery would pulverized Pike squares and necessitate the enemy to have more gunpowder ranged units, which would then make them more vulnerable to his Swedish cavalry and Swedish Infantry charges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Adolphus_of_Sweden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracole
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Gendarme and the eventual widespread adoption of the Cuirassier and Demi-lancer
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During the 1560's and 1600's, heavy cavalry, armored as knights in plate armor, were not uncommon, but increasingly were phased out as Reiter horsemen, and Pistoliers armored in Plate armor were designed to counter them.
The French were forced to adapt to this during the French Wars of Religion because of this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Wars_of_Religion
The developed replacement to Gendarmie and similar heavy Plate Armored Cavalry were Demi lancers and Cuirassier Horsemen. It's debatable how long of a transition period between 1560's to 1600's lasted, but the old suits of Gendarmie armor were used throughout this transition period. The rich especially could still pay for good Medieval style Plate Armor, which makes it especially confusing,and as a result, elite heavy Plate Armored Cavalry similar to knights were retained in many countries.
By the 1580s France and England had begun to phase out the Lance and by the 1650's, heavy cavalry abandoned limb armor mostly.
Germany had largely abandoned the Lance by the start of the 1600's, or not depending on the sources.
Again, confusing, but what we do know is that Gustalphus Adolphus found lots and LOTS of idiots running around with thin Pike and Shot Formations and plenty of unarmored pistol cavalry and not enough well trained heavy Cavalry who he repeatedly defeated during the 1600's with aggressive Artillery and heavy Cavalry charges, especially during the 30 years war, WHICH IS THE TIME PERIOD OF THIS MANGA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarme_(historical)#Gendarmes_in_battle_in_the_early_sixteenth_century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demi-lancer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
appenheim_Curassiers.PNG
Heavily Armored Reiter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
resden-Zwinger-Armoury-Armor.13.JPG
*edit add 9/7/19
The Reiter Horsmen and Cuirassiers as well as the Demi Lancer, were over time replaced by Harquebusiers, and the term for Reiter and Harquebusiers essentially became synonymous. Harquebusiers are basically just Reiter Horsemen, but with Carbines and Long guns and Saber. The terms became synonymous because many units used the Saber and multiple Pistol and didn't transition so were essentially the same as the previous Reiter cavalry.
They also used the more reliable Crossbow and rarely various bows etc depending on the situation.
The lance is said to have declined, which is true. Hilariously though, a lot of the historians I saw kept saying the Lance disappeared, while there is plenty of artwork and Museum pictures depicting Cuirassiers, Reiters etc using the lance (because you know, they were still in use during the Napoleonic wars, so someone still knew how to use them and retained the skill even then so it makes no sense the Lance use disappeared. Note the Cossacks, the Polish Ulhans established in the 1720s and French Lancers and later on British Lancers. )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harquebusier
On a side note, these chest plate, Helmeted Carbine and Saber wielding horsemen, alongside the armored Reiters and became the European standard when Gustalphus Adolphus inherited these cavalrymen and instead of using the stupid Caracole, he simply charged them in Swords first. The rest of Europe felt that full plated Cuirassier were too expensive and followed the Swedish Cavalry model, especially since close range Pistol shot and Harquebusier shots could penetrate Cuirassier armor, while the Chest and helmet Plate armor allowed Harquebusiers to occupy Cuirassiers while being significantly cheaper and less vulnerable to Infantry Long guns.
Limb armor on Cuirassiers was retained at least up until the 1640s, where it was confirmed to have been used by the British London Lobsters at the Battle of Cheriton. Just assume past 1644 that the limb armor was extremely uncommon, the Cuirassier Plate and Helmet was used extensively even into the 18th century like 1701 etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_lobsters
The Harquebusier style cavalry over time were retained under many different names especially well into the Napoleonic wars. Carabiners were very similar cavalry and even had similar plate armor, many hussars operated similarly to Harqubusiers with Long guns and Swords. Many of the light cavalry like Hussars etc, operated similar to old style Reiters, with multiple pistols and saber. The only difference was usually the names and the fact they often used even less armor.
*edit: 9/5/19
For anyone who wants to read about how Plate Armor itself was itself getting impractically due to the increasing power of the Arqubusier and Musketeer, declines in metallurgy for cheaper Iron and the increasing thickness, Serpentine gunpowder changing Corning Gunpowder and thus massively increasing gunpowder penetration, here are the links.
This was a big factor for how Pistols eventually allowed Reiter Horsemen to be so effective against traditional Plate Armor cavalry like Gendarme, as well as tipping the balance towards infantry slowly. Alongside the fact that the decline of field battles and cavalry as a whole due to the intense focus on sieges during the 80 YEAR'S WAR.
(Pikemen were particularly strong when combined with Gunpowder weapons as they mitigated each other's weaknesses, thus the Pike and Shot era. Pikemen alone were not, particularly invincible, their reputation for invincibility in history came from the Swiss era 14-15th century pikemen's discipline and mobility revolution, then from the 15th-16th century Pike and Shot Tercio Gunpowder afterward.)
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5udybq/how_effective_was_plate_armor_against_musketballs/
https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3gvzr6/how_effective_were_early_matchlock_weapons/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder#Corning
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquebus#Terminology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musketeer#Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tercio#Formations
If anyone wants to know, past the 16th century into the 1650's etc, the dutch innovated linear gunpowder formations, and Tercio Pike and shot gradually evolved to became the Napoleonic Infantry line.
*Edit 9/5/19: Added more reading material if anyone sees this post in the future and is interested.
*Edit 9/7/19: Added blurb on how Reiter Horsemen Evolved into the Harquebusiers, then branched out into all other European cavalry like Hussars, Carabiners, Dragoons etc.
