Prague, to claim [and to receive] from the Emperor, who was
residing in the Bohemian capital, additional rewards for the
important services so lately rendered. The boon solicited was
nothing less than the Duchy of Mecklenburg, which was to be
taken from its legitimate princes, on the ground of their
having joined the King of Denmark, and bestowed on the
successful general. ... Hitherto the ocean had alone arrested
the progress of Wallenstein: a fleet was now to be formed,
which should enable him to give laws beyond the Belts, and
perhaps beyond the Baltic also. Every seaport in Mecklenburg
and Pomerania is ordered to be taken possession of and
fortified. ... The siege of Stralsund, which was resolved upon
early in 1628, constitutes one of the most memorable
operations of the war. Not merely because it furnishes an
additional proof of what may be effected by skill, courage and
resolution, against vastly superior forces, but because its
result influenced, in an eminent degree, some of the most
important events that followed. When Wallenstein ordered the
seaports along the coast of Pomerania to be occupied,
Stralsund, claiming its privilege as an imperial and Hanseatic
free town, refused to admit his troops. ... After a good deal
of negotiation, which only cost the people of Stralsund some
large sums of money, paid away in presents to the imperial
officers, Arnheim invested the place on the 7th of May with
8,000 men. ...
{1473}
The town ... , unable to obtain assistance from the Duke of
Pomerania, the lord superior of the province, who, however
willing, had no means of furnishing relief, placed itself
under the protection of Sweden; and Gustavus Adolphus, fully
sensible of the importance of the place, immediately
dispatched the celebrated David Leslie, at the head of 600
men, to aid in its defence. Count Brahe, with 1,000 more, soon
followed; so that when Wallenstein reached the army on the
27th of June, he found himself opposed by a garrison of
experienced soldiers, who had already retaken all the outworks
which Arnheim had captured in the first instance. ... Rain
began to fall in such torrents that the trenches were entirely
filled, and the flat moor ground, on which the army was encamped,
became completely inundated and untenable. The proud spirit of
Friedland, unused to yield, still persevered; but sickness
attacked the troops, and the Danes having landed at Jasmund,
he was obliged to march against them with the best part of his
forces; and in fact to raise the siege. ... The Danes having
effected their object, in causing the siege of Stralsund to be
raised, withdrew their troops from Jasmund, and landed them
again at Wolgast. Here, however, Wallenstein surprised, and
defeated them with great loss. ... There being on all sides a
willingness to bring the war to an end, peace was ...
concluded at Lubeck in January 1629. By this treaty the Danes
recovered, without reserve or indemnity, all their former
possessions; only pledging themselves not again to interfere
in the affairs of the Empire. ... The peace of Lubeck left
Wallenstein absolute master in Germany, and without an equal
in greatness: his spirit seemed to hover like a storm-charged
cloud over the land, crushing to the earth every hope of
liberty and successful resistance. Mansfeld and Christian of
Brunswick had disappeared from the scene; Frederick V. had
retired into obscurity. Tilly and Pappenheim, his former
rivals, now condescended to receive favours, and to solicit
pensions and rewards through the medium of his intercession.
Even Maximilian of Bavaria was second in greatness to the
all-dreaded Duke of Friedland: Europe held no uncrowned head
that was his equal in fame, and no crowned head that surpassed
him in power. ... Ferdinand, elated with success, had
neglected the opportunity, again afforded him by the peace of
Lubeck, for restoring tranquillity to the empire. ... Instead
of a general peace, Ferdinand signed the fatal Edict of
Restitution, by which the Protestants were called upon to
restore all the Catholic Church property they had sequestrated
since the religious pacification of 1555: such sequestration
being, according to the Emperor's interpretation, contrary to
the spirit of the treaty of Passau. The right of
long-established possession was here entirely overlooked; and
Ferdinand forgot, in his zeal for the church, that he was
actually setting himself up as a judge, in a case in which he
was a party also. It was farther added, that, according to the
same treaty, freedom of departure from Catholic countries, was
the only privilege which Protestants had a right to claim from
Catholic princes. This decree came like a thunder-burst over
Protestant Germany. Two archbishopricks, 12 bishopricks, and a
countless number of convents and clerical domains, which the
Protestants had confiscated, and applied to their own
purposes, were now to be surrendered. Imperial commissioners
were appointed to carry the mandate into effect, and, to
secure immediate obedience, troops were placed at the disposal
of the new officials. Wherever these functionaries appeared,
the Protestant service was instantly suspended; the churches
deprived of their bells; altars and pulpits pulled down; all
Protestant books, bibles and catechisms were seized; and
gibbets were erected to terrify those who might be disposed to
resist. All Protestants who refused to change their religion
were expelled from Augsburg: summary proceedings of the same
kind were resorted to in other places. Armed with absolute
power, the commissioners soon proceeded from reclaiming the
property of the church to seize that of individuals. The
estates of all persons who had served under Mansfeld, Baden,
Christian of Brunswick; of all who had aided Frederick V., or
rendered themselves obnoxious to the Emperor, were seized and
confiscated. ... The Duke of Friedland, who now ruled with
dictatorial sway over Germany, had been ordered to carry the
Edict of Restitution into effect, in all the countries
occupied by his troops. The task, if we believe historians,
was executed with unbending rigour."
J. Mitchell,
Life of Wallenstein,
chapters 2-3.
ALSO IN:
L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation,
1517 to 1648, chapter 33.
GERMANY: A. D. 1627-1631.
War of the Emperor and Spain with France, over the succession
to the duchy of Mantua.
See ITALY: A. D. 1627-1631.
GERMANY: A. D. 1630.
The Thirty Years War:
Universal hostility to Wallenstein.
His dismissal by the Emperor.
The rising of a new champion of Protestantism in Sweden.
"Wallenstein had ever shown great toleration in his own
domains; but it is not to be denied that ... he aided to carry
out the edict [of Restitution] in the most barbarous and
relentless manner. It would be as tedious as painful to dwell
upon all the cruelties which were committed, and the
oppression that was exercised, by the imperial commissioners;
but a spirit of resistance was aroused in the hearts of the
German people, which only waited for opportunity to display
itself. Nor was it alone against the emperor that wrath and
indignation was excited. Wallenstein drew down upon his head
even more dangerous enmity than that which sprung up against
Ferdinand. He ruled in Germany with almost despotic sway; for
the emperor himself seemed at this time little more than a
tool in his hands. His manners were unpopular, stern,
reserved, and gloomy. . . . Princes were kept waiting in his
ante-chamber; and all petitions and remonstrances against his
stern decrees were treated with the mortifying scorn which
adds insult to injury. The magnificence of his train, the
splendor of his household, the luxury and profusion that
spread every where around him, afforded continual sources of
envy and jealous hate to the ancient nobility of the empire.
The Protestants throughout the land were his avowed and
implacable enemies; and the Roman Catholic princes viewed him
with fear and suspicion. Maximilian of Bavaria, whose star had
waned under the growing luster of Wallenstein's renown, who
had lost that authority in the empire which he knew to be due
to his services and his genius, solely by the rise and
influence of Wallenstein, and whose ambitious designs of
ruling Germany through an emperor dependent upon him for
power, had been frustrated entirely by the genius which placed
the imperial throne upon a firm and independent basis, took no
pains to conceal his hostility to the Duke of Friedland. ...
{1474}
Though the soldiery still generally loved him, their officers
hated the hand that put a limit to the oppression by which
they throve, and would fain have resisted its power. ... While
these feelings were gathering strength in Germany; while
Wallenstein, with no friends, though many supporters, saw
himself an object of jealousy or hatred to the leaders of
every party throughout the empire; and while the suppressed
but cherished indignation of all Protestant Germany was
preparing for the emperor a dreadful day of reckoning, events
were taking place in other countries which hurried on rapidly
the dangers that Wallenstein had foreseen. In France, a weak
king, and a powerful, politic, and relentless minister,
appeared in undissembled hostility to the house of Austria;
and the famous Cardinal de Richelieu busied himself,
successfully, to raise up enemies to the German branch of that
family. ... In Poland, Sigismund, after vainly contending with
Gustavus Adolphus, and receiving an inefficient aid from
Germany, was anxious to conclude the disastrous war with
Sweden. Richelieu interfered; Oxenstiern negotiated on the
part of Gustavus; and a truce of six years was concluded in
August, 1629, by which the veteran and victorious Swedish
troops were set free to act in any other direction. A great
part of Livonia was virtually ceded to Gustavus, together with
the towns and territories of Memel, Braunsberg and Elbingen,
and the strong fortress of Pillau. At the same time, Richelieu
impressed upon the mind of Gustavus the honor, the advantage,
and the necessity of reducing the immense power of the
emperor, and delivering the Protestant states of Germany from
the oppression under which they groaned. ... Confident in his
own powers of mind and warlike skill, supported by the love
and admiration of his people, relying on the valor and
discipline of' his troops, and foreseeing all the mighty
combinations which were certain to take place in his favor,
Gustavus hesitated but little. He consulted with his
ministers, indeed heard and answered every objection that
could be raised; and then applied to the Senate at Stockholm
to insure that his plans were approved, and that his efforts
would be seconded by his people. His enterprise met with the
most enthusiastic approbation; and then succeeded all the
bustle of active preparation. ... While this storm was
gathering in the North, while the towns of Sweden were
bristling with arms, and her ports filled with ships,
Ferdinand was driven or persuaded to an act the most fatal to
himself, and the most favorable to the King of Sweden. A Diet
was summoned to meet at Ratisbon early in the year 1630; and
the chief object of the emperor in taking a step so dangerous
to the power he had really acquired, and to the projects so
boldly put forth in his name, seems to have been to cause his
son to be elected King of the Romans. ... The name of the
archduke, King of Hungary, is proposed to the Diet for
election as King of the Romans, and a scene of indescribable
confusion and murmuring takes place: A voice demands that,
before any such election is considered, the complaints of the
people of Germany against the imperial armies shall be heard;
and then a perfect storm of accusations pours down. Every sort
of tyranny and oppression, every sort of cruelty and exaction,
every sort of licentiousness and vice is attributed to the
emperor's troops; but the hatred and the charges all
concentrate themselves upon the head of the great commander of
the imperial forces; and there is a shout for his instant
dismissal. ... Ferdinand hesitated, and affected much surprise
at the charges brought against his general and his armies. He
yielded in the end, however; and it is said, upon very good
authority, that his ruinous decision was brought about by the
arts of the same skillful politician who had conjured up the
storm which now menaced the empire from the north. Richelieu
had sent an embassador to Ratisbon. ... In the train of the
embassador came the well-known intriguing friar, Father
Joseph, the most unscrupulous and cunning of the cardinal's
emissaries; and he, we are assured, found means to persuade
the emperor that, by yielding to the demand of the electors
and removing Wallenstein for a time, he might obtain the
election of the King of Hungary, and then reinstate the Duke
of Friedland in his command as soon as popular anger had
subsided. However that might be, Ferdinand, as I have said,
yielded, openly expressing his regret at the step he was about
to take, and the apprehensions which he entertained for the
consequences. Count Questenberg and another nobleman, who had
been long on intimate terms with Wallenstein, were sent to the
camp to notify to him his removal from command, and to soften
the disgrace by assuring him of the emperor's gratitude and
affection."
G. P. R. James,
Dark Scenes of History: Wallenstein,
chapters 3-4.
ALSO IN:
S. R. Gardiner,
The Thirty Years' War,
chapter 7, section 3.
A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
volume 2, chapter 1.
GERMANY: A. D. 1630-1631.
The Thirty Years War:
The Coming of Gustavus Adolphus.
His occupation of Pomerania and Brandenburg.
The horrible fate of Magdeburg at the hands of Tilly's
ruffians.
"On June 24, 1630, one hundred years, to a day, after the
Augsburg Confession was promulgated, Gustavus Adolphus landed
on the coast of Pomerania, near the mouth of the river Peene,
with 13,000 men, veteran troops, whose rigid discipline was
sustained by their piety, and who were simple-minded, noble,
and glowing with the spirit of the battle. He had reasons
enough for declaring war against Ferdinand, even if 10,000 of
Wallenstein's troops had not been sent to aid Sigismund
against him. But the controlling motive, in his own mind, was
to succor the imperiled cause of religious freedom in Germany.
Coming as the protector of the evangelic Church, he expected
to be joined by the Protestant princes. But he was
disappointed. Only the trampled and tortured people of North
Germany, who in their despair were ready for revolts and
conspiracies of their own, welcomed him as their deliverer
from the bandits of Wallenstein and the League. Gustavus
Adolphus appeared before Stettin, and by threats compelled the
old duke, Bogislaw XIV., to open to him his capital city, He
then took measures to secure possession of Pomerania. His army
grew rapidly, while that of the emperor was widely dispersed,
so that he now advanced into Brandenburg. George William, the
elector, was a weak prince, though a Protestant, and a brother
of the Queen of Sweden; he was guided by his Catholic
chancellor, Schwarzenberg, and had painfully striven to keep
neutral throughout the war, neither side, however, respecting
his neutrality.
{1475}
In dread of the plans of Gustavus Adolphus concerning
Pomerania and Prussia, he held aloof from him. Meanwhile
Tilly, general-in-chief of the troops of the emperor and the
League, drew near, but suddenly turned aside to New
Brandenburg, in the Mecklenburg territory, now occupied by the
Swedes, captured it after three assaults, and put the garrison
to the sword (1631). He then laid siege to Magdeburg. Gustavus
Adolphus took Frankfort-on-the-Oder, where there was an
imperial garrison, and treated it, in retaliation, with the
same severity. Thence, in the spring of 1631, he set out for
Berlin. ... In Potsdam he heard of the fall of Magdeburg. He
then marched with flying banners into Berlin, and compelled
the elector to become his ally. Magdeburg was the strong
refuge of Protestantism, and the most important trading centre
in North Germany. It had resisted the Augsburg Interim of
1548, and now resisted the Edict of Restitution, rejected the
newly appointed prince bishop, Leopold William, son of the
emperor himself, and refused to receive the emperor's
garrison. The city was therefore banned by the emperor, and
was besieged for many weeks by Pappenheim, a general of the
League, who was then reinforced by Tilly himself with his
army. Gustavus Adolphus was unable to make an advance, in view
of the equivocal attitude of the two great Protestant electors,
without exposing his rear to garrisoned fortresses. From
Brandenburg as well as Saxony he asked in vain for help to
save the Protestant city. Thus Magdeburg fell, May 10, 1631.
The citizens were deceived by a pretended withdrawal of the
enemy. But suddenly, at early dawn, the badly guarded
fortifications were stormed."
C. T. Lewis,
History of Germany,
chapter 18, sections 3-4.
Two gates of the city having been opened by the storming
party, "Tilly marched in with part of his infantry.
Immediately occupying the principal streets, he drove the
citizens with pointed cannon into their dwellings, there to
await their destiny. They were not long held in suspense; a
word from Tilly decided the fate of Magdeburg. Even a more
humane general would in vain have recommended mercy to such
soldiers; but Tilly never made the attempt. Left by their
general's silence masters of the lives of all the citizens,
the soldiery broke into the houses to satiate their most
brutal appetites. The prayers of innocence excited some
compassion in the hearts of the Germans, but none in the rude
breasts of Pappenheim's Walloons. Scarcely had the savage
cruelty commenced, when the other gates were thrown open, and
the cavalry, with the fearful hordes of the Croats, poured in
upon the devoted inhabitants. Here commenced a scene of
horrors for which history has no language--poetry no pencil.
Neither innocent childhood, nor helpless old age; neither
youth, sex, rank, nor beauty, could disarm the fury of the
conquerors. Wives were abused in the arms of their husbands,
daughters at the feet of their parents; and the defenceless
sex exposed to the double sacrifice of virtue and life. No
situation, however obscure, or however sacred, escaped the
rapacity of the enemy. In a single church fifty-three women
were found beheaded. The Croats amused themselves with
throwing children into the flames; Pappenheim's Walloons with
stabbing infants at the mother's breast. Some officers of the
League, horror-struck at this dreadful scene, ventured to
remind Tilly that he had it in his power to stop the carnage.
'Return in an hour,' was his answer; 'I will see what I can
do; the soldier must have some reward for his danger and
toils.' These horrors lasted with unabated fury, till at last
the smoke and flames proved a check to the plunderers. To
augment the confusion and to divert the resistance of the
inhabitants, the Imperialists had, in the commencement of the
assault, fired the town in several places. The wind rising
rapidly, spread the flames, till the blaze became universal.
Fearful, indeed, was the tumult amid clouds of smoke, heaps of
dead bodies, the clash of swords, the crash of falling ruins,
and streams of blood. The atmosphere glowed; and the
intolerable heat forced at last even the murderers to take
refuge in their camp. In less than twelve hours, this strong,
populous, and flourishing city, one of the finest in Germany,
was reduced to ashes, with the exception of two churches and a
few houses. ... The avarice of the officers had saved 400 of
the richest citizens, in the hope of extorting from them an
exorbitant ransom. But this humanity was confined to the
officers of the League, whom the ruthless barbarity of the
Imperialists caused to be regarded as guardian angels.
Scarcely had the fury of the flames abated, when the
Imperialists returned to renew the pillage amid the ruins and
ashes of the town. Many were suffocated by the smoke; many
found rich booty in the cellars, where the citizens had
concealed their more valuable effects. On the 13th of May,
Tilly himself appeared in the town, after the streets had been
cleared of ashes and dead bodies. Horrible and revolting to
humanity was the scene that presented itself. The living
crawling from under the dead, children wandering about with
heart-rending cries, calling for their parents; and infants
still sucking the breasts of their lifeless mothers. More than
6,000 bodies were thrown into the Elbe to clear the streets; a
much greater number had been consumed by the flames. The whole
number of the slain was reckoned at not less than 30,000. The
entrance of the general, which took place on the 14th, put a
stop to the plunder, and saved the few who had hitherto
contrived to escape. About a thousand people were taken out of
the cathedral, where they had remained three days and two
nights, without food, and in momentary fear of death."
F. Schiller,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
book 2.
ALSO IN:
Sir E. Cust,
Lives of the Warriors of the
Thirty Years' War, part 1.
GERMANY: A. D. 1631 (January).
The Thirty Years War:
The Treaty of Bärwalde between Gustavus Adolphus and the king
of France.
"On the 13th of January, 1631, the Treaty of Barwalde was
concluded between France and Sweden. Hard cash had been the
principal subject of the negotiation, and Louis XIII. had
agreed to pay Gustavus a lump sum of $120,000 in consideration
of his recent expenditure,--a further sum of $400,000 a year
for six years to come. Until that time, or until a general
peace, if such should supervene earlier, Sweden was to keep in
the field an army of 30,000 foot and 6, 000 horse. The object
of the alliance was declared to be 'the protection of their
common friends, the security of the Baltic, the freedom of
commerce, the restitution of the oppressed members of the
Empire, the destruction of the newly erected fortresses in the
Baltic, the North Sea, and in the Grisons territory, so that
all should be left in the state in which it was before the
German war had begun.'
{1476}
Sweden was not to 'violate the Imperial constitution' where
she conquered; she was to leave the Catholic religion
undisturbed in all districts where she found it existing. She
was to observe towards Bavaria and the League--the spoilt
darlings of Richelieu's anti-Austrian policy--friendship or
neutrality, so far as they would observe it towards her. If,
at the end of six years, the objects were not accomplished,
the treaty was to be renewed."
C. R. L. Fletcher,
Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle
of Protestantism for Existence,
chapter 9.
GERMANY: A. D. 1631.
The Thirty Years War:
The elector of Brandenburg brought to terms by the king of
Sweden.
The elector of Saxony frightened into line.
Defeat of Tilly at Leipsig (Breitenfeld).
Effects of the great victory.
"Loud were the cries against Gustavus for not having relieved
Magdeburg. To answer them he felt himself bound to publish a
careful apology. In this document he declared, among other
things, that if he could have obtained from the Elector of
Brandenburg the passage of Küstrin he might not only have
raised the siege of Magdeburg but have destroyed the whole of
the Imperial army. The passage, however, had been denied him;
and though the preservation of Magdeburg so much concerned the
Elector of Saxony, he could obtain from him a passage toward
it neither by Wittemberg, nor the Bridge of Dessau, nor such
assistance in provision and shipping as was necessary for the
success of the enterprise. ... Something more than mere
persuasion had induced the Elector of Brandenburg, after the
capture of Francfort, to grant Gustavus possession of Spandau
for a month. The month expired on the 8th of June; and the
elector demanded back his stronghold. The king, fettered by
his promise, surrendered it; but the next day, having marched
to Berlin and pointed his guns against the palace, the ladies
came forth as mediators, and the elector consented both to
surrender Spandau again and to pay, for the maintenance of the
Swedish troops, a monthly subsidy of 30,000 rix-dollars. At
the end of May Tilly removed from Magdeburg and the Elbe to
Ascherleben. This enabled the king to take Werben, on the
confluence of the Elbe and Havel, where, after the reduction
of Tangermünde and Havelberg, he established his celebrated
camp." In the latter part of July, Tilly made two attacks on
the king's camp at Werben, and was repulsed on both occasions
with heavy loss. "In the middle of August, Gustavus broke up
his camp. His force at that time, according to the
muster-rolls, amounted to 13,000 foot, and 8,850 cavalry. He
drew towards Leipsig, then threatened by Tilly, who, having
been joined at Eisleben by 15,000 men under Fürstenburg, now
possessed an army 40,000 strong to enforce the emperor's ban
against the Leipsig decrees [or resolutions of a congress of
Protestant princes which had assembled at Leipsig in February,
1631, moved to some organized common action by the Edict of
Restitution] within the limits of the electorate. The Elector
of Saxony was almost frightened out of his wits by the
impending danger. ... His grief and rage at the fall of
Magdeburg had been so great that, for two days after receiving
the news, he would admit no one into his presence. But that
dire event only added to his perplexity; he could resolve
neither upon submission, nor upon vengeance. In May, indeed,
terrified by the threats of Ferdinand, he discontinued his
levies, and disbanded a part of his troops already enlisted:
but in June he sent Arnim to Gustavus with such overtures that
the king drank his health, and seemed to have grown sanguine
in the hope of his alliance. In July, his courage still
rising, he permitted Gustavus to recruit in his dominions. In
August, his courage falling again at the approach of
Fürstenburg, he gave him and his troops a free passage through
Thuringia." But now, later in the same month, he sent word to
Gustavus Adolphus "that not only Wittemberg but the whole
electorate was open to him; that not only his son, but
himself, would serve under the king; that he would advance one
month's payment for the Swedish troops immediately, and give
security for two monthly payments more. ... Gustavus rejoiced
to find the Duke of Saxony in this temper, and, in pursuance
of a league now entered into with him, and the Elector of
Brandenburg, crossed the Elbe at Wittemberg on the 4th of
September. The Saxons, from 16,000 to 20,000 strong, moving
simultaneously from Torgau, the confederated armies met at
Düben on the Mulda, three leagues from Leipsig. At a
conference held there, it was debated whether it would be
better to protract the war or to hazard a battle. The king
took the former side, but yielded to the strong
representations of the Duke of Saxony. ... On the 6th of
September the allies came within six or eight miles of the
enemy, where they halted for the night. ... Breitenfeld, the
place at which Tilly, urged by the importunity of Pappenheim,
had chosen to offer battle, was an extensive plain, in part
recently ploughed, about a mile from Leipsig and near the
cemetery of that city. Leipsig had surrendered to Tilly two
days before. The Imperial army, estimated at 44,000 men,
occupied a rising ground on the plain. ... The army was drawn
up in one line of great depth, having the infantry in the
centre, the cavalry on the wings, according to the Spanish
order of battle, The king subdivided his army, about 20,000
strong, into centre and wings, each of which consisted of two
lines and a reserve. ... To this disposition is attributed, in
a great degree, the success of the day. ... The files being so
comparatively shallow, artillery made less havoc among them.
Then, again, the division of the army into small maniples,
with considerable intervals between each, gave space for
evolutions, and the power of throwing the troops with rapidity
wherever their services or support might be found requisite.
... The battle began at 12 o'clock." It only ended with the
setting of the sun; but long before that time the great army
of Tilly was substantially destroyed. It had scattered the
Saxons easily enough, and sent them flying, with their
worthless elector; but Gustavus and his disciplined, brave,
powerfully handled Swedes had broken and ruined the stout but
clumsy imperial lines. "It is scarcely possible to exaggerate
the importance of this success. On the event of that day, as
Gustavus himself said, the whole (Protestant) cause, 'summa
rei,' depended. The success was great in itself. The numbers
engaged on either side had been nearly equal. Not so their
loss. The Imperial loss in killed and wounded, according to
Swedish computation, was from 8,000 to 10,000; according to
the enemy's own account, between 6,000 and 7,000; while all
seem to agree that the loss on the side of the allies was only
2,700, of which 2,000 were Saxon, 700 Swedes. Besides,
Gustavus won the whole of the enemy's artillery, and more than
100 standards. Then the army of Tilly being annihilated left
him free to choose his next point of attack, almost his next
victory."
B. Chapman,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapter 8.
{1477}
"The battle of Breitenfeld was an epoch in war, and it was an
epoch in history. It was an epoch in war, because first in it
was displayed on a great scale the superiority of mobility
over weight. It was an epoch in history, because it broke the
force upon which the revived Catholicism had relied for the
extension of its empire over Europe. ... 'Germany might tear
herself and be torn to pieces for yet another half-generation,
but the actual result of the Thirty-Years' War was as good as
achieved.'"
C. R. L. Fletcher,
Gustavus Adolphus and the Struggle
of Protestantism for Existence,
chapter 11.
ALSO IN:
G. B. Malleson,
The Battle-fields of Germany,
chapter 1.
GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1632.
The Thirty Years War:
Movements and plans of the Swedish king in southern Germany.
Temporary recovery of the Palatinate.
Occupation of Bavaria.
The Saxons in Bohemia.
Battle of the Lech.
Death of Tilly.
Wallenstein's recall.
Siege and relief of Nuremberg.
Battle of Lützen, and death of Gustavus Adolphus.
"This battle, sometimes called Breitenwald [Breitenfeld],
sometimes the First Battle of Leipsic, ... was the first
victory on the Protestant side that had been achieved. It was
Tilly's first defeat after thirty battles. It filled with joy
those who had hitherto been depressed and hopeless. Cities
which had dreaded to declare themselves for fear of the fate
of Magdeburg began to lift up their heads, and vacillating
princes to think that they could safely take the part which
they preferred. Gustavus knew, however, that he must let the
Germans do as much as possible for themselves, or he should
arouse their national jealousy of him as a foreign conqueror.
So he sent the Elector of Saxony to awaken the old spirit in
Bohemia. As for himself, his great counsellor, Oxenstierna,
wanted him to march straight on Vienna, but this was not his
object. He wanted primarily to deliver the northern states,
and to encourage the merchant cities, Ulm, Augsburg,
Nuremberg, which had all along been Protestant, and to deliver
the Palatinate from its oppressors. And, out of mortification,
a strange ally offered himself, namely, Wallenstein, who
wanted revenge on the Catholic League which had insisted on
his dismissal, and the Emperor who had yielded to them. ... He
said that if Gustavus would trust him, he would soon get his
old army together again, and chase Ferdinand and the Jesuits
beyond the Alps. But Gustavus did not trust him, though he sat
quiet at Prague while the Saxons were in possession of the
city, plundering everywhere, and the Elector sending off to
Dresden fifty waggon-loads filled with the treasures of the
Emperor Rudolf's museum. ... Many exiles returned, and there
was a general resumption of the Hussite form of worship.
Gustavus had marched to Erfurt, and then turned towards the
Maine, where there was a long row of those prince bishoprics
established on the frontier by the policy of
Charlemagne--Wurtzburg, Bamberg, Fulda, Köln, Triers, Mentz,
Wurms, Spiers. These had never been secularised and were
popularly called the Priests' Lane. They had given all their
forces to the Catholic League, and Gustavus meant to repay
himself upon them. He permitted no cruelties, no persecutions;
but he levied heavy contributions, and his troops made merry
with the good Rhenish wine when he kept his Christmas at
Mentz. He invited the dispossessed Elector Palatine to join
him, and Frederick started for the camp, after the christening
of his thirteenth child. ... The suite was numerous enough to
fill forty coaches, escorted by seventy horse--pretty well
for an exiled prince dependent on the bounty of Holland and
England. ... There was the utmost enthusiasm for the Swede in
England, and the Marquess of Hamilton obtained permission to
raise a body of volunteers to join the Swedish standards, and
in the August of 1631 brought 6,000 English and Scots in four
small regiments; but they proved of little use ... many dying.
... So far as the King's plans can be understood, he meant to
have formed a number of Protestant principalities, and united
them in what he called 'Corpus Evangelicorum' around the
Baltic and the Elbe, as a balance to the Austrian Roman
Catholic power in southern Germany. Frederick wanted to raise
an army of his own people and take the command, but to this
Gustavus would not consent, having probably no great
confidence in his capacity. All the Palatinate was free from
the enemy except the three fortresses of Heidelberg,
Frankenthal, and Kreuznach, and the last of these was
immediately besieged. ... In the midst of the exultation
Frederick was grieved to learn that his beautiful home at
Heidelberg had been ravaged by fire, probably by the Spanish
garrison in expectation of having to abandon it. But as Tilly
was collecting his forces again, Gustavus would not wait to
master that place or Frankenthal, and recrossed the Rhine. Sir
Harry Vane had been sent as ambassador from Charles I. to
arrange for the restoration of the Palatinate, the King
offering £10,000 a mouth for the expense of the war, and
proposing that if, as was only too probable, he should be
prevented from performing this promise, some of the fortresses
should be left as guarantees in the hands of the Swedes.
Frederick took great and petulant offence at this stipulation,
and complained, with tears in his eyes, to Vane and the
Marquess of Hamilton. ... He persuaded them to suppress this
article, though they warned him that if the treaty failed it
would be by his own fault. It did in fact fail, for, as usual,
the English money was not forthcoming, and even if it had
been, Gustavus declared that he would be no man's servant for
a few thousand pounds. Frederick also refused the King's own
stipulation, that Lutherans should enjoy equal rights with
Calvinists. Moreover, the Swedish success had been
considerably more than was desired by his French allies. ...
Louis XIII. was distressed, but Richelieu silenced him, only
attempting to make a treaty with the Swedes by which the
Elector of Bavaria and the Catholic League should be neutral
on condition of the restoration of the bishops. To this,
however, Gustavus could not fully consent, and imposed
conditions which the Catholics could not accept. Tilly was
collecting his forces and threatening Nuremberg, but the Swedes
advanced, and he was forced to retreat, so that it was as a
deliverer that, on the 31st March [1632], Gustavus was received
in beautiful old Nuremberg with a rapture of welcome. ...
{1478}
Tilly had taken post on the Lech, and Maximilian was
collecting an army in Bavaria. The object of Gustavus was now
to beat one or other of them before they could join together:
so he marched forward, took Donauwerth, and tried to take
Ingoldstadt, but found it would occupy too much time, and,
though all the generals were of a contrary opinion, resolved
to attack Tilly and force the passage of the Lech. The
Imperialists had fortified it to the utmost, but in their very
teeth the Swedes succeeded in taking advantage of a bend in
the river to play on them with their formidable artillery,
construct a pontoon bridge, and, after a desperate struggle,
effect a passage. Tilly was struck by a cannon-shot in the
knee," and died soon afterwards. "On went Gustavus to Augsburg
... where the Emperor had expelled the Lutheran pastors and
cleared the municipal council of Protestant burgomasters. In
restoring the former state of things, Gustavus took a fresh
step, making the magistrates not only swear fidelity to him as
an ally till the end of the war, but as a sovereign. This made
the Germans begin to wonder what were his ulterior views. Then
he marched on upon Bavaria, intending to bridge the Danube and
take Ratisbon, but two strong forts prevented this. ... He,
however, made his way into the country between the Inn and the
Lech, Maximilian retreating before him. ... At Munich the
inhabitants brought him their keys. As they knelt he said,
'Rise, worship God, not man.' ... To compensate the soldiers
for not plundering the city, the King gave them each a crown
on the day of their entrance. ... Catholic Germany was in
despair. There was only one general in whom there was any
hope, and that was the discarded Wallenstein. ... He made
himself be courted. He would not come to Vienna, only to Znaim
in Moravia, where he made his terms like an independent
prince. ... At last he undertook to collect an army, but
refused to take the command for more than three months. His
name was enough to bring his Friedlanders flocking to his
standard. Not only Catholics, but Protestants came, viewing
Gustavus as a foreign invader. ... Wallenstein received
subsidies not only from the Emperor, but from the Pope and the
King of Spain, towards levying and equipping them, and by the
end of the three months he had the full 40,000 all in full
order for the march. Then he resigned the command. ... He
affected to be bent only on going back to his tower and his
stars at Prague [the study of astrology being his favorite
occupation], and to yield slowly to the proposals made him. He
was to be Generalissimo, neither Emperor nor Archduke was ever
to enter his camp; he was to name all his officers, and have
absolute control. ... Moreover, he might levy contributions as
he chose, and dispose as he pleased of lands and property
taken from the enemy; Mecklenburg was to be secured to him,
together with further rewards yet unspecified; and when
Bohemia was freed from the enemy, the Emperor was to live
there, no doubt under his control. ... There was no help for
it, and Wallenstein thus became the chief power in the Empire,
in fact a dictator. The power was conferred on him in April.
The first thing he did was to turn the Saxons out of Bohemia,
which was an easy matter." At Egra, Wallenstein was joined by
the Elector of Bavaria, which raised the Catholic force to
60,000. "The whole army marched upon Nuremberg, and Gustavus,
with only 20,000 men, dashed back to its defence. Wallenstein
had intrenched himself on an eminence called Fürth." As
Nuremberg was terribly distressed, his own army suffering, and
being infected with the lawless habits of German warfare,
Gustavus found it necessary to attempt (August 24) the
storming of the Imperialists' camp. He was repulsed, after
losing 3,000 of his Swedes and thrice as many Germans. He then
returned to Bavaria, while Wallenstein, abandoning his hope of
taking Nuremberg, moved into Saxony and began ravaging the
country. The Swedish king followed him so quickly that he had,
no time to establish the fortified camp he had intended, but
was forced to take up an intrenched position at Lützen. There
he was attacked on the 6th of November, 1632, and defeated in
a desperate battle, which became one of the memorable
conflicts in history because it brought to an end the great
and splendid career of Gustavus Adolphus, the Swede. The king
fell as he was leading a charge, and the fierce fight went on
over his body until the enemy had been driven from the field.
C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
6th series, chapter 19.
ALSO IN:
G. B. Malleson,
Battle-fields of Germany,
chapters 2-3.
R. C. Trench,
Gustavus Adolphus in Germany.
J. L. Stevens,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapters 15-18.
GERMANY: A. D. 1631-1641.
The Thirty Years War:
The war in Lorraine.
Possession of the duchy taken by the French.
See LORRAINE: A. D. 1624-1663.
GERMANY: A. D. 1632-1634.
The Thirty Years War:
Retirement of Wallenstein to Bohemia.
Oxenstiern in the leadership of the Protestant cause.
Union of Heilbronn.
Inaction and suspicious conduct of Wallenstein.
The Ban pronounced against him.
His assassination.
"The account of the battle [of Lützen] transmitted by
Wallenstein to the Imperial Court, led Ferdinand to think that
he had gained the day. ... But ... the reputed conqueror was
glad to shelter himself behind the mountains of the Bohemian
frontier. After the battle, Wallenstein found it necessary to
evacuate Saxony in all haste; and, leaving garrisons at
Leipsic, Plauen, Zwickau, Chemnitz, Freiberg, Meissen, and
Frauenstein, he reached Bohemia without further loss, and put
his army into winter-quarters. After his arrival at Prague, he
caused many of his officers to be executed for their conduct
at Lützen, among whom were several who belonged to families of
distinction, nor would he allow them to plead the Emperor's
pardon. A few he rewarded. The harshness of his proceedings
increased the hatred already felt for him by many of his
officers, and especially the Italian portion: of them. ...
Axel Oxenstiern, the Swedish Chancellor, succeeded, on the
death of Gustavus Adolphus, to the supreme direction of the
affairs of Sweden in Germany, and was invested by the Council
at Stockholm with full powers both to direct the army and to
negotiate with the German courts. Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
retained the military command of the Swedish-German army,
divisions of which were cantoned from the Baltic to the
Danube.
{1479}
After driving the Imperialists from Saxony, Bernhard had
hastened into Franconia, the bishoprics of which, according to
a promise of Gustavus, were to be erected in his favour into a
duchy; but, after taking Bamberg, his assistance was invoked
by General Horn, on the Upper Danube. One of the first cares
of Oxenstiern was to consolidate the German alliance; and, in
March 1633, he summoned a meeting at Heilbronn of the States
of the four Circles of the Upper and Lower Rhine, Franconia,
and Suabia, as well as deputies from Nuremberg, Strasburg,
Frankfort, Ulm, Augsburg, and other cities of the empire. The
assembly was also attended by ambassadors from France,
England, and Holland; and on April 9th was effected the Union
of Heilbronn. Brandenburg and Saxony stood aloof; nor was
France, though she renewed the alliance with Sweden, included
in the Union. The French minister at Heilbronn assisted,
however, in the formation of the Union, although he
endeavoured to limit the power of Oxenstiern, to whom the
conduct of the war was intrusted. At the same time, the Swedes
also concluded a treaty with the Palatinate, now governed, or
rather claimed to be governed, by Louis Philip, brother of the
Elector Frederick V., as guardian and regent for the latter's
youthful son Charles Louis. The unfortunate Frederick had
expired at Mentz in his 37th year, not many days after the
death of Gustavus Adolphus. ... Swedish garrisons were to be
maintained in Frankenthal, Bacharach, Kaub, and other places;
Mannheim was to be at the disposal of the Swedes so long as
the war should last. ... After the junction of Duke Bernhard
with Horn, the Swedish army,--for so we shall continue to call
it, though composed in great part of Germans,--endeavoured to
penetrate into Bavaria; but the Imperial General Altringer,
aided by John von Werth, a commander of distinction, succeeded
in covering Munich, and enabled Maximilian to return to his
capital. The Swedish generals were also embarrassed by a
mutiny of their mercenaries, as well as by their own
misunderstandings and quarrels; and all that Duke Bernhard was
able to accomplish in the campaign of 1633, besides some
forays into Bavaria, was the capture of Ratisbon in November."
T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
book 4, chapter 6 (volume 2).
Wallenstein, meantime, had been doing little. "After a long
period of inaction in Bohemia, he marched during the summer of
1633, with imperial pomp and splendor, into Silesia. There he
found a mixed army of Swedes, Saxons, and Brandenburgers, with
Matthias Thurn, who began the war, among them. Wallenstein
finally shut in this army [at Steinau] so that he might have
captured it; but he let it go, and went back to Bohemia, where
he began to negotiate with Saxony for peace. Meanwhile the
alliance formed at Heilbronn had brought Maximilian of Bavaria
into great distress. Regensburg [Ratisbon], hitherto occupied by
him, and regarded as an outwork of Bavaria and Austria, had
been taken by Bernard of Weimar. But Wallenstein, whom the
emperor sent to the rescue, only went into the Upper
Palatinate, and then returned to Bohemia. He seemed to look
upon that country as a strong and commanding position from
which he could dictate peace. He carried on secret
negotiations with France, Sweden, and all the emperor's
enemies. He had, indeed, the power to do this under his
commission; but his attitude toward his master became
constantly more equivocal. The emperor was anxious to be rid
of him without making him an enemy, and wished to give to his
own son, the young King of Hungary, the command in chief. But
the danger of losing his place drove Wallenstein to bolder
schemes. At his camp at Pilsen, all his principal officers
were induced by him to unite in a written request that he
should in no case desert them--a step which seemed much like a
conspiracy. But some of the generals, as Gallas, Aldringer,
and Piccolomini, soon abandoned Wallenstein, and gave warning
to the emperor. He secretly signed a patent deposing
Wallenstein, and placed it in the hands of Piccolomini and
Gallas, January 24, 1634, but acted with the profoundest
dissimulation until he had made sure of most of the commanders
who served under him. Then, suddenly, on February 18,
Wallenstein, his brother-in-law Tertzski, Ilow, Neumann, and
Kinsky were put under the ban, and the general's possessions
were confiscated. Now, at length, Wallenstein openly revolted,
and began to treat with the Swedes for desertion to them; but
they did not fully trust him. Attended only by five Sclavonic
regiments, who remained faithful to him, he went to Eger,
where he was to meet troops of Bernard of Weimar; but before
he could join them, he and the friends named above were
assassinated, February 25, by traitors who had remained in his
intimate companionship, and whom he trusted, under the command
of Colonel Butler, an Irishman, employed by Piccolomini."
C. T. Lewis,
History of Germany,
chapter 18, section 10.
ALSO IN:
F. Schiller,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
book 4.
J. Mitchell,
Life of Wallenstein,
chapters 8-10.
Sir E. Cust,
Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' War,
part 1.
GERMANY: A, D. 1634-1639.
The Thirty Years War:
Successes of the Imperialists.
Their victory at Nördlingen.
Richelieu and France become active in the war.
Duke Bernhard's conquest of Alsace.
Richelieu's appropriation of the conquest for France.
"Want of union among the Protestants prevented them from
deriving all the benefit which they had at first anticipated
from Wallenstein's death. The King of Hungary assumed the
command of the army, and by the aid of money, which was
plentifully distributed, the soldiers were, without
difficulty, kept in obedience; not the slightest attempt was
any where made to resist the Emperor's orders. On the other
hand, Bernhard of Weimar and Field-Marshal Horn were masters
of Bavaria. In July 1634, they gained a complete victory at
Landshut, over General Altringer, who was slain in the action.
... The Swedes, who had so long been victorious, were, in their
turn, destined to taste the bitterness of defeat. 15,000
Spaniards, under the Cardinal Infant, son of Philip III.,
entered Germany [see NETHERLANDS: A.D. 1621-1633, and
1635-1638], and in conjunction with the imperial army, under
the King of Hungary, laid siege to Nördlingen. Field-Marshal
Horn, and Bernhard of Weimar, hurried to the relief of the
place. Owing to the superiority of the enemy, who was besides
strongly intrenched, the Swedish commanders had no intention
to hazard a battle, before the arrival of the Rhin-graff Count
Otho, with another division of the army, which was already
close at hand; but the impetuosity of the Duke of Weimar lost
every thing.
{1480}
Horn had succeeded in carrying a hill, called the Amsberg, a
strong point, which placed him in communication with the town,
and almost secured the victory. Bernhard, thinking that so
favourable an opening should not be neglected, hurried on to
the attack of another post. It was taken and retaken; both
armies were gradually, and without method, drawn into the
combat, which, after eight hours' duration, ended in the
complete defeat of the Swedes. Horn was made prisoner; and
Bernhard escaped on a borrowed horse. ... The defeat of'
Nördlingen almost ruined the Swedish cause in Germany; the
spell of invincibility was gone, and the effects of the panic
far surpassed those which the sword had produced. Strong
fortresses were abandoned before the enemy came in sight;
provinces were evacuated, and armies, that had been deemed
almost inconquerable, deserted their chiefs, and broke into
bands of lawless robbers, who pillaged their way in every
direction. Bavaria, Suabia and Franconia were lost; and it was
only behind the Rhine that the scattered fugitives could again
be brought into something like order. ... The Emperor refused
to grant the Swedes any other terms of peace than permission
to retire from the empire. The Elector of Saxony, forgetful of
what was due to his religion, and forgetful of all that Sweden
had done for his country, concluded, at Prague, a separate
peace with the Emperor; and soon afterwards joined the
Imperialists against his former allies. The fortunes of the
Protestants would have sunk beneath this additional blow, had
not France come to their aid. Richelieu had before only
nourished the war by means of subsidies, and had, at one time,
become nearly as jealous of the Swedes as of the Austrians;
but no sooner was their power broken, than the crafty priest
took an active share in the contest."
J. Mitchell,
Life of Wallenstein,
chapter 10.
"Richelieu entered resolutely into the contest, and in 1635
displayed enormous diplomatic activity. He wished not only to
reduce Austria, but, at the same time, Spain. Spanish
soldiers, Spanish treasure, and Spanish generals made in great
part the strength of the imperial armies, and Spain besides
never ceased to ferment internal troubles in France. Richelieu
signed the treaty of Compiegne with the Swedes against
Ferdinand II. By its conditions he granted them considerable
subsidies in order that they should continue the war in
Germany. He made the treaty of St. Germain en Laye with
Bernard of Saxe Weimar, to whom he promised an annual
allowance of money as well as Alsace, provided that he should
remain in arms to wrest Franche-Comté from Philip IV. He made
the treaty of Paris with the Dutch, who were to help the King
of France to conquer Flanders, which was to be divided between
France and the United Provinces. He made the treaty of Rivoli
with the dukes of Savoy, of Parma, and of Mantua, who were to
undertake in concert with France the invasion of the
territories of Milan and to receive a portion of the spoils of
Spain. At the same time he declared war against the Spanish
Government, which had arrested and imprisoned the Elector of
Trèves, the ally of France, and refused to surrender him when
demanded. Hostilities immediately began on five different
theatres of war--in the Low Countries, on the Rhine, in
Eastern Germany, in Italy, and in Spain. The army of the
Rhine, commanded by Cardinal de la Valette, was to operate in
conjunction with the corps of Bernard of Saxe Weimar against
the Imperialists, commanded by Count Gallas. To this army
Turenne was attached. It consisted of 20,000 infantry, 5,000
cavalry, and 14 guns. This was the army upon which Richelieu
mainly relied. ... Valette was to annoy the enemy without
exposing himself, and was not to approach the Rhine; but
induced by Bernard, who had a dashing spirit and wished to
reconquer all he had lost, encouraged by the terror of the
Imperialists who raised the siege of Mayence, he determined to
pass the river. He was not long in repenting of that step. He
established his troops round Mayence and revictualled this
place, which was occupied by a Swedish garrison, throwing in
all the supplies of which the town had need. The Imperialists,
who had calculated on this imprudence, immediately took to
cutting off his supplies, so that soon everything was wanting
in the French camp. ... The scourge of famine threatened the
French: it was necessary to retreat, to recross the Rhine, to
pass the Sarre, and seek a refuge at Metz. Few retreats have
been so difficult and so sad. The army was in such a pitiable
condition that round Mayence the men had to be fed with roots
and green grapes, and the horses with branches of trees. ...
The sick and the weary were abandoned, the guns were buried,
villages were burnt to stay the pursuit of the enemy, and to
prevent the wretched soldiers who would fall out of the ranks
from taking refuge in them."
H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapter 2.
"Meanwhile, Saxony had concluded with the Emperor at Pirna, at
the close of 1634, a convention which ripened into a treaty of
alliance, to which almost all the princes of Northern Germany
subscribed, at Prague, in the month of May following. The
Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg were thus changed into
enemies of Sweden. The Swedish General, Banner [or Baner],
who, at the period of the battle of Nördlingen, had been
encamped side by side with the Saxon army on the White Hill
near Prague, had, on the first indication of wavering on the