part of its Elector, managed skilfully to withdraw his troops
from the dangerous proximity. On the 22nd October 1635, he
defeated the Saxon army, at Dömitz on the Elbe, then invaded
Brandenburg, took Havelberg, and even threatened Berlin.
Compelled by the approach of a Saxon and Imperialist army to
quit his prey, he turned and beat the combined army at
Wittstock (24th September 1636). After that battle, he drew
the reinforced Imperialists, commanded by Gallas, after him
into Pomerania; there he caused them great losses by cutting
off their supplies, then forced them back into Saxony, and,
following them up closely, attacked and beat them badly at
Chemnitz (4th April, 1639)." In the south, Duke Bernhard had
gained meantime some solid successes. After his retreat from
Mayence, in 1635, he had concluded his secret treaty with
Richelieu, placing himself wholly at the service of France,
and receiving the promise of 4,000,000 francs yearly, for the
support of his army, and the ultimate sovereignty of Alsace
for himself. "Having concerted measures with La Valette
[1636], ... he invaded Lorraine, drove the enemy thence,
taking Saarburg and Pfalzburg, and then, entering Alsace, took
Saverne. His career of conquest in Alsace was checked by the
invasion of Burgundy by Gallas, with an army of 40,000 men.
{1481}
Duke Bernhard marched with all haste to Dijon, and forced
Gallas to fall back, with great loss, beyond the Saone
(November 1636). Pursuing his advantages, early the following
year he forced the passage of the Saone at Gray, despite the
vivid resistance of Prince Charles of Lorraine (June 1637),
and pursued that commander as far as Besançon. Reinforced
during the autumn, he marched towards the Upper Rhine, and,
undertaking a winter campaign, captured Lauffenburg, after a
skirmish with John of Werth; then Säckingen and Waldshut, and
laid siege to Rheinfelden. The Imperialist army, led by John
of Werth, succeeded, indeed, after a very hot encounter, in
relieving that place; but three days later Duke Bernhard
attacked and completely defeated it (21st February 1638),
taking prisoners not only John of Werth himself, but the
generals, Savelli, Enkefort, and Sperreuter. The consequences
of this victory were the fall of Rheinfelden, Rötteln,
Neuenberg, and Freiburg. Duke Bernhard then laid siege to
Breisach (July 1638). ... The Imperial general, Götz, advanced
at the head of a force considerably outnumbering that of Duke
Bernhard. Leaving a portion of his army before the place, Duke
Bernhard then drew to himself Turenne, who was lying in the
vicinity with 3,000 men, fell upon the Imperialists at
Wittenweiher (30th July), completely defeated them, and
captured their whole convoy. Another Imperialist army, led by
the Duke of Lorraine in person, shared a similar fate at
Thann, in the Sundgau, on the 4th October following. Götz, who
was hastening with a strengthened army to support the Duke of
Lorraine, attacked Duke Bernhard ten days later, but was
repulsed with great loss. Breisach capitulated on the 7th
December. Duke Bernhard took possession of it in his own name,
and foiled all the efforts of Richelieu to secure it for
France, by garrisoning it with German soldiers. To compensate
the French Cardinal Minister for Breisach, Duke Bernhard
undertook a winter campaign to drive the Imperialists from
Franche-Comté. Entering that province at the end of December,
he speedily made himself master of its richest part. He then
returned to Alsace with the resolution to cross the Rhine and
carry the war once again into Bavaria," and then, in junction
with Banner, to Vienna. "He had made all the necessary
preparations for this enterprise, had actually sent his army
across the Rhine, when he died very suddenly, not without
suspicion of poison, at Neuberg am Rhein (8th July, 1639). The
lands he had conquered he bequeathed to his brother. ... But
Richelieu paid no attention to the wishes of the dead general.
Before any of the family could interfere, he had secured all
the fortresses in Alsace, even Breisach, which was its key,
for France."
G. B. Malleson,
The Battle-fields of Germany,
chapter 5.
"During [1639] Piccolomini, at the head of the Imperialist and
Spanish troops, gave battle to the French at Diedenhofen. The
battle took place on the 7th of June, and the French were
beaten and suffered great losses."
A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
chapter 8.
ALSO IN:
Sir E. Cust,
Lives of the Warriors of the Thirty Years' War,
part 2.
S. R. Gardiner,
The Thirty Years' War,
chapter 9, section 5.
GERMANY: A. D. 1635-1638.
The Thirty Years War:
Campaigns in the Netherlands.
The Dutch and French against the Spaniards.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1635-1638.
GERMANY: A. D. 1636-1637.
Diet at Ratisbon.
Attempted negotiations of peace.
Death of the Emperor Ferdinand II
"An electoral diet was assembled at Ratisbon, by the emperor
in person, on the 15th of September, 1636, for the ostensible
purpose of restoring peace, for which some vague negotiations
had been opened under the mediation of the pope and the king
of Denmark, and congresses appointed at Hamburgh and Cologne;
but with the real view of procuring the election of his son
Ferdinand as king of the Romans. ... Ferdinand was elected
with only the fruitless protest of the Palatine family, and
the dissenting voice of the elector of Treves. ... The emperor
did not long survive this happy event. He died on the 15th of
February, 1637. ... Ferdinand ... seems to have been the first
who formally established the right of primogeniture in all his
hereditary territories. By his testament, dated May 10th.
1621, he ordered that all his Austrian dominions should
devolve on his eldest male descendant, and fixed the majority
at 18 years."
W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapter 56 (volume 2).
GERMANY: A. D. 1637.
Election of the Emperor Ferdinand III.
GERMANY: A. D. 1640-1645.
The Thirty Years War:
Campaigns of Baner and Torstenson.
The second Breitenfeld.
Jankowitz.
Mergentheim.
Allerheim.
War in Denmark.
Swedish army in Austria.
Saxony forced to neutrality.
"The war still went on for eight years, but the only influence
that it exerted upon the subsequent Peace was that it overcame
the last doubts of the Imperial court as to the indispensable
principles of the Peace. ... The first event of importance on
the theatre of war after Bernhard's death was Baner's attempt
to join the army of Weimar in central Germany. Not in a
condition to pass the winter in Bohemia, and threatened in
Saxony and Silesia, he ... commenced [March, 1640] a retreat
amidst fearful devastations, crossed the Elbe at Leitmeritz,
and arrived April 3rd at Zwickau. He succeeded in joining with
the mercenaries of Weimar and the troops of Lüneburg and Hesse
at Saalfeld;" but no joint action was found possible. "Until
December, the war on both sides consisted of marches hither
and thither, accompanied with horrible devastation; but
nothing decisive occurred. In September the Diet met at
Ratisbon. While wearisome attempts were being made to bend the
obstinacy of Austria, Baner resolved to compel her to yield by
a bold stroke, to invade the Upper Palatinate, to surprise
Ratisbon, and to put an end to the Diet and Emperor together.
... Not without difficulty Guebriant [commanding the French in
Alsace] was induced to follow, and to join Baner at Erfurt.
... But the surprise of Ratisbon was a failure. ... The armies
now separated again. Baner exhausted his powers of persuasion
in vain to induce Guebriant to go with him. The French went
westward. Hard pressed himself, Baner proceeded by forced
marches towards Bohemia, and by the end of March reached
Zwickau, where he met Guebriant again, and they had a sharp
conflict with the Imperialists on the Saal. There Baner died,
on the 21st of May, 1641, leaving his army in a most critical
condition, The warfare of the Swedish-French arms was come to
a standstill.
{1482}
Both armies were near dissolution, when, in November,
Torstenson, the last of the Gustavus Adolphus school of
generals, and the one who most nearly equalled the master,
appeared with the Swedish army, and by a few vigorous strokes,
which followed each other with unexampled rapidity, restored
the supremacy of its arms. ... After three months of rest,
which he mainly devoted to the reorganization and payment of
his army, by the middle of January [1642] he had advanced
towards the Elbe and the Altmark; and as the Imperial forces
were weakened by sending troops to the Rhine, he formed the
great project of proceeding through Silesia to the Austrian
hereditary dominions. On April 3rd he crossed the Elbe at
Werben, between the Imperial troops, increased his army to
20,000 men, stormed Glogau on May 4th, stood before
Schweidnitz on the 30th, and defeated Francis Albert of
Lauenburg; Schweidnitz, Neisse, and Oppeln fell into his
hands. Meanwhile Guebriant, after subduing the defiant and
mutinous spirit of his troops by means of money and promises,
had, on January 17th, defeated the Imperialists near Kempen,
not far from Crefeld [at Hulst], for which he was honoured
with the dignity of marshal. But this was a short-lived gleam
of light, and was soon followed by dark days, occasioned by
want of money and discontent in the camp. ... He had turned
eastward from the Rhine to seek quarters for his murmuring
troops in nether Germany, when Torstenson effected a decision
in Saxony. After relieving Glogau, and having in vain tried to
enter Bohemia, he had joined the detachments of Königsmark and
Wrangel, and on October 30th he appeared before Leipzig. On
November 2nd there was a battle near Breitenfeld, which ended
in a disastrous defeat of the Imperialists and Leipzig
surrendered to Torstenson three weeks afterwards. In spite of
all the advantages which Torstenson gained for himself, it
never came to a united action with the French; and the first
victory won by the French in the Netherlands, in May, 1643,
did not alter this state of things. Torstenson ... was
suddenly called to a remote scene of war in the north. King
Christian IV. of Denmark had been persuaded, by means of the
old Danish jealousy of Sweden, to take up arms for the
Emperor. He declared war just as Torstenson was proceeding to
Austria. Vienna was now saved; but so much the worse for
Denmark. In forced marches, which were justly admired,
Torstenson set out from Silesia towards Denmark at the end of
October, conducted a masterly campaign against the Danes, beat
them wherever he met with them, conquered Holstein and
Schleswig, pushed on to Jutland, then, while Wrangel and Horn
carried on the war (till the peace of Brömsebro, August,
1645), he returned and again took up the war against the
Imperialists, everywhere an unvanquished general. The
Imperialists under the incompetent Gallas intended to give
Denmark breathing-time by creating a diversion; but it did not
save Denmark, and brought another defeat upon themselves.
Gallas did not bring back more than 2,000 men from Magdeburg
to Bohemia, and they were in a very disorganized state. He was
pursued by Torstenson, while Ragoczy threatened Hungary. The
Emperor hastily collected what forces he could command, and
resolved to give battle. Torstenson had advanced as far as
Glattau in February, and on March 6th, 1645, a battle was
fought near Jankowitz, three miles from Tabor. It was the most
brilliant victory ever gained by the Swedes. The Imperial army
was cut to pieces; several of its leaders imprisoned or
killed. In a few weeks Torstenson conquered Moravia and
Austria as far as the Danube. Not far from the capital itself
he took possession of the Wolfsbrücke. As in 1618, Vienna was
in great danger." But the ill-success of the French "always
counterbalanced the Swedes' advantages. Either they were
beaten just as the Swedes were victorious, or could not turn a
victory to account. So it was during this year [1645]. The
west frontier of the empire was guarded on the imperial side
by Mercy, together with John of Werth, after he was liberated
from prison. On 26th March, Turenne crossed the Rhine, and
advanced towards Franconia. There he encamped near Mergentheim
and Rosenberg. On 5th May, a battle near Mergentheim ended
with the entire defeat of the French, and Turenne escaped with
the greatest difficulty by way of Hammelburg, towards Fulda.
The victors pushed on to the Rhine. To avenge this defeat,
Enghien was sent from Paris, and, at the beginning of July,
arrived at Spires, with 12,000 men. His forces, together with
Königsmark's, the remnant of Turenne's and the Hessians,
amounted to 30,000 men. At first Mercy dexterously avoided a
battle under unfavourable circumstances, but on August 3d the
contest was inevitable. A bloody battle was fought between
Nördlingen and Donauwörth, near Allerheim [called the battle
of Nordlingen, by the French], which was long doubtful, but,
after tremendous losses, resulted in the victory of the
French. Mercy's fall, Werth's imprudent advance, and a final
brave assault of the Hessians, decided the day. But the
victors were so weakened that they could not fully take
advantage of it. Condé was ill; and in the autumn Turenne was
compelled, not without perceptible damage to the cause, to
retreat with his army to the Neckar and the Rhine. Neither had
Torstenson been able to maintain his position in Austria. He
had been obliged to raise the siege of Brunn, and learnt at
the same time that Ragoczy had just made peace with the
Emperor. Obliged to retire to Bohemia, he found his forces
considerably diminished. Meanwhile, Kônigsmark had won an
important advantage. While Torstenson was in Austria he gained
a firm footing in Saxony. Then came the news of Allerheim, and
of the peace of Brömsebro. Except Dresden and Königstein, all
the important points were in the hands of the Swedes; so, on
the 6th of September [1645], the Elector John George concluded
a treaty of neutrality for six months. Besides money and
supplies, the Swedes received Leipzig, Torgau, and the right
of passage through the country. Meanwhile, Torstenson had
retreated into the north-east of Bohemia, and severe physical
sufferings compelled him to give up the command. He was
succeeded by Charles Gustavus Wrangel."
L. Hausser,
The Period of the Reformation,
1517 to 1648, chapter 39.
ALSO IN:
W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapter 58 (volume 2).
GERMANY: A. D. 1642-1643.
The Thirty Years War:
Condé's victory at Rocroi and campaign on the Moselle.
See FRANCE: A.D. 1642-1648, and 1643.
{1483}
GERMANY: A. D. 1643-1644.
The Thirty Years War:
Campaigns of Turenne and Condé against Merci, on the Upper
Rhine.
Dütlingen.
Freiburg.
Philipsburg.
"After the death of Bernard of Saxe Weimar, Marshal Guébriant
had been placed in command of the troops of Weimar. He had
besieged and taken Rottweil in Suabia, but had there been
killed. Rantzau, who succeeded him in command of the Weimar
army, marched (24-25 November, 1643) upon Dütlingen [or
Tuttlingen], on the Upper Rhine, was there beaten by Mercy and
made prisoner, with the loss of many officers and 7,000
soldiers. This was a great triumph for the Bavarians; a
terrible disaster for France. The whole of the German infantry
in the French service was dispersed or taken, the cavalry
retreated as they best could upon the Rhine. ... Circumstances
required active measures. Plenipotentiaries had just assembled
at Münster to begin the negotiations which ended with the
peace of Westphalia. It was desired that the French Government
should support the French diplomatist by quick successes. ...
Turenne was sent to the Rhine with reinforcements. ... He
re-established discipline, and breathed into [the army] a new
spirit. ... At the same time, by negotiations, the prisoners
who had been taken at Dütlingen were restored to France, the
gaps in the ranks were filled up, and in the spring of 1644
Turenne found himself at the head of 9,000 men, of whom 5,000
were cavalry, and was in a position to take the field." He
"pushed through the Black Forest, and near the source of the
Danube gained a success over a Bavarian detachment. For some
reason which is not clear he threw a garrison into Freiburg,
and retired across the Rhine. Had he remained near the town he
would have prevented Mercy from investing it. So soon as
Turenne was over the river, Mercy besieged Freiburg, and
although Turenne advanced to relieve the place, a stupid error
of some of his infantry made him fail, and Freiburg
capitulated to Mercy."
H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapter 3 and 5.
"Affairs being in so bad a state about the Black Forest, the
Great Condé, at that time Duc d'Enghien, was brought up, with
10,000 men; thus raising the French to a number above the
enemy's. He came crowned with the immortal laurels of Rocroi;
and in virtue of his birth, as a prince of the blood-royal,
took precedence of the highest officers in the service. Merci,
a capable and daring general, aware of his inferiority, now
posted himself a short distance from Freyburg, in a position
almost inaccessible. He garnished it with felled trees and
intrenchments, mountains, woods, and marshes, which of
themselves defied attack." Turenne advocated a flank movement,
instead of a direct assault upon Merci's position; but Condé,
reckless of his soldiers' lives, persisted in leading them
against the enemy's works. "A terrible action ensued (August
3, 1644). Turenne made a long detour through a defile; Condé,
awaiting his arrival on the ground, postponed the assault till
three hours before sunset, and then ascended the steep. Merci
had the worse, and retreated to a fresh position on the Black
Mountain, where he successfully repulsed for one day Condé's
columns (August 5). In this action Gaspard Merci was killed.
Condé now adopted the flank movement, which, originally
recommended by Turenne, would have saved much bloodshed; and
Merci, hard pressed, escaped by a rapid retreat, leaving
behind him his artillery and baggage (August 9). These are the
'three days of Freyburg.' To retake the captured Freyburg after
their victory ... was the natural suggestion first heard." But
Turenne persuaded Condé that the reduction of Philipsburg was
more important. "Philipsburg was taken after a short siege;
and its fall was accompanied by the submission of the adjacent
towns of Germersheim, Speier, Worms, Mentz, Oppenheim and
Landau. Condé at this conjuncture left the Upper Rhine, and
took away his regiments with him."
T. O. Cockayne,
Life of Turenne,
pages 20-22.
ALSO IN:
G. B. Malleson,
The Battle-fields of Germany,
chapter 6.
GERMANY: A. D. 1646-1648.
The Thirty Years War:
Its final campaigns.
The sufferings of Bavaria.
Truce and peace negotiations initiated by the Elector
Maximilian.
The ending of the war at Prague.
"The retreat of the French [after the battle of Allerheim]
enabled the enemy to turn his whole force upon the Swedes in
Bohemia. Gustavus Wrangel, no unworthy successor of Banner and
Torstensohn, had, in 1646, been appointed Commander-in-chief
of the Swedish army. ... The Archduke, after reinforcing his
army ... moved against Wrangel, in the hope of being able to
overwhelm him by his superior force before Koenigsmark could
join him, or the French effect a diversion in his favour.
Wrangel, however, did not await him." He moved through Upper
Saxony and Hesse, to Weimar, where he was joined by the flying
corps of Koenigsmark. Finally, after much delay, he was joined
likewise by Turenne and the French. "The junction took place
at Giessen, and they now felt themselves strong enough to meet
the enemy. The latter had followed the Swedes into Hesse, in
order to intercept their commissariat, and to prevent their
union with Turenne. In both designs they had been
unsuccessful; and the Imperialists now saw themselves cut off
from the Maine, and exposed to great scarcity and want from
the loss of their magazines. Wrangel took advantage of their
weakness to execute a plan by which he hoped to give a new
turn to the war. ... He determined to follow the course of the
Danube, and to break into the Austrian territories through the
midst of Bavaria. ... He moved hastily, ... defeated a
Bavarian corps near Donauwerth, and passed that river, as well
as the Lech, unopposed. But by wasting his time in the
unsuccessful siege of Augsburg, he gave opportunity to the
Imperialists, not only to relieve that city, but also to
repulse him as far as Lauingen. No sooner, however, had they
turned towards Suabia, with a view to remove the war from
Bavaria, than, seizing the opportunity, he repassed the Lech,
and guarded the passage of it against the Imperialists
themselves. Bavaria now lay open and defenceless before him;
the French and Swedes quickly overran it; and the soldiery
indemnified themselves for all dangers by frightful outrages,
robberies, and extortions. The arrival of the Imperial troops,
who at last succeeded in passing the Lech at Thierhaupten,
only increased the misery of this country, which friend and
foe indiscriminately plundered. And now, for the first time
during the whole course of this war, the courage of
Maximilian, which for eight-and-twenty years had stood
unshaken amidst fearful dangers, began to waver. Ferdinand
II., his school-companion at Ingolstadt, and the friend of his
youth, was no more; and, with the death of his friend and
benefactor, the strong tie was dissolved which had linked the
Elector to the House of Austria. ...
{1484}
Accordingly, the motives which the artifices of France now put
in operation, in order to detach him from the Austrian
alliance, and to induce him to lay down his arms, were drawn
entirely from political considerations. ... The Elector of
Bavaria was unfortunately led to believe that the Spaniards
alone were disinclined to peace, and that nothing but Spanish
influence had induced the Emperor so long to resist a
cessation of hostilities. Maximilian detested the Spaniards,
and could never forgive their having opposed his application
for the Palatine Electorate. ... All doubts disappeared; and,
convinced of the necessity of this step, he thought he should
sufficiently discharge his obligations to the Emperor if he
invited him also to share in the benefit of the truce. The
deputies of the three crowns, and of Bavaria, met at Ulm, to
adjust the conditions. But it was soon evident, from the
instructions of the Austrian ambassador, that it was not the
intention of the Emperor to second the conclusion of a truce,
but if possible· to prevent it. ... The good intentions of the
Elector of Bavaria, to include the Emperor in the benefit of
the truce, having been thus rendered unavailing, he felt
himself justified in providing for his own safety. ... He
agreed to the Swedes extending their quarters in Suabia and
Franconia, and to his own being restricted to Bavaria and the
Palatinate. The conquests which he had made in Suabia were
ceded to the allies, who, on their part, restored to him what
they had taken from Bavaria. Cologne and Hesse Cassel were
also included in the truce. After the conclusion of this
treaty, upon the 14th March, 1647, the French and Swedes left
Bavaria. ... Turenne, according to agreement, marched into
Wurtemburg, where he forced the Landgrave of Darmstadt and the
Elector of Mentz to imitate the example of Bavaria, and to
embrace the neutrality. And now, at last, France seemed to
have attained the great object of its policy, that of
depriving the Emperor of the support of the League, and of his
Protestant allies. ... But ... after a brief crisis, the
fallen power of Austria rose again to a formidable strength.
The jealousy which France entertained of Sweden, prevented it
from permitting the total ruin of the Emperor, or allowing the
Swedes to obtain such a preponderance in Germany, which might
have been destructive to France herself. Accordingly, the
French minister declined to take advantage of the distresses
of Austria; and the army of Turenne, separating from that of
Wrangel, retired to the frontiers of the Netherlands. Wrangel,
indeed, after moving from Suabia into Franconia, taking
Schweinfurt, ... attempted to make his way into Bohemia, and
laid siege to Egra, the key of that kingdom. To relieve this
fortress, the Emperor, put his last army in motion, and placed
himself at its head. But ... on his arrival Egra was already
taken." Meantime the Emperor had engaged in intrigues with the
Bavarian officers and had nearly seduced the whole army of the
Elector. The latter discovered this conspiracy in time to
thwart it; but he now suddenly, on his own behalf, struck
hands with the Emperor again, and threw over his late
agreements with the Swedes and French. "He had not derived
from the truce the advantages he expected. Far from tending to
accelerate a general peace, it had a pernicious influence upon
the negociations at Munster and Osnaburg, and had made the
allies bolder in their demands." Maximilian, therefore,
renounced the truce and began hostilities anew. "This
resolution, and the assistance which he immediately despatched
to the Emperor in Bohemia, threatened materially to injure the
Swedes, and Wrangel was compelled in haste to evacuate that
kingdom. He retired through Thuringia into Westphalia and
Lunenburg, in the hope of forming a junction with the French
army under Turenne, while the Imperial and Bavarian army
followed him to the Weser, under Melander and Gronsfeld. His
ruin was inevitable if the enemy should overtake him before
his junction with Turenne; but the same consideration which
had just saved the Emperor now proved the salvation of the
Swedes. ... The Elector of Bavaria could not allow the Emperor
to obtain so decisive a preponderance as, by the sudden
alteration of affairs, might delay the chances of a general
peace. ... Now that the power of the Emperor threatened once
more to attain a dangerous superiority, Maximilian at once
ceased to pursue the Swedes. ... Melander, prevented by the
Bavarians from further pursuing Wrangel, crossed by Jena and
Erfurt into Hesse. ... In this exhausted country, his army was
oppressed by want, while Wrangel was recruiting his strength,
and remounting his cavalry in Lunenburg. Too weak to maintain
his wretched quarters against the Swedish general, when he
opened the campaign in the winter of 1648, and marched against
Hesse, he was obliged to retire with disgrace, and take refuge
on the banks of the Danube. ... Turenne received permission to
join the Swedes; and the last campaign of this eventful war
was now opened by the united armies. Driving Melander before
them along the Danube, they threw supplies into Egra, which
was besieged by the Imperialists, and defeated the Imperial
and Bavarian armies on the Danube, which ventured to oppose
them at Susmarshausen, where Melander was mortally wounded."
They then forced a passage of the Lech, at the point where
Gustavus Adolphus formerly overcame Tilly, and ravaged Bavaria
once more; while nothing but a prolonged rain-storm, which
flooded the Inn, saved Austria from a similar devastation.
Koenigsmark, with his flying corps, entered Bohemia,
penetrated to Prague and surprised and captured the lesser
side of the city (the Kleinsite), thus acquiring the
reputation of "closing the Thirty Years' War by the last
brilliant achievement. This decisive stroke, which vanquished
the Emperor's irresolution, cost the Swedes only the loss of a
single man. But the old town, the larger half of Prague, which
is divided into two parts by the Moldau, by its vigorous
resistance wearied out the efforts of the Palatine, Charles
Gustavus, the successor of Christina on the throne, who had
arrived from Sweden with fresh troops. ... The approach of
winter at last drove the besiegers into their quarters, and in
the meantime the intelligence arrived that a peace had been
signed at Munster, on the 24th October,"--the "solemn and ever
memorable and sacred treaty which is known by the name of the
Peace of Westphalia."
F. Schiller,
History of the Thirty Years' War,
book 5.
ALSO IN:
G. B. Malleson,
The Battle-fields of Germany,
chapter 7.
{1485}
GERMANY: The Thirty Years War:
Its horrors.
Its destructiveness.
The state of the country at its close.
"The materials of which the armies were composed passed
inevitably from bad to worse. This, which had been a civil war
at the first, did not continue such for long; or rather it
united presently all the dreadfulness of a civil war and a
foreign. It was not long before the hosts which trampled the
German soil had in large part ceased to be German; every
region of Europe sending of its children, and, as it would
seem, of those whom it must have been gladdest to be rid of,
to swell the ranks of the destroyers. ... From all quarters
they came trooping, not singly, but in whole battalions. ...
All armies draw after them a train of camp-followers; they are
a plague which in the very nature of things is inevitable. But
never perhaps did this evil rise to so enormous a height as
now. Toward the close of this War an Imperial army of 40,000
men was found to be attended by the ugly accompaniment of
140,000 of these. The conflict had in fact by this time lasted
so long that the soldiery had become as a distinct nation,
camping in the midst of another; and the march of an army like
the migration of some wild nomade horde, moving with wives and
children through the land. And not with these only. There were
others too in its train, as may easily be supposed. ... It is
a thought to make one shudder, the passage of one of these
armies with its foul retinue through some fair and smiling and
well-ordered region--what it found, and what it must have left
it, and what its doings there will have been. Bear in mind
that there was seldom in these armies any attempt whatever at
a regular commissariat; rations being never issued except to
the actual soldiers, and most irregularly to them; that the
soldier's pay too was almost always enormously in arrear, so
that he could not purchase even if he would. ... It was indeed
the bitterest irony of all, that this War, which claimed at the
outset to be waged for the highest religious objects, for the
glory of God and for the highest interests of His Church,
should be signalized ere long by a more shameless treading
under foot of all laws human and divine, disgraced by worse
and wickeder outrages against God, and against man, the image
of God, than probably any war which modern Christendom has
seen. The three master sins of our fallen nature, hate, lust,
and covetousness, were all rampant to the full. ... Soon it
became evident that there was no safety in almost any
remoteness from that which might be the scene of warfare at
the actual moment. When all in their immediate neighbourhood
was wasted, armed bands variously disguised, as merchants, as
gipsies, as travellers, or sometimes as women, would penetrate
far into the land. ... Nor was the condition of the larger
towns much better. ... It did not need actual siege or capture
to make them acquainted with the miseries of the time. With no
draught-cattle to bring firewood in, there was no help for it
but that abandoned houses, by degrees whole streets, and
sometimes the greater part of a town, should be pulled down to
prevent those of its inhabitants who remained from perishing
by cold, the city thus living upon and gradually consuming
itself. ... Under conditions like these, it is not wonderful
that the fields were left nearly or altogether untilled; for
who would sow what he could never hope to reap? ... What
wonder that famine, thus invited, should before long have
arrived? ... Persons were found dead in the fields with grass
in their mouths; while the tanners' and knackers' yards were
beset for the putrid carcasses of beasts; the multitudes,
fierce with hunger, hardly enduring to wait till the skin had
been stript away. The bodies of malefactors, broken on the
wheel, were secretly removed to serve for food; or men climbed
up the gibbets, and tore down the bodies which were suspended
there, and devoured them. This, indeed, was a supply which was
not likely to fail. ... Prisoners in Alsace were killed that
they might be eaten. Children were enticed from home. ...
Putting all together, it is not too much to say that the
crowning horrors of Samaria, of Jerusalem, of Saguntum, found
their parallels, and often worse than their parallels, in
Christian Germany only two centuries ago. I had thought at one
time that there were isolated examples of these horrors, one
here, one there, just enough to warrant the assertion that
such things were done; but my conviction now is that they were
very frequent indeed, and in almost every part of the land.
... Districts which had for centuries been in the occupation
of civilized men were repossessed by forests. ... When Peace
was at length proclaimed, and Germany had leisure to take an
inventory of her losses, it was not altogether impossible to
make a rude and rough estimate. ... The statistics, so far as
they were got together, tell a terrible tale. ... Of the
population it was found that three-fourths, in some parts a
far larger proportion, had perished; or, not having perished,
were not less effectually lost to their native land, having
fled to Switzerland, to Holland, and to other countries, never
to return from them again. Thus in one group of twenty
villages which had not exceptionally suffered, 85 per cent.,
or more than four-fifths of the inhabitants, had disappeared.
... Of the houses, three-fourths were destroyed. ... Careful
German writers assure us that there are districts which at
this present day [1872] have just attained the population, the
agricultural wealth, the productive powers which they had when
the War commenced."
R. C. Trench,
Gustavus Adolphus in Germany, and other
Lectures on the Thirty Years' War,
lectures 3 and 5.
See, also, BOHEMIA: A. D. 1621-1648.
GERMANY: A. D. 1648.
The Peace of Westphalia.
Cession of Alsace to France.
Separation of Switzerland from the Empire.
Loosening of the constitutional bonds of the Empire.
"The opening of the peace negotiations between the Emperor and
his enemies was ... fixed for the 25th of March, 1642, and the
cities of Münster and Osnabrück as the places of the sitting;
but neither in this year nor in the next did it take place. It
was not until the year 1644 that in the former of these
cities" were assembled the following: The Papal Nuncio and the
envoy of the Republic of Venice, acting as mediators, two
imperial ambassadors, two representatives of France, three of
Spain, and the Catholic Electors; later came also the Catholic
Princes. To Osnabrück, Sweden sent two ambassadors and France
three, while the Electors, the German Princes and the imperial
cities were represented. Questions of etiquette, which demanded
prior settlement, occupied months, and serious matters when
reached were dealt with slowly and jealously, with many
interruptions. It was not until the 24th of October, 1648,
that the articles of peace forming the two treaties of Münster
and Osnabrück, and known together as the Peace of Westphalia,
were signed by all the negotiators at Münster.
{1486}
The more important of the provisions of the two instruments
were the following "To France was secured the perpetual
possession of the Bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, as
also Moyenvic and Pignerol, with the right to keep a garrison
in Philipsburg, and finally Breisach, Alsace, with its ten
imperial cities, and the Sundgau. The Emperor bound himself to
gain the assent of the Archduke Ferdinand, of Tyrol and Spain,
to this last-named cession. France made good to the Archduke this
loss by the payment of 3,000,000 francs. Although it was not
expressly provided that the connection with the Empire of the
German provinces ceded to France should be dissolved, yet the
separation became, as a matter of fact, a complete one. The
Emperor did not summon the Kings of France to the Diets of the
Empire, and the latter made no demand for such summons. ... In
relation to Italy, the French treaty provided that the peace
concluded in 1631 [see ITALY: A. D. 1627-1631] should remain
in force, except the part relating to Pignerol. ['Pinerolo was
definitely put under the French overlordship.']
G. W. Kitchin,
History of France,
volume 3, page 98.
Switzerland was made independent of the German Empire; but the
Circle of Burgundy [the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté]
was still to form a part of the Empire, and after the close of
the war between France and Spain, in which the Emperor and the
Empire were to take no part, was to be included in the peace.
No aid was to be rendered to the Duke of Lorraine against
France, although the Emperor and the Empire were left free to
mediate for him a peace. Sweden received Hither Pomerania,
including the Island of Rügen, from Further Pomerania the
Island of Wollin and several cities, with their surroundings,
among which were Stettin, as also the expectancy of Further
Pomerania in case of the extinction of the house of
Brandenburg. Furthermore, it received the city of Wismar, in
Mecklenburg, and the Bishoprics of Bremen [secularized and
made a Grand Duchy] and Verden, with reservation of the rights
and immunities of the city of Bremen. Sweden was to hold all
the ceded territory as feudal tenures of the Empire, and be
represented for them in the Imperial Diet. ... Brandenburg
received for its loss of Pomerania the Bishoprics of
Halberstadt, Minden, and Camin, and the expectancy of that of
Magdeburg as soon as this should become vacant by the death of
its Administrator, the Saxon Prince, although the four
bailiwicks separated from it were to remain with Saxony as
provided in the Peace of Prague. ... The house of
Brunswick-Lüneberg was to renounce its right to the
coadjutorship of Magdeburg, Bremen, Halberstadt, and
Ratzeburg, and, in return for this renunciation, was to
alternate with a Catholic prelate in the possession of the
Bishopric of Osnabrück. ... To Duke Maximilian of Bavaria was
conveyed the Electorate, together with the Upper Palatinate,
to be hereditary in his family of the line of William, for
which he, on the other hand, was to surrender to the Emperor
the account of the 13,000,000 florins which he had made for
the execution of the sentence against the Palsgrave Frederic.
To the Palsgrave, Charles Lewis, son of the proscribed Elector
[Frederic, who had died in 1632], was given back the Lower
Palatinate, while a new Electorate, the eighth, was created
for him. ... There were numerous provisions relating to the
restoration of the Dukes of Würtemberg, the Margraves of
Baden, and the Counts of Nassau and those of Hanau to several
parts of the territories which either belonged to them or were
contested. A general amnesty was indeed provided, and everyone
was to be restored to the possession of the lands which he had
held before the war. This general article was, however,
limited by various special provisions, as that in relation to
the Palsgrave, and was not to be applied to Austria at all.
... Specially important are the sections which relate to the
settlement of religious grievances. The treaty of Passau and
the Augsburg religious peace were confirmed; the 1st of
January, 1624, was fixed as the time which was to govern
mutual reclamations between the Catholics and Protestants;
both parties were secured the right to all ecclesiastical
foundations, whether in mediate or immediate connection with
the Empire, which they severally held in possession on the
first day of January, 1624; if any such had been taken from
them after this date, restoration was to be made, unless
otherwise specially provided. The Ecclesiastical Reservation
was acknowledged by the Protestants, and Protestant holders of
ecclesiastical property were freely admitted to the Imperial
Diets. The right of reformation was conceded to the Estates,
and permission to emigrate to the subjects; while it was at
the same time provided that, if in 1624 Protestant subjects of
Catholic Princes, or the reverse, enjoyed freedom of religion,
this right should not in the future be diminished. It was
specially granted for Silesia that all the concessions which
had been made before the war to the Dukes of Liegnitz,
Münsterburg, and Oels, and to the city of Breslau, relating to
the free exercise of the Augsburg Confession, should remain in
force. ... Finally, the Reformed--that is, the adherents of
Calvinism--were placed upon the same ground with those of the
Augsburg Confession; and it was provided that if a Lutheran
Estate of the Empire should become a Calvinist, or the
reverse, his subjects should not be forced to change with
their Prince."
A. Gindely,
History of the Thirty Years' War,'
volume 2, chapter 10.
"The emperor, in his own name, and in behalf of his family and
the 'empire, ceded the full sovereignty of Upper and Lower
Alsace, with the prefecture of Haguenau, or the ten towns
[Haguenau, Schelestadt, Weissemburgh, Colmar, Landau,
Oberenheim, Rosheim, Munster in the Val de St. Gregoire,
Kaiserberg, and Turingheim], and their dependencies. But by
one of those contradictions which are common in treaties, when
both parties wish to preserve their respective claims, another
article was introduced, binding the king of France to leave
the ecclesiastics and immediate nobility of those provinces in
the immediacy which they had hitherto possessed with regard to
the Roman empire, and not to pretend to any sovereignty over
them, but to remain content with such rights as belonged to
the house of Austria. Yet this was again contradicted by a
declaration, that this exception should not derogate from the
supreme sovereignty before yielded to the king of France."
W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapter 59 (volume 2).