It was late 1620. The Bohemians and their allies had been ruthlessly crushed by a Catholic
army, Spanish troops were marching on the Palatinate
and the Protestant Union was in disarray. The
rebel defeat at the Battle of White Mountain was catastrophic for their cause, but Ferdinand
still had problems to deal with. Though Frederick
V had been defeated and his military forces smashed, he had not renounced his claim to
the Bohemian throne, leaving Ferdinand with the
task of eradicating his support without provoking a general European war. Welcome to our
second video on the Thirty Years’ War and the Danish Intervention.
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After his army’s defeat at White Mountain, Frederick V first fled to Breslau and then
to the Netherlands. Even though he had lost militarily,
the Palatinate’s ruler could still count on
Protestant allies. The defending generals, Georg Friedrich of Baden and Christian of
Brunswick, could not coordinate their armies properly,
so they were defeated piecemeal by Tilly in the
Battles of Wimpfen and Höchst in May and June of 1622. Ernst von Mansfeld retreated
to the Netherlands, abandoning the Palatinate, which
was then gifted to Maximilian of Bavaria, along
with its accompanying position as Elector. In 1623 Christian, who wished to invade Bohemia
and unify with Bethlen Gabor, who was once again at war with the emperor, advanced from
the Netherlands with 21,000 men. He was forced into battle by Tilly and crushed at the Battle
of Stadtlohn by 30,000 Catholic soldiers. After this
battle, the war seemed to be concluded. However, the balance of power had been so disrupted
that an external escalation of the conflict was now inevitable.
To the north, the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway was still one of the most powerful states
in Europe in 1625. The realm was not populous
or traditionally wealthy in material, but had total
control of the sea lanes connecting the Baltic and North Seas. Danish kings could levy taxes
on this shipping, which provided a lucrative
and reliable income. In the early 17th century, rulers of
Denmark-Norway had several key goals. One was the pursuit of expansionist dynastic
aspirations in northern Germany, and the other was the protection of the country and its
Baltic hegemony from the rising power of Sweden on
their eastern border. To this end, the two Scandinavian states had fought between 1563
and 1570, in the Northern Seven Years’ War and
from 1611 to 1613 in the Kalmar War. The ruling dynasty of Denmark-Norway, members
of the House of Oldenburg, had North German roots and its heads considered themselves
to be both Kings of Denmark and German Princes - as they held the Duchy of Holstein
within the Empire. In 1588 Christian IV ascended to
the Danish throne. He used his boundless energy to make Denmark wealthy and powerful.
Many of his ventures failed, but he could afford to experiment due to his massive personal
fortune - being probably the wealthiest monarch in early 17th century Europe.
This ambitious monarch was initially hesitant to become involved in the unfolding German
conflict, but the spread of the war attracted his concern. To Christian, the actions of
Ferdinand II signaled that the Austrian Habsburgs were
willing to trample German liberties and increase Imperial authority. At the same time, the
Dutch, whose truce with Spain had just ended, attempted to enmesh him into the Protestant
cause. Christian IV also wished to take Bremen, Verden and Osnabruck to establish control
over the great trading rivers of Elbe and Weser.
In 1624, the Dutch, English and Palatinate invited Sweden’s king - Gustavus Adolphus
- to help retake the Palatinate. This alarmed Christian,
who feared that a large Swedish army supported by
the Dutch fleet would turn the Baltic into a Swedish lake. So, in January 1625 he offered
to intervene. In the Danish system, the king
at this time was supposed to be an equal partner to the
aristocratic Privy Council, or Riksråd, and was expected to rule with their consent rather
than going above them. The council did not support
Christian's invasion, and so he had to raise an
army for himself. In Vienna, Ferdinand II wanted to lessen his
reliance on Maximilian of Bavaria, who led the
Catholic League army. Enter Albrecht von Wallenstein. This scion of lower nobility entered
Habsburg service during the Long War with the Ottoman Empire, and converted to
Catholicism in order to advance his career. Though he was a part of the Moravian army
since 1615, he defected to the Emperor in 1619 and fought at the White Mountain. In
the aftermath, Wallenstein assisted in the confiscation
of rebel property and land transfers, emerging as a major beneficiary.
With this new wealth, he loaned Ferdinand a large sum and was made a Duke. Wallenstein
was subsequently commissioned by the Emperor to
raise an army which would be under Imperial Dominion, rather than that of the Catholic
League. He did this, and eventually raised a force of
around 25,000. He informed the Count of Tilly that he would cooperate with him, but would
not accept being the Catholic commander’s subordinate.
This suited Ferdinand perfectly, as the Emperor wanted to regain a personal leading
role in the war. The campaign began in early 1626, during which
Christian concentrated his main army of 20,000 at Wolfenbuttel, so that he could keep the
two armies of Wallenstein and Tilly divided. The
former had occupied the cities of Magdeburg and Halberstadt due to the necessity of feeding
and paying the army. It is key to note that in
this period, armies employed the savage principle of
bellum se ipsum alet - meaning that the armies fed and funded themselves at the expense of
the local population in conquered territory.
Moving from his base, Wallenstein initially began operations around Goslar, but turned
when he received reports that Mansfeld was advancing
south along the Elbe - announcing he was coming to liberate Magdeburg. He advanced towards
Dessau, where one of Wallenstein’s subordinates guarded the only permanent bridge in the region
- a key Imperial supply route which had to be
protected. On the 24th of April 1626 the Imperial army
arrived in the region. After waiting until Mansfeld’s
attempts to cross the bridge had faltered, Wallenstein counterattacked and routed his
enemy at the Battle of Dessau Bridge.
Through all this, Christian IV had remained at Wolfenbuttel, attempting to gain additional
German support. Meanwhile, the newly recovered Mansfeld rushed east and then south through
Silesia, aiming to get to upper Hungary and rendezvous with Gabor. Not wanting to infringe
on Brandenburg’s neutrality, Wallenstein initially
held off from pursuing the protestant commander, but after a while he set off with 20,000 men,
aiming to catch up with Mansfeld. It is possible that
Wallenstein had waited deliberately until Mansfeld had gone too far to turn back.
At the same time, Tilly had systematically captured and razed the strongholds at Munden,
Northeim and Gottingen, with massacre and plunder occurring throughout the entire campaign.
Christian IV raced south in order to attempt a relief, but was too late.
Realising he was now being chased by the Catholic League army, he retreated to the north,
attempting to get back to Wolfenbuttel, and was harried by the enemy forces all the way.
He chose not to dump the baggage train to increase
his army’s speed and because of this was forced to deploy on August 27th, when Tilly
caught up near Lutter-am-Barenberge. Both armies numbered around 20,000 and formed
up with the Hummecke stream between them, with the Danish using it as a defensive
obstacle. The Danes had a few more cannons than Tilly, but made bad use of them. Only
two of the twenty-two guns fired at one time, whereas the Catholic League guns were used
much more effectively, shooting bloody holes into the enemy ranks.
After softening the Danish force up, the League co-commander, Anholt, opened the battle
by crossing the stream and advancing with his Tercios under artillery cover, eventually
managing to gain a foothold on the other side. At the same time, contingents of Imperial
Cuirassier, Harquebusier and Dragoon cavalry were dispatched around each wing, and
crashed into the Danes in a double-envelopment. Tilly’s centre now crossed the stream and
managed to seize all the Danish artillery, as well as much of the baggage train.
To the southeast, Wallenstein confronted Mansfeld and Gabor on the frontier, but this Imperial
show of force was enough to make the Ottoman-supported Hungarians seek peace. Seeing there
was no hope, Mansfeld tried to escape, but died of disease in the Balkans.
Back in Saxony, Tilly’s forces now besieged Wolfenbuttel and Nienburg on the Weser. Having
made his way back north after his triumph, Wallenstein joined Tilly just north of Lauenburg
in September, and together the two overran Holstein
and forced the Danes to retreat. As a reward for his service, Wallenstein was made Duke
of Mecklenburg, an act which was controversial even to fellow Catholics.
The new Duke wanted another base for his burgeoning fleet, and was convinced to cast his gaze
onto the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, a town famous for defying ducal authority. In early
May 1628, one of Wallenstein’s subordinates
- Hans Georg von Arnim - was commanded to put
Stralsund under siege. Initially, he did not wish to damage Imperial
prestige by using such force, so he only loosely blockaded the city. Inside the walls, wealthier
aristocrats generally favoured compromise, whereas poorer citizens, led by Justquinus
von Gosen, would rather resist, as they would likely suffer the most under any occupation
by Wallenstein’s mercenary army. The relatively small Stralsund navy managed
to blockade the trapped Imperials on the island until it surrendered on the 15th of
April, depriving their forces of a few cannons. Over the next month, 6,000 reinforcements
arrived at the Imperial siege lines, which prompted Arnim to command a night assault,
but this was repelled relatively easily and the
attackers retreated. Seeing the initial success of the defenders, Christian IV - who had
retreated into Denmark - sent 1,000 Scots and Germans to assist the town under the
command of Heinrich Holk. After a few more small-scale repulsed attacks
on the 26th and 27th of May, Arnim resorted to repeated massive artillery bombardments
as he waited for Wallenstein to arrive. 600 more reinforcements arrived on June 20th under
the Swedish flag. 3 days later the town concluded a 20-year long alliance with the
king of Sweden - Gustavus Adolphus - who then chose to garrison the town. This was the beginning
of Sweden’s intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
The siege intensified on June 27th when Albrecht von Wallenstein arrived in person. He
took command of Imperial forces from Arnim and renewed the assaults with a great
intensity. In these attacks, the Scottish forces were defending the key eastern district
of Franken, under the command of Robert Munro.
While they distinguished themselves and managed to repulse the attackers, 500 of the
900 Scots were killed, and a further 300 wounded, including Munro himself.
During the following night, Wallenstein succeeded in taking the outer fortifications of city,
but could not progress any further. Instead, he again resorted to mass bombardments with
his heavy guns. On the following morning, the Duke of Pomerania - Bogislaw XIV - sent
envoys to urge Stralsund to surrender, but they refused.
On June 30th, more Swedish vessels arrived and reinforced the defenders with a further
600 soldiers, whilst under heavy fire from the Imperial cannons, which were now wary
of any ships approaching. On the 4th of July,
more Scottish regiments arrived under Alexander Lindsay, suffering massive losses
that night in assaults led personally by Wallenstein.
The situation began to change on the 17th of July when Alexander Leslie arrived with
1,100 more Scots. He almost immediately sallied out of the defences and launched an
audacious attack on the siege lines, inflicting many losses.
The next week was decisive. Inclement weather, in the form of heavy rainfall between the
21st and 24th of July, turned the battlefield into a sea of mud, making the attackers’
situation untenable. Finally on the 4th of August, Wallenstein lifted the siege. For
the first time in the Thirty Years’ War, Albrecht
von Wallenstein had been defeated. Christian IV wished to capitalise on the protestant
success at Stralsund, and again began to raise an army on the island of Usedom. On the 11th
of August 1628 Christian marched to Wolgast and
captured it, meeting no resistance from the Imperial garrison. The Danish king was then
met with overwhelming support from the local population
to turn Wolgast into a fortress like Stralsund -
he then awaited Wallenstein for the final battle.
The Imperial commander had withdrawn from Stralsund after his defeat and headed east
to face the new Danish force in the field with 7,000
troops, consisting of 33 infantry companies, 20
cuirassier companies and 11 cannon. The Danish army had 6,000 soldiers, including 1,500
cavalry and 400 Scots from the Donald Mackay regiment. Wallenstein attacked on the 22nd
of August, quickly wiping out the Danish right
flank and killing 1,000 Danish troops, capturing
another 600. Nightfall allowed Christian and some of his troops to retreat on their ships.
Wolgast was badly burned and looted, and the Danish
garrison had to surrender. This was the final stage of the Danish intervention
on behalf of the Protestant cause, and it seemed as through the Catholic cause was once
again ascendant. However, Stralsund showed that the tide was gradually turning. Two
events in the next year - 1629 - would affect how the
war would progress. First, the Peace of Lubeck ended the conflict between Wallenstein and
Christian IV, both of whom now needed peace. The agreement was remarkably lenient to the
ostensibly humbled Danish king, who was allowed to retain his pre-war position on the condition
that he would promise not to militarily intervene on the side of the protestants again.
Second was the Edict of Restitution, a decree which attempted to retroactively enforce the
clause of Augsburg that Catholic lands were no longer
to be held by Protestants. This was a bold enough act to cause many moderate Lutherans,
who had kept silent up until now, led by the Elector of Saxony, to become increasingly
threatened. However, they were now on their own
again, until a new force would appear to once again intensify the Thirty Years’ War - the
kingdom of Sweden led by Gustavus Adolphus. We’ll talk about it in the next video on
the 30 Years’ War, so make sure you are subscribed to
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