WALLENSTEIN. 



867 



25,000 men under his banners, at Eger. He im- 

 mediately marched with it (in 1625) to Franconia, 

 where the country was compelled to support them 

 for some time, then through Suabia and the circle 

 of the Upper Rhine, to Lower Saxony, where he 

 passed the winter in Halberstadt, and even occupied 

 a part of Upper Saxony. Every where the inhabi- 

 tants were compelled to afford subsistence to his 

 troops, the number of which continued to increase. 

 The celebrated count Mansfeld opposed him with a 

 far inferior army, but was totally defeated by Wal- 

 lenstein, April 18, 1626. He, nevertheless, assem- 

 bled new troops, with which he proceeded through 

 Silesia, towards Hungary, in order to join Bethlem 

 Gabor. Wallenstein followed him rapidly. Gabor 

 concluded a truce, and Mansfeld withdrew to Dal- 

 matia, where he died. Wallenstein now relieved 

 Novigrad, which was besieged by the Turks, and 

 conquered Waitzen. After Gabor had made peace 

 with the emperor, Wallenstein returned (in 1627) 

 from Hungary, through Silesia, Lusatia and Bran- 

 denburg (August, 1627), to Lower Saxony, where 

 he obliged the king of Denmark (who could not 

 withstand, at the same time, him, and the army of 

 the league, under Tilly) to make a speedy retreat ; 

 conquered, in a short time, the duchy of Mecklen- 

 burg, and Holstein as far as Gliickstadt, as well as 

 the greater part of Silesia and Jutland, no one being 

 prepared for so unexpected an attack. All these 

 countries were very' severely treated, and heavy 

 contributions were exacted of them. As Wallen- 

 stein, from want of vessels, could not invade the 

 Danish islands, he went into winter-quarters on the 

 coasts of the Baltic, occupied Pomerania, and ex- 

 tended his line of troops to Berlin. The fortress 

 of Stralsund alone withstood him. By the edict of 

 June 9, 1629, the emperor threatened the two dukes 

 of Mecklenburg with the ban, for having espoused 

 the Danish party, and, on June 16, 1629, invested 

 Wallenstein with their territories, and with the 

 principality of Sagan, in Silesia : he also appointed 

 him admiral of the Baltic. The object seemed 

 to be, to make the emperor master of the coasts of 

 the Baltic, and to destroy, in this sea, the trade of 

 the Dutch, who were at variance with Spain. But 

 the Hanseatic towns refused Wallenstein's demand 

 for vessels, and he had not enough to execute his 

 bold plan. He was also unsuccessful in his attempt 

 on Stralsund, which was aided by Denmark and 

 Sweden, and which he besieged from May till July, 

 1628. During this siege, he lost in various assaults, 

 more than 12,000 men. He was also obliged to 

 withdraw his troops from before Gliickstadt and 

 Magdeburg. He again undertook, in September, 

 the siege of Stralsund. " The city should be his," 

 he said, " were it fastened by chains to heaven." 

 But in vain. He was obliged a 'second time to 

 raise the siege. He next took Rostock, and de- 

 feated the Danes at Wolgast. His further progress 

 was obstructed by the peace between the emperor 

 and Denmark, at Lubeck, in 1629, which he had 

 himself promoted, because he expected to obtain by 

 it the quiet possession of Mecklenburg. But hav- 

 ing ignominiously dismissed the Swedish ambassa- 

 dors from the congress of Liibeck, and having like- 

 wise sent his confidential friend Arnheim, with 

 12,000 men, to aid king Sigismund of Poland, 

 against Gustavus Adolphus, he gave occasion to a 

 new war with Sweden. The fear of the emperor's 

 designs, as well as the overbearing conduct of Wal- 

 lenstein, and the immense extortions which he and 

 his troops practised, even ir neutral countries (hav- 



ing, within seven years, raised 600,000,000 thalers 



nearly 90,000,000 sterling by contributions 



in the north of Germany), induced the German 

 princes, at the diet of Ratisbon, in 1630, to wrest 

 from the emperor a promise to diminish his army to 

 30,000 men, and deprive Wallenstein of its chief 

 command. In order to promote the election of his 

 son as king of the Romans, Ferdinand II. was in- 

 duced to disgrace, in a mortifying manner, a general, 

 who had saved Austria, and raised it to the summit 

 of power. With the command of the army, Wal- 

 lenstein was at the same time obliged to resign the 

 duchy of Mecklenburg. He seemed, however, to 

 bear with indifference this degradation, and lived, 

 from that time, in Prague, as a private man, but 

 with the pomp of royalty. He was surrounded 

 with guards : sixty pages and twenty chamberlains 

 waited on him. He travelled to his estates with a 

 train of 200 carriages ; and Battista Seni, his astro- 

 loger, announced to him a new career, yet more 

 splendid. This career was opened to him after 

 Tilly's death. The military successes of Gustavus 

 Adolphus in Germany forced the emperor to the 

 humiliating step of conferring again on Wallenstein 

 the command of the army. After some hesitation, 

 he accepted the offer, but on terms very deroga- 

 tory to the emperor. He received absolute power, 

 almost independent of the emperor, not only over 

 the army, but also to treat, confiscate, punish, and 

 reward, at will, in the countries of the empire. He 

 stipulated for an indemnification of Mecklenburg, 

 and also for the grant of an imperial hereditary 

 province. In an incredibly short time, he assem- 

 bled an army of 40,000 men, at Znaym. After 

 having expelled the Saxons from Bohemia, who had 

 taken Prague and other cities, he formed a junction 

 with the troops of the elector of Bavaria, and 

 marched to Franconia, against Nuremberg. But 

 Gustavus had already hastened to the aid of the 

 Protestants ; and Wallenstein, though his troops 

 were superior in number to those of the king by 

 one half, avoided a battle. Both parties intrenched 

 themselves. Gustavus waited for the approaching 

 reinforcements ; Wallenstein undertook no attack ; 

 and nothing but insignificant skirmishes occurred. 

 As Wallenstein could not be made to risk a battle, 

 Gustavus Adolphus attempted to storm the Aus- 

 trian camp (August 24, 1632) ; but his assaults 

 were repeatedly repelled. The Swedish army now 

 turned towards the north of Suabia, and made new 

 conquests, while Wallenstein suddenly invaded the 

 unoccupied Saxony, to compel the elector to se- 

 cede from the alliance with Sweden. Gustavus 

 Adolphus followed him thither, and, November 6, 

 the battle of Lutzen took place. Wallenstein was 

 compelled to retire with great loss. He himself 

 was wounded, Pappenheim was killed, and all his 

 artillery was taken. The Swedes, although their 

 great king had fallen, maintained the field under 

 Bernard, duke of Weimar. Wallenstein now with- 

 drew to Bohemia, and caused a strict court-martial 

 to be held, at Prague, over the officers and soldiers, 

 who were accused of not having done their duty in 

 the battle ; and many of them were executed. In 

 May, 1633, he again took the field, and proceeded 

 to Silesia, where there was a Swedish army, com- 

 bined with Saxon and Brandenburg troops. Not- 

 withstanding his numerical superiority, he under- 

 took, at first, nothing important. This inactivity 

 gave rise to the suspicion, that he was engaged in 

 secret negotiations with the enemy, to the disad- 

 vantage of Austria. He was even charged with the 

 3 I i 



