The Twenty-Five Years' War Part III: 1643
1) The battle of Rocroi
Louis XIII died on May 14, 1643, having hoped to hear a French victory that could save his country. Although France managed to keep the Catalan front to its advantage, the front with the Spanish Netherlands did not enjoy the same success. Already in 1636 the Spanish advanced as far as Pontoise without pushing towards Paris. This time for the Spaniards the goal is clear, without Louis XIII and his minister Richelieu, France will fall. In 1642 the Spaniards already start their occupation of the north of France with their army of Flanders which puts the siege in front of the stronghold of Rocroi the last lock before Paris.
France only had to oppose to the powerful Spanish tercios the weak army of Picardy. The Duke of Enghien will take command from 17 April under the request of Louis XIII, one of the last decisions that the dying king took before his death. This army was confined to Amiens, Doullens and Abbeville. To lend a hand to Enghien, the armies of Champagne and Burgundy had to support him in his operations, not forgetting his ally the United Provinces heading towards Maastricht as well as Wallenstein's mercenary army stationed in Cologne.
Despite his twenty-one years, Enghien received excellent military training from Jean de Gassion and was inspired by the use of light cavalry that Gustav II Adolphe developed and that Enghien began experimenting with at a younger age at the siege of Arras.
On 17 May Enghien sent Gassion with part of his cavalry to Rocroi before he himself joined him at Rumigny. That same day Enghien receives the news of Louis XIII's death which he decides to hide from his soldiers. The next day Enghien goes to a league from the Spanish camp surrounding Rocroi. Francisco de Melo seeing the arrival of the French disposes his army parallel to Enghien's by putting his tercios in formation and keeping a detachment to block any exit of the besieged of Rocroi. Melo has five Spanish tercios, three Italian tercios, five Walloon regiments, five German regiments and two Flemish regiments. France has slightly fewer troops but can line up twelve French regiments, two Swiss regiments and one Scottish regiment. Enghien also learns that the Spaniards are expecting reinforcements of 1,000 cavalrymen and 3,000 infantrymen led by Jean de Beck. If he wants to beat the Spaniards and push them back he must beat Melo now. Enghien took command of the right wing with Gassion, on the left wing was the Maréchal de l'Hospital and La Ferté leading his cavalry, in the center was the Comte d'Espénan with the bulk of the French forces. In reserve is the Maréchal-de-camp Sirot.
Rocroi before the battle begins.
On May 18 [1] Enghien engaged in the fight what Melo was expecting and wished, knowing himself to be superior in number. Enghien's right and Gassion's right attack the Spanish left. At first the Albuquerque musketeers he had hidden were decimated by the French cavalry. In a second phase the French cavalry repulses their Spanish counterpart while knocking down the last Spanish musketeers of the left wing. Enghien and Gassion decided to separate, the first one going towards the Spanish centre and the second one continuing to pursue the Spanish left wing, which was unbridled.
The French left wing is however in trouble. The Maréchal de l'Hospital has charged the Spanish at a gallop and too far, which has exhausted his cavalry, who find themselves dislocated in front of Melo and his Alsatians. The latter with his disciplined and trained troops repulses the French who are struggling despite La Ferté trying to assemble the French cavalry while trying to withdraw in order [2]. Enghien from the center seeing his left fall down does not come to save her. He sees that Melo, while chasing Ferté, moves further and further away from his center. Enghien thus decides to continue charging the Italian and German squares vulnerable to a flank attack in the absence of their musketeers. At the same time Gassion pushed back and finished dispersing the Spanish cavalry facing him. Moreover La Ferté succeeded in gathering part of his cavalry and resumed his attacks against Melo.
Enghien attacks and forces the Spanish left to flee the battlefield. The Spanish right is harassed by the remnants of the cavalry that La Ferté has managed to regroup. The Spanish right only owes its salvation to the intervention of the reserve. The Spanish Center, a symbol of the dreaded Spanish power and reputed invincible because of its formation in Tercio, suffers two attacks from the French cavalry, which it repels with its artillery. But at the end of the second attack, the Spanish commander, Paul Bernard de la Fontaine died of his wounds [3] causing the collapse of the Spanish center picked up by Gassion's cavalry, that of La Ferté and the reserve of Marshal de Camp Sirot.
After the battle the victory is resounding for France which had not known such a resounding triumph for almost a century. The Spaniards had more than eight thousand dead and wounded and seven thousand prisoners against two thousand dead and wounded for the French [4]. This battle also showed the end of the era when the heavy infantryman reigned supreme on the battlefield. He was replaced by the light and mobile cavalry, much more maneuverable. The Spanish infantry gave way to the French cavalry for this century.
The last Tercio of Rocroi.
The French victory led to the liberation of Rocroi by the French. However, the Duke of Enghien will very quickly transform his mission to protect the north of France into a lightning offensive in the Spanish Netherlands. In the following months the army of Picardy led by Enghien defeated Beck's army at the battle of Lens in July. He continued fighting in the rest of the Netherlands, which found itself without armed forces to protect itself. Charleroi, Namur, Brussels and Ghent fall to the armies of Picardy accompanied by the armies of Burgundy and Champagne. Wallenstein, on hearing the news of Enghien's victory at Rocroi, set himself on the move, aiming at Limburg and then Luxembourg completely isolated. Luxembourg fell in September 1643. Wallenstein then went north to support the United Provinces in their siege of Maastricht. In October, Condé arrives in Antwerp.
In the Holy Roman Empire the news of the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands by France was a real thunderbolt. It prompted Gustav II Adolf of Sweden to launch an offensive along the Bohemia towards the Upper Palatinate. Bernard of Saxony Weimar also resumed his assaults in Lorraine, which he continues to plunder. For the imperials the disaster seems imminent with the Spanish cut off. Moreover, the arrival of this young French soldier in the Holy Empire once his campaign in the Spanish Netherlands is over does not bode well for the Habsburgs. For Ferdinand III the time has come to find a Peace with the Franco-Swedish.
The Duke of Enghien during his campaign in the Spanish Netherlands.
2) The Treaties of Westphalia
France's lightning victory in the Spanish Netherlands was the element that precipitated the end of the twenty-five year war. No power on the continent could afford to continue the war. Moreover, the fear of an over-conquering France has frozen the entire continent, enemies as well as allies of Paris. The many ravages of war on the civilian population also pushed the belligerents to find a solution to the conflict.
The European delegations during the negotiations in Munster.
Sweden in its negotiations obtained concessions from the Emperor. Gustav II Adolf obtained Eastern and Western Pomerania as well as the city of Bremen and the town of Wildeshausen as well as control over the customs tariffs of the Weser. The King of Sweden also obtained the city of Wismar in Mecklenburg for five years. In exchange, Sweden had to give up its claim on the rest of Mecklenburg and give back the city of Wismar after the five years. The dukedoms of Mecklenburg will not be in the hands of its former dukes either.
The compromise candidate found but appreciated by nobody will be Wallenstein who had claims on the duchy and administered it during a long part of the war. Wallenstein also obtained the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which the French do not want to see recovered by the Habsburgs, but the latter do not want it to return to France either. Wallenstein had to give up his ambitions for the Bohemian crown promised to him by Gustav II Adolf, despite the fact that no one in 1643 could obtain the Bohemian crown except Ferdinand III himself.
The Kingdom of Denmark, despite its setbacks at the beginning of the conflict against the imperials, was able to keep some of its conquests within the circle of Lower Saxony. The Duchy of Bremen with the exception of the city itself and the Principality of Verden are now domains of King Christian IV, allowing him to become an influential prince of the Empire but also a major Protestant player.
The electorate of Saxony obtained from the Habsburgs the long-promised Upper and Lower Lusatia. The electorate of Brandenburg, having been unable to obtain Western Pomerania, obtained the Duchy of Kleve, the County of Marck and the bishoprics of Minden, Halberstadt and Magdeburg. Bavaria obtains the former lands of Frederick V as a whole as well as his title of elector. The Upper and Lower Palatinate are now under the rule of Maximilian of Bavaria.
Frederick V of the Palatinate having died in 1632, it was his children who, with the support of the Protestant princes, reluctantly obtained compensation for the loss of the Palatinate from Emperor Ferdinand III by obtaining the bishopric of Munster. But in exchange for the bishopric of Munster becoming the Duchy of Munster and some compensation to the former prince bishop, the sons of Frederick V had to renounce their voice in the imperial diet, which remained attached to the Palatinate.
In Hesse, Hesse-Darmstadt, an ally of Ferdinand III, is fully recognized as heir to Hesse-Marburg and retains all of Hesse-Kassel. Amalie Elisabeth, the wife of the former Landgravist of Hesse-Kassel, refuses the acquisition and is still in exile in Friesland with her young son Wilhelm VI. But having lost the support of Sweden and France with the end of the war, her opposition does not change this.
In the Habsburg domains Ferdinand III is recognized as King of Bohemia by the whole Empire and is free of his religious policy on his lands. However, he had to recognize the territorial superiority of the member states of the Empire which were free of their foreign policy. The power of the princes is reinforced on that of the Emperor without the latter losing his solid precedence. The Peace of Augsburg was also re-established in the Holy Roman Empire and extended to the Calvinists.
The Holy Empire must also recognize the independence of northern Italy, the Swiss Confederation and the United Provinces de jure and which were already more or less de facto independent. However, the Empire keeps in its bosom the three Graubünden Leagues, which became the Duchy of Graubünden and led by Georg Jenatsch, an ally of Austria. The Empire also recognized the acquisition by France of the three bishoprics of Toul, Metz and Verdun as well as the former Spanish Netherlands, with the exception of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which was returned to Wallenstein.
Apart from the Holy Empire, the Treaty of the Pyrenees is established between France, the United Provinces and Spain. In exchange for the recognition of the independence of the United Provinces and the acquisition by Paris of the former Spanish Netherlands, France withdrew its support for the Catalan and Portuguese revolts and returned Barcelona Perpignan and Roussillon to Madrid. Having no means of recovering the Netherlands and having to deal with the problems at home, the Spain of Felipe IV accepted the state of affairs and abandoned its claims to the whole of the Netherlands.
Europe after the Treaties of Westphalia.
The Treaties of Westphalia more generally also led to a secularisation of relations between the states and stabilised the religious map of the Empire. The only opponent was the Pope in Rome, who lost some of his influence in European affairs, as well as religious extremists on all sides.
Thus ends the bloodiest conflict in the history of Europe for its contemporaries. The Treaties of Westphalia have tried to satisfy all parties as best they can by establishing a balanced and just Peace for all. They also mark the beginning of a new era for the continent, this war has brought an end to a hegemony, that of the Habsburgs, but will leave a new one to emerge for the years to come.
[1] OTL the battle was on the 19th because on the 18th May when Enghien wanted to launch the assault on one of his lieutenants, La Ferté launched the left wing too early and had to retreat to avoid its destruction. It is not known whether La Ferté was mistaken or wanted to be noticed by Enghien, who was jealous of Gassion's influence on the young Duke.
[2] OTL La Ferté was wounded and captured by Melo.
[3] OTL Fontaine will resist three assaults with his Tercio.
[4] OTL The figures were 7,000 dead and 7,000 Spanish prisoners and 4,000 dead and wounded for the French.
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Last chapter on the Twenty-five Years' War. I hope that this first part of my chronology still pleases. If you have any questions or ideas to share with me, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Edit: Once again a big thank you to
@alexmilman and
@Basileus_Komnenos who helped me enormously during a period of history that I didn't know a few months ago.
And I'm repeating myself, but I'd like to have some criticism from you, it would help me to progress. Thank you.
Edit: I modified part of the chapter on the conclusion of the war. I added a correction as well as some details that I wanted to address later but that I needed to start addressing before. I corrected the Duchy of Bremen Verden by returning it to Denmark, added the limitation of Swedish control over Wismar, added the secularization of the Duchy of Munster and the creation of the Duchy of Graubünden . For the occasion I even made a new map.
