Warrior Kings of Sweden

by Gary Dean Peterson

  The Spanish had been the counterbalance to the rising power of France and had for a long time been the source of money for the emperor. But now Spain had developed its own deep-seated problems. The Dutch recapture of the fortress Breda and Bernard’s conquest of Breisch had closed off the land route the Spanish were using to get troops from Italy to the Netherlands war. An attempt to supply Spanish forces by sea was stopped when a Dutch fleet intercepted the Spanish fleet in the English Channel off Dover and delivered a crushing defeat. Dutch colonists had taken a large section of eastern coastal Brazil in the 1630s. A new Spanish armada sent to recapture the area was destroyed in a four day battle off Recife. The Portuguese revolted and proclaimed their independence under the duke of Briganza in December 1640. First Barcelona, on the other side of the Iberian Peninsula, then all of Catalonia revolted in June 1640. The once mighty Spain, the largest empire in the world, was rapidly sinking to second class status.

  Guébriant proved to be a more aggressive commander than Bernard. With Spain out of the equation, at least temporarily, he led a French army, including the Bernadines, east into the heart of Germany in the winter of 1640. As he advanced Count Georg of Lueneburg and the landgravine of Hesse (Amelia Elisabeth) broke the pledge of neutrality to the emperor, joining the French-Swedish alliance. Banér immediately wheeled his army around and marched south. The allies rendezvoused at Erfurt on May 7, 1640, making a combined army of 32,000 men. Piccolomini’s Imperial army had shrunk to 10,000 soldiers. For the first time in six years the empire’s forces were badly outnumbered. It was the allies’ chance to decide the issue in one decisive stroke. However, problems cropped up immediately crippling the initiative.

  Here in the middle of Germany was a huge army of Swedes, French, Lueneburgers, Hessians and the unpredictable Bernardines, each with different objectives. Banér wanted supreme command and to move southeast, going after the heart of the empire. The Hessians and French wanted to split off and go after the Spanish in the Netherlands. The French also had to be careful to maintain their supply line through the Rhineland. They had secretly concluded a treaty with Bavaria and didn’t want to violate it by entering that country. The Lueneburgers were afraid of any move that would take this ravaging mass anywhere near their territory and the Bernardines just wanted high pay, good quarters and any advance that would provide an opportunity for plunder, preferably without having to fight.

  Banér was an excellent military strategist and tactical commander, but his impatience and bad temper made him a poor diplomat, so little progress was made. The allied generals discussed, wrangled and quarreled while the countryside was denuded. Piccolomini received reinforcements from Bavaria, but was still lacked enough troops to attack. No major battles were fought, but there were minor skirmishes. At Chemnitz a Västergötland cavalry detachment of 300 men was attacked by 8,000 troops under the duke of Braganza. The Swedes, commanded by Johan Printz, fought for five days, but in the end capitulated. Printz and his men were allowed to retreat north to Pomerania, thence to Sweden where he was discharged. He would surface again, however, as the dynamic governor of the Swedish colony in America.

  The summer campaign season was wasted by disagreement, inactivity and indecision. The weather turned wet and cold. The fall was even more miserable. Both armies suffered from disease and desertions as the resources of the surrounding countryside diminished. Finally, a sad, tired and discouraged Banér pulled out and headed north to winter quarters. The great chance to end the war in one overwhelming campaign had been squandered.

  Financial help arrived from Sweden and after a short rest Banér was contemplating a winter campaign. Late fall had turned unusually cold, freezing the rivers and lakes. The Swedish field marshal reasoned that he could move quickly under such conditions, not having to worry about who controlled what particular bridge. He brought his army back to Erfurt where the wrangling continued, but then he received word that the emperor had called an Imperial reichstag at Regensburg on the Danube. Ferdinand III had summoned all the German princes, electors and free city representatives to an assembly. Regensburg was only 175 miles away and the Imperial army was dispersed in winter quarters. Banér might capture all the league princes and even the emperor himself. He could end the war with one stroke.

  By the end of December Banér had his army moving. On January 3 he reached Auerbach. Here 500 Imperial musketeers were captured. They told the Swedes that the emperor knew about their movements and was assembling an army at Amberg to intercept and ambush them.

  Banér moved more cautiously. He sent cavalry units ahead to check on the story. One detachment came across an enemy wagon train loaded with clothing. They had no idea there was a Swedish presence in the area. A second unit captured a large depot of supplies at Hasbrouck. Nowhere was there a sign that the Swedish army had been detected. Banér had lost six precious days. Now he had to move fast. He sent three regiments of horse in a headlong dash to get to Regensburg before word of their advance reached the meeting.

  Then the weather changed, thawing the river ice. Banér’s cavalry crossed the Danube and reached the outskirts of the city, even capturing a royal hunting party, but no emperor. Then they had to recross the river before the ice broke up. The opportunity to get the rest of the army across the ice was lost. The attempt to kidnap the emperor and league princes failed. Banér turned around, marching his army to Cham on the Bavarian-Bohemian boarder, where he went into winter quarters. The French pulled back to the Rhineland.

  On March 7, 1641, Banér received word that the Imperial army had been reconstituted and was marching to cut him off once again. Piccolomini had gathered his forces for an early spring campaign in the hopes of surprising the Swedes. He had taken several Swedish garrisons on the way, but at Neunberg he ran into a stubborn Irik Slang, a one armed Swedish colonel commanding the garrison. It took two days for the Germans to breach the old medieval walls and force the Swedes to surrender, 90 officers, 180 musketeers and 1600 cavalrymen.

  The stout defense gave Banér time to evacuate and head north. His rearguard and Piccolomini’s advanced corps were constantly engaged. On March 17 Banér’s army crossed the Eger on a temporary bridge, making it to the mountain passes between Bohemian and Saxony. The Swedish field marshal had slipped away once again, but he had suffered heavy losses and now he succumbed to disease. He died at Merseburg Castle, Bohemia, in 1641. His death was mourned by his soldiers, but celebrated in Bohemia—“the old arsonist” was dead.

  With Oxenstierna’s return to Sweden, Johan Banér had been the head of the Swedish presence in Germany and in the Thirty Years’ War. He had kept the coastal area in Swedish hands, the primary concern, and had expanded Sweden’s territorial claims over much of eastern Germany and Bohemia. The see-saw war had been conducted with a mostly mercenary army using the same scorched earth tactics as his enemies. He was a cunning and ruthless old fox who kept Sweden in the war for as long as he lived.

  Clearly, Swedish emphasis had shifted from western Germany where the French were active to eastern Germany so the emperor was forced to conduct a two-front war. All sides were becoming exhausted by the grueling contest. At least Sweden was fighting on foreign soil and the country was spared the devastation wrought in Germany. And the Baltic coast remained in Swedish or allied hands keeping the all important commercial waterways open. Still the drain on resources was significant and some decisive event or campaign was yearned for, even anticipated.

  18. War with Denmark as the Thirty Years’ War Winds Down

  As the summer campaign season of 1641 opened, the Swedish army in Germany numbered only 13,000 troops. A mere 500 were Swedes and Finns, and most of these were employed in garrison duty or were in Stålhaudské’s corps in Silisia.

  With Banér’s death, Wrangel was left in command of the main Swedish army in Germany and he had a rebellion on his hands. Payrolls for this largely mercenary army had become undependable with back pay sometimes building up for months. As the troops became more and more restless
, the colonels, as regimental commanders, banded together to support one another. They agreed that if soldiers of one regiment revolted the other colonels would put it down. Quickly the colonels learned their ad hoc organization had power that could be directed not only downward to their troops, but upward toward the generals. This “conspiracy” began making demands on the army general staff. They demanded from the generals and the Swedish government back pay and two months’ future wages. The group of colonels also wanted to participate in major army decisions. By this time, Piccolomini had rebuilt the Imperial army and once again was moving north—the Swedish command had no choice but to give in to the regimental commanders. Back pay was forthcoming along with reinforcements.

  After the breakup of the allied army at Erfurt, the Lueneburgian corps had returned home and invested the Imperial occupied town of Wolfenbüettel. Piccolomini with 21,000 troops was moving to relieve the siege. The Swedes, with 20,000 men, pushed to arrive first. The race to the site ended in a tie. The Swedish army had just started to dig in when the Imperialists attacked.

  On June 19, 1641, Piccolomini led a cavalry charge against the Swedish right flank. This wing had had time to dig in and throw up timber works. Piccolomini’s troops were caught by artillery fire at close range from entrenchments hidden by dense foliage. The Germans were thrown back. On the right flank, however, Imperial horse met Swedish cavalry which was not dug in, and these they drove back in disorder. A counterattack by two regiments of Bernardines forced Piccolomini’s troops to retreat, keeping the Swedish line intact. Both wings had held, but it was in the center of the line where the bloodiest fighting occurred.

  The Swedish line ran through a woods with open areas on either side. Swedish artillery was concentrated on either side of the woods providing a clear field of fire. In the wooded area Banér’s veteran Blue Regiment of infantry was well entrenched. The German command meant to attack all along this line in hopes of overrunning the cannon placed at the edges of the woods and apply pressure in the woods at the same time. But the charging infantry veered away from the left and right into the wooded center to avoid the heavy artillery fire. Amongst the trees, the German formations broke up. Officers quickly lost control. The attack became a disorganized mass of men. Artillery to the right and left of the woods were turned on this mob along with the muskets. The Germans in the woods were enfiladed with grape, solid shot and musket fire from both sides and the front. Nevertheless, by sheer weight of numbers they were able to push into the trenches and drive the Blue Regiment back. A Swedish reserve brigade was brought up and counterattacked, regaining the trenches. The Imperial army had now been forced back on all fronts. Piccolomini called off the attack and retreated, leaving the siege in allied hands. Wolfenbüettel fell to the allies within a few weeks. Both sides pulled back to lick their wounds and neither army made any decisive moves the rest of the summer.

  In December 1640 George William, the elector of Brandenburg, died and was succeeded by his son Frederick William, who would become known as the Great Elector. In July 1641 he issued a proclamation of neutrality and signed a two year truce with Sweden. Many of the lesser Protestant princes followed suit, distancing themselves from the emperor.

  At the death of John Banér, Oxenstierna appointed Lennart Torstensson commander of Swedish forces in Germany and governor-general of Pomerania. He was raised to the rank of field marshal. In November 1641 Torstensson arrived in Germany with 7,000 fresh Swedish recruits. He spent the winter restoring discipline to the army, stiffening mercenary units with loyal Swedish and Finnish conscripts. He had trimmed away all the baggage train that was not absolutely necessary and cut back the usual huge body of camp followers that dogged all armies of that time. Thus he was able to move long distances with greater speed.

  He created the field artillery as a separate arm of the army, distinct from the infantry and cavalry, with its own functions and command structure. These innovations would prove critical in the campaigns and battles to come. The Swedish army began to resemble once again the old army of Gustav Adolf in spirit and discipline. By spring 1642 he was ready to move.

  He marched first into Saxony. Arnim had died a year earlier and with no inspired leadership the elector’s forces were easily defeated at the Battle of Schweidnitz. In June 1642 he marched into Moravia and took the capitol, Olmüz (Omoluoc). Here he constructed extensive fortifications, making it the stronghold of Swedish occupied east Germany for the rest of the war. From Olmüz it was an easy march to Vienna which alarmed the emperor sufficiently so that he hurriedly raised a large army of German mercenaries which was combined with Austrian troops.

  The German-Austrian army under Piccolomini and Archduke Leopold of Austria marched north into Bohemia threatening to cut the Swedes off. Torstensson fell back though Silesia into Saxony where he met some resistance. He invested Leipzig, which allowed the Imperial army time to close on him. Badly outnumbered, Torstensson did not want to get caught in a static position so he retreated to Breitenfeld and deployed for battle. On October 23, 1642, the Imperial army reached the field and began to fall into line. Not waiting for the German-Austrian attack and before Piccolomini could get his ranks fully assembled Torstensson led a charge against the enemy left flank. They were met by a deadly cannonade of grapeshot and solid shell, but were able to break through the Imperial line, taking the artillery positions. The Swedes turned the captured guns to enfilade the Germans, then Torstensson wheeled his troops and rolled up the German line. Piccolomini and Leopold lost half their army in the rout. The Imperial force was broken and could only retire into Bohemia. Leipzig fell to the Swedes a month later.

  On December 4, 1641, Armand-Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, died. The real political power in France and the architect of the rise of the Bourbon supremacy over the Hapsburgs of Spain and Germany was removed from the scene. Louis XIII appointed as his successor Sicilian Ginlio Mazarini.

  The French, with a better trained army and commanders that were gaining experience, were performing favorably against the Spanish and Germans. By June 1642 they had retaken the Piedmont of Northern Italy and were making steady progress against the Hapsburgs in southern Germany. On all fronts the emperor was losing ground.

  As the campaign season of 1643 opened, Torstensson again invaded Moravia, but was stopped short by Oxenstierna’s orders to attack Denmark. A new threat had emerged; the back door to Swedish Germany and the homeland itself needed to be closed and sealed.

  Antagonism had been building between Sweden and Denmark for some time. The old jealousies and rivalries were exacerbated by Denmark’s handling of the Sound Toll. Sweden was supposed to be exempt by the provisions of the Peace of Knäred (1613), but Christian IV kept imposing exemptions, particularly when shipments of arms were involved. He also raised the toll generally to obtain financing to rebuild his military. Both the Dutch and the Swedes were becoming increasingly weary of these Danish actions. Christian was also corresponding, and it was assumed plotting, with the Hapsburgs which threatened both the Netherlands and Sweden. Oxenstierna determined to put a stop to all this before the Danish military grew too strong. The eventual excuse for war was provided by one of those side issues that makes history read more like a novel.

  Maria Eleanora, Gustav Adolf’s widow and the queen mother, had been deprived of any presence in the Swedish government, even excluded from direct authority over her own daughter, Christina, the child queen. After a long period of mourning, when she would only sulk and scheme in her castle at Gripsholm, her dislike for her adopted country turned to hate and she began to look for a way out. Instead of openly declaring a visit to another country, she secretly plotted with the Danish king to make an escape. In the dead of night she and a trusted lady-in-waiting crept from her castle to a waiting carriage for an incognito journey to Nyköping. At the port the two conspirators boarded a sloop that conveyed them to a Danish warship sent by Christian. The ship took the queen mother to Gotland Island where Christian was waiting for her with great an
ticipation, or at least that is what the gossip mills of the European courts reported. Maria Eleanora, at 44, was reputed to be a handsome woman and Christian, though now 63, was still quite vigorous as he was soon to prove in battle. The whole “affair” became a delicious scandal that titillated the courts of Europe for months. When the Swedish government finally determined that the queen mother had indeed taken up residence in Denmark, it was proffered as the main reason for war. Though not quite a Helen of Troy episode, it was still a plausible excuse to begin hostilities.

  Torstensson moved his forces from eastern Germany to the base of the Jutland Peninsula where he attacked Holstein, which fell quickly. By the end of the year his army of hardened veterans was advancing through Jutland, sweeping all before it. Meanwhile, Gustav Horn, who had returned to Sweden after eight years in German captivity, led the Swedish home army into Skåne. By February Horn had subdued the province except for Malmö. Swedish forces also overran Jämtland and Härjedalen as was usually the case in a Danish war.

  Christian escaped to his islands and was aided by an unusually mild winter so the sea between those islands remained unfrozen, preventing Torstensson and Horn from linking up as planned. Christian now threw all his energy and resources into bolstering his navy as that was all that stood between him and annihilation.

  In May 1644 the Dutch sent a fleet of 21 armed merchantmen to support Torstensson in an island hopping operation. These ships had held their own against Spanish and Portuguese men-o-war. After defeating the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean they had been hired by Venice and performed well in action in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.