Battle of Oldendorf

Last updated
Battle of Oldendorf
Part of Thirty Years' War
Hessisch Oldendorf Schlacht Gemalde.jpg
Date8 July 1633
Location
Hessisch-Oldendorf (present-day Germany)
Result Swedish–Hessian victory
Belligerents
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden
Flag of Hesse.svg Hesse-Kassel 		Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor (after 1400).svg  Holy Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength
13,000, 37 guns 14,700, 15 guns
Casualties and losses
700 dead and wounded 3,000 dead and wounded
1,000 captured

The Battle of Oldendorf (German : Schlacht bei Hessisch-Oldendorf [1] ) on 8 July 1633 [2] was fought as part of the Thirty Years' War between the Swedish Empire with its Protestant German allies and the Holy Roman Empire near Hessisch-Oldendorf, Lower Saxony, Germany. [3] The result was a decisive victory for the Swedish Army and its allies. [1] [3]

Contents

Prelude

The Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, William V, as a Protestant ally of Sweden had campaigned in Westphalia, Ruhr area and the Sauerland, successfully reducing the imperial presence there. [1] The imperial defense of the Weser area in 1633 was led by Jost Maximilian von Bronckhorst-Gronsfeld. [4]

The battle was preceded by a Swedish siege of the nearby imperial-held town of Hameln, laid in March 1633 with support of Hessian and Lüneburgian troops. [5]

Battle

Map of the battle (1883) SchlachtHO.jpg
Map of the battle (1883)

On 8 July, the Swedish army commanded by George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg [3] [6] and Marshal Dodo zu Innhausen und Knyphausen [3] [6] faced an Imperial relief army commanded by Field Marshal Jobst Maximilian von Gronsfeld, [3] [6] Count Jean de Merode [3] [6] and Lothar Dietrich Freiherr von Bönninghausen. [6] Merode commanded 4,450 infantrymen and 1,245 cavalry troops, Bonninghausen 4,475 infantry and 2,060 cavalry, Gronsfeld 2,000 infantry and 600 cavalry. [6] The armies met near Hessisch-Oldendorf, northwest of Hameln. [3]

Both armies attacked, a rare event in the Thirty Years' War, which besides Oldendorf only occurred in the Second Battle of Breitenfeld. [nb 1] [7] The left wing of the Swedish forces was commanded by the general of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel and later imperial field marshal Peter Melander. [8] Subsequently, field marshal Torsten Stålhandske led a Swedish brigade. [9] The later field marshal Gottfried Huyn von Geleen participated in the battle on the imperial side. [10]

Gronsfeld was captured [3] after his wing was routed by Melander, [11] leaving over 3,000 dead and wounded and 1,000 prisoner. The Swedes lost 700 soldiers. [12]

Aftermath

The Swedish victory in Oldendorf and the subsequent victory in the Battle of Pfaffenhofen on 11 August balanced their defeat in the Battle of Steinau on 10 October. Overall, Swedish and Imperial forces were "on even terms" in 1633. [2] This only changed in the following year. While the Swedish forces won the Battle of Liegnitz on 8 May and the Battle of Landshut on 22 July, [2] their defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen on 6 September 1634 brought about a change in the balance of power. [13]

Melander, the Swedish commander at Oldendorf, intrigued with the Holy Roman Emperor in 1635 to merge Hesse-Kassel's forces into the Imperial army and have Hesse-Kassel sign the Peace of Prague. [4] These plans failed, and personal quarrels led him to leave service in 1640 and to re-enter it as the Imperial commander of Westphalia in 1645. [4] The Peace of Prague reconciled many Protestant states with the Holy Roman Emperor, most notably the Electorate of Saxony. [13] As a consequence, Sweden's and Hesse-Kassel's forces stood alone against a growing anti-Swedish, pro-Habsburg coalition in 1635 - a disequilibrium eventually stirring France's intervention in the Thirty Years' War. [13]

In 1647, Hessisch-Oldendorf became the winter quarters of the Swedish army commanded by Carl Gustaf Wrangel retreating from Bohemia, followed by the then imperial commander Melander who took his quarters in Hesse. [14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Usually, one of the armies (the less numerous one), would take on a defensive position, while the other army (the more numerous one), would attack if its leader, having evaluated the defense of the opponent, found an attack promising. Guthrie (2003), p.121.

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lützen (1632)</span> Battle of the Thirty Years War

The Battle of Lützen, fought on 6 November 1632, is considered one of the most important battles of the Thirty Years' War. A combined Swedish-German army led by Gustavus Adolphus narrowly defeated an Imperial force under Albrecht von Wallenstein. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, with Gustavus among the dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nördlingen (1634)</span> Battle of the Thirty Years War

The Battle of Nördlingen took place on 6 September 1634 during the Thirty Years' War. A combined Imperial-Spanish force inflicted a crushing defeat on the Swedish-German army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Hastenbeck</span> 1757 battle

The Battle of Hastenbeck was fought as part of the Invasion of Hanover during the Seven Years' War between the allied forces of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel and Brunswick, and the French. The allies were defeated by the French army near Hamelin in the Electorate of Hanover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dodo zu Innhausen und Knyphausen</span>

Dodo Freiherr zu Innhausen und Knyphausen was a German professional soldier who saw extensive service in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), rising to the rank of Field Marshal in Swedish service in 1633.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Breitenfeld (1642)</span> 1642 battle of the Thirty Years War

The Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig, took place during the Thirty Years' War on 2 November 1642 at Breitenfeld, north-east of Leipzig in Germany. A Swedish Army commanded by Lennart Torstensson decisively defeated an Imperial Army under Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and his deputy Ottavio Piccolomini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace of Prague (1635)</span> Saxony makes peace with Emperor Ferdinand and exits the Thirty Years War

The Peace of Prague, signed on 30 May 1635, ended Saxony's participation in the Thirty Years War. Other German princes subsequently joined the treaty and although the Thirty Years War continued, it is generally agreed Prague ended it as a war of religion within the Holy Roman Empire. Thereafter, the conflict was largely driven by foreign powers, including Spain, Sweden, and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Jankau</span> 1645 battle of the Thirty Years War

The Battle of Jankau, also known as Jankov, Jankow, or Jankowitz, took place in central Bohemia, on 6 March 1645. One of the last major battles of the 1618 to 1648 Thirty Years' War, it was fought between Swedish and Imperial armies, each containing around 16,000 men. The more mobile and better led Swedes under Lennart Torstensson effectively destroyed their opponents, commanded by Melchior von Hatzfeldt. However, the devastation caused by decades of conflict meant armies now spent much of their time obtaining supplies, and the Swedes were unable to take advantage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Zusmarshausen</span> 1648 battle of the Thirty Years War

The Battle of Zusmarshausen was fought on 17 May 1648 between Bavarian-Imperial forces under von Holzappel and an allied Franco-Swedish army under the command of Carl Gustaf Wrangel and Turenne in the modern Augsburg district of Bavaria, Germany. The allied force emerged victorious, and the Imperial army was only rescued from annihilation by the stubborn rearguard fighting of Raimondo Montecuccoli and his cavalry.

The Battle of Wolgast was an engagement in the Thirty Years' War, fought on 22 August (O.S.) or 2 September (N.S.) 1628 near Wolgast, Duchy of Pomerania, Germany.

The Battle of Vlotho was fought on 17 October 1638. It was a victory for the Imperial Army under the command of Field Marshal Melchior von Hatzfeldt, and ended the attempt by Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, to recapture the Electoral Palatinate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg</span> Landgravine consort of Hesse-Kassel

Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg was Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel. She married the future William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in 1619 and became Landgravine upon his ascension to power in 1627. In 1637, military defeats forced her and William V into exile in East Frisia. Later that year, she became regent for their son William VI upon her husband's death. Through skillful diplomacy and military successes in the Thirty Years' War, she advanced the fortunes of Hesse-Kassel and influenced the Peace of Westphalia that brought the conflict to an end. She handed over an enlarged landgraviate to her son when she abdicated upon his majority in 1650. However, her health had deteriorated over the course of the war, and she died soon after her abdication in 1651.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Melander, Graf von Holzappel</span> Commander during the Thirty Years War

Peter Melander, Count of Holzappel was a German general who was a Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years' War until 1640 when he switched sides and even became Chief of the imperial army from 1647 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodolfo Giovanni Marazzino</span>

Count Rodolfo Giovanni di Marazzino, also known as Rudolf Morzin, was from an Italian family that lived in Bohemia. From 1629 to 1637 he served in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of Wittstock where he still fought for the Emperor in an allied army he was hired by his ally Electorate of Saxony and promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. In 1639 he was defeated at his first battle in charge in the Battle of Chemnitz and dismissed.

The Hessian War, in its wider sense sometimes also called the Hessian Wars (Hessenkriege), was a drawn out conflict that took place between 1567 and 1648, sometimes pursued through diplomatic means, sometimes by military force, between branches of the princely House of Hesse, particularly between the Landgraviate of Hesse-Cassel and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. It was triggered by a division of inheritance following the death of the last landgrave of all Hesse, Philip I in 1567.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melchior von Hatzfeldt</span>

Melchior Graf von Gleichen und Hatzfeldt was an Imperial Field Marshal. He fought in the Thirty Years' War first under Albrecht von Wallenstein and Matthias Gallas, then received an independent command in Westphalia. Usually successful with a smaller corps on this secondary front and victorious at Vlotho and Dorsten, he lost at Wittstock and Jankau in his brief intermezzos as commander of major armies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann von Götzen</span> German nobleman

Johann von Götzen was a Lüneburg nobleman and Generalfeldmarschall who fought during the Thirty Years' War. He was married to Elisabeth of the Falke family, with whom he had two sons: Johann Sigismund, Count of Götzen (1622–1622) and Johann, Georg Count of Götzen (1623–1679).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann von Geyso</span>

Johann von Geyso was a German nobleman and General-Lieutenant, who fought during the course of the Thirty Years' War. After studying in a Dutch military academy, Geyso fought as a mercenary in the armies of Sweden, Bohemia, Denmark and the German Protestant Union. In 1628, having gained significant experience in warfare he returned to his native Hesse-Kassel which he served until the end of the Thirty Years' War, reaching the rank of commander in chief of the Langraviate's forces and becoming ennobled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Philipp Kratz von Scharffenstein</span> German nobleman and field marshal

Johann Philipp Kratz von Scharffenstein was a German nobleman and field marshal, who fought during the course of the Thirty Years' War. He served with distinction in forces of both the Catholic League and Holy Roman Empire. His poor relationship with the Imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein frustrated his plan of becoming the supreme commander of the League's forces. Embittered by this he defected to Sweden, where he attained the rank of field marshal. He was captured at the Battle of Nördlingen in 1634 and executed for treason a year later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillaume de Lamboy, Baron of Cortesheim</span> 17th-century Habsburg commander

Guillaume III de Lamboy de Dessener, 1590 to 1659, was a Field Marshal in the Imperial Army, who served in the 1618 to 1648 Thirty Years War, and the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Wilhelm von Hunolstein</span> 17th-century Lorrain soldier of the Holy Roman Empire

Johann Wilhelm von Hunolstein, also known as Hunoltstein or Hunoldstein, was a professional soldier in Lorrain, Bavarian and Imperial military service during the Thirty Years' War. Since 1643, he was part of the General Staff of the Imperial supreme commanders Gallas and Melander, and commanded himself the entire infantry of either the Imperial or the Bavarian field army.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Schattkowsky (2003), p.241
  2. 1 2 3 Guthrie (2003), p.28
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jaques (2007), p.448
  4. 1 2 3 Guthrie (2003), p.238
  5. ↑ Bedürftig (2006), p.73
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Guthrie (2002), p.252
  7. ↑ Guthrie (2003), p.121
  8. ↑ Guthrie (2003), pp.237-238
  9. ↑ Guthrie (2003), pp.46-47
  10. ↑ Guthrie (2003), p.201
  11. ↑ Guthrie (2003), pp.238-239
  12. ↑ Burschel (1994), p.272
  13. 1 2 3 Guthrie (2003), p.29
  14. ↑ Guthrie (2003), p.234

Bibliography

  • Bedürftig, Friedemann (2006). Der Dreissigjährige Krieg: Ein Lexikon (in German). Primus. ISBN   3-89678-287-8.
  • Burschel, Peter (1994). Söldner im Nordwestdeutschland des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN   3-525-35650-1.
  • Guthrie, William P (2002). Battles of the Thirty Years War: from White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   0-313-32028-4 . Retrieved 30 August 2009.
  • Guthrie, William P (2003). The later Thirty Years War: from the Battle of Wittstock to the Treaty of Westphalia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   0-313-32408-5.
  • Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O. Volume 2 of Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-313-33538-9.
  • Schattkowsky, Martina (2003). Witwenschaft in der frühen Neuzeit: Fürstliche und adlige Witwen zwischen Fremd- und Selbstbestimmung (in German). Leipziger Universitätsverlag. ISBN   3-936522-79-0.

52°10′00″N9°15′00″E / 52.1667°N 9.2500°E / 52.1667; 9.2500

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.