Monday 19 May 2014
19 May, 1643, was the day the French under Louis de Condé defeated the Spaniards under Francisco de Melo during the Thirty Years' War at Rocroi.
France and Spain had been rivals for supremacy in Europe since the First Italian War in 1495, which Spain generally got the better of.
As Spain was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs, this united the latter's possessions of Austria and Burgundy with the Spanish territories in Spain and Italy, which effectively encircled and contained France like a beast in a cage.
Since the French borders with Italy and Spain were for the most part rugged mountains, the Maritime Alps and the Pyrenees, Spain's greatest asset was its possession of Belgium as part of the Burgundian inheritance.
The Franco-Belgian border is open for the entire length from the North Sea to the Ardennes Forest, the easiest and most direct way to Paris. The Germans in two world wars would later adopt this route.
But prior to that Spain had exploited France's geographic weaknesses here too. Emperor Charles V had led Spanish armies over the French border, and when France fell into chaos with its religious wars, his son Philip II frequently sent the Army of Flanders into France, most famously under the Duke of Parma who threatened Paris.
So, unsurprisingly, when France entered the Thirty Years' War in 1635 on the side of the Protestants and against Spain and Austria, the Spanish intended to again enter France by way of Belgium and march directly on Paris.
By 1643 they felt sufficiently strong to undertake this operation, advancing up the Meuse towards Méziéres, a fortress Charles V had attempted to take in 1521, but had failed.
The Spanish were intercepted on the route up the Meuse near Rocroi by the French army under Louis de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, who was only twenty-one at the time.
Condé used his superiority in cavalry to good effect, striking the flanks of the Spanish, and putting their own cavalry to flight. Sweeping around the rear of the Spanish, he sought to encircle them.
Despite repeated assaults, the magnificent discipline of the Spanish was able to successfully repulse all the efforts of Condé to break them.
Tiring of their obstinance, Condé held back to blast the Spanish with cannons.
Though they suffered horrendously, the Spaniards still would not yield. They grimly stood their ground, but as it was obvious they could neither effectively reply to the French guns, since their own artillery had been captured and added to the French arsenal, nor could they escape for the French cavalry lay all around them ready to pounce, the Spanish proposed to surrender.
As reward for their astonishing bravery and remarkable ability to maintain cohesion in the face of almost guaranteed destruction, Condé allowed the remaining Spanish to march off the field honorably and return to Belgium.
The battle resounded across Europe. The Spanish infantry, for over a century organised into Tercios, had been defeated. The Spanish had not been beaten in the open field in a very long time. Many considered them invincible, many ran from them rather than fight.
But Condé had shown that they could be defeated. Despite their professional ability not even the Tercios could survive the growing power of artillery and the resurgence of cavalry. The reforms of the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau and the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, stressing flexible formations and emphasis on firepower had proven superior to the dense formations of the Spanish, and soon Europe was to undergo a military revolution.
More immediately the victory signified that Paris would not fall and France would remain in the war. The inability of Spain to decisively eliminate France by a direct march on Paris was to result in the French successfully entering Germany under Turenne, where they defeated the Austrians.
By 1648 the Austrians had had enough, and agreed to peace. The Austrian desertion left Spain to face France alone until 1659, at which point the Spanish Empire was so exhausted that all Europe came to see that Spain was finished and France's time had come.
For so long imprisoned by Spain, France was to explode with energy in all directions, sending her sons to every corner of Europe and beyond.
Pictured are the Spanish Tercios stubbornly holding their ground despite the carnage.
- Kaiser19 May, 1643, was the day the French under Louis de Condé defeated the Spaniards under Francisco de Melo during the Thirty Years' War at Rocroi.
France and Spain had been rivals for supremacy in Europe since the First Italian War in 1495, which Spain generally got the better of.
As Spain was inherited by the Austrian Habsburgs, this united the latter's possessions of Austria and Burgundy with the Spanish territories in Spain and Italy, which effectively encircled and contained France like a beast in a cage.
Since the French borders with Italy and Spain were for the most part rugged mountains, the Maritime Alps and the Pyrenees, Spain's greatest asset was its possession of Belgium as part of the Burgundian inheritance.
The Franco-Belgian border is open for the entire length from the North Sea to the Ardennes Forest, the easiest and most direct way to Paris. The Germans in two world wars would later adopt this route.
But prior to that Spain had exploited France's geographic weaknesses here too. Emperor Charles V had led Spanish armies over the French border, and when France fell into chaos with its religious wars, his son Philip II frequently sent the Army of Flanders into France, most famously under the Duke of Parma who threatened Paris.
So, unsurprisingly, when France entered the Thirty Years' War in 1635 on the side of the Protestants and against Spain and Austria, the Spanish intended to again enter France by way of Belgium and march directly on Paris.
By 1643 they felt sufficiently strong to undertake this operation, advancing up the Meuse towards Méziéres, a fortress Charles V had attempted to take in 1521, but had failed.
The Spanish were intercepted on the route up the Meuse near Rocroi by the French army under Louis de Condé, the Duke of Enghien, who was only twenty-one at the time.
Condé used his superiority in cavalry to good effect, striking the flanks of the Spanish, and putting their own cavalry to flight. Sweeping around the rear of the Spanish, he sought to encircle them.
Despite repeated assaults, the magnificent discipline of the Spanish was able to successfully repulse all the efforts of Condé to break them.
Tiring of their obstinance, Condé held back to blast the Spanish with cannons.
Though they suffered horrendously, the Spaniards still would not yield. They grimly stood their ground, but as it was obvious they could neither effectively reply to the French guns, since their own artillery had been captured and added to the French arsenal, nor could they escape for the French cavalry lay all around them ready to pounce, the Spanish proposed to surrender.
As reward for their astonishing bravery and remarkable ability to maintain cohesion in the face of almost guaranteed destruction, Condé allowed the remaining Spanish to march off the field honorably and return to Belgium.
The battle resounded across Europe. The Spanish infantry, for over a century organised into Tercios, had been defeated. The Spanish had not been beaten in the open field in a very long time. Many considered them invincible, many ran from them rather than fight.
But Condé had shown that they could be defeated. Despite their professional ability not even the Tercios could survive the growing power of artillery and the resurgence of cavalry. The reforms of the Dutch under Maurice of Nassau and the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus, stressing flexible formations and emphasis on firepower had proven superior to the dense formations of the Spanish, and soon Europe was to undergo a military revolution.
More immediately the victory signified that Paris would not fall and France would remain in the war. The inability of Spain to decisively eliminate France by a direct march on Paris was to result in the French successfully entering Germany under Turenne, where they defeated the Austrians.
By 1648 the Austrians had had enough, and agreed to peace. The Austrian desertion left Spain to face France alone until 1659, at which point the Spanish Empire was so exhausted that all Europe came to see that Spain was finished and France's time had come.
For so long imprisoned by Spain, France was to explode with energy in all directions, sending her sons to every corner of Europe and beyond.
Pictured are the Spanish Tercios stubbornly holding their ground despite the carnage.
- Kaiser
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