Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

First Battle of Breitenfeld
Part of the Thirty Years' War
Gustavus Adolphus in the battle of Breitenfeld
Date September 7 (O.S.) September 17, 1631 (N.S.) Location Breitenfeld, Saxony, north of Leipzig (present-day Germany) 51°24′N 12°20′E / 51.400°N 12.333°E / 51.400; 12.333Coordinates: 51°24′N 12°20′E / 51.400°N 12.333°E / 51.400; 12.333 Result Decisive Swedish victory
Belligerents
Protestant States: Sweden  Saxony	Catholic League:  Holy Roman Empire Hungary  Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Gustavus Adolphus Gustav Horn Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg Robert Munro John George I Johan Banér	Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim Friedrich Egon VII
Strength
23,000 Swedes 18,300 Saxons 11,319 Musketeers 4,812 Pikemen 3,928 officers 8,700 horse 28,750 Swedes and Saxons at Breitenfield	35,000 men
Casualties and losses
5,550: 3,550 Swedes dead 2,000 Saxons dead	27,000: 7,600 dead 6,000 captured 3,000 wounded 4,000 deserted 3,400 missing 3,000 more captured on September 19 by the pursuit at Merseburg

Protestant States:

Catholic League:

23,000 Swedes
18,300 Saxons

11,319 Musketeers 4,812 Pikemen 3,928 officers 8,700 horse

The Battle of Breitenfeld (German: Schlacht bei Breitenfeld; Swedish: Slaget vid Breitenfeld) or First Battle of Breitenfeld (in older texts sometimes known as Battle of Leipzig), was fought at a crossroads near Breitenfeld approximately five miles north-west of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17 (Gregorian calendar), or September 7 (Julian calendar, in wide use at the time), 1631. It was the Protestants’ first major victory of the Thirty Years War.

The victory confirmed Sweden’s Gustavus Adolphus of the House of Vasa as a great tactical leader and induced many Protestant German states to ally with Sweden against the German Catholic League, led by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

The Swedish phase of the Thirty Years War began when Gustavus Adolphus and his force of 13,000 landed at Peenemünde in 1630. Initially, Sweden’s entrance into the war was considered a minor annoyance to the Catholic League and its allies; his only battles to this point had been inconclusive ones, or fought against generals of modest military ability. Consequently, the Imperial Commander of the German Catholic League, Tilly, did not immediately respond to the arrival of the Swedes, being engaged in northern Italy. However, the effective end of the Mantuan War in 1631 ensured that the large Imperial army previously tied up there was now free to move into the German states.

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Wikipedia