Battle of Höchst
| Battle of Höchst | |||||||
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| Part of Thirty Years' War | |||||||
 Battle near Höchst, engraving by Merian. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Brunswick-Lüneburg
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 Holy Roman Empire Spain.svg){kind=small} Catholic League
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Christian of Brunswick
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Count of Tilly Gonzalo de Córdoba
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| Strength | |||||||
| 17,000 | 26,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2,000 | 100 | ||||||
The Battle of Höchst (20 June 1622) was fought between a combined Catholic League army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly and Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a Protestant army commanded by Christian the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The result was a one-sided Catholic League victory. Höchst is a district within the city of Frankfurt, Germany. The action occurred during the Thirty Years' War.
In April 1622, Tilly had lost the Battle of Mingolsheim to Ernst von Mansfeld and Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach. He withdrew his weakened army towards Würzburg, and the Electorate of the Palatinate remained unprotected by the Catholic forces.
Christian wanted to use the situation for a crucial strike against the Catholic League. With 12,000 infantrymen, nearly 5,000 cavalrymen and three guns he moved from Westphalia along the Weser River shoreline, and through Hesse towards the Main River to unite his troops with armies of Mansfeld and Baden-Durlach, at Darmstadt. Continuing their mission of blocking a rendezvous between Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick, the Catholic forces reached the river at Höchst on June 20 to find Christian's army already crossing the river.
On 15 June 1622, Christian reached the territory of the Archbishopric of Mainz at Oberursel. He sent Colonel Dodo zu Innhausen und Knyphausen with an advance guard of 1,500 men against Höchst to take the town in a coup de main and to safeguard the Main crossing point. However, the Höchst municipal troops successfully defended the town against Knyphausen's initial assault. On the 16th Knyphausen's troops finally stormed and plundered Höchst.
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