Siege of Bad Kreuznach

Siege of Bad Kreuznach
Part of the Thirty Years' War
View of the old bridge in Kreuznach.
Date 9 September 1620 Location Kreuznach, Electorate of the Palatinate (present-day Germany) Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Electorate of the Palatinate	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Carlos Coloma
Strength
3 infantry companies 1 company of cavalry (Exact number unknown)	5,000 infantry 300 cavalry 4 cannons
Casualties and losses
All forces surrendered	None

The Siege of Bad Kreuznach or the Spanish capture of Bad Kreuznach took place on 9 September 1620, in Kreuznach, Electorate of the Palatinate, between the Spanish forces of Don Ambrosio Spinola, commanded by Don Carlos Coloma de Saa, 1st Marquess of Espinar against the forces of the Electorate of the Palatinate during the Palatinate campaign, in the context of the Thirty Years' War. The Spanish troops stormed the city and obtained the surrender of the garrison. Later the town was released on a promise not to fight back against the Holy Roman Empire.

The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 with the Bohemian Revolt, when the authorities of this kingdom offered their throne to the Protestant Frederick V of the Palatinate, who accepted, initiating a conflict between the Protestant Union led by Frederick and the House of Habsburg. Two years after the outbreak of the war the situation had apparently stalled, but in reality the Habsburgs through its diplomatic maneuvers were able to isolate politically to Frederick, between whose hits highlighted Spain's entry into the conflict.

Under the agreement with the Emperor, in August 1620, Don Ambrosio Spinola, commander of the Spanish army, crossed the Rhine at the head of an army of 22,000 men and invaded the Lower Palatinate. Since the Elector Palatine had not yet begun hostilities against the Spanish Monarchy, Spinola decided to proceed to occupy, peacefully if it was possible, the main towns of his state. On 8 September Spinola marched with his army against the Palatine forces not far from Oppenheim. At midnight ordered to his Field Master Don Carlos II Coloma, Governor of Cambrai, taking the town of Kreuznach, in command of two Tercios of infantry, numbering about 5,000 soldiers and 300 horsemen, a town of some importance because it had a bridge over the Rhine protected by walls on both sides of the river and a castle.

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