The Year of Our Lord Sixteen Hundred Nineteen
<Part One>
In the previous chapter, I briefly touched on the war between the Emperor and the Count Palatine. Here, I will describe it in more detail. The Palatinate, though small on paper, was fairly powerful. The Count Palatine was also the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Duke of Brunswick, Prince of Anhalt, Duke of Ansbach, Duke of Baden, Landgrave of Hesse, and Duke of Wurttemberg. Though they did not all fly the same flag, all hated the Austrians and supported Friedrich’s struggle.
As mentioned earlier, much fighting occurred in Bavaria in the opening months of the war. After the Third Battle of Nürnberg, however, the Hapsburg armies regained control of their allies’ territory. Austrian troops arrived in Hannover late in the year, and despite the bitter cold of winter, commenced a siege. A relatively unknown Austrian nobleman, von Neuhaus, commanded the siege. His army consisted of four thousand men, though an additional regiment later reinforced it in the spring.
The shattered armies of Brunswick were joined by fresh Hessian regulars, and by April, they succeeded in forcing von Neuhaus from the province.
The Hapsburg fortress at Breisgau, though under siege since July, finally began to starve by April. Their situation was dire, and an army under von Wallenstein left Bohemia to relieve the siege. Their proposed path lead through Bavaria, and across southern Germany. The Duke of Württemberg and the Republic of Switzerland, mistrusting the Austrian motives, refused von Wallenstein access through their lands. Ferdinand von Hapsburg directed him to pass through anyways.
Von Wallenstein arrived in Breisgau by mid-July, and fought a pitched battle with Friedrich’s besieging forces. The forces of the Palatinate began to crumble, but before the outcome was decided, a cease-fire was called to discuss a truce between Friedrich and Ferdinand. In the end, Friedrich agreed to pay a two-ducat indemnity for peace in the Empire. Though it was framed in terms of an indemnity, it was quite clear the power of the Hapsburgs was insufficient to police the Empire. This was the general perception throughout Europe, and only later would we realize how wrong we were to discount Austria.
