Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

Battle Of Breitenfeld (1631)

Coordinates: 51°24′N 12°20′E / 51.4°N 12.333°E / 51.4; 12.333

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)
Result Decisive Swedish victory
Belligerents
Sweden
Saxony		 Holy Roman Empire
Catholic League
Hungary
Croatia
Commanders and leaders
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav Horn, Count of Pori
Hans Georg von Arnim-Boitzenburg
/ Robert Munro, 18th Baron of Foulis
John George I, Elector of Saxony
Johan Banér		 Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly
Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim
Friedrich, Count von Fürstenburg
Egon VII, Count of Fürstenberg
Strength
23,000 Swedes
18,300 Saxons		 35,000 men
Casualties and losses
3,500 Swedes dead
2,000 Saxons dead		 7,600 dead
6,000 captured
3,000 wounded
4,000 deserted
3,000 more captured on September 19 by the pursuit at Merseburg
Thirty Years' War
  • Pilsen
  • Lomnice
  • Sablat
  • Wisternitz
  • Humenné
  • Bad Kreuznach
  • Oppenheim
  • Bacharach
  • White Mountain
  • Jülich
  • Neu Titschein
  • Mingolsheim
  • Wimpfen
  • Höchst
  • Fleurus
  • Heidelberg
  • Mannheim
  • Frankenthal
  • Stadtlohn
  • Breda
  • Genoa
  • Cádiz
  • Dessau Bridge
  • Lutter am Barenberge
  • Stralsund
  • Wolgast
  • Veillane
  • Swedish landing
  • Frankfurt
  • Magdeburg
  • Werben
  • 1st Breitenfeld
  • Rain
  • Wiesloch
  • Alte Veste
  • Lützen
  • Saint Martin
  • Oldendorf
  • Konstanz
  • 1st Breisach
  • 1st Rheinfelden
  • 1st Nördlingen
  • Les Avins
  • Leuven
  • Somme
  • Wittstock
  • 2nd Rheinfelden
  • Kallo
  • Fuenterrabía
  • 2nd Breisach
  • Chemnitz
  • Thionville
  • Saint Omer
  • Salses
  • The Downs
  • Providencia
  • La Marfée
  • Honnecourt
  • 2nd Breitenfeld
  • Rocroi
  • Tuttlingen
  • Freiburg
  • Jüterbog
  • Jankau
  • Hulst
  • Mergentheim
  • 2nd Nördlingen
  • Zusmarshausen
  • Lens
  • Prague
Treaties

The Battle of Breitenfeld (German: Schlacht bei Breitenfeld; Swedish: Slaget vid Breitenfeld) or First Battle of Breitenfeld (sometimes First Breitenfeld and in older texts Battle of Leipzig), was fought at the crossroads villages of Breitenfeld 51°24′N 12°20′E / 51.4°N 12.333°E / 51.4; 12.333, Podelwitz 51°24′N 12°23′E / 51.4°N 12.383°E / 51.4; 12.383, and Seehausen 51°24′N 12°25′E / 51.4°N 12.417°E / 51.4; 12.417, approximately five miles northwest of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17 (new style, or Gregorian dating), or September 7 (by the older Julian calendar, in wide use at the time), 1631. Breitenfeld represented the Protestants’ first major victory of the Thirty Years War.

The Protestant victory ensured that the German states would not be forcibly reconverted to Roman Catholicism. The victory further confirmed Sweden’s Gustavus Adolphus of the House of Vasa as a great tactical leader and induced many Protestant German states to ally themselves with Sweden against the German Catholic League, led by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria.

Read more about Battle Of Breitenfeld (1631):  Prelude To The Swedish Phase of The Thirty Years War, 17th Century Forces, Tactical Overview, Disposition of Forces, Battle Summary, Aftermath, Battlefield Today

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