Battle of Rocroi
Part of the Thirty Years' War
Duc d'Enghien at the Battle of Rocroi
Date May 19, 1643 Location Rocroi, France Result Decisive French victory
Combatants
France	Spain
Commanders
Duc d'Enghien	Francisco de Melo Count of Fuentes †
Strength
16,000 infantry 6,000 cavalry 14 guns	15,000 infantry 5,000 cavalry 18 guns
Casualties
2,000 dead 2,000 wounded[1]	7,500 dead, 7,000 captured and 6, 500 wounded[2]

The Battle of Rocroi, fought on May 19, 1643, resulted in a decisive victory of the French army under the Duc d'Enghien, against the Spanish army under General Francisco de Melo. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Battle of Rocroi. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (140th in leap years). ... // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ... Rocroi is a commune in the French Ardennes. ... Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (September 8, 1621 – November 11, 1686) was the most celebrated representative of Princes de Condé and one of the most brilliant generals of the 17th century. ... Don Francisco de Melo (1597 – 1651), marquis of Tor de Laguna, count of Assumar, was from 1641 to 1644 (interim) governor of the Southern Netherlands. ... Count Fuentes Don Pedro Henriquez dAzevedo y Toledo, Count of Fuentes (September 18, 1560, Valladolid – May 19, 1643, Rocroi) was a Spanish general and statesman. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Siege of Plzeň or Battle of Pilsen was a siege of the fortified city of Plzeň in Bohemia carried out by the forces of the Bohemian Protestants led by Ernst von Mansfeld. ... The Battle of Záblatí, in some sources also battle of Sablat, occurred on 10 June 1619 during the Bohemian period of the Thirty Years War. ... The Battle of Věstonice, or Battle of Wisternitz, was fought on August 5, 1619 between a Bohemian force and an Austrian army under Dampierre. ... The Battle of White Mountain, November 8, 1620 (Bílá hora is the name of White Mountain in Czech) was an early battle in the Thirty Years War in which an army of 20,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 25,000 men of the... 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During the Thirty Years War the city of Magdeburg was besieged by the Holy Roman Empires Imperial Army from November 1630 to 20 May 1631 in the Sack of Magdeburg. ... This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... Combatants Saxony Saxony Holy Roman Empire Catholic Leauge Commanders Gustavus Adolphus John George I Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly Strength 23,000 swedes, 17,000 saxons 33,000 Casualties 3500 Swedes and 2000 Saxons dead 7600 dead, 6000 captured and many recruited into the swedish army {{{notes}}} The Battle of... On April 15, 1632, Swedish troops (40. ... The Battle of the Alte Veste was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years War. ... The Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years War. ... 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The Battle of Freiburg, also called the Three Day Battle, took place on August 3, August 5 and August 9, 1644 as part of the Thirty Years War. ... The Battle of Jüterbog was fought in November of 1644 between Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire. ... The Battle of Jankov (or Jankau) was fought by the Swedish army some 50 km SSE of Prague on February 23, 1645 during the Thirty Years War. ... The Battle of Herbsthausen, or the Battle of Mergentheim according to Clausewitz, was fought in Herbsthausen (near Mergentheim) on May 2, 1645. ... This article is about the second Battle of Nördlingen fought in 1645 in Germany as part of the Thirty Years War. ... The Battle of Zusmarshausen was fought on May 7, 1648 between the Holy Roman Empire and an alliance of France and Sweden. ... The Battle of Lens (August 20, 1648) was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). ... The last action of the Thirty Years War. ... May 19 is the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (140th in leap years). ... // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ... Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (September 8, 1621 – November 11, 1686) was the most celebrated representative of Princes de Condé and one of the most brilliant generals of the 17th century. ... Don Francisco de Melo (1597 – 1651), marquis of Tor de Laguna, count of Assumar, was from 1641 to 1644 (interim) governor of the Southern Netherlands. ...

Prelude

The Habsburg Spanish-Imperial army of about 27,000 men, advanced from Flanders, through the Ardennes, and into northern France to relieve French pressure on the Franche-Comté and Catalonia. The Spanish troops set siege to Rocroi, which lay athwart the route to the valley of the Oise. The French, under the command of 21-year-old Louis, duc d'Enghien, reacted quickly and forced a battle before the arrival of 6,000 Spanish reinforcements. The Spanish failed to block the route to Rocroi, which passed through a defile bordered by woods and marsh. Enghien advanced through the defile and assembled his force along a ridge looking down on the besieged town of Rocroi. The Spanish quickly formed up between the town and the ridge. The French army, some 23,000 strong, was arranged with two lines of infantry in the centre, squadrons of cavalry on each wing and with a thin line of artillery at the front. The Spanish army was similarly arranged, but with its infantry in their traditional tercios, or squares. The two armies bivouacked in their positions for the night. During the reign of Emperor Charles V (Carlos I of Spain), who ascended the thrones of the kingdoms of Spain after the death of his grandfather Ferdinand, Habsburg Spain controlled territory ranging from Philippines to the Netherlands, and was, for a time, Europes greatest power. ... Capital Besançon Land area¹ 16,202 km² Regional President Raymond Forni (PS) (since 2004) Population  - Jan. ... Anthem: Els Segadors Capital Barcelona Official language(s) Spanish, Catalan and Aranese Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 6th  32,114 km²  6. ... Rocroi is a commune in the French Ardennes. ... Oise is a département in the north of France named after the Oise River. ... Tercio was a term used by the Spanish army to describe a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen and musketeers, sometimes referred to by other nations as a Spanish Square. ...

Battle

Map of the troop dispositions

The battle began after dawn. The French army attacked, but the French infantry in the centre were bested by the Spanish. The cavalry on the French left, advancing against Enghien's orders was also thrown back. But the cavalry on the French right, under the command of Jean de Gassion, routed the Spanish cavalry opposite. Enghien was able to follow this up by attacking the exposed left flank of the Spanish infantry. Spanish cavalry made a successful counter-attack to drive off the French cavalry, but were checked by the advance of the French reserve. Image File history File links Battle_rocroi. ... Image File history File links Battle_rocroi. ... Jean, Count of Gassion (1609 Pau - 1647 Lens) was a redoutable Gascon military commander for France, prominent at the battle of Rocroi (1643), who reached the rank of Marshal of France at the age of thirty-four. ...

Enghien now carried out a huge cavalry encirclement, sweeping behind the Spanish army and smashing his way through to attack the rear of the Spanish cavalry that was still in combat with his reserves. The Spanish horse was put to flight, leaving the Spanish infantry to carry on the fight. The French were twice repulsed by the stubborn Spanish squares, so Enghien arranged for his artillery and the captured Spanish guns to blast them apart.

The Spanish squares, surrounded and unable to break out, decided to surrender to the French. However, when Enghien and his officers came forward to accept the Spanish surrender, they were mistaken for another French attack and fired upon. Outraged by this, Enghien ordered a renewed assault. The remnants of the Spanish squares were broken. Total Spanish losses were about 15,000 dead, wounded, or captured. French losses were about 4,000.

Significance

The battle was an important propaganda victory for Mazarin and Enghien, the future "Great Condé". It was also the first major battlefield defeat of a Spanish army in a century, although historians have noted that Melo's German, Walloon, and Italian troops actually surrendered first, while the Spanish infantry cracked only after repeated cavalry charges and a vicious spell under the French guns. In any case, Rocroi put an end to the supremacy of Spanish military doctrine and inaugurated a long period of French military predominance, although Spain continued its war against France with some success (the main war front was in Catalonia, which the Spanish recovered). It was not until the defeat at the Battle of the Dunes in 1658 (the Spanish forces were led then by the same d'Enghien who was victor at Rocroi) that the linear formation had clearly superceeded the tercio form. The 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war in favor of France, confirming the new reality so loudly heralded at Rocroi. Cardinal Jules Mazarin, French diplomat and statesman Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino; but best known as Cardinal Mazarin (July 14, 1602 – March 9, 1661) served as the chief minister of France from 1642, until his death. ... The term Walloons (French: Wallons, Walloon: Walons) refers, in daily speech, to French-speaking Belgians from Wallonia. ... Combatants France England United Provinces Spain Commanders Vicomte de Turenne Juan José de Austria Louis II de Condé Strength 26,000 15,000 Casualties 500 dead or wounded 2,000 dead or wounded 4,000 captured The Battle of the Dunes, fought on June 14, 1658, is also known as... Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (September 8, 1621 – November 11, 1686) was the most celebrated representative of Princes de Condé and one of the most brilliant generals of the 17th century. ... The Treaty of the Pyrenees was a treaty signed in 1659 to end the war between France and Spain that had begun in 1635 during the Thirty Years War. ...

In media

A 2006 Spanish movie, "Alatriste", directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, portrays this battle in its final scene. The soundtrack features in this scene a funeral march, La Madrugá, composed by Colonel Abel Moreno for the Holy Week of Seville, played by the band of the regiment Soria 9, heir of that which participated in the battle, the oldest unit in the Spanish Army, and since nicknamed "the blood Tercio". Alatriste is a film-in-progress by the Spanish director Agustín Díaz Yanes, based on the main character of a series of novels written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Las aventuras del Capitán Alatriste (The Adventures of Captain Alatriste in English). ... Holy Week (Sp. ... The Spanish Army (Ejército de Tierra in Spanish; literally, Land Army) is one branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, in charge of land operations. ...

Notes

References

• Dupuy, Trevor N., Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-270056-1

External links

• The Battle of Rocroi
• The French Army 1600-1900