Brief Summary

Younger brother of the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Nicknamed "The Mad Halberstadter" for his reckless battle tactics, Christian played an active part in the Protestant campaigns of 1622-1623. A lover of cavalry warfare, Christian gained a reputation for cruelty and violence, especially against the Catholic church. This has been disputed and considered by some to be undeserved as it was probably started by pro-Imperial pamphlets at the time. He participated in three significant battles: The Battle of Höchst(1622), The Battle of Fleurus (1622), and lastly at the Battle of Statdlohn (1623). Fighting alongside Count von Mansfeld in the first two engagements, He suffered two losses to Count von Tilly, an arguable one at Höchst, and his final at Stadtlohn. Christian's major success would come at Fleurus, in which his actions directly led to the relieving of the Protestant stronghold of Bergen op Zoom. It would be at Statdlohn (1623) that Christian would see the complete decimation of his army, losing all but 2,000 of this 15,000 man army. He died on June 16, 1626, aged 28 of an illness that progressed during the execution of his fourth march against Catholic forces. The Battle of Höchst was fought on June 22, 1622 between Catholics and Protestants. ... Count Tilly on a portrait by van Dyck Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly (February, 1559 - April 30, 1632) was a general in Bavarian and later imperial service during the Thirty Years War, who Ferdinand II depended upon (since Wallenstein was a threat). ... Stadtlohn is a city in the north-west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, part of the district Borken. ... Bergen op Zoom is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. ...

Campaigns of 1622-23

In 1621 , Christian was one of the few men to continue rallying behind Frederick V, who had only the year before claimed and been deposed from the throne of Bohemia following his crushing loss at the Battle of White Mountain. Frederick was still leader of the Protestant resistance rooted from the 1618 crushed Bohemian Revolution. What attracted Christian to the cause is arguable, but something that may have had to do with it was the fact that before his campaigning, Christian declared a chilvaric love for Elizabeth, Fredericks wife and daughter of James I of England who at this point of the war had sent several thousand troops under Sir James Vere to The Palatinate. By the end of 1621 he had managed to raise 10,000 troops, with whom he wintered in Westphalia, gathering a great treasure from the dioceses of Munster and Paderborn. Christian's military actions began in 1622 when Ernst von Mansfeld began organizing his forces and expressed interest in linking up with his army, especially after his ally Margrave Friedrich Georg Baden-Durlach was crushingly defeated at the Battle of Wimpfen. They were caught at the Battle of Höchst, June 22, 1622, and although Christian was arguably defeated, he was able to escape with much of his army despite crossing a river under heavy fire and losing all of his baggage. The newly united Protestant army moved into Alsace, leaving Hiedelberg to fall to Count von Tilly in September 1622, effectively forcing Frederick V out of the war. After intense foraging and ravaging of the Alsace region, Christian and Mansfeld moved north in Lorraine, and upon the news of Tilly's siege of Bergen op Zoom. They marched to the relief of the city, fighting the Battle of Fleurus (August 29, 1622) and in the midst of the battle, Christian displayed his well-known courage and stubbornness on the field by leading four unsuccessful calvary charges against the Spanish lines under Gonzales de Córdoba. It was on the fifth charge that the Protestant horsemen broke the Spanish lines and paved the way for the Protestant relief of Bergen op Zoom that October. This came at a cost of most of Christian's infantry and one of Christian's arms. Fresh from that victory, Christian spent the winter of 1622-3 in the Spanish Netherlands resting and replenishing his army to what would be in spring 1623 set at roughly 15,000. Spring 1623 saw a plan between Christian, Mansfeld, the Hungarian general Bethlen Gabor, and his ally Count Thurn to retake Bohemia for the Protestants and to breath new life into the ailing Protestant cause. The campaign faltered from the start as Count von Tilly received news of the troop movements and positined himself in Lower Saxony. With reports from Mansfeld coming to Christian that he did not have the money to pay his armies or to campaign, leaving Christian to himself in the north. Outnumbered again, and leading an army that was not as disciplined as Tilly's, Christian made a break for the relative safety of the United Provinces. He was outran and out-maneuvered 10 miles short of the Dutch border, and in stand typical of Christian's bravery, He was nonetheless decisively defeated at the Battle of Stadtlohn on August 6, 1623. Broken, he fled for the Hague with the remnants of his army. There are many different people who may be referred to as Frederick V or Friedrich V. They are listed here in chronological order: Friedrich V, Burggraf of Hohenzollern-Nürnberg (before 1333 - 1398) Friedrich V, Count of Leiningen (died 1327) Friedrich V of Castell, (fl. ... 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... Margrave is the English and French form of the German title Markgraf (from Mark march and Graf count) and certain equivalent nobiliary (princely) titles in other languages. ... Combatants Protestants Holy Roman Empire, Catholic League Commanders Friedrich of Baden Count of Tilly, Gonzales de Córdoba Strength 14000 app. ... The Battle of Höchst was fought on June 22, 1622 between Catholics and Protestants. ... Count Tilly on a portrait by van Dyck Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly (February, 1559 - April 30, 1632) was a general in Bavarian and later imperial service during the Thirty Years War, who Ferdinand II depended upon (since Wallenstein was a threat). ... There have been three battles fought near the town of Fleurus in Belgium: The Battle of Fleurus (1622) in the Thirty Years War. ... Gabriel Bethlen (de Iktár) (-English, Romanian; Hungarian: Bethlen Gábor, German: Gabriel Bethlen von Iktár, Slovak: Gabriel Betlen; 1580-November 15, 1629) was a prince of Transylvania (1613-1629) and leader of an anti-Habsburg insurrection in the Habsburg Royal Hungary, on the territory of present-day Slovakia. ... Count Tilly on a portrait by van Dyck Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly (February, 1559 - April 30, 1632) was a general in Bavarian and later imperial service during the Thirty Years War, who Ferdinand II depended upon (since Wallenstein was a threat). ... Combatants Protestants Catholic League Commanders Christian of Brunswick Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly Strength 15000 app. ...

Defeat and and Death

Christian's defeat signalled the 'Palatine Phase' of the Thirty Years' War, and the end of the Protestant rebellion as a whole. Three days after Statdholn, Frederick V signed an armistice with Frederick II, ending the former's resistance to what seemed as impending Catholic domination of the Holy Roman Empire. Mansfeld shortly thereafter disbanded his army on the Rhine. With the entrance of Denmark, the United Provinces, and England into the war in 1625. Under a plan that involved Christian, Mansfeld, and Christian VI, King of Denmark pushing from the United Provinces and from Denmark. Christian found himself enveloped in a well developed plan and with ample financial backing. Ordered to advance on the Rhineland, he undertook this mission but quickly found himself checked by Tilly in Hessen, he opted this time to retreat rather than fight. Ill from the outset of the campaign, he died at Wolfenbuttel on June 16, 1626 at the age of 28. The victory of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) The Thirty Years War was fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally on the territory of todays Germany, but also involving most of the major continental powers. ... Chistian VI (1699-1746) king of Denmark and Norway from 1730. ... Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. ...