Conflict: Thirty Years' War
Combatants: French vs. Spanish
Location: France
Outcome: French victory
In the 26th year of war, the young French commander Louis II Conde (Duc d'Enghien) marched to the aid of the besieged Rocroi in northern France. Though facing a larger and more elite army under command of Fransisco de Melo, Conde routed the Spanish cavalry on the right wing, wheeled his horseman around trapping the Spanish foot soldiers, and dispatched cavalry on the left wing in a pincer movement with the French infantry. The Spanish lost 8,000 men killed and 7,000 captured out of a force of 18,000 infantry. The French suffered only 4,000 casualties.
Points of Interest:
The Spanish tercios were considered some of the most highly trained infantry of that time period, but never fully recovered after Rocroi.
The Thirty Years' War began as a conflict between Catholics and Protestants but, as was so often the case, morphed into a secular power struggle; in this instance, against the Habsburgs.
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Sources:
Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).
Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.
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