The history of thirds it is full of great victories, ominous defeats and unsolvable wrongs from which they were able to get really successful. The 30 Years War It was a brutal, stark conflict in which Europe lost its temper, as has happened on countless occasions. We then moved to Nördlingen, where the Spanish, Italian and German troops confronted the Swedish army of Horn.
It was a battle that served to maintain the hegemony of the Spanish Crown for another decade, until the defeat of Rocroi, in which the thirds they cost their skin dearly fighting to the end, and sustaining an Empire that resided on their pikes. Nordlingen is one of the great Spanish victories in its entire history, at the level of San Quentin or Pavia, although much less well known.
The context is the Thirty Years’ War, which eroded the coffers of the Spanish crown to unsuspected limits and threatened a new bankruptcy, in addition to the people drowning among so many taxes, so a victory was necessary to raise the morale of the country, and there were the thirds to obtain it. Some thirds that they were already in their last phase, full of honor and great deeds, but what according to some, had outdated equipment and weapons from the last century, as would be seen in Rocroi, <
The Swedish army had landed on the shores of Germany and after the military reforms promoted by King Gustav II Adolf, each battle was counted as a victory, so they felt unstoppable. Although it is true that the revolutionary doctrine of Gustavo Adolfo is beginning to be called into question today. Nothing stopped them, not even the sudden death of Gustavo Adolfo in one of the contests. In these was the fearsome Swedish army when it collided with the Catholic coalition formed by the Habsburgs, both Spanish and Austrian.
The battle began on September 6, 1634 and is considered one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years’ War, and faced the Imperial Army made up of the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic League, to which Spain belonged and the League of Heilbronn led by the Swedish Empire. To simplify, Protestants against Catholics, as had been the tradition for more than a century.
It was a turning point because it caused the disappearance of the Swedish Empire in Germany and the entry of Cardinal Richelieu’s fearsome France into the war.
The Protestant side arrived divided by strong internal disputes, to which we must add that it underestimated the imperial army and sent fewer men to confront it, a huge mistake, because the title held by the Swedish army of “Invincible” was of no use. They did not count on the union of the Spanish troops with the Austrian army, which came from the Milanese to take power in… are you sure you can guess? The Netherlands.
As was customary during the 30 Years’ War, both sides were made up of a wide range of nationalities in which the Catholics stand out on the Catholic side. thirds Spaniards from Flanders, Sicily and Sagunto, and the Italian troops in the service of Spain under Gerardo de Gambacorta, and the imperial troops under Piccolomini. For the Protestants it is the Swedish “Black” and “Yellow” regiments that bore the brunt of the battle. Altogether some twenty-one thousand Hispano-Imperials fought against around eighteen thousand German-Swedes.
With these factions prepared, the combat began. The Swedes took the initiative in the battle, but were stopped by the pikes of the Swedes. thirds Spaniards on the Allbuch hill, staging an exemplary defense of the position without retreating and stopping a total of fifteen cavalry charges, which tipped the balance in favor of the imperial army. while the thirds heroically resisted Gambacorta’s Italian cavalry flanked the Swedes and eliminated their rearguard, which caused a rout on the Swedish side, capturing even the Swedish general Gustaf himself Horn.
In total, around 12,000 Swedish soldiers died against the 2,400 casualties of the imperial side. In this battle, two typical styles of the time fought, one based on progress and the superiority of cannons, as opposed to the traditional Spanish military scheme formed by the thirds, which showed that they were still ruthless in close combat. This battle was a heavy blow to the Swedish Empire, which would take years to come back together, and on the other hand it was once again demonstrated that the typical Spanish formation “el Tercio” remained unbeatable on the battlefields, at least for a few more years.
Bibliography
http://www.abc.es/historia-militar/20130713/abci-batalla-nordlingen-thirds-201307121716.html
Thirds of Spain – The Day of NORDLINGEN – 1634
History Special Edition, “HISTORICAL ATLAS, MIDDLE AGES AND MODERN TIMES”, by National Geographic