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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Wallenstein Biography WALLENSTEIN, (originally Wald- and Waldenstein), Albert Eusebius Wenzel von, Duke of Friedland, Sagan, and Mecklenburg (1583–1634). An Imperialist general in the Thirty Years' War. He was the third son of a noble though not wealthy Bohemian family, and was born at Hermanic, in Bohemia, Sept. 24, 1583. His parents, who were Protestants, intrusted his education to the Moravian Brotherhood of Koschumberg, who made little of their stubborn and passionate pupil. On his parents' death his uncle, Albert Slavata, a Catholic, took charge of him, and, having won him to his own creed, sent him to the Jesuit convictorium at Olmütz, and to the universities of Altdorf, Bologna, and Padua, where his education was completed. He traveled in Germany, France, and Holland, took service in the Imperial army, fought against the Turks in Hungary, and, returning in 1606, married a widow of noble rank, who at her death in 1614 left him all her wealth. This, with his uncle's estates, made him one of the richest and most influential noblemen of Bohemia. In 1617 he raised a volunteer corps with which he fought for the Hapsburg cause against Venice, and he was made a count of the Empire and colonel in the Imperial army. Upon the outbreak of the Bohemian Revolution in 1618 he sent a regiment to the aid of the Emperor, and after the battle of the White Hill near Prague (1620) acquired possession at slight values of 60 confiscated lordships in Bohemia. In 1623 he married a daughter of Count Harrach, of great influence at the Imperial court, and was created Duke of Friedland. Two years after, when the King of Denmark, Christian IV, took up arms for the Protestants against the Emperor, Wallenstein offered to raise, equip, and maintain 20,000 men, provided he were intrusted with absolute command, and might appoint his own officers, a proposal accepted by the Emperor. Wallenstein brought to Bohemia adventurers from all quarters, men who knew his service meant ample booty, and soon his army far exceeded the 20,000. With this array he marched into north Germany, and, acting with Tilly (q.v.), routed Mansfeld at Dessau (April 25, 1626), pursued him through Silesia and Moravia, and on his junction with the army of Bethlen Gábor in Hungary, compelled, by strategy, the combined forces to remain on the defensive. Released by a truce with the Transylvanian Prince and the death of Mansfeld, he returned by way of Silesia, recovered the fortresses which Thurn had captured, forced the Elector of Brandenburg to submit to the Emperor, and joined Tilly in annihilating the military power of Denmark. The value of Wallenstein's services caused the Emperor to overlook the complaints of the princes whose possessions suffered greatly from the rapacity and license which his soldiers were allowed to exercise. Wallenstein was rewarded with the Mecklenburg duchies, the rank of generalissimo on land, and admiral of the Baltic. He made himself master of his new territory; fitted out a fleet, and captured Usedom and Rügen, with various Baltic ports, and laid siege to Stralsund, but failed before the heroic resistance of its inhabitants. His arrogance grew with his success and aroused the enmity of a powerful party at court. The Catholic League, headed by the Duke of Bavaria, became his adversary, and, backed by the intrigues of France, induced the Emperor to dismiss Wallenstein in 1630. Wallenstein obeyed and went into retirement, waiting for the day when he would be again needed. He lived in magnificent state at Prague, but spent much time scheming for revenge. All the while he kept a watch over affairs in Vienna. The death of Tilly (April, 1631) and the advance of Gustavus Adolphus towards the hereditary Austrian dominions made it necessary for him to be recalled, and after pretense of indifference he consented to take the field on condition that he be given absolute command over the Imperial forces with power of negotiating and, at need, of concluding peace. With the Swedes on the Danube, the Saxons in Bohemia, and the army of the League almost annihilated, the Emperor had no choice: Wallenstein within three months was at the head of 40,000 men, well armed and disciplined. Commands and entreaties were in vain employed to induce him to save Bavaria from the Swedes; but in July, 1632, he moved against Gustavus Adolphus, who was intrenched in Nuremberg. There Wallenstein fortified himself, and for more than two months the armies confronted each other, an attack by the Swedes on Wallenstein's lines (September 3) being repulsed with heavy loss. At last Gustavus retreated to the Danube, whence his skillful opponent soon drew him by marching on Saxony. They confronted each other at Lützen (q.v.), where a great battle was fought in which the Swedes gained the advantage, though at the price of the death of their King (Nov. 16, 1632). Wallenstein now set out upon a course of action entirely independent of the Emperor, and early in 1633 entered into negotiations with Sweden, Saxony, and France, whether with treasonable designs against the Emperor (his enemies charged him with aspiring after the Bohemian crown) or for the purpose of deceiving the enemy, has not been definitely determined. Suddenly breaking off negotiations, he renewed the struggle against Saxony and Brandenburg; but this did not prevent his opponents from spurring on the Emperor to remove him. In winter quarters at Bohemia Wallenstein was aware of the progress of the intrigues, and he sought to attach the officers of his army to himself by causing them to pledge absolute obedience to him. His enemies finally carried the day, and in February an Imperial edict removed him from his command on the ground of conspiracy. A number of his officers had been gained over to the Imperial side, chief among whom were Piccolomini and Gallas (qq.v.), to the latter of whom the command of the army was transferred. Wallenstein now removed from his headquarters at Pilsen to Eger, for the purpose of establishing communication with the Swedish army under Bernhard of Weimar. On the way to Eger he was joined by Colonel Butler, commander of a regiment of dragoons, to whom had been intrusted the task of seizing the person of Wallenstein. No opportunity offered for the execution of the plan until the arrival at Eger, where, with two other Scottish officers, Gordon and Leslie, Butler determined upon the assassination of the great general. On the night of February 25 an Irish officer named Devereux with a number of soldiers broke into the house where Wallenstein had his quarters and slew him with a pike thrust in the breast. His estates were confiscated by the Emperor. Wallenstein had much of the ability of the statesman as well as the soldier. He was more liberal than his age and tolerant in religious matters, having no convictions of his own. He was unscrupulous, and his ability was curiously affected by a superstitious faith in astrology, which he had studied deeply in Italy. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 292-293. |