Battle of Höchst
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Battle of Höchst | |
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Part of the Frankfurt am Main, Germany ) | |
Result | Catholic victory |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Flag_of_The_Electoral_Palatinate_%281604%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_The_Electoral_Palatinate_%281604%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Flag_of_Cross_of_Burgundy.svg/23px-Flag_of_Cross_of_Burgundy.svg.png)
- Christian of Brunswick
- Count of Tilly
Tommaso Caracciolo
The Battle of Höchst (20 June 1622) was fought between a
Background
In April 1622, Tilly had lost the
Christian wanted to use the situation for a crucial strike against the Catholic League. With 12,000 infantrymen, nearly 5,000 cavalrymen, and three guns he moved from Westphalia along the
Battle
On 15 June, Christian reached the territory of the
Two days later the Protestants started building a
When the bridge was completed in the morning of 20 June, Christian's baggage started to cross the river. Tilly planned to force Christian's troops back to the Höchst walls and the Main, isolating the two thousand troops in Sossenheim. Hence, Christian ordered his troops to withdraw over the pontoon bridge towards Kelsterbach, but under the Catholic artillery fire the withdrawal turned into a headlong flight. The bridge broke after only 3,000 men had crossed and many of Christian's soldiers and horses drowned in the Main.[3]
By the time Höchst castle was captured at around 10 p.m., Christian had already lost a third of his army and was forced to retreat. Mansfeld lost an additional 2,000 troops acting as rearguard at Mannheim. Christian's entire baggage train and guns became Catholic loot. While the League troops lost only 100 soldiers, nearly 2,000 of Christian's soldiers died. However, Christian succeeded in escaping with 3,000 cavalrymen, 8,000 infantrymen, and his war chest, eventually uniting with Mansfeld's army. More recent investigations, however, showed that Christian had lost most of his booty.[4]
Aftermath
Tilly claimed a strategic victory because his army had far fewer losses, despite the fact that Christian of Brunswick had achieved his operational goal of uniting his army with Mansfeld's. As a result of the battle, however, his troops were severely demoralised and had also lost most of their equipment, making them more of a liability than a reinforcement.[4]
Höchst was the decisive battle of the 1622 campaign and signalled the end for "Winter King"
Heidelberg came under siege and despite an 11-week resistance, fell on 15 September. With this news, the token English forces under Sir
Illustrations of the battle
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The Swiss engraver
References
- ^ Schäfer, Rudolf (1986). Chronik von Höchst am Main (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Waldemar Kramer.
- ^ Vollert, Adalbert (1980). Sossenheim. Geschichte eines Frankfurter Stadtteils (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Sparkasse [ISBN missing].
- ISBN 9780141937809.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-347-59083-0.
- ^ Abelin, Johann Philipp (1662) [1635]. Merian, Matthäus (ed.). Theatrum Europaeum (in German). Vol. 1: 1617–1629. Frankfurt am Main: Workshop of Matthäus Merian. pp. 630–633.
- ^ Maier, Unterpfalz, pp. 36–37, 70–96.
External links
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