Siege of Prague (1648)

Old city view of Prague

The siege of Prague took place between July 25th and November 1st, 1648. Alongside the Battle of Dachau (October 5), it is considered the last military conflict of the Thirty Years' War in southern Germany.

prehistory

The Swedish commander, Count Carl Gustav Wrangel , sent a strong corps under General Hans Christoph von Königsmarck to siege Prague in June 1648 . Although the peace negotiations with the Kaiser in Munster were well advanced, Field Marshal Wrangel was still trying to force military success. The imperial army or what was left after the battle of Zusmarshausen (May 17) could no longer stabilize the situation in southern Germany. One after the other, the Swedes under Koenigsmarck managed to take smaller towns such as Klattau , Bischofteinitz and Falkenau without resistance as they advanced through Bohemia .

course

On July 25th, the Swedes reached Prague from the southwest and set up the first general storm for the next day. They were able to capture Prague Castle and Prague's Lesser Town on the left bank of the Vltava on July 26th, but failed to capture the old town on the east bank. On the Charles Bridge they were repulsed by the citizens of Prague. The imperial governor of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Field Marshal Count Rudolf von Colloredo , arrived in the old town in good time with a weak contingent to stabilize the defense there. To get the necessary reinforcements, he sent a call for help to Glatz and asked the garrison there under General Buchheimb to rush to Prague immediately with 2,000 riders. They also sent to Budweis to ask the local commander, Colonel Conti, for help.

In the meantime, Swedish units under Königsmarck had taken the Hradschin and the castle and immediately directed the cannon brought there against the old town. The first imperial reinforcements under Colonel Conti arrived in Prague. They immediately built new entrenchments and strengthened the positions of the vigilante group.

Storming of Prague in October 1648

Substantial Swedish reinforcements arrived on October 5th. The Count Palatine Karl Gustav , who was already acting as heir to the throne, took over the command of the siege troops. In the city even religious were armed out of necessity and formed their own company under the Jesuit Jiří Plachý. On October 6, the Swedes built a bridge over the Vltava and formed a bridgehead on the right bank at Holeschowitz. The Swedish troops were now concentrated behind the gallows hill. On the left wing, Königsmark led into the vineyards. General Wittenberg's infantry was opposite the Rosstor, while the cavalry gathered behind the Vyšehrad . From October 7th, the Swedes shot at the Galgentor for two days. The break-in in the old town succeeded after several storms, but the vigilantes successfully put reserves in the breach and regained the lost positions at the gate.

On the morning of October 25th the next general storm of the Swedes followed, which the citizens were able to repel with the courage of desperation. Almost 800 Swedes were left dead or wounded. As a result of the signing of the Peace of Westphalia (October 24), there was no further attack. On November 2nd, the Count Palatine lifted the siege and withdrew his troops to Czaslau .

During the siege the Prague lost 219 men, 101 of them soldiers; the rest were armed citizens, plus 475 wounded.

The Swedes took important art treasures with them that are still in Stockholm today ( Prague art theft ).

literature

* Beda Dudik : Sweden in Bohemia and Moravia 1640–1650 (Vienna, 1879) Reprint of the original, Paderborn 2015, digitized at Google Books
Johann Sporschil : The Thirty Years War , George Westermann Verlag, Braunschweig 1843, pp. 695–698.
Johann Sporschil: History of the emergence, growth and size of the Austrian monarchy , Volume 5, Friedrich Volckmar Verlag, Leipzig 1846, pp. 130-135.