Battle in the dunes
| date | June 4th jul. / June 14, 1658 greg. |
|---|---|
| place | Dunkirk , Spanish Netherlands , now France |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 15,000 men | 16,000 men |
| losses | |
|
about 400 men |
about 6,000 men |
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Les Avins - Leuven - Tornavento - Guetaria - Fontarrabie - Corbie - Diedenhofen 1639 - Turin - Aire-sur-la-Lys - Honnecourt - Barcelona - Cartagena - Diedenhofen 1643 - Rocroi - Orbetello - Fort Mardyck - Dunkirk - Rethel - Bordeaux - Lens - Arras - Valenciennes - Battle of the Dunes
The battle in the dunes of June 4th jul. / June 14, 1658 greg. was a battle between a French army with its republican-English troops on the one hand and a Spanish army and its royalist-English auxiliary contingent on the other hand, during the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1655-1660). It ended with a decisive French victory, under whose impression peace negotiations were initiated, which ultimately led to the conclusion of the Peace in the Pyrenees .
prehistory
The starting point of the battle was the siege of the city of Dunkirk by 20,000 French and 6,000 English soldiers in May 1658. A Spanish army was dispatched to relieve the besieged city.
The Spanish army of around 15,000 men was divided into two corps, the Spanish Flanders Corps on the right and a small corps of French rebels from the Fronde on the left, under the command of Louis II de Bourbons . The Spanish corps also comprised about 3,000 Anglo-Irish soldiers loyal to the king who were to serve as the basis of an army that had yet to be formed in order to be able to attack England.
With this army, Charles II was to be reinstated as king. This English troop was led by James, Duke of York, later King James II of England, a brother of Charles II.
course
Turénne left some soldiers behind to continue the siege of Dunkirk and went with the rest of his army to meet the Spanish. On June 14, 1658, both armies met. The battle lasted about two hours and ended with a withdrawal of the Spanish troops.
The contingent of English troops, the so-called red coats of Cromwell's New Model Army , were distinguished during the battle by their strong will to attack. a. it showed that they repeatedly attacked a strongly fortified 50 m high dune until they had conquered the position. The command of the English troops was William Lockhart , Cromwell's ambassador to Paris.
The Spanish casualties were around 6,000 soldiers (killed, wounded, or captured), while their opponent had lost around 500 men. The French rebel corps on the left Spanish side was able to withdraw in an orderly manner. The English loyal to the King on the Spanish side were also able to leave the battlefield more or less unscathed, since the English troops on the French side agreed with them not to shed any more English blood on foreign battlefields.
consequences
This defeat sealed the fate of the city of Dunkirk, and it surrendered to French troops on June 14th. Cardinal Mazarin handed the city over to the English in accordance with the contract.
As agreed in writing in the contract, the city should be handed over to the English immediately. But Mazarin had given orders to Marshal Turenne to delay this handover as long as possible. On the day the British and French troops were united, Cromwell summoned Ambassador Bordeaux and showed him a copy of Mazarin's orders (a secretary of Mazarin's had briefed Cromwell). He demanded that the city be surrendered within an hour of its capture. Mazarin immediately sent the Duke of Créquy to convey the congratulations of Louis XIV.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Jon Guttman: Duel of French Chessmasters. In: Military History. December 1992, p. 57.
- ^ Jon Guttman: Duel of French Chessmasters. In: Military History. December 1992, p. 56.
- ^ Peter Young, Richard Holmes: The English Civil War. Hertfordshire 2000, p. 326. (English)
- ^ Heinrich Bauer: Oliver Cromwell - A struggle for freedom and dictatorship. Munich / Berlin 1940, pp. 374-76f.
Web links
- David Plant: The Anglo-Spanish War 1655–60 (as of February 2, 2008)
literature
- Jon Guttman: Duel of French Chessmasters. In: Military History. December 1992, pp. 51-57.
- Maxime Weygand: Turenne. Georg DW Callwey, Munich 1937.