Battle of Jankau

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Jankau
Part of: Swedish-French War, Thirty Years War
Old copper engraving of the Battle of Jankov.jpg
date March 6, 1645
place Jankov ( Czech Republic )
output Swedish victory
consequences Swedish troops in front of Vienna
Parties to the conflict

Flag of Sweden.svg
Swedish troops

Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
imperial troops

Commander

High command:
Lennart Torstensson

High command:
Melchior von Hatzfeldt

Troop strength
6,000 feet, 9,000 riders 4,500 feet, 10,500 riders
losses

approx. 3000 dead or missing

3000 captured, 6000 dead or missing

In the battle of Jankau (also: Battle of Jankowitz ), about 60 km south-east of Prague , defeated on 6. March 1645 a Swedish -protestantisches army under Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson the Imperial - Habsburg troops under the marshals Melchior Graf von Hatzfeld and Johann von Götzen and the Bavarian general Johann von Werth

meaning

The battle was one of the last major battles of the Thirty Years War . But it was not a decisive battle like the Battle of Nördlingen (1634) or the first Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) . These two great battles led to the immediate collapse of the previously dominant position of one of the two warring parties. In contrast, the battle of Jankau was only the end of a collapse that had developed in stages over the previous months with the defeats of the imperial army at Jüterbog and Bernburg, Frohse . In the same way, the defeat in the second battle of Breitenfeld was a consequence of the many defeats of the imperial army in the course of the war of 1642.

course

The battlefield (map from 1875)

Torstensson set out with the army on January 26th in Zeitz and carried his artillery (60 guns) over the Ore Mountains on sledges. On February 25, the two armies faced each other at Horažďovice , only separated by the Otava River, and then lost sight of each other again. On March 2, both armies passed the Moldau, separated by only a day's march . The imperial field marshal Hatzfeldt secured his entourage in the city of Tábor and then blocked the advancing Swedish army at Jankau with his army from marching on to Moravia , where the Swedes had several bases.

On March 6th, the Swedish infantry, which was slightly superior to the imperial infantry, attacked the imperial army under Field Marshal Hatzfeldt with the support of their strongly superior artillery (80 guns), whose artillery only had 24 guns. The imperial army was supported by a strongly superior Bavarian cavalry under the command of Johann von Werth and by 4,500 selected Bavarian mercenaries under Johannes Ernst Freiherr von Reuschenberg zu Setterich .

The Swedes camped on the Džbány, which dominated the position of the imperial left wing, and began the battle with an evasion maneuver, which Field Marshal Johann Graf von Götzen was to answer with an attack by the imperial left wing from a forest. In the confusing terrain, however, the left wing got caught in the fire of the Swedish guns when leaving the forest and Götz was killed.

Nevertheless, the situation remained under control and Hatzfeldt was able to repel further attacks by the Swedes, prepare a counterattack or break off the battle. Before he had made a decision, the right, Bavarian wing under Johann von Werth rushed surprisingly at the enemy. His cavalry confused the Swedish right wing considerably. Instead of using the advantage gained, the Bavarian riders began to plunder the Swedish entourage . This gave Torstensson the opportunity to occupy the hills southwest of Ratměřice and to position his superior artillery there. Their use then dispersed the Bavarian cavalry and also shook the attacking imperial infantry . A counter-attack by the Swedish infantry then completely defeated the imperial infantry. The imperial army had 4,000 dead and wounded and lost all artillery and 4,500 prisoners, including 6 generals (including Hatzfeldt) and 200 officers. The Swedes lost 2,000 men.

consequences

The news of the defeat spread quickly. The emperor had to leave Prague in a hurry and take the detour via the Upper Palatinate and Regensburg to get to Linz and on to Vienna. He had seized the only remaining chance and lost.

The catastrophic outcome of the battle meant that the imperial government finally had to recognize that the war, which had actually been lost since 1642, now had to be ended. Therefore, from the summer of 1645, efforts in the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück had to be intensified. That then led to the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia three years later .

In the short term, the defeat resulted in the Kötzschenbroda armistice , with which the emperor lost the Electorate of Saxony as an ally and only Bavaria remained as an ally.

After the complete victory of the Swedes at Jankau, the imperial army was practically destroyed and Emperor Ferdinand III. militarily defenseless. This opened the way to Vienna for the Swedes. On the way there Torstensson left a trail of devastation. So were z. B. Staatz Castle and the Gaunersdorf market are sacked and completely destroyed. Only a month after the battle, the Swedes were outside Vienna and had blocked the Danube after taking Krems and Korneuburg .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Lothar Höbelt: From Nördlingen to Jankau. Imperial strategy and warfare 1634-1645 . In: Republic of Austria, Federal Minister for State Defense (Hrsg.): Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien . tape 22 . Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-902551-73-3 , p. 420-425 .