Thirty Years War: The Danish Phase

After the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed by Ferdinand II, the Danish king, Christian IV, fearing that recent Catholic successes threatened his sovereignty as a Protestant nation, led troops against Ferdinand.

England and the United Provinces gave a subsidy to aid the opponents of the Hapsburgs, and England sent a few thousand soldiers.

General Wallenstein defeated Count Mansfeld. Wallenstein had 20,000 men to Mansfeld’s 12,000, although initially Mansfeld was under the impression he had more men. Because of this misconception Mansfeld attacked across the bridge over the Elbe river. He realised his mistake as the Catholic masses were brought to bear. Trapped against the river Mansfeld lost 4,000 dead, wounded, or captured.

A Catholic League army under Count Tilly defeated the forces of Christian IV of Denmark at Lutter am Barenberge in the Imperial Circle Estate of Lower Saxony. Both armies had 20,000 men. On three occasions the imperial infantry broke through the Danish line only to be repulsed by a cavalry counter-attack. However when the Catholics captured the entire Danish artillery the Danes panicked and retreated towards the town of Stade. The Danish losses were approximately 4,000 dead, 2,000 wounded, and 2,500 prisoners.

The Siege of Stralsund was a siege laid on Stralsund by Albrecht von Wallenstein's Imperial Army during the Thirty Years' War, from May to 4 August 1628. Stralsund was aided by Denmark and Sweden, with considerable Scottish participation. The lifting of the siege ended Wallenstein's series of victories, and contributed to his downfall. The Swedish garrison in Stralsund was the first on German soil in history. The battle marked the de facto entrance of Sweden into the war.

Danish forces of Christian IV of Denmark-Norway had made landfall on Usedom and the adjacent mainland, and expelled the imperial occupation forces. An Imperial army commanded by Albrecht von Wallenstein left besieged Stralsund to confront Christian IV. Ultimately, the Danish forces were defeated. Christian IV and a fraction of his landing force were able to escape by ship.

In the Treaty of Lübeck Christian IV retained Denmark but had to stop his support for the Protestant German states. This gave the Catholic powers the opportunity to take more Protestant land during the next two years. It restored to Denmark-Norway its pre-war territory at the cost of final disengagement from imperial affairs.