Battle of Rocroi
19 May 1643 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
The sides
- France, led by Duke of Enghien: about 23,000 men
- Spain, led by Francisco de Melo: about 25,000 men
States that fought: Kingdom of France, Spanish Empire.
How it went
Battle of Rocroi
France and Spain have been at war for eight years. A Spanish army from the Netherlands under Francisco de Melo lays siege to Rocroi, on the road into France, and the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien, later called the Great Condé, marches to relieve it.
Through the woods
Enghien brings his army through the narrow way between woods and marshes, and Melo, sure of himself, lets him deploy on the open ridge in front of the town. They face each other through the night.
Enghien's charge
At dawn Enghien leads the horse of the French right against Alburquerque's. Musketeers Melo had hidden in a wood on the flank are found and cut down first, and the Spanish left-wing horse is routed.
Trouble on the left
On the other wing La Ferté charges against orders and is beaten back by Isenburg, whose horse rides on into the French guns and takes them. The Spanish infantry advances, and the French left is breaking.
Behind the Spanish army
Enghien does not chase the beaten horse. He rides right round behind the Spanish infantry, scatters the Walloon and German tercios of the second line from behind, and falls on Isenburg's rear. The French reserve stops the Spanish advance.
The tercios stand
The Spanish tercios are left alone in the middle of the field, surrounded. They form a great square and throw back three French attacks, their old commander Fontaine carried among them in a chair.
Rocroi
Fontaine is killed. With guns brought up against them, the tercios ask for terms, and in the confusion the French attack again and cut many down. Spain loses some 15,000 men killed or taken, France perhaps 4,000. The Spanish infantry's century of invincibility is over.
Numbers after the usual counts. The Spanish army included Italian, Walloon, German and Burgundian troops; only part of it were Spaniards.
People and wars
- Thirty Years' War (1618–1648 CE): A series of wars fought mainly in the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 to 1648, involving most European powers. It devastated Germany, where millions died from fighting, famine and disease.