Winning a victory at Steinau (Oct. I1, 1633) and capturing one town after another, he penetrated almost to the Baltic. But he was recalled to the south-west before his operations had had any effect. The Swedish army, now under Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, Horn and Baner, had returned to the South, and took Regensburg from Maximilian's army. But it was now late in the year and Wallen stein was intent upon peace. With this object he endeavoured to secure the higher officers of the army, but these were gradually won over by Spanish emissaries ; the emperor, having decided to continue the war in alliance with Spain, dismissed his general for the second time. Wallenstein then openly attempted to unite the Swedish, Saxon and other Protestant armies with his own, so as to compel all parties to make peace. But his officers would not follow, the coup d'etat failed, and Wallenstein was murdered at Eger by his own lieutenants, with the full sanction of the Emperor (Feb. 15-25, All idea of German unity died with him, and for the next 14 years Germany was simply the battle-ground of French, Spanish, Austrian and Swedish armies, which, having learned the im punity and advantages of plunder in the school of Mansfeld and Wallenstein, reduced the country to a state of misery that no historian has been able to describe, save by detailing the horrors of one or other village among the thousands that were ruined. Germany remained for a century in the stillness of exhaustion.
The Policy of Richelieu.—The centre of gravity was now the Rhine valley, the highroad between Spanish Italy and the Spanish Netherlands. Richelieu had, as the price of his assistance after Niirdlingen, taken over the Alsatian fortresses held by the Swedes, and in May, just before the treaty of Prague was signed, he de clared war on Spain. The French army numbered 130,000 men in 1635, and 200,000 in the year after. One army assembled in Upper Alsace for the attack of the Spaniards in Franche Comte; another occupied Lorraine, which had been conquered in 1633 a corps under Henri de Rohan was despatched from the same quarter across Switzerland, to expel the enemy from the Valtelline, Another force, co-operating with the duke of Savoy, was to attack the Milanese. Bernhard was to operate in the Rhine and Main
country. Having thus arranged to isolate the Spanish Netherlands, Richelieu sent his main army, about 30,00o strong, thither to join Frederick Henry of Orange and so to crush the Cardinal Infante. This was strategy on a scale hitherto unknown in the war. Richelieu had unified France under the single authority of the king, and his strategy, like his policy, was masterful and clear. But the event proved that his scheme was too comprehensive. Richelieu proposed to strike at each of the two halves of his enemy's power at the same time as he separated them. His forces were not sufficient for these tasks and he was therefore compelled to eke them out, both in Italy and the Netherlands, by working with allies whose interests were not his. Popular outbreaks among the Brabanters and Flemings led Frederick Henry to withdraw to his own country, and in 1636 the French northern army had to face the whole of the Cardinal Infante's forces. In Italy the Franco-Piedmontese army achieved prac tically nothing. In Alsace and Lorraine neither side was strong enough to prevail. Bernhard waged a desultory campaign in Ger many, and later, when supplies gave out he and his army were taken into the French service. In eastern Germany the conse quences of the peace of Prague were that Saxony, Brandenburg and other States, signatories to the treaty, were ipso facto the enemies of those who continued the war. Thus John George turned his arms against the Swedes in his neighbourhood. But their commander Baner was as superior in generalship as he was inferior in numbers, and held the field until a truce between Sweden and Poland set free a fresh Swedish corps that had been held ready for eventualities in that country. This corps, under Torstensson, joined Baner in October, and on Nov. t they won an action at Domitz on the Elbe.
Thus Richelieu's great scheme was only very partially executed. The only important military events of the year took place out side Germany ; within Germany men were chiefly occupied in considering whether to accept the terms of the peace of Prague. But the land had no rest, for the armies were not disbanded. In 1636 the movements foreshadowed in 1635 were carried out with energy. John George, aided by an imperialist army, threat ened to interpose between Bailer and the Baltic. But Baner was too quick for them. Before the Brandenburg contingent could join John George, he brought on a general action at Wittstock (Sept. 24–Oct. 4, 1636). The elector had 30,00o men against 22,000 and sought to attack both in front and rear. But while his entrenchments defied the frontal attack Baner threw most of his army upon the enveloping force and crushed it. The Swedes lost 5,000 killed and wounded, the combined army i t,000 killed and wounded and 8,000 prisoners. The prestige of so brilliant a victory repaired even Nordlingen, and many North German princes who were about to make peace took fresh heart.