Bernard's Upper Rhine Campaign
| Bernard's Upper Rhine Campaign | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Thirty Years' War | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
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France Weimar Army |
Holy Roman Empire Bavaria Lorraine | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar Friedrich Ludwig Kanoffski von Langendorf Georg Christoph von Taupadel Reinhold von Rosen Wilhelm Otto von Nassau-Siegen (WIA) Ludwig von Wietersheim † Count of Wittgenstein (WIA) Johann Ludwig von Erlach Sigismund von Erlach Johann Bernard Ohm Johann Phillip von Salm-Kyrburg (DOW) Vicomte de Turenne Jean-Baptiste Budes Comté de Guébriant Henri de Rohan |
Federico Savelli Hans Heinrich von Reinach Guillaume de Lamboy Johann von Werth (POW) Johann von Götz Adrian von Enkevort (POW) Claus Dietrich von Sperreuth (POW) Charles de Lorraine Anne-François de Bassompierre (POW) Colonel Vernier (POW) Lieutenant Colonel Fleckenstein (POW) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
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5,000–6,000 men, 14 guns 13,000 4,800 c. 14,000–19,000 |
4,000–7,000 men 18,500 4,000 c. 20,000 3,000 men and 152 Cannons | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 5,400+ killed, wounded, and captured |
2,400 – 6,400 killed 4,500+ – 8,500+ captured | ||||||
Bernard's Upper Rhine Campaign was a successful military campaign by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, who led an Army hired by the French to fight against the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III. The campaign was fought from February to December 1638, mainly at four engagements at Rheinfelden, Wittenweiher, Thann, and Breisach, where Bernard won all four battles.
The campaign was first primarily fought for the forest towns in Baden-Württemberg, but then shifted to Breisach and Alsace. It was a decisive victory for the French and established their main base for their future German Campaigns at Breisach, further consolidated French control over Alsace, and isolated the Spanish Franche-Comté from its Imperial Spanish allies.
Only months after the campaign, Bernard died of a fever, a complication of an ear infection. Bernard's death finally led to the incorporation of the Weimar Army into the French Army of Germany (1638–1648). Most of the gains of the campaign was lost at the Battle of Tuttlingen, in which the French-Weimaran Army of Germany was mostly destroyed.