| Name | Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein |
|---|---|
| Born | September 14, 1583 |
| Died | February 25, 1634 |
| Caption | Portrait of Wallenstein by Anthony Van Dyck, 1629 |
| Placeofbirth | Heřmanice, Kingdom of Bohemia |
| Placeofdeath | Eger, Kingdom of Bohemia |
| Allegiance | |
| Serviceyears | ? – 24 January 1634 |
| Battles | Thirty Years' War |
A successful generalissimo who had made himself ruler of the lands of the Duchy of Friedland in northern Bohemia, Wallenstein found himself released from service in 1630 after Ferdinand grew wary of his ambition. Several Protestant victories over Catholic armies induced Ferdinand to recall Wallenstein, who again turned the war in favor of the Imperial cause. Dissatisfied with the emperor's treatment of him, Wallenstein considered allying with the Protestants. However, Ferdinand had the general assassinated at Eger (Cheb) in Egerland by one of the army's officials, Walter Devereux.
Wallenstein then joined the army of Rudolf II in Hungary, where he saw, under the command of Giorgio Basta, two years of armed service (1604–1606) against the Ottoman Turks and Hungarian rebels. He later endowed a monastery in her name, and had her reburied there. In 1617 Wallenstein married Isabella Katharina, daughter of Count Harrach. She bore him two children, a son who died in infancy and a surviving daughter. Wallenstein proved an able administrator of the duchy and also sent a large representation to Prague to emphasize his nobility.
In order to aid Ferdinand (elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1619) against the Northern Protestants and to produce a balance in the Army of the Catholic League under Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, Wallenstein offered to raise a whole army for the imperial service following the bellum se ipsum alet principle, and received his final commission on 25 July 1625. Wallenstein’s success as a military commander brought him fiscal credit, which in turn enabled him to receive loans to buy lands, many of them being the former estates of conquered Bohemian nobles. Wallenstein also used his credit to grant loans to Ferdinand II, who then repaid him through lands and titles. Wallenstein's popularity soon recruited 30,000 (not long afterwards 50,000) men. The two armies worked together over 1625–27, at first against Mansfeld.
Having beaten Mansfeld at Dessau (25 April 1626), Wallenstein cleared Silesia of the remnants of Mansfeld's army in 1627. At this time he bought from the emperor the Duchy of Sagan (in Silesia). He then joined Tilly in the struggle with Christian IV of Denmark, and afterwards gained as a reward the Duchies of Mecklenburg, whose hereditary dukes suffered expulsion for having helped the Danish king. This awarding of a major territory to someone of the lower nobility shocked the high-born rulers of many other German states.
Wallenstein assumed the title of "Admiral of the North and Baltic Seas". However, in 1628 he failed to capture Stralsund, which resisted the Capitulation of Franzburg and the subsequent siege with assistance of Danish, Scottish and Swedish troops, a blow that denied him access to the Baltic and the chance of challenging the naval power of the Scandinavian kingdoms and of the Netherlands. the situation further deteriorated when the presence of the Imperial catholic troops on the Baltic and the Emperor's "Edict of Restitution" brought King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden into the conflict.
Over the course of the war Wallenstein's ambitions and the exactions of his army had made him a host of enemies, both Catholic and Protestant princes and non-princes. Ferdinand suspected Wallenstein of planning a coup to take control of the Holy Roman Empire. The Emperor's advisors advocated dismissing him, and in September 1630 envoys were sent to Wallenstein to announce his removal.
However, circumstances forced Ferdinand to call Wallenstein into the field again. and the Scots colonels Walter Leslie and John Gordon first rushed upon Wallenstein's trusted officers Terzky, Kinsky, Illo and Neumann whilst the latter banqueted at Cheb Castle (which had come under the command of John Gordon himself), and massacred them. Terzky alone managed to fight his way out into the courtyard, only to be shot down by a group of musketeers.
Wallenstein was buried at Jitschin (Jičín).
Wallenstein's particular genius lay in recognizing a new way for funding war: instead of merely plundering enemies, he called for a new method of systematic "war taxes". Even a city or a prince on the side of the Emperor had to pay taxes towards the war. He understood the enormous wastage of resources that resulted from tax exactions on princes and cities of defeated enemies only, and desired to replace this with a "balanced" system of taxation; wherein both sides bore the cost of a war. He was unable to fully realize this ambition; and in fact his idea led to the random exploitation of whole populations on either side, until finally, almost fifteen years after his death, the war had become so expensive that the warring parties were forced to make peace. In any case, Wallenstein's idea inspired many, among them, Colbert, to "pluck the goose with a minimum of screeching".
Composer Bedřich Smetana honored Wallenstein in his 1859 symphonic poem Wallenstein's Camp, which was originally intended as an overture to a play by Schiller.
Category:1583 births Category:1634 deaths Category:People from Náchod District Category:Bohemian nobility Category:Assassinated military personnel Category:People from Cheb Category:People of the Thirty Years' War Category:Rulers of Mecklenburg Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece Category:University of Altdorf alumni Category:Generalissimos
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