Albrecht von Wallenstein

Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634), Bohemian general who commanded imperial armies in the Danish and Swedish phases of the Thirty Years' War.

Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein was born September 24, 1583, in Heřmaneč, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic). Following the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in Bohemia in 1618, he entered the service of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. He distinguished himself in the emperor's conflict with the Transylvanian prince Gabriel Bethlen, and in 1624 was created duke of Friedland. In 1626 he defeated the Protestant commander, Count Peter Ernst Mansfeld II, at Dessau. He subsequently compelled both Mansfeld and Bethlen to abandon the war. In 1627 Wallenstein advanced as far as Jutland against the army of the Danish king Christian IV, and in 1628 he took possession of the duchy of Mecklenburg. His plan of uniting Germany under the rule of the emperor was forestalled by his failure to capture the seaport of Stralsund in 1628.

With the invasion of Germany by the Swedish king Gustav II Adolph, Ferdinand's allies, the old princes of the empire, insisted upon the dismissal of Wallenstein. He resigned his command to Johan Tserclaes, count of Tilly, in 1630. In 1632 Tilly was mortally wounded at the battle of the Lech, at which time Wallenstein was recalled by the emperor. He expelled Saxon forces from Bohemia and repulsed the attempt of Gustav Adolph to storm his entrenched camp near Nürnberg. In November 1632 Wallenstein's army was defeated by the Swedes in the Battle of Lützen, but Gustav himself was killed.

At this point Wallenstein formed plans for an alliance with the emperor's enemies. He wished to establish peace and religious tolerance and to reorganize the empire under his own authority. Distrusting his growing ambition and power, Ferdinand dismissed him publicly in January 1634. Wallenstein was assassinated by imperial agents at Eger on February 25 of the same year.