Battle of White Mountain 1620

The Battle of White Mountain was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years.

Part of the Bohemian Revolt during the Thirty Years' War

Date

 8 November 1620

Location 

White Mountain, near Prague, Bohemian Confederation (present-day Czech Republic)

Result

 Imperial-Spanish victory

Belligerents

 Holy Roman Empire

 Catholic League

 Spanish Empire

Kingdom of Bohemia Bohemian Confederation

 Electoral Palatinate

Combatants

 Maximilian I (Catholic League)

 Johann von Tilly (Holy Roman Empire)

 Charles de Bucquoy (Spanish Empire)

 Christian of Anhalt (Electoral Palatinate)

 Jindřich Matyáš Thurn (Kingdom of Bohemia)

Strength

Holy Roman Empire

23,000

12 guns

Bohemia

21,000

10 guns

Casualties and losses

Holy Roman Empire

650 killed and wounded

Bohemia

2,800 killed and wounded

Background

The Bohemian Uprising of the Estates began on 23rd May 1618 with the so-called Second Prague Defenestration. From the windows of Prague Castle two vicegerents, Vilém Slavata of Chlum and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice, and their secretary Fabricius was thrown out. It was a miracle that they survived the falling and that they were not even hit by the bullets which were fired by those who threw them out of the windows. This rather unsuccessful attempt to settle accounts with the hated administration of the monarchy, however, started the uprising which for two years took over mainly Bohemia and a year later also Moravia and Silesia and both parts of Lusatia. In the beginning, the Estates officially remained loyal to the monarch; however, they then took advantage of his death and refused to acknowledge his successor Ferdinand II as the Bohemian king.

Instead of him, they elected several candidates as the Bohemian King young Frederick I (Czech: Fridrich Falcký), who had a great advantage for the estates – his wife was a daughter of the English king. However, there was no help, neither financial nor military, from England; it was only the Netherlands, which was getting ready for another war against the Spanish relatives of Ferdinand II, which sent a considerable amount to Bohemia intended for gathering the mercenary army. Also, the help of the Protestant Union, on which the estates counted when electing Frederick, turned out to be not strong. As Ferdinand II was already 1619 elected as the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Protestant Union did not dare to oppose him in the early phase of the war.

The estates achieved some military successes at the beginning when they managed to get on their side till that time undecided Moravian estates and moved in across Moravia to Vienna. There they got together with the army of the Prince of Transylvania Gabriel Bethlen, who was fighting against the Habsburgs, which then was for the Bohemian Estates the biggest, though often controversial, military help. However, the shelling of the capitol of the monarchy did not last long, because the imperial army of Count Buquoy won at Záblatí (near Prachatice) and forced the army of the estates to return to defence of Bohemia.

To help the Imperial army the commander of the Catholic League, General Tilly with his army came and greatly increased the army. The army of the estates managed to gather about 20,800 men for the defence of the uprising. The army of the League, which in the end did not fight in this battle, amounted to about 12 to 13,000 men, and the Imperial army is then estimated to be 14,140 men, altogether amounting to the Imperial-League army of approximately 26 to 28,000 men.

Battle

Battle of White Mountain (1620)

Both armies encountered on 8th November 1620 on White Mountain, only several kilometers far from the City Walls of Prague. A two-hour battle was because of its quick course rather than a small clash, yet it decided the fate of the whole uprising of the estates. The army of the estates took a substantially better position because they settled on the knoll and a part of the troops was hardly accessible, another reason being deep defensive fosses dug during the night before the battle. It had, unlike the Imperial-League army, some other advantages because they were fresh, well-fed, and there were firm Prague walls behind them in case they had to pull back.

However, the nearness of Prague turned out to be not so advantageous in the end, because many of the commandants did not come to the army and rather spend their time in pubs. This was not the main problem, though. More important turned out to be the money, or more precisely not paying the soldiers of the army of the estates. Hand in hand with the idleness of the recruited troops went also the lack of money in the rebels’ safe, which led to dissatisfaction among the soldiers and their unwillingness to fight. On the other hand, the situation of the Imperial-League army was not ideal either, because they were exhausted after the clashes against the enemy and a fast march towards Prague. The troops got weaker from the beginning of the campaign and some parts of the army were far in the rear and they were getting to the spot of the battle only little by little.

The armies of the estate lined up according to more modern Dutch military tactics which were used for several years by the Protestant armies, the Imperial-League army used an older Spanish model. Although the Dutch tactics guaranteed a better ability for action and movement while using a smaller number of men, in the end, it was the Spanish tactics based on the mass of the troops which were arranged in three rows in the depth. Even though the Dutch tactics during the Thirty Years’ War proved to be more effective, it was not so advantageous for the army of the estates which was spread too much and not used to this scheme.

The Battle of White Mountain itself did not have to happen, because both commanders of the Imperial-League army were aware of the fact that the time was on their side and that in the spring their position would be significantly better than that time in the autumn. They were persuaded to change the strategy and to start the battle by Bavarian Prince Maximilian leading the Catholic League who wanted a fast and decisive victory. Count Buqoy, in the end, agreed that they would test the power of the enemy in a “big clash” and then from its course they would come to the conclusion whether to attack or withdraw.

For the attack, the left wing of the army of the estates was chosen, as it seemed to be easier to access thanks to the terrain. Shortly after twelve o’clock nearly two thousand pikemen and musketeers and about 1,800 riders started their advancement against the left wing where there were some of the elite troops to strengthen the defence, these were the foot troops of the commander of the Bohemian Estates Jindrich Matyas Thurn. These, however, started to flee already during the second attempt of the Imperial armies to attack actually before the enemy reached their positions. They were then followed by other troops and the chaos was getting bigger and bigger. Although general Thurn the lead the cavalry of the estates managed to hold back the advancement, there were more and more troops who without any fighting turned and ran away from the battlefield.

The Imperial leaders soon decided to support the attack with other troops. Yet, the battle was still not lost for the rebelling estates and the “winter” king. From the center of the squad the son of the second leader of the Bohemian army of the Estates Christian I, Prince of Anhlat-Bernburg, Christian of Anhalt the Younger, set out with his rather small cavalry. He surprisingly succeeded in breaking through the lines of the Imperial cuirassiers and later also several foot troops. This attack stopped the advancement of the Imperial, but also the League armies and brought chaos to some troops. This, however, was only a short episode.

Soon the cavalry of Christian of Anhalt the Younger, a young boy only 21 years old, was smashed by larger League cavalry. At that moment the rear of the strength losing the southern wing of the estate armies was attacked by Polish Cossack cavalry which was supposed to stop the Hungarian riders from connecting with Anhalt the Younger. The Hungarian cavalry, after the first clash with the enemy, fled in all directions, which was the last signal of the fall of the left estate wing and immediately after that also of the center of the whole squad.

Result of the Battle of White Mountain

The battle was decided. It was only the right wing of the estate army where several troops were remaining as they did not flee, but mostly only because they could not flee. A later legend describes dramatically the last heroic resistance of the Moravians who refused to give up. The reality was different. First of all, these were not Moravians because these were only mercenary troops hired by Moravian estates from all over Europe, most of them were thought to be from Germany. The important resistance of this troop was caused by the fact that they had nowhere to flee and because they were surrounded and behind their back, there were walls of the Star Summer Palace (Czech: letohrádek Hvězda). Some troops badly placed among the walls were not able to leave the battlefield quickly either and were either killed or captured. That is why the losses on the side of the estates reached about 1,500 to 1,800 killed and several thousand injured, as well as 700 captured. It is also claimed that there were several hundreds of dead allied Hungarians who are thought to be killed on the run or to get drowned in the Vltava river.

On the side of the winners, there were about 500-1,000 Imperial-League soldiers killed or injured. This fast victory of the Imperial and League armies was surprising for both parties. The Imperial party quite often attributed it to God’s will, whereas the estates and Protestants were not able to find anyone to blame. In the end, they suspected betrayal or at least cowardice of the Hungarian cavalry. This, however, is a rather twisted idea, as there was a strong tendency, as usual, to find the mistake of the foreigners. The fall of the estate army, which did not even try to fight, illustrates the situation in which the whole uprising ended up.

The winter king Frederick V fled from Prague and then also from the Bohemian Lands back to Pfalz. On the following day after the battle, the city fell. Nobody was able to defend it anymore, some leaders of the uprising fled to Silesia to try to set up new positions against the Imperial there. They only managed to slow down the historical development which brought their political end. Also, the Bohemian king did not stay for long in his homeland because he was soon forced to leave Pfalz by the Spanish and League armies. The rest of the Protestant forces withdrew to the Netherlands and this was the end of the first phase of the Thirty Years’ War called Bohemian (1618 – 1620) and Pfalz.

The Catholic League and Austrian as well as Spanish Habsburgs were the winners. This victory, however, poured oil on the fire, and in the future, there were other alliances to follow which were aimed mainly against the Habsburgs and their power in Europe. There were several following wars: Danish War (1625 – 1629), Swedish War (1630 – 1635), and Swedish-French War (1635 – 1648) called after the main forces fighting against the Habsburgs which led to the particular time war. The war was long and the consequences were devastating mainly for the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, but also the Bohemian Lands. The decrease of the inhabitants was huge, in some places, it was up to half of the whole population which was in part killed off during plundering, in part succumbed to diseases and hunger or fled to the areas which were not affected by the war.