Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein

Bohemian military leader

• Born: September 24, 1583
• Birthplace: Heřmanice, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic)
• Died: February 25, 1634
• Place of death: Eger, Bohemia (now in Czech Republic)

A master of recruiting and logistics, Wallenstein raised and commanded the armies that saved the Catholic Habsburgs from losing the Thirty Years’ War to their Protestant opponents. He was able to amass great wealth and power and may even have aspired to an independent crown of his own.

Early Life

The son of Wilhelm Wallenstein and his wife, Margarethe, Albrecht Wenzel von Wallenstein (VAHL-ehn-shtin) was one of seven children. His mother died when he was not quite ten years old, and his father died within two years of her death. Albrecht was sent to live with his mother’s brother-in-law, Heinrich Slawata von Chlum. The Wallenstein family, although not wealthy, was fairly well connected among the Bohemian aristocracy. While he was later to convert and become an outstanding commander of the Catholic forces, Wallenstein was reared as a Protestant.

At age fifteen, Albrecht went to the Lutheran school at Goldberg, Silesia, remained there for two years, and then attended the academy at Altdorf, near Nuremberg. It was a stay of only six months, Wallenstein being noted primarily for his violent behavior: The records indicate a number of brawls in which he was involved, and he spent at least some time in the student prison at the academy.

When Wallenstein left Nuremberg, he traveled through Europe, spending the greatest amount of time at Padua, where he studied under the unusual combination of Jesuits and astrologers. By 1606, he had converted to Roman Catholicism and would remain a dutiful son of the Church for the rest of his life. At the same time, however, he developed a firm belief in astrology, especially as it controlled his destiny. He believed his life to be under the influence of Saturn, which promised great accomplishments. In 1607, he had his horoscope cast by the famed astronomerJohannes Kepler and often referred to the predictions that had been fulfilled in later years. Holding such contradictory beliefs was only one facet of Wallenstein’s enigmatic personality.

In 1604, Wallenstein embarked on his first military campaign, serving as an ensign, then a captain, with the artillery of the Holy Roman Empire in a campaign in what is now Romania. In command was Johan Tserclaes, count of Tilly; along with Wallenstein, Tilly would later be one of the two outstanding imperial generals of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).

Wallenstein married in 1609. His wife, Lucretia von Landek, was a much older and very wealthy widow. According to some unconfirmed but often-repeated stories, Wallenstein nearly died from a love potion given him by his new wife, but he survived. Lucretia died on March 23, 1614, leaving her vast wealth, including many Moravian estates, to Wallenstein.

Wallenstein’s appearance aptly fits the description “saturnine,” for he was somber, even austere, with a long face, sallow complexion, and dark eyes and hair. He wore the neatly trimmed beard characteristic of the period. He had irregular features and high cheekbones, and he rarely displayed his emotions; when he did, he could break into sudden, deadly fury. Throughout his life, Wallenstein inspired a number of emotions, but fear, respect, and envy were inspired more often than love or affection.

Life’s Work

In May, 1618, the Defenestration of Prague marked the beginning of the Thirty Years’ War. Seldom has so trivial, even ludicrous, an incident been the spark for such a long and destructive conflict. The true causes for the war were more profound than Bohemian Protestant rebels throwing Catholic imperial councillors out a window. Indeed, there was a mesh of religion (Protestant Reformation against Catholic Counter-Reformation), politics (the various smaller German states against the Holy Roman Empire), and dynastic struggle (the Habsburgs of Spain and Austria against most of Europe).

The war was Wallenstein’s springboard to greatness. When the Bohemian Protestants rose in revolt against the Habsburg Emperor Matthias, Wallenstein moved swiftly, removing the contents of the Moravian treasury to the safety of imperial coffers in Vienna. Welcomed into imperial service, Wallenstein began well: At the Battle of Tein, in southern Bohemia, he smashed through the lines of a rebel army that was moving to threaten Vienna. Although he was often successful in battle, it was as an organizer and recruiter that Wallenstein proved most capable and effective.

Although his Moravian estates had been seized in the uprising, Wallenstein still retained considerable wealth, and he freely loaned this to the emperor and to his successor, Ferdinand II , who was elected to the throne in 1619. On June 9, 1623, Wallenstein remarried, taking Isabella Katharina von Harrach as his bride. Isabella came from one of the wealthiest and most influential families of the empire; Emperor Ferdinand attended the wedding, and the match further swelled Wallenstein’s treasury. Much of this, too, he loaned to Ferdinand.

As the imperial forces regained Bohemia and Moravia, Ferdinand repaid his debts by granting Wallenstein lands that had been confiscated from his rebellious subjects. The Wallenstein domains steadily increased, and in 1624 the emperor created him duke of Friedland; eventually the duchy included hundreds of thousands of acres in what is modern northern Czechoslovakia. From Friedland, Wallenstein drew grain, cattle, cloth, weapons, and other supplies needed by the imperial army. These necessities returned a flow of riches to Friedland, which remained prosperous and at peace in the midst of war.

Wallenstein became increasingly important in the imperial army, rising in 1623 to the position of “Major over all infantry,” but he remained basically an organizer and staff officer. In 1624, Wallenstein made a dramatic offer: He would provide an army of fifty thousand men, and put this force into the field at no cost to the emperor. Asked how the troops could be supplied and maintained, Wallenstein gave the grim but truthful answer, “War must feed war.” The troops were raised, and in 1625 Wallenstein was named imperial commander. Moving northward, he swept a powerful Danish army from Silesia, and rolled it back to the Baltic Sea. In honor of Wallenstein’s victories, the emperor granted him the duchies of Mecklenburg and Pomerania on the Baltic coast. This added to the discontent and mistrust that was already felt for Wallenstein among court circles in Vienna.

In 1629, peace came briefly to Europe, and Ferdinand maneuvered Wallenstein into resigning his command. Apparently the emperor had doubts about his powerful subject as well. In July, 1630, a Swedish army under King Gustavus II Adolphus landed on the German coast and marched southward; volunteers soon swelled its ranks to forty thousand troops. Still, Ferdinand kept Wallenstein in retirement, hoping to avoid a cause for disunity in the empire, for many of the nobility and courtiers disliked Wallenstein. Wallenstein used this time well, improving and enlarging Friedland; his duchy seems to have been the sole passion of his life. In 1632, Ferdinand, hard pressed by Swedish victories, was forced to recall Wallenstein to command. He granted Wallenstein terms that made him more a viceroy than a general: Wallenstein was given virtual independence in the territories he reconquered, with no political or religious interference in his operations. Wallenstein recognized that renewed religious persecutions would only prolong the war and increase its destruction.

Wallenstein and Gustavus sparred through the spring and summer of 1632, and the imperial general gradually forced the Swedish king northward and out of Bavaria. On November 16, 1632, the two met at the Battle of Lützen. Only the death of Gustavus at the head of his troops and the timely arrival of imperial reinforcements saved Wallenstein from defeat. Although left in possession of the field, the Swedish army was forced to retreat, and the most dangerous threat to the imperial cause had been repulsed.

In the fall of 1633, Wallenstein began secret negotiations with members of the Protestant Party. His motives in these talks are unclear: He might have aspired to the crown of Bohemia, or perhaps he sought a general peace for Europe. Emperor Ferdinand assumed the worst, and officers were sent to arrest Wallenstein; if he resisted, force was to be used. Wallenstein attempted to flee but was caught at the fortress of Eger, in Bohemia. There, on the night of February 25, 1634, he was killed by a blow from a halberd. His body was removed in a blood-soaked rug.

Significance

As duke of Friedland, Wallenstein issued his own coinage, and the motto he chose for it was Invita Invida: “I invite envy.” Seldom have fewer words been more aptly chosen, for Wallenstein’s career excited jealousy and fear among his contemporaries, even those he served. His aims and motives were a mystery to his time and have remained so long after his death. Was he merely a grasping opportunist intent upon personal aggrandizement, or did he have some far-reaching goal for all Europe?

On one hand, Wallenstein seized every opportunity to enlarge his lands, increase his wealth, and consolidate his power. His position rested upon two pillars: one, the army, nominally that of the emperor but raised, equipped, and led by Wallenstein; the second, his duchy of Friedland. Add to this Wallenstein’s thirst for land and titles, and it would seem that his vision was limited strictly to personal gain.

On the other hand, Wallenstein’s policies seem to have been calculated to increase the power of the emperor and the empire by reuniting central Europe as a religiously tolerant state no longer divided by sectarian conflict. His actions in his own territories and in those conquered by his armies show a man less interested in religious disputes than in productive farms and prosperous merchants. Some historians, notably C. V. Wedgwood, contend that he aimed at a realignment of the Holy Roman Empire into one centered on Bohemia, the valley of the Elbe River, and the Baltic Sea—a sort of Slavic-Germanic empire. In another theory, Francis Watson, Wallenstein’s premier English-writing biographer, believes that Wallenstein’s long-range goal was the expulsion of the Turks from Europe.

As a soldier, he was a master of raising, organizing, and supplying an army, but he was less skilled at commanding it in battle. Although successful in his campaigns, Wallenstein inspired no new tactics; his strategy was traditional, if skillfully implemented. His major contribution to warfare was to demonstrate that an enormous force could be maintained in the field for prolonged periods of time.

Wallenstein’s undoubted accomplishments are considerable: From 1625 to 1629, he regained northern Germany for the empire and gave the Catholic Church the opportunity to retrieve lands that had been lost to the Protestants. Forced into retirement, he returned to defeat the formidable invasion by Gustavus II Adolphus and restore imperial power in central Europe. In the meantime, he established a secure and prosperous duchy in the midst of a Europe torn by war. This is the work of one with considerable powers and abilities—perhaps even one whose destiny was secured by the stars.

Bibliography

Bonney, Richard. The Thirty Years’ War, 1618-1648. Essential Histories 29. Oxford, England: Osprey, 2002. A short but detailed and insightful account of the reasons for the conflict and a description of the battles.

Guthrie, William P. Battles of the Thirty Years’ War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618-1635. Contributions in Military Studies 213. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. This first of two books describes the battles fought during Wallenstein’s lifetime.

Liddel Hart, B. H. “Wallenstein-The Enigma of History.” In Great Captains Unveiled. Reprint. New York: De Capo Press, 1996. The outstanding and individual British military thinker, historian, and soldier provides his own unique insight into Wallenstein’s career and accomplishments. Provides an excellent thumbnail biography as well.

Mann, Golo. Wallenstein: His Life Narrated. Translated by Charles Kessler. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. A thorough, massive, and imaginative rendering of Wallenstein’s life and career. An excellent, sometimes poetic, study of Wallenstein’s psychology as well as his actions.

Parker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years’ War. 2d rev. ed. New York: Routledge, 1997. Several historians collaborated to provide this account of the war. It is the best single work for providing the reader with an overview of the conflict and with pertinent bibliographical information.

Watson, Francis. Wallenstein: Soldier Under Saturn. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1938. An essential English-language biography of Wallenstein, this work provides considerable background on the times and milieu of its subject. A comprehensive study, written in an engaging style.

Wedgwood, C. V. The Thirty Years’ War. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1949. Reprint. New York: Methuen, 1981. This classic work remains the best single-volume introduction to the Thirty Years’ War. It contains much material on Wallenstein and his part in the struggle and is very helpful for understanding the complex military and political events of the period.