Battle of Rheinfelden

Overview

The Battle of Rheinfelden was a military event in the course of the Thirty Years' War, consisting in fact of two battles to the north and south of the present-day town of Rheinfelden. On one side was a French-allied mercenary army led by Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar while the other side consisted of a joint Bavarian and Holy Roman Empire army and led by Johann von Werth and Federico Savelli. Bernhard was beaten in the first battle but managed to defeat and capture Werth and Savelli in the second.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Rheinfelden, fought during the Thirty Years' War, was in practice two distinct engagements fought in the vicinity of the town of Rheinfelden. The first action ended in defeat for Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's French-allied mercenary force, which numbered between 5,000 and 6,000 men. Bernhard recovered and forced a second engagement against the joint Bavarian and Imperial army under Johann von Werth and Federico Savelli, inflicting casualties estimated between 3,000 and 3,500 on the Imperial side and capturing both enemy commanders. The capture of Werth and Savelli represented a significant blow to the Imperial and Bavarian command structure in the theater, removing two senior commanders from the field in a single action. The outcome demonstrated Bernhard's capacity to reconstitute his force after an initial reverse and press a successful counterattack against a numerically comparable opponent.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)