Battle of Rocroi

The Battle of Rocroi, fought on May 19 1643, resulted in a decisive victory of the French army under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, at that time Duke of Enghien, against the Spanish army under General Francisco de Melo.

Prelude

The Habsburg Spanish-Imperial army of about 27,000 men, advanced from Flanders, through the Ardennes, and into northern France to relieve French pressure on the Franche-Comté and Catalonia. The Spanish troops set siege to Rocroi, which lay athwart the route to the valley of the Oise. The French, under the command of 21-year-old Louis, duc d'Enghien, reacted quickly and forced a battle before the arrival of 6,000 Spanish reinforcements. The Spanish failed to block the route to Rocroi, which passed through a defile bordered by woods and marsh. Enghien advanced through the defile and assembled his force along a ridge looking down on the besieged town of Rocroi. The Spanish quickly formed up between the town and the ridge. The French army, some 23,000 strong, was arranged with two lines of infantry in the centre, squadrons of cavalry on each wing and with a thin line of artillery at the front. The Spanish army was similarly arranged, but with its infantry in their traditional tercios, or squares. The two armies bivouacked in their positions for the night.

The battle

The battle began just after dawn. The French army attacked, but the French infantry in the centre were worsted by the Spanish. The cavalry on the French left, advancing against Enghien's orders was also thrown back. But the cavalry on the French right, under the command of Jean de Gassion, routed the Spanish cavalry opposite. Enghien was able to follow this up by attacking the exposed left flank of the Spanish infantry. Spanish cavalry made a successful counter-attack to drive off the French cavalry, but were checked by the advance of the French reserve.

Enghien now carried out a huge cavalry encirclement, sweeping behind the Spanish army and smashing his way through to attack the rear of the Spanish cavalry that was still in combat with his reserves. The Spanish horse was put to flight, leaving the Spanish infantry to carry on the fight. The French were twice repulsed by the stubborn Spanish squares, so Enghien arranged for his artillery and the captured Spanish guns to blast them apart.

The Spanish squares, surrounded and unable to break out, decided to surrender to the French. However, when Enghien and his officers came forward to accept the Spanish surrender, they were mistaken for another French attack and fired upon. Outraged by this, Enghien ordered a renewed assault. The remnants of the Spanish squares were broken. Total Spanish losses were about 15,000 dead, wounded, or captured. French losses were about 4,000.

Significance

The battle was an important propaganda victory for Mazarin and the future "Great Condé". It was also the first major battlefield defeat of a Spanish army in a century, although historians have noted that Melo's German, Walloon, and Italian troops actually surrendered first, while the Spanish infantry cracked only after repeated cavalry charges and a vicious spell under the French guns. In any case, Rocroi put an end to the supremacy of Spanish military doctrine and inaugurated a long period of French military predominance, although Spain continued its war against France with some success until its defeat at the Battle of the Dunes in 1658. The 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war in favour of France and confirmed the new reality brought about by Rocroi.

Notes

References

Dupuy, Trevor N., Harper Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0062700561

External links

The Battle of Rocroi