GALLAS, MATTHIAS, COUNT OF CAMPO, DUKE OF LUCERA (1584-1647)

This article appears in Volume V11, Page 413 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GAG-GEO

GALLAS, MATTHIAS, COUNT OF CAMPO, DUKE OF LUCERA (1584-1647) , Austrian soldier; first saw service in Flanders, and in Savoy with the Spaniards, and subsequently joined the forces of the Catholic League as captain. On the general outbreak of hostilities in Germany, Gallas, as colonel ,of an infantry

regiment

REGIMENT (from Late Latin regimentum, rule, regere, to rule, govern, direct)

, distinguished himself, especially at the battle of Stadtlohn (1623). In 163o he was serving as General-Feldwachtmeister under Collalto in Italy, and was mainly instrumental in the capture of Mantua. Made

count

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

of the Empire for this service,he returned to Germany for the campaign against Gustavus

Adolphus

ADOLPHUS, JOHN LEYCESTER (1795-1862)

. In command of a corps of Wallenstein's army, he covered Bohemia against the Swedes in 16311632, and served at the Alte Veste near Nuremberg, and at Liitzen. Further good service against Bernhard of Saxe-

Weimar

WEIMAR

commended General Gallas to the notice of the emperor, who made him

lieutenant

LIEUTENANT

-general in his own army. He was one of the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

conspirators against Wallenstein, and after the tragedy of Eger was appointed to the command of the army which Wallenstein had formed and led. At the

great

GREAT

battle of Nordlingen (23rd of August 1634) in which the army of Sweden was almost annihilated, Gallas commanded the victorious Imperialists. His next command was in

Lorraine

LORRAINE

, but even the Moselle valley had suffered so much from the ravages of war that his army perished of want. Still more was this the case in northern Germany, where Gallas commanded against the Swedish general Baner in 1637 and 1638, At first driving the Swedes before him, in the end he made a complete failure of the campaign, lost his command, and was subject to much ridicule. It was, however, rather the indiscipline of his men (the baneful legacy of Wallenstein's methods) than his own faults which brought about his disastrous

retreat

RETREAT (O. Fr. retrete, mod. retraite, from Lat. retrahere, to draw back)

across North Germany, and at a moment of crisis he was recalled to endeavour to stop Torstenson's victorious advance, only to be shut up in Magdeburg, whence he escaped with the barest remnant of his forces. Once more relieved of his command, he was again recalled to make head against the Swedes in 1645 (after their victory at Jankow). Before

long

LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

, old and warworn, he resigned his command, and died in 1647 at Vienna. His army had earned for itself the reputation of being the most cruel and rapacious force even in the Thirty Years' War, and his Merode Brilder have survived in the word marauder. Like many other generals of that period, he had acquired much wealth and

great

GREAT

territorial possessions (the latter mostly his share of Wallenstein's estates). He was the founder of the Austrian family of Clam-Gallas, which furnished many distinguished soldiers to the Imperial army.

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