19913. Decline and Fall
(Gibbon)
As the peace negotiations in Silesia ground on towards their ultimate
failure there was still time for a flurry of military activity in late 1633
before the winter closed in. At the end of September Aldringer and his
Imperialist troops joined the duke of Feria’s army, finally arrived from
Italy, near Constance, and a few days later they relieved the besieged
city. Shortly afterwards Wallenstein took Steinau, and with it Silesia,
while Feria and Aldringer headed west to the Rhine at Breisach. This pro-
vided the Swedes with the opportunity they needed to counter-attack
elsewhere, and with the defending forces out of the way Oxenstierna
directed Bernhard of Weimar to move against Bavaria.
By 20 October, the day that Breisach was relieved, Bernhard was on the
Danube at Ulm. Maximilian appealed frantically for help, and his pleas
were endorsed by the emperor, who was no less frantic about the threat
to his own lands which might follow. Wallenstein judged the matter
differently. Bernhard, he thought, planned to attack Bohemia from
the south-west in order to divert him from Saxony and Brandenburg,
hence relieving the pressure on the electors to make a positive response
to his final peace initiative.^1 Consequently he moved his main army
south-west on to the border between Saxony and Bohemia, from where
he could either attack the former or defend the latter should the need
arise. Bernhard advanced east along the Danube, until on 4 November
he reached the strategic fortress city of Regensburg. From there he could
have followed the river south-east towards Passau and Austria, or turned
north-east and headed for Pilsen and Prague.
On 13 November Wallenstein received the final refusal of his peace
proposals. At first his anger and intended military response were directed
at the electors and Arnim, while he continued to discount the threat to
Regensburg, but on reflection he decided that it was necessary to move