The Battle of the White Mountain

November 8th, 1620

The war with Czechia lasted for almost three years without a decisive battle. The Czechs were a greatly superior force. However, they had an insufficient number of troops to conquer Vienna by force. The Duke of Bavaria decided to take advantage of his army's numerical superiority and marched directly to Prague, where Commander Bucois surrendered to him. The Czech forces under the command of Christian of Anhalt tried to hold the enemy back by barring his way at strategic locations. The Czech Army took up a very favourable position: A park and a hunters' castle surrounded by a wall lay to the right, a deep chasm to the left and a stream flowed through the swampy meadow ahead of them, allowing only a single bridge crossing. Tilly ordered the Bavarians to cross the bridge and deploy on the opposite bank. His Catholic League numbered 28,000 soldiers, whereas the Czechs had only 21,000 troops. After a bloody two-hour battle, the Empire finally triumphed. Many Austrian, Hungarian and Dutch soldiers fought on the side of the Czechs, while the Catholics were supported by Prussians, Spaniards, Italians, Walloons and Poles.