Battle of Lutter 1626
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 August 1626 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1626 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Germany | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Danish phase of the Thirty Years' War, Thirty Years' War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Holy Roman Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.9669, 10.2386 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Lutter (German: Lutter am Barenberge) took place on 27 August 1626 during the Thirty Years' War, south of Salzgitter, in Lower Saxony. A combined Danish-German force led by Christian IV of Denmark was defeated by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, commanding an army of the Catholic League loyal to Emperor Ferdinand II.
Christian's campaign plan for 1626 consisted of three parts; while he led the main army against Tilly, Ernst von Mansfeld would attack Wallenstein, supported by Christian of Brunswick. In the event, Mansfeld was defeated at the Battle of Dessau Bridge in April, while Christian of Brunswick's attack failed, and he died of disease in June.
Outmanoeuvred and hampered by torrential rain, Christian turned back to his base at Wolfenbüttel but decided to stand and fight at Lutter on 27 August. An unauthorised attack by his right wing led to a general advance which was repulsed with heavy loss, and by late afternoon, Christian's troops were in full retreat. A series of charges by the Danish cavalry enabled him to escape, but at the cost of at least 30% of his army, all the artillery, and most of the baggage train.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Lutter (revision 1370448305), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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