The battle of Nördlingen (September 5 and 6, 1634) was an important turning-point in the war, important for Bavaria for the reason that it freed the country from the predatory incursions of the Swedes, and disastrous to Württemberg, Baden, Hessen, and the Upper and Middle Rhine region, whither the defeated Swedish-Protestant army retreated, and where the fighting was now carried on for the next few years. Nördlingen had been besieged by the Imperialists, who were supported by a Spanish army; Bernhard von Weimar and Horn tried to relieve the city, but were completely defeated in the attempt. The Swedes turned and fled to the Rhine, and in a few weeks the entire south-western part of Germany was filled with Imperialists who had followed in pursuit. The sufferings of the inhabitants of Württemberg, partly on account of the deeds of violence committed by the Imperialists, and partly on account of pestilences, were frightful.[39] On September 10 the Imperialists entered Stuttgart, which they continued to occupy until March 30, 1638. In the year 1631 the city had 8,300 inhabitants, and in the year 1634 the number of deaths was 936, of which 672 were due to the pestilence. In the following year the pestilence became more widespread, being helped along by numerous fugitives from the surrounding country and by famine; the number of deaths was 4,379, and it was necessary to dig large ditches and bury a hundred bodies at a time. From January to July 1636, there were 319 deaths due to the pestilence, which in the following year raged even more furiously and carried away 945 persons. The mortality was equally high in the year 1638, when the city was occupied alternately by the Swedes and Imperialists; the latter, when they departed in October, left behind them 6,000 diseased and wounded men. In near-by Cannstatt 1,300 people died in 1635. In Esslingen a plague broke out in 1634 and in 1635 became more and more widespread in consequence of the continual marching back and forth of the soldiers. It made havoc especially among the 12,000 fugitives from the surrounding country, who were packed together in stables and barns, and in many cases under the open sky. Owing to the incipient famine the pestilence spread with great rapidity; 12,000 people are said to have died, among them 600 out of 1,000 citizens, notwithstanding the fact that various measures of precaution were adopted (removal of refuse, fumigations on a large scale, &c.). In Göppingen, which was occupied by Imperialist soldiers a few weeks after the battle of Nördlingen, pestilence soon broke out and carried away 656 persons between October 1 and the end of the year (1634); in the following year there were 904 deaths. In the year 1636 Gmünd had a very severe pestilence, which on many days carried away from thirty to forty persons; large graves were dug and from forty to fifty bodies buried at a time. Aalen, in consequence of the continual