History of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus II., the Hero-General of the ReformationMonroe, Harriet Earhart
History
History of the Life of Gustavus Adolphus II., the Hero-General of the Reformation
Monroe, Harriet Earhart
Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, 1594-1632
Wallenstein's army did not at once attack the city, but went into an
almost impregnable camp on a hill three miles away. Wallenstein said:
"Hitherto enough battles have been fought, I shall try another method."
He fully expected famine and pestilence to do his work for him in that
crowded, besieged city. He did not understand that they were in a degree
prepared for siege. On his approach the country people had sold all farm
animals to the city, or had used them to transport themselves and
families far away.
Gustavus sent out for provisions for his army as long as provender for
man or beast could be had; when these supplies could no longer be
obtained, the city opened its magazines to the king, while Wallenstein's
troops had to travel long distances to obtain subsistence.
Once a long train of wagons was bringing supplies for Wallenstein from
Bavaria, and the king, learning of its approach, sent a regiment of
cavalry and intercepted the entire cavalcade. The escort was destroyed,
twelve thousand cattle and a thousand wagon-loads of bread were brought
to camp, and what could not be brought in was destroyed by fire.
Wallenstein began to declare that a battle would have cost him less.
The entrenchments of the Swedes now made an attack almost impossible,
but the crowded city caused diseases common to the army, the inactivity
of soldiers and men began to play havoc with army discipline.
The German troops robbed their countrymen, and Swedish soldiers soon
followed their example. Gustavus remonstrated again and again with the
German officers; at last, on June 29th, he gave them a berating which
they never forgot. He brought them together and said: "Complaint reaches
me on all sides about the conduct of our troops in regard to our allies.
People complain that the Swedes wage war like the Croats. These
reproaches break my heart, especially since I know they are too true. I
am innocent of all these disorders; I have always forbidden and punished
them severely. It is you yourselves, Germans, who lay waste your native
country, ransack your fellow-citizens and drive your co-religionists,
whom you have sworn to protect, to despair. As God is my judge, I abhor
you; my heart sinks within me, even when I look upon you. You break my
orders, you are the cause that the world curses me, that the tears of
poverty follow me, that complaints ring in my ears. They say, 'The king,
our friend, does us more harm than even Wallenstein, our worst enemy.'
If you were true Christians, you would fulfill your duties to your
country, to your brethren, and you would remember what I have done for
you. It is for you that I have ventured my life and sacrificed my peace.
It is for you I have depopulated Sweden, stripped my kingdom of its
treasures, and spent upon you four million dollars in gold, while from
your German empire I have not received the least aid, not even so much
as would buy a miserable doublet. I ask nothing of you, and would prefer
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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