The siege of Nuremberg was a major strategic confrontation of the Thirty Years' War that exhausted both sides through disease and supply failure.
Key Facts
- Duration
- Eleven weeks
- Swedish army peak strength
- 45,000 men with 175 field guns
- Wallenstein's camp strength
- 50,000 soldiers, 15,000 horses, 25,000 camp followers
- Swedish/allied disease deaths
- 10,000 troops
- Swedish deserters
- 11,000 troops
- Battle of Alte Veste Swedish losses
- 2,500 vs 900 Imperials
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In July 1632, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden faced a numerically superior combined Imperial and Catholic League army commanded by Albrecht von Wallenstein and Bavarian Elector Maximilian I. Rather than risk open battle, Gustavus ordered a tactical withdrawal into the Imperial City of Nuremberg, prompting Wallenstein to immediately invest the city and rely on hunger and epidemics to wear down the Swedish force.
Wallenstein's besieging army of roughly 50,000 soldiers encircled Nuremberg while Gustavus reinforced his garrison from 18,500 to 45,000 men. Both sides suffered severely from typhus, scurvy, and supply shortages. On 3 September 1632, Gustavus launched 25,000 men against the Imperial entrenchments at the Battle of the Alte Veste but failed to break through, losing 2,500 men against only 900 Imperial casualties.
After eleven weeks the Swedes and their allies abandoned the siege, having lost 10,000 men to disease and a further 11,000 to desertion. Gustavus Adolphus, severely weakened, sent peace proposals to Wallenstein, who rejected them. The campaign demonstrated that even the largest Swedish army of the war could not force a decisive victory through direct assault on well-supplied Imperial entrenchments.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
Side B
1 belligerent
Albrecht von Wallenstein, Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria.