page_title: Capture of Oppenheim
section_title: Capture of Oppenheim
hierarchical_section_title: Capture of Oppenheim / Capture of Oppenheim
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: 'OPPENHEYM' Ansicht von Joannes Janssonius
context_page_description: The Capture of Oppenheim or the Spanish capture of Oppenheim took place on 14 September 1620, at Oppenheim, Electorate of the Palatinate, between the Spanish army commanded by Don Ambrosio Spinola, Marquis of the Balbases, against the forces of the Electoral Palatinate led by Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, during the Palatinate campaign, in the context of the Thirty Years' War. The Spanish troops under Spinola, with a great maneuver of distraction over Worms, deceived the Protestant army of Joachim Ernst, and captured the important town of Oppenheim without too much difficulty, causing a severe blow to the Protestant forces.
context_section_description: Spinola raised his camp at Alsheim, and performed a great maneuver of distraction, simulated a march over Worms to distract the forces of the Protestant Union. Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who commanded the  Protestant army stationed in Oppenheim and surroundings, about 24,000 soldiers, took the bait and went with most of his troops to Worms, leaving a small garrison in Oppehneim. Spinola, between therefore, taking advantage of the night approached to Oppenheim, where he arrived with his army to dawn on 14 September, and the assault on the positions of the town not long in coming.
  The Protestant garrison, seeing such formidable army, forsook their defenses in a hurry, and soon surrendered without suffering more than a few killed by the assailants. According to the correspondence of Spinola, the Protestant garrison consisted of 800 strong musketeers recruited in the Palatinate. Oppenheim was captured and the Protestant soldiers were disarmed and released. Besides several flags, the Spanish seized the baggage of Protestant soldiers in the barracks of the town.
caption: View of Oppenheim by Joannes Janssonius.
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