page_title: Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)
section_title: Creating alliances
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) / Preliminaries / Creating alliances
caption_attribution_description: English: contemporary drawing of the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)
context_page_description: The Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld, was fought at a crossroads near Breitenfeld approximately 8 km north-west of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, or September 7, 1631. It was the Protestants' first major victory of the Thirty Years War.
  The victory confirmed Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus of the House of Vasa as a great tactical leader and induced many Protestant German states to ally with Sweden against the German Catholic League, led by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.
context_section_description: When the Protestant princes showed little interest in attaching themselves to the Swedish cause, Gustavus opted for “rough wooing.” His troops moved south into Brandenburg, taking and sacking the towns of Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder. It was too late and too far to save one of Gustav's “occupied” allies, Magdeburg, from a horrific sack by Imperial troops, beginning on May 20, in which a major portion of the population was murdered and the city burned. The Swedes turned the sack of Magdeburg to good use: broadsides and pamphlets distributed throughout Europe ensured that prince and pauper alike understood how the Emperor, or at least his troops, treated his Protestant subjects. 
  Over the next few months, Gustavus consolidated his bridgehead and expanded across northern Germany, attracting support from German princes and building his army from mercenary forces along the way. By the time he reached the Saxon border, his force had grown to over 23,000 men.
caption: Contemporary etching of troop disposition at the beginning of the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631).
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