page_title: Battle of Rocroi
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Rocroi / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: Map showing the Battle of Rocroi (May, 19th 1643)
context_page_description: The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War. It was fought between a French army led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo only five days after the accession of Louis XIV to the throne of France following his father's death. Rocroi is regarded as the graveyard of the myth of invincibility of the Spanish Tercios, the terrifying infantry units that had dominated European battlefields for 120 years up to that point. The battle is therefore often considered to mark the end of Spanish military greatness and the beginning of French hegemony in Europe. After Rocroi, the Spanish abandoned the Tercio system and adopted the Line infantry doctrine like the French.
context_section_description: En route, the Spanish troops under Francisco de Melo laid siege to the fortified town of Rocroi. The Duc d'Enghien, commander of a French army in Amiens, was appointed to stop the Spanish incursion. Although just 21 years old, Enghien had already proven himself to be a bold and cunning commander and could also benefit from the experience of worthy subordinates, among them Marshal Jean de Gassion. French forces in the area numbered 23,000. Enghien advanced to meet de Melo's numerically superior army along the Meuse river. On 17 May, he learned the king had died, but kept the news secret from his army.
  Word reached Enghien that 6,000 Spanish reinforcements were on their way to Rocroi and the young duke hurried there and arrived on May 18. He decided on an attack before de Melo's could be reinforced against the advice of his older subordinate commanders. He ordered his army forward through the only available approach, a defile between woods and marshes the Spanish had failed to block. That afternoon, the French took up position on a ridge overlooking Rocroi.
  Learning of the French advance, de Melo decided to engage the oncoming forces rather than invest in the siege, as he deemed his army stronger. Accordingly, the Spanish army formed up between the French and Rocroi, and both sides prepared to do battle the next day. The Spanish also viewed the battle as an opportunity to win a decisive victory which would prompt the French to negociate peace.
  The French army was arranged in two lines of infantry in the center, squadrons of cavalry on each wing, and with a thin line of artillery at the front. The Spanish army was similarly positioned, but with the infantry in the center deployed in their traditional "tercio" squares; its first ranks consisted of some 8,000 highly trained Spanish and mercenary infantry behind them. The two armies exchanged some fire in the afternoon of May 18, but the full battle did not occur until the following day.
caption: Map of the troop dispositions
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