Battle of Rocroi The Battle of Rocroi was fought on 19 May 1643 - mere days after the passing of Louis XIII of France that left his five - year old son Louis XIV of France on the throne - late in the Thirty Years ' War . It resulted in a victory of the French army under the Duc d ' Enghien , against the Spanish army under General Francisco de Melo . Further , it is considered the turning point of the perceived invincibility of the Spanish tercio . Prelude . The Habsburg Spanish army of about 27 , 000 men , advanced from Flanders , through the Ardennes , and into northern France to relieve French pressure on the Franche - Comté and Catalonia . The Spanish troops set siege to Rocroi , which lay athwart the route to the valley of the Oise . The French , under the command of 21 - year - old Louis , duc d ' Enghien , reacted quickly and forced a battle before the arrival of 6 , 000 Spanish reinforcements . The Spanish failed to block the route to Rocroi , which passed through a defile bordered by woods and marsh . Enghien advanced through the defile and assembled his force along a ridge looking down on the besieged town of Rocroi . The Spanish quickly formed up between the town and the ridge . The French army , some 23 , 000 strong , was arranged with two lines of infantry in the centre , squadrons of cavalry on each wing and with a thin line of artillery at the front . The Spanish army was similarly arranged , but with its infantry in their traditional " tercio s " , or squares . The two armies bivouacked in their positions for the night . Battle . The battle began after dawn . The French army attacked , but the French infantry in the centre were bested by the Spanish . The cavalry on the French left , advancing against Enghien ' s orders , was also thrown back . But the cavalry on the French right , under the command of Jean de Gassion , routed the Spanish cavalry opposite . Enghien was able to follow this up by attacking the exposed left flank of the Spanish infantry . Spanish cavalry made a successful counter - attack to drive off the French cavalry , but were checked by the advance of the French reserve . Enghien now carried out a huge cavalry encirclement , sweeping behind the Spanish army and smashing his way through to attack the rear of the Spanish cavalry that was still in combat with his reserves . The Spanish horse was put to flight , leaving the Spanish infantry to carry on the fight . The French were twice repulsed by the stubborn Spanish squares , so Enghien arranged for his artillery and captured Spanish guns to blast them apart . The German and Walloon tercios fled from the battlefield , while the Spanish remained on the field with their commander , repulsing four cavalry charges by the French and never breaking formation , despite repeated heavy artillery bombardment . Young Enghien , the French commander , then offered surrender conditions just like those obtained by a besieged garrison into a fortress . Having agreed to those terms , the remains of the two tercios left the field with deployed flags and weapons . Total Spanish losses were about 15 , 000 dead , wounded , or captured . French losses were about 4 , 000 . Significance . The battle was an important propaganda victory for Mazarin and Enghien , the future " Great Condé " and represented a weakening of the besieged Spanish Low Countries . It was also of symbolic importance , as it was one of the few major battlefield defeats of a Spanish army in over a century and , moreover , a defeat of one its most famous units . It has been noted that Melo ' s German , Walloon , and Italian troops actually surrendered first , while the Spanish infantry surrendered only after standing hours of infantry and cavalry charges and a vicious spell under the French guns . They were given the treatment usually given to a fortress garrison and retired from the field with their arms , flags and honors . Rocroi was not the Spanish military disaster claimed by the French propagandists ; ten years later , the Spanish captured Rocroi and held it until the peace treaty was signed . Nowadays , the Battle of the Dunes ( 1658 ) is generally considered as the end of the Spanish military supremacy in Europe . . In media . A 2006 Spanish movie , " Alatriste " , directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes , portrays this battle in its final scene . The soundtrack features in this scene a funeral march , " La Madrugá " , composed by Colonel Abel Moreno for the Holy Week of Seville , played by the band of the regiment Soria 9 , heir of that which participated in the battle , the oldest unit in the Spanish Army , and since nicknamed " the bloody Tercio " . Museum . The sedan chair belonging to the elderly Spanish infantry general Fontaines ( a Belgian , known to the Spanish as Fuentes ) was taken as a trophy by the French and may be seen in Les Invalides museum in Paris . Fontaines was killed in the battle ; the duke of Enghien is reported to have said , " Had I not won the day I wish I had died like him " .