Siege of Pilsen
# Siege of Pilsen

The siege of Pilsen (or Plzeň) or Battle of Pilsen was a siege of the fortified city of Pilsen (Czech: Plzeň) in Bohemia carried out by the forces of the Bohemian Protestants led by Ernst von Mansfeld. It was the first major battle of the Thirty Years' War. The Protestant victory and subsequent capture of the city enlarged the Bohemian Revolt.

## Eve of the battle

vteThirty Years' War :

Bohemian Revolt (1618–1620)

Pilsen

Lomnice

Sablat

Wisternitz

Bautzen

White Mountain

Neu Titschein

Palatinate campaign (1620–1623)

Bad Kreuznach

Oppenheim

Bacharach

Jülich

Mingolsheim

Wimpfen

Höchst

Bergen op Zoom

Heidelberg

Fleurus

Mannheim

Frankenthal

Stadtlohn

Transylvanian invasions of Hungary (1619–1621, 1623–1624, 1626)

Humenné

Érsekújvár

Tyrnau [de]

Hodonín

Vlach uprisings

Danish intervention (1625–1629)

Breda

Dessau Bridge

Oldenzaal

Lutter am Barenberge

Groenlo

Stralsund

Wolgast

's-Hertogenbosch

Swedish intervention (1630–1635)

Swedish landing

Frankfurt

Magdeburg

Werben

1st Breitenfeld

Bamberg

Rain

Maastricht

Nuremberg

Wiesloch

Alte Veste

Fürth

Lützen

Oldendorf

Pfaffenhofen

Steinau

Konstanz

1st Breisach

1st Rheinfelden

Liegnitz [de]

1st Nördlingen

Strasbourg Bridge

Swedish-French Period (1635–1648)

Les Avins

Leuven

Schenkenschans

Ray-sur-Saône

Dömitz [de]

Haselünne [de]

Raon

Tornavento

2nd Magdeburg

Somme

Wittstock

2nd Breda

Venlo

Leipzig

Hanau

2nd Rheinfelden

Saint Omer

Fuenterrabía

Kallo

Wittenweiher [de]

Thann [de]

Vlotho

2nd Breisach

1st Freiberg

Chemnitz

Melnik

Thionville

Salses

Cambrils

Montjuïc

Preßnitz

Plauen

La Marfée

Dorsten

Wolfenbüttel

Kempen

Honnecourt

Schweidnitz

2nd Breitenfeld

2nd Freiberg

Rocroi

Tuttlingen

Kolding

Freiburg

Philippsburg

Jüterbog

Bysjön

Jankau

Mergentheim

2nd Nördlingen

3rd Hulst

Brünn [de]

Korneuburg [de]

Totenhöhe [de]

Hohentübingen [de]

Triebl

Naples

Zusmarshausen

Wevelinghoven

Lens

Dachau [de]

Prague

Naval battles

Gibraltar

Genoa

The Slaak

1st Saint Martin

Lizard Point

Dunkirk

Calais

The Downs

Cape St. Vincent

2nd Saint Martin

Lister Dyb

Colberger Heide

Fehmarn :

$_{Treaties}$ :

On 23 May 1618 the Protestant nobles overthrew the rule of King Ferdinand II and threw the Roman Catholic governors of Bohemia from their office at Prague Castle in the Defenestration of Prague. The new government formed of Protestant nobility and gentry gave Ernst von Mansfeld the command over all of its forces. Meanwhile, Catholic nobles and priests started fleeing the country. Some of the monasteries as well as unfortified manors were evacuated and the Catholic refugees headed for the city of Pilsen, where they thought that a successful defence could be organised. The city was well-prepared for a lengthy siege, but the defences were undermanned and the defenders lacked enough gunpowder for their artillery. Mansfeld decided to capture the city before the Catholics were able to gain support from the outside.

## Siege

On 19 September 1618 Mansfeld's army reached the outskirts of the city. The defenders blocked two city gates and the third one was reinforced with additional guards. The Protestant army was too weak to start an all-out assault on the castle, so Mansfeld decided to take the city by hunger. On 2 October the Protestant artillery arrived, but the calibre and number of the cannons was small and the bombardment of the city walls brought little effect. The siege continued, with the Protestants receiving new supplies and recruits on a daily basis, while the defenders lacked food and munitions. Also, the main city well was destroyed and the stores of potable water soon depleted.

Finally, on 21 November, cracks were made in the walls and the Protestant soldiers poured into the city. After several hours of close hand-to-hand combat, all of the town was in Mansfeld's hands.

## Aftermath

After capturing the city, Mansfeld demanded 120,000 golden guldens as war reparations and an additional 47,000 florins for sparing the city and not burning it to the ground. [Between the previous and next sentence, two years passed.] However, soon the Holy Roman Empire, led by Bavaria, gathered enough forces and crossed the border with Bohemia, heading towards Pilsen and Prague.

The newly elected Bohemian king, Frederick V of the Palatinate was aware of the huge superiority of his enemies' forces and ordered his own army to regroup and attack each of the advancing armies separately. However, he was abandoned by most of his allies and his armies dispersed in the dense forests between Pilsen and Prague, which resulted in a decisive defeat in the Battle of White Mountain.

