Capture of Bacharach
Part of thePalatinate phase of theThirty Years' War
View ofBacharach byMatthäus Merian
Date 1 October 1620 Location Bacharach,Electorate of the Palatinate (present-dayGermany) Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Palatinate	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Frederick V	Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Strength
2,500	2,500–5,000[1]
Casualties and losses
Entire garrison surrendered	3 dead and 3 wounded[2]

TheCapture of Bacharach took place on 1 October 1620 atBacharach,Electorate of the Palatinate. The conflict was between the Spanish forces commanded by DonGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and the Protestant forces ofFrederick V, Elector Palatine, during thePalatinate campaign in the context of theThirty Years' War.^[3] After a quick start of the invasion of states of Frederick V, proclaimedKing of Bohemia, the operations slowed in mid-September, after theCapture of Oppenheim.^[4] DonAmbrosio Spinola, the Spanish general in command, assessed at a council of war the choice between undertaking the siege ofHeidelberg or, secondarily, the town of Bacharach.^[5] The Spanish officers decided to take Bacharach due to the small number of Frederick's scattered forces.^[6] On 1 October Córdoba captured Bacharach with a force of 2,500 soldiers, forcing the Anglo-German defenders to surrender.^[3]

After securing stores of food and ammunition through theCapture of Oppenheim, Spinola had a choice between takingHeidelberg orBacharach. On 23 September Spinola consulted with the Spanish commanders, DonCarlos Coloma, DonGonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, DonDiego Felípez de Guzmán, andHendrik van den Bergh.^[5] There was talk of marching on Heidelberg,Frankenthal, or Bacharach, but finally Spinola decided to opt for Bacharach.^[6]

Bacharach was an important strategic point because it was a bridgehead over theRhine and would be a link between the part of thePalatinate occupied by the Spaniards and the city ofMainz.^[4] In addition, the operation would buy time for the arrival of reinforcements expected from theSpanish Netherlands.^[4] On 27 September, news came to Spinola that a force from theUnited Provinces of about 5,000 men under the command ofHenry of Nassau-Dillenburg and SirHorace Vere had crossed theMoselle inKerpen to support Frederick V.^[7]

Spinola, ignoring the entity of Vere's forces, composed of Dutch, English, and Scottish volunteers sent by KingJames I of England,^[8] decided to move with his army to the west bank of the Rhine and await the Protestant forces. With his attention centered on the arrival of the Anglo-Dutch relief, Spinola remained near the road with the bulk of his army, and entrusted the capture of Bacharach to Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba.^[1]

On 29 September Córdoba marched with his forces and capturedLorch, forcing the few defenders to surrender.^[2] He had also sent another group of about 2,000 men directly to Bacharach. This group approached the outskirts of Bacharach at about 2 am. With the arrival of the Spaniards, the Protestant soldiers outside the town threw down their muskets and fled into the town.^[2] Córdoba's men then proceeded to build a bulwark behind the town.^{[citation needed]}

At dawn, the defenders, aided by heavy mist, fired shots of musket, killing three Spaniards and wounding three more.^[2] Shortly thereafter the bulk of the forces led by Córdoba arrived. Demoralised by the arrival of the Spanish, the officers of the garrison decided to surrender.^[3] The Spanish troops entered Bacharach at 3 pm. Two captains^[9] and 94 English soldiers, among other German troops, were taken prisoners.^[3][10]

Córdoba left a garrison of 300 soldiers in Bacharach and sent most of his troops under the commanders Diego Ruiz and Baltasar de Santander to captureKaub.^[11] The small garrison of that town soon surrendered. Shortly thereafter, the Spaniards took thePfalzgrafenstein Castle.^[11] Spinola, meanwhile, focused on intercepting the Anglo-Dutch relief, but the Protestant force did not appear.^[11] The Anglo-Dutch force went instead toWorms unhindered.^[12]

In August 1621,Mainz fell to Spinola's army of 15,000 men, now under the command of Córdoba.^[13] Meanwhile, General Spinola, on his return to the Netherlands where theEighty Years' War was still going on, lay siege toJülich, and after five months of siege the city fell to the Spaniards, reversing Maurice's success of 1610.^[13]

• Thirty Years' War
• Army of Flanders

• Guthrie, P William.Battles of the Thirty Years War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618–1635 Greenwood Press (2001)ISBN 978-0-313-32028-6
• Josef V. Polišenský/Frederick Snider:War and Society in Europe (1618–1648). Bristol: Cambridge University Press, 1978.ISBN 978-0-521-21659-3
• Francisco de Ibarra:Relación de las campañas del Bajo Palatinado. Published onL' Espagne au XVIe et au XVIIe siècle documents historiques et littéraires. Heilbronn: Henninger 1878.
• Black, JeremyEuropean Warfare, 1494–1660. Routledge Publishing (2002)ISBN 978-0-415-27531-6
• Wilson, Arthur.The History of Great Britain, Being the Life and Reign of King James I. Printed for Richard Lownds. London 1635.
• (in Spanish) Rodríguez Villa, Antonio.Ambrosio Spínola, Primer Marqués de los Balbases. Estab. tip. de Fortanet 1905.
• Brennan C. Pursell:The Winter King: Frederick V of the Palatinate and the Coming of the Thirty Years' War. Ashgate Publishing, (2003).ISBN 0754634019
• Lawrence, David R.The Complete Soldier: Military Books and Military Culture in Early Stuart England 1603–1645. Brill Academic Publishing.ISBN 90-04-17079-0

50°04′0″N07°46′0″E / 50.06667°N 7.76667°E /50.06667; 7.76667

• Conflicts in 1620
• 1620 in the Holy Roman Empire
• Battles of the Thirty Years' War involving Spain
• Battles of the Thirty Years' War involving the Palatinate
• Battles of the Thirty Years' War involving England
• Military history of Rhineland-Palatinate
• Palatinate campaign
• Frederick V of the Palatinate

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