Siege of Nuremberg

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Siege of Nuremberg
Part of the Thirty Years' War
Date 1632
Location Nuremberg, Germany
Result Non-decision
Combatants
Sweden Holy Roman Empire
Commanders
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Albrecht von Wallenstein
Strength
150,000 120,000
Casualties
20,000 20,000

The Siege of Nuremberg took place in 1632 during the Thirty Years' War.

In 1632 rather than face the numerically superior imperial army under the command of Albrecht von Wallenstein, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered a tactical retreat into the City of Nuremberg. Wallenstein's army immediately started to invest Nuremberg and laid siege to the city, waiting for hunger and epidemics to do their work.

It proved difficult for the besiegers to maintain the siege because the city was large and needed a large force to man the circumvallation. In Wallenstein camp, there were 120,000 soldiers, 50,000 horses, 15,000 women, and 15,000 servants. Foraging to supply such a large static besieging force proved to be extremely difficult.

Four Saxon regiments and troops from the Rhine numbering around in total 50,000 troops with 6,000 cannon reinforced the 70,0000 regular troops and 30,000 Nuremberg militia already deployed by Gustavus Adolphus.

With poor sanitation and inadequate supplies both sides suffered from hunger, typhus and scurvy. To try to break the deadlock the forces under the command of Gustavus Adolphus attacked the entrenchments of the imperial army's circumvallation but failed to break through. Eventually, after 11 weeks it came to an end, when the Swedes and their allies withdrew. Through a combination of disease, hunger and battle fatalities, about 10,000 inhabitants of Nuremberg and 20,000 Swedish and allied forces died; and the imperial army suffered about 20,000 dead. Austria was saved for the short term, but the engagement was not decisive.

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