Battle of Herbsthausen

The Battle of Herbsthausen, also known as the Battle of Mergentheim, took place near Bad Mergentheim, in the modern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Fought on 5 May 1645, during the Thirty Years War, it featured a French army led by Turenne, defeated by a Bavarian force under Franz von Mercy. In February 1645, Mercy detached 5,000 of his veteran Bavarian cavalry to support the Imperial army in Bohemia, most of whom were lost in the defeat at Jankau on 6 March. Thereafter, he avoided battle until he had assembled enough troops, then surprised Turenne at Herbsthausen on 5 May. The inexperienced French infantry quickly disintegrated and suffered over 4,400 casualties, compared to Bavarian losses of 600. Despite his victory, Mercy was unable to gain a clear strategic advantage and was killed at Second Nördlingen in August. Although fighting continued, both sides accepted their inability to impose a military solution and stepped up the negotiations that ultimately concluded with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Battle of Herbsthausen (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude	Longitude
N 49.401944444444 °	E 9.8288888888889 °

placeShow on map

Address

Alte Kaiserstraße

Alte Kaiserstraße
97980 Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Bad Mergentheim
Baden-Württemberg, Germany
mapOpen on Google Maps