Siege of Budweis

The Siege of Budweis or the Siege of České Budějovice was a siege during the Bohemian Revolt, the siege was a Habsburg-Royalist Victory, but they were defeated at Sablat.

In 1618 the a group of radical Protestant Bohemians through their Catholic administrators out a window, this would cause a three years long rebellion. Soon most of Bohemia was under the Confederate control except for several cities including Pilsen and Budweis. In 1618 the Bohemian commander Count Jindřich Matyáš of Thurn-Valsassina won a victory at Lomnice and invaded Austria and besieged Vienna. Another commander, who was hired by the Duke of Savoy, took the Royalist stronghold of Pilsen.

In August 1619, Georg Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein-Weikersheim besieged the city, the garrison was about 1,200 including Militia under Georg von Degenfeld. The besieging force numbers were unknown but were far larger than the garrison and included 30 cannons. The Confederates deployed heavy artillery and conducted a series of assaults and bombardments against the city walls. The defenders mounted a determined resistance, inflicting significant casualties on the besiegers.

Mansfeld now reinforced Hohenlohe but heard news of an Austrian-Royalist Army under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, 2nd Count of Bucquoy and Graf von Tampier^[c] moved with 5,000 troops to relieve Budweis. Mansfeld moved with 3,000 men to stop Bucquoy, Mansfeld blundered into a trap at Netolitz on June 10, and fell back to Dříteň where he barracked himself in the town and asked Hohenlohe to join him.^[1]

Having sealed off the possible escape routes to the North, and driven in Mansfeld's posts, Bucquoy set fire to the to town, which was largely made up of thatched houses.^[1] The fire spread rapidly, igniting an ammunition dump. Most of Mansfeld's troops were cut down by the Habsburg Cavalry as they tries to escape. As an outlaw since May 15, 1619, Mansfeld could not afford to by captured, and managed to cut his way through with fifteen followers. With his typical bad luck, the Bohemian Garrison of Moldautein mistook him for an Habsburg officer and opened fire, but eventually let him in. Around half of his force were corned in a wood by Bucquoy's men, unpaid they changed sides for in exchange for a month's pay.

Following the siege Bucquoy moved north overrunning southern Bohemia but failed to overrun Bohemia. The siege and the battle of Sablat was the first major defeat for the Confederates.

Though only 7 km away, Hohenlohe did not move to support Mansfeld and ended the siege of Budweis, then joined Count Thurn as he withdrew back from Vienna.

Bibliography

• Coinsweekly, The Thirty Years' War - Part 3, Ursula Kampmann,
• Wilson, Peter H. (2009). Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years' War. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9592-3.