Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera (Mattia Gallasso; 17 October 1588 in Trento – 25 April 1647 in Vienna) was an Italian professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War. He distinguished himself in the first half of the war in service of the Catholic League, in the War of the Mantuan Succession, and as one of Albrecht von Wallenstein's Generals. After carrying out the dismissal and elimination of Wallenstein, Gallas became acting supreme commander of the Imperial Army three times between 1634 and 1647 but he never held the function or authority of a Generalissimo.
He was a principal architect of the victory of Nördlingen 1634 but his following campaigns were less successful. After leading ineffective offensives against France, he managed to end Swedish attacks on Saxony and to drive them back to the Baltic coast in 1637. Unable to eliminate them or sustain his own forces in the devastated Pomerania, Gallas retreated with his shrunken army in 1638. Because he was unable to stop the following Swedish advance, he lost his command for the first time.
Called back in 1643 to stop Lennart Torstensson who soon retreated to attack Denmark, Gallas was ordered to follow him and to support the Danes. This ended in Gallas' most disastrous campaign in which he was outmaneuvered and encircled by the Swedes, who cut him off from his supplies in late 1644. Having lost almost his entire army, he was again relieved from command, only to return to advise and support Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in defending the Erblande against Sweden. Once again, he replaced the Archduke as supreme commander in 1647 but died soon afterwards after suffering many years from ill health.
Biography Early career Gallas started his career first as page and then as cavalryman in service of Ferdinando Madruzzo, a brother of the Prince-Bishop of Trento Carlo Gaudenzio Madruzzo. He most likely fought as Spanish mercenary in Flanders. Thereafter, he fought as Fähnrich and Lieutenant under the Tyrolean Obristfeldhauptmann Giannangelo Madruzzo for Spain against Savoy. In 1616, Gallas participated at the Spanish siege of Vercelli in Piedmont. Following Giannangelo's death in December 1618, Gallas was designated to succeed him as commander of the fortress Riva. He became Captain and commanded the fortress until January 1621. In this year, Gallas joined the forces of the Catholic League and entered the Thirty Years' War as Obristwachtmeister and commander of an infantry regiment. He was second officer to Count Anholt and distinguished himself, especially at the battle of Stadtlohn (1623). After being promoted to colonel in 1625 and made Reichsfreiherr in 1627, the League president and Bavarian Elector Maximilian denied him further promotion, leading to Gallas' change into Imperial service in early 1629.
Since 1629, he was serving as Generalfeldwachtmeister under Count Collalto in the War of Mantuan succession. When Collalto fell sick, command of the Imperial army devolved to his deputies, Gallas and Johann von Aldringen.
On 29 May 1630, Gallas successfully defeated a 17,000 strong Franco-Venetian relief army led by the French general Duc de Candale and the Venetian provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo at the battle of Villabuona. His complete victory at Villabuona ensured the fall of Mantua, and on 18 July Imperial troops under his command captured and then brutally sacked the city. Only the churches and the ghetto were spared, but the latter solely to expel the Jewish population and to plunder it nine days later. The expulsion was later rescinded by the Imperial court, and on 18 October the surviving Jewish population of Mantua was allowed to return. Gallas stayed in Italy to negotiate the Treaty of Cherasco in which he managed to prevent the demilitarisation of the Valtellina that remained under Imperial control.
Made Imperial Count for the capture of Mantua and the negotiations at Cherasco, he returned to Germany for the campaign against the invading swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and his Saxon allies in late 1631. Gallas was appointed to Feldzeugmeister and assumed command over a corps of Wallenstein's army. Over the winter, he recovered parts of Bohemia from Saxon occupation. Wallenstein's army recaptured Prague and subsequently turned to Bavaria to face the Swedish army in 1632. Gallas' corps served at the Battle of the Alte Veste near Nuremberg against the Swedish King. After the battle, Gallas was promoted to Field Marshal. Wallenstein sent him to Silesia prior to the Battle of Lützen and called him back too late, so that he did not arrive in time to participate. On a proposal from Wallenstein, Emperor Ferdinand II appointed Gallas to Generalleutnant, second-in-command to the Generalissimo. Over the year 1633, he commanded in Silesia.
When Wallenstein's repeated disobedience and unauthorized negotiations with Saxony strengthened the court's mistrust of him, the Imperial counselor Wolkenstein contacted Gallas to check his loyalty and to introduce him to plans to depose Wallenstein. Initially skeptical of the plans, he unsuccessfully tried to change Wallenstein's mind. He was made provisional supreme commander until the Emperor's son Ferdinand of Hungary took command.
After he was informed of the Emperor's decision to arrest or kill Wallenstein, Gallas left the army's headquarters in Pilsen on 12 February 1634 to plan the execution. He declared the orders of Wallenstein, Adam Erdmann Trčka von Lípa and Christian von Ilow invalid and secured the loyalty of the troops while Wallenstein fled to Eger where he was assassinated. Gallas was rewarded with the vast majority of the former Duchy of Friedland.
Generalleutnant and Imperial commander
In the next campaign, Gallas was the actual commander as chief advisor to the inexperienced Ferdinand of Hungary. Their plan was to regain Regensburg and to link up with a Spanish army under the Cardinal-Infante. The Imperials captured Regensburg on 26 July, followed by Donauwörth on 16 August. They proceeded to besiege Nördlingen where the Spanish army joined their forces. A numerically inferior Swedish force under Gustav Horn and Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tried to lift the siege and attacked them on 5 September but Gallas directed the united Habsburg army to a resounding victory in the Battle of Nördlingen. The Swedes lost two armies and the control over southern Germany while the Imperials chased them up to the Main before moving into winter quarters in Württemberg.
The attention of the Imperials turned to the Rhine in 1635. After the open outbreak of hostilities with France, Gallas and his troops crossed the river at the recently captured Philippsburg in May. He captured most of the Palatinate with Kaiserslautern as well as Worms and started to besiege Mainz in summer. At the approach of a French-Weimar relief force under Bernhard and Cardinal La Valette, Gallas retreated to harass them with light cavalry and to cut off their supplies. This proved successful, most of the French army perished because of sickness or hunger, or it dissolved on its retreat to Metz. The siege of Mainz was renewed and successfully concluded in December while Gallas advanced via Saarbrücken into Lorraine. He joined forces at Dieuze with the exiled Duke of Lorraine who urged to recapture his capital Nancy. Yet Gallas preferred to entrench his army at the Seille to give his troops some rest. An outbreak of the plague and shortage of supplies forced him to retreat into Alsace where he set up winter quarters at Saverne.
For 1636, Ferdinand of Hungary had convinced the Cardinal-Infante to invade France from the north in an attempt to end the war. Gallas was ordered to lead a separate southern invasion into Burgundy to support Spain. Despite Gallas' reluctance to initiate offensive campaigns, he collected his troops in Breisach and marched via the Belfort Gap into the Franche-Comté. French troops had invaded this Habsburg territory in May and were besieging the capital Dole. Gallas sent his vanguard under Guillaume de Lamboy and the Duke of Lorraine ahead; they relieved Dole in August. His main force encamped at Champlitte where it was confronted by a French army under Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and La Valette in September. Unwilling to attack the French head-on, Gallas broke up his camp after several weeks and marched on Dijon. After capturing the castle of Mirebeau-sur-Bèze on 24 October, he was again hesitant to advance further and decided to lay siege to Saint-Jean-de-Losne to secure its strategic bridge for supplies or a possible retreat. However, the small town resisted all Imperial attacks until French reinforcements and heavy rain forced Gallas to abandon the siege and the overall invasion in early November.
After being sent to northern Germany with his army in 1637, Gallas was more successful at stopping the advance of the Swedish general Johan Banér. He almost encircled the Swedes at Torgau with superior numbers in June but Banér escaped by sacrificing parts of his baggage. In a pursuit up to Pomerania, Gallas was faster than Banér and blocked his way at Landsberg. Banér barely rescued his army by deceiving the Imperials into thinking that he would violate Polish neutrality and evacuate his army over their territory. However, he only sent his remaining baggage over the Polish border, while his troops moved westwards across the Oder. Gallas trapped him at the coastline and raised a cordon along the Peene river, taking all strongholds except the most heavily fortified, such as Stralsund or Stettin. The Swedes apparently showed readiness for peace, as their main army was locked in a few fortresses on the Baltic Sea. The new Emperor Ferdinand III was willing to compromise but the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna eventually used his offers just to improve the French contributions in the Treaty of Hamburg in March 1638.
During 1638, Gallas' situation strongly deteriorated; while Banér received fresh reinforcements from Sweden, Gallas gained only insignificant support from his allies Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony. In October 1638, Banér broke through Gallas' cordon and reconquered Mecklenburg. The Imperials were unable to sustain their army in the devastated area any longer and first retreated across the Elbe, then to Silesia, plundering and partially dissolving in the progress. After Gallas' retreat, Banér pushed into Saxony, defeating the Saxon army at Chemnitz in April 1639. The Swedes advanced even further entering Bohemia in May as the first enemy since 1634. At first left in command, Gallas focused on defending Prague against Swedish siege attempts. Unable to expel the Swedes from Bohemia and confronted with declining army morale and discipline, Gallas was replaced by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in September. The emperor wanted Gallas to stay as counselor in Vienna, but he chose to return to Trento and to administer his various possessions for the next few years.
Return as commander In March 1643, Gallas returned to succeed the Archduke and the interim commander Piccolomini who both resigned following their defeat at Breitenfeld. Gallas anticipated the march of the Swedes under Lennart Torstensson from Saxony to Moravia and tried to block his way with a defensive position at Hradec Králové as well as denying the Swedes any crossing of the Elbe. However, Torstensson feinted an attack at Brandeis while gaining a crossing at Mělník. This allowed Torstensson to reach Moravia and resupply the occupied Olomouc. Gallas followed him over Brno and again took a strong defensive position in front of Torstensson. Instead of seeking battle, Gallas harassed him in skirmishes with the superior Imperial light cavalry and sent a diversion under Krockow to Pomerania. At the end of the year, the Swedes surprisingly left to attack Denmark in what became the Torstenson War.