1. Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera was an Italian professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War.
33 Facts About Matthias Gallas
1. 2.
Matthias Gallas 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.
3.
Matthias Gallas was a principal architect of the victory of Nordlingen 1634 but his following campaigns were less successful.
4.
Unable to eliminate them or sustain his own forces in the devastated Pomerania, Matthias Gallas retreated with his shrunken army in 1638.
5.
Matthias 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.
6.
In 1616, Matthias Gallas participated at the Spanish siege of Vercelli in Piedmont.
7.
Matthias Gallas was second officer to Count Anholt and distinguished himself, especially at the battle of Stadtlohn.
8.
Matthias 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.
9.
Matthias Gallas was appointed to Feldzeugmeister and assumed command over a corps of Wallenstein's army.
10.
Matthias Gallas' corps served at the Battle of the Alte Veste near Nuremberg against the Swedish King.
11.
Matthias Gallas was made provisional supreme commander until the Emperor's son Ferdinand of Hungary took command.
12.
Matthias Gallas declared the orders of Wallenstein, Adam Erdmann Trcka von Lipa and Christian von Ilow invalid and secured the loyalty of the troops while Wallenstein fled to Eger where he was assassinated.
13.
Matthias Gallas was rewarded with the vast majority of the former Duchy of Friedland.
14.
Matthias Gallas joined forces at Dieuze with the exiled Duke of Lorraine who urged to recapture his capital Nancy.
15.
Yet Matthias Gallas preferred to entrench his army at the Seille to give his troops some rest.
16.
Matthias Gallas was ordered to lead a separate southern invasion into Burgundy to support Spain.
17.
Matthias 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.
18.
At first left in command, Matthias Gallas focused on defending Prague against Swedish siege attempts.
19.
The emperor wanted Matthias 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.
20.
Matthias Gallas followed him over Brno and again took a strong defensive position in front of Torstensson.
21.
The Swedish fleet had been trapped in the Bay of Kiel after the Battle of Colberger Heide but Matthias Gallas arrived a few days too late to bombard it from land.
22.
Matthias Gallas was forced to retreat back to Bernburg where Torstensson's superior cavalry supported by Hans Christoff von Konigsmarck fully encircled the Imperials and denied them any supplies.
23.
Matthias Gallas's army been shrunken by hunger, sickness and desertion, and himself fallen ill, Gallas ordered his troops to break out.
24.
The slightly recovered Matthias Gallas was again recalled to assist the new Generalissimo Leopold Wilhelm as his deputy.
25.
Matthias Gallas collected the dispersed Imperial troops in Bohemia and organised the defence of the kingdom whereas Archduke Leopold Wilhelm held the Danube.
26.
Matthias Gallas died eight days later due to a failed surgery.
27.
Matthias Gallas was a general that never lost a major battle because he did not lead his army into any after Nordlingen.
28.
Matthias Gallas often complained about the unsustainable conditions but still obediently followed the orders of the emperor.
29.
Matthias Gallas was competent in the operative planning of his campaigns but more and more overstrained in their execution under the increasingly difficult external conditions of the later Thirty Years' War.
30.
Matthias Gallas was in contrast to for example Torstensson or Piccolomini not among the commanders that could adequately adapt to these altered conditions.
31.
Matthias Gallas first married Countess Isabella of Arco in 1630 in a double marriage with his colleague Johann von Aldringen who married Isabella's sister Livia.
32.
The most remarkable descendant of Matthias Gallas was his grandson Johann Wenzel von Matthias Gallas, a diplomat and Austrian Viceroy of Naples.
33.
Matthias Gallas himself did not use the title in documents or correspondence.