Siege of Nuremberg

Siege of Nuremberg Siege of Nürnberg Part of Thirty Years' War Engraving by Matthäus Merian der Ältere. Danckaerts Historis 1642 Date 1632 Location Nuremberg, an Imperial City Result Indecisive Belligerents  Sweden  Holy Roman Empire Commanders and leaders Gustav II Adolph Albrecht von Wallenstein Strength 150,000 120,000 Casualties and losses 20,000 20,000

Thirty Years' War Pilsen Lomnice Sablat Wisternitz Humenné Bad Kreuznach Oppenheim Bacharach White Mountain Érsekújvár Neu Titschein Battle of Tyrnau Mingolsheim Wimpfen Höchst Fleurus Heidelberg Mannheim Frankenthal Hodonín Stadtlohn Genoa Peasants' War in Upper Austria Dessau Bridge Lutter am Barenberge Stralsund Wolgast Swedish landing Frankfurt Magdeburg Werben 1st Breitenfeld Bamberg Rain Wiesloch Nuremberg Alte Veste Fürth Lützen Oldendorf Pfaffenhofen Steinau Konstanz 1st Breisach 1st Rheinfelden Battle of Liegnitz (1634) 1st Nördlingen Willstätt Les Avins Avesnes Leuven Ray-sur-Saône Battle of Dömitz Battle of Haselünne Tornavento Somme Wittstock Hanau 2nd Rheinfelden Fuenterrabía Vlotho 2nd Breisach Battle of Wittenweiher 1st Freiberg Chemnitz Melnik Thionville Saint Omer Salses Cambrils Montjuïc Battle of Preßnitz São Filipe Plauen La Marfée Dorsten Battle of Wolfenbüttel (1641) Honnecourt Kempen Schweidnitz 2nd Breitenfeld Klingenthal 2nd Freiberg Rocroi Tuttlingen Kolding Lister Dyb Colberger Heide Freiburg Fehmarn Jüterbog Bysjön Jankau Brno Mergentheim 2nd Nördlingen Battle of Triebl Neapolitan Revolt Zusmarshausen Lens Wevelinghoven Battle of Dachau Prague Treaties

The Siege of Nuremberg or Siege of Nürnberg was a battle campaign that took place in 1632 about the Imperial City of Nuremberg 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 cripple the Swedish force.

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's 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 50,000 troops with 6,000 cannon reinforced the 70,000 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 in the Battle of the Alte Veste but failed to break through. Eventually, the siege ended after eleven weeks 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. The Imperial army suffered about 20,000 dead. Austria was saved for the short term, but the engagement was not decisive.

Coordinates: 49°27′0″N 11°5′0″E / 49.45000°N 11.08333°E / 49.45000; 11.08333