mpire for
those of the Church, and drove all Protestant forces to unite in
resistance to it. And it extended the rights of conquest over princes
who had taken no part in the war. It was the repudiation of
Wallenstein's policy, and of his schemes for regenerating the Empire,
and he caused it to be known that he would not execute the new orders.
Ferdinand had to choose between Wallenstein and the League. By the
advice of France, represented by a Capuchin, who was the ablest
diplomatist then living, he dismissed his generalissimo, and accepted
the dictation of the Catholic League. He had to face the consequences
of his Edict of Restitution at the moment when he disarmed.

Just then, when all the Protestants were roused to anger and alarm,
and when Wallenstein had laid down his sword, Gustavus landed in
Rugen. He had been fighting in Poland for the Baltic coast, and
there he had encountered an imperial force. Richelieu aided him in
making peace with the Poles, and he went forth with a trained army,
assured that he would unite all the Protestants of Germany against the
Habsburgs. He spent many months in securing his base of operations,
by onerous alliances imposed on Pomerania, and on his reluctant
brother-in-law, the elector of Brandenburg.

When at length the way through Silesia to the heart of Austria lay
open before him, Tilly arrested his march by laying siege to
Magdeburg, which commanded the Elbe, and was a Protestant stronghold
in the North. The King of Sweden made no attempt to relieve the
besieged city; and in May 1631 Pappenheim, the hardest hitter among
the German commanders, took the place by storm. The defenders
deprived him of the fruits of victory by setting fire to Magdeburg,
and burning it to the ground. Tilly, with difficulty, saved the
Cathedral, and handed it over to the Catholics. He then took Leipzig
without resistance, hoping to coerce Saxony; but the Elector, in this
extremity, abandoned the neutrality he had maintained throughout the
war, and went over to the Swedes. At Breitenfeld, a few miles out of
Leipzig, Gustavus, feebly aided by the Saxons, defeated the
Imperialists in the greatest battle of the war. It was a victory of
the musket over the pike, and the beginning of the long struggle
between line and column. Tilly's ranks were ten deep, and the Swedes
only three, so that every musketeer fired. The world now perceived
that the tardy, patient soldier, who had seemed too cautiou