The
plan was not carried out, only because it was considered that it
was impracticable -- as the army would be exposed to destruction
should the Imperialists fall upon them while crossing the terrible
morass in their rear.
The morning showed them that the Imperialists had disappeared,
and that the mighty struggle had indeed been a victory for them --
a victory won rather by the superior stubbornness with which the
Swedish generals held their ground during the night, while Wallenstein
fell back, than to the splendid courage with which the troops had
fought on the preceding day. But better far would it have been
for the cause which the Swedes championed, that they should have
been driven a defeated host from the field of Lutzen, than that
they should have gained a barren victory at the cost of the life
of their gallant monarch -- the soul of the struggle, the hope of
Protestantism, the guiding spirit of the coalition against Catholicism
as represented by Ferdinand of Austria.
The losses in the battle were about equal, no less than 9000
having fallen upon each side -- a proportion without precedent in
any battle of modern times, and testifying to the obstinacy and
valour with which on both sides the struggle was maintained from
early morning until night alone terminated it.
It is said, indeed, that every man, both of the yellow regiments
of Swedish guards and of the blue regiments, composed entirely of
English and Scotchmen, lay dead on the field.
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