Hitherto France
had contented herself with subsidizing Sweden, who had played the
principal part. Henceforward Sweden was to occupy but a secondary
position. Cardinal Richelieu saw the danger of allowing Austria to
aggrandize itself at the expense of all Germany, and now took the
field in earnest.
Upon the other hand Nordlingen dissolved the confederacy of
the Protestant German princes against Ferdinand the Second. The
Elector of Saxony, who had ever been vacillating and irresolute in
his policy, was the first to set the example by making peace with
the emperor. The Elector of Brandenburg, Duke William of Weimar,
the Prince of Anhalt, the Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, the Duke of
Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and the cities of Augsburg, Wurzburg, and
Coburg, and many others hastened to follow the example of all the
leading members of the Protestant Union.
Dukes Bernhard of Weimar and William of Cassel were almost alone
in supporting the cause to maintain which Gustavus Adolphus had
invaded Germany. The Swedish army, whose exploits had made the court
of Vienna tremble, seemed annihilated, and well might the emperor
deem that his final triumph over Protestantism was complete when he
heard of the battle of Nordlingen, for as yet he dreamed not that
its result would bring France into the field against him.
Malcolm Graheme was one of the few officers of Munro's regiment who
burst his way through the Spanish lines on the top of the Weinberg.
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