tion, and leave a hideous stain
upon the page of history. Tilly himself, in announcing his success to
the emperor, wrote: "Since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem never
has such a siege been seen."

Gustavus had, indeed, come too late to relieve Magdeburg, but the
report of the unspeakable atrocities which that unhappy city had
witnessed, fired his generous heart with wrath and an eager
determination to punish a general so devoid of humanity. And the
opportunity was soon to present itself. Advancing rapidly into Saxony,
he met Tilly on the plains of Breitenfeld, near Leipsic, September 7,
1631; and not only defeated him, but utterly annihilated his army,
scattering it like dust before the storm. He was now, until a new army
could be raised, master of all Germany. Nothing apparently could have
hindered him from marching on Vienna and dictating to the emperor his
own terms of peace. It has been and is yet a matter of speculation,
why Gustavus did not relentlessly follow up the results of this great
victory, instead of going into winter quarters and affording Ferdinand
and the discomfited princes of the League a chance of recovering from
their utter demoralization. The answer is, no doubt, that he did not
feel himself strong enough to lay siege to Vienna, without covering
his rear and securing his base of supplies. He had always, like the
good general he was, been careful to keep open a possible line of
retreat. For the moment he was indeed irresistible. At Merseburg two
thousand Imperialists were cut to pieces. Cities opened their gates to
receive him. The Protestant population, in their ecstacy at his
victories, were ready to worship him as a demigod. Proceeding
southward to Nuremberg and Munich, he was met again by Tilly at the
river Lech, where a brief battle was fought; Gustavus was again
victorious and Tilly lost his life. This feat of crossing the Lech in
the face of a hostile force is by military experts regarded as the
greatest strategic feat of Gustavus.

In the meanwhile the emperor had not been idle. There was but one man
whose name was potent enough to summon an army adequate for so
perilous a situation; and that man was Albrecht von Wallenstein. He
was himself, too, fully aware of his preciousness and the terms which
he exacted of Ferdinand were hard, not to say extortionate. Ferdinand
II., however, had no choice but to accept them. It was not long before
Gustavus became aware that Wallenstein, with an