Рокрои шайқасы: Испан әскерлерінің жеңілісі мен Францияның күшеюі

1643 battle of the Thirty Years' War between French and Spanish forces

The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21 year old Duke of Enghien (later known as the Great Condé) and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo only five days after the accession of Louis XIV to the throne of France after his father's death. Rocroi shattered the myth of invincibility of the Spanish Tercios, the terrifying infantry units that had dominated European battlefields for the previous 120 years. The battle is therefore often considered to mark the end of Spanish military greatness and the beginning of French hegemony in Europe during the 17th century. After Rocroi, the Spanish progressively transformed the tercio system incorporating more of the line infantry doctrine used by the French over time. Word reached Enghien that 6,000 Spanish reinforcements were on their way to Rocroi, and he hurried there on 18 May. French losses were about 4,000. The Spanish commander Melo reported his losses at 6,000 casualties and 4,000 captured in his report to Madrid two days after the battle. The estimates for the Spanish army's dead range from 4,000 to 8,000. Of the 7,000 Spanish infantry, only 390 officers and 1,386 enlisted men were able to escape back to the Spanish Netherlands. Guthrie lists 3,400 killed and 2,000 captured for the five Spanish infantry battalions alone, while 1,600 escaped. Most of the casualties were suffered by the Spanish infantry, while the cavalry and artillerymen were able to withdraw, albeit with the loss of all the cannons.

The French lifted the Siege of Rocroi but were not strong enough to move the fight into Spanish Flanders. The Spanish regrouped rapidly and stabilized their positions. The year 1643 ended in a stalemate, which was enough of a success for France. However, the battle was of great symbolic importance because of the high reputation of the Army of Flanders. Melo in his report to the King called it "the most considerable defeat there has ever been in these provinces". The proof of strength was important for France. At home, it was seen as a good omen for the new king's reign, and it secured the power of Anne of Austria as queen regent for the four year old Louis XIV, and of the newly appointed Prime Minister Mazarin. Both Richelieu and Louis XIII had distrusted Anne (a sister of Philip IV of Spain), but as regent, she confirmed Mazarin, Richelieu's protégé and political heir, and the French war policy maintained its direction. The battle established the reputation of the 21 year old Enghien, whose numerous victories would win him the name "the Great Condé". Abroad, it showed that France remained strong despite its four year old king. The following decades would see hegemony in Europe move slowly from Habsburg Spain to Bourbon France, as the absolute monarchy in France overpowered the Spanish imperial power. Mazarin had maneuvered to have space to cope with the Fronde and to turn the tide slowly against the Spanish in France and in the Low Countries. Turning to alliance with England, he defeated the Spanish at the Battle of the Dunes and took Dunkirk in 1658, leading to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Although Spain looked to be all powerful as late as 1652, the peace settlement reflected the demise of Spain's mastery of Europe in the late 1650s.

A 2006 Spanish movie, Alatriste, directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, portrays this battle in its final scene. The soundtrack features in the scene a funeral march, La Madrugá, composed by Colonel Abel Moreno for the Holy Week of Seville, played by the band of the Infantry Regiment "Soria" No. 9, the successor of the "bloody Tercio", which participated in the battle, the oldest unit in the Spanish Army.

The elderly Spanish infantry general Paul Bernard de Fontaines, from the Spanish Netherlands and known to the Spanish as de Fuentes, suffered from gout and was carried into battle and killed. His sedan chair was taken as a trophy by the French and may be seen in the museum of Les Invalides in Paris. Enghien is reported to have said, "Had I not won the day, I wish I had died like him".