Fought on 5 May 1645, during the Thirty Years War, it featured a French army led by Turenne, defeated by a Bavarian force under Franz von Mercy.

Although fighting continued, both sides accepted their inability to impose a military solution and stepped up the negotiations that ultimately concluded with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia.

However, most members of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral, and the revolt was quickly suppressed, while in 1621 a Catholic League army invaded the Palatinate and sent Frederick into exile.

[4] Swedish intervention continued after Gustavus was killed in 1632, but their objectives increasingly conflicted with those of other Protestant Imperial states like Saxony, as well as regional rivals such as Denmark.

The war lost much of its religious nature and became another chapter in the long-standing rivalry between the Habsburg emperors and France, which was supported by Sweden and George Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania.

Mercy sent 5,000 veteran Bavarian cavalry under Johann von Werth to reinforce the Imperial army in Bohemia, which was heavily defeated at Jankau on 6 March.

[8] Armies of this period relied on foraging, both for men and the draught animals essential for transport, and cavalry; by 1645, the countryside was devastated by years of constant warfare, and units spent much of their time finding supplies.

[2] Victory at Jankau seemed to provide an opportunity to knock Bavaria out of the war, and French chief minister Cardinal Mazarin ordered Turenne to bring the Bavarians to battle.

[14] Despite their victory, the French had also suffered heavy losses and by the end of the year were back where they started, while in September the Swedes agreed a six month truce with John George of Saxony.