Thirty Years' War Matthias Gallas, Graf von Campo und Herzog von Lucera (Count of Campo, Duke of Lucera) (Matteo Gallasso; 17 October 1588 in Trento – 25 April 1647 in Vienna)[1][3][4] was an Italian professional soldier during the Thirty Years' War.

After carrying out the dismissal and elimination of Wallenstein, Gallas became acting supreme commander of the Imperial Army three times between 1634 and 1647 but he never held the function or authority of a Generalissimo.

After leading ineffective offensives against France, he managed to end Swedish attacks on Saxony and to drive them back to the Baltic coast in 1637.

Called back in 1643 to stop Lennart Torstensson who soon retreated to attack Denmark, Gallas was ordered to follow him and to support the Danes.

Having lost almost his entire army, he was again relieved from command, only to return to advise and support Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in defending the Erblande against Sweden.

[7] On 29 May 1630, Gallas successfully defeated a 17,000 strong Franco-Venetian relief army led by the French general Duc de Candale and the Venetian provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo at the battle of Villabuona.

His complete victory at Villabuona ensured the fall of Mantua, and on 18 July Imperial troops under his command captured and then brutally sacked the city.

[8] Gallas stayed in Italy to negotiate the Treaty of Cherasco in which he managed to prevent the demilitarisation of the Valtellina that remained under Imperial control.

[10] Made Imperial Count for the capture of Mantua and the negotiations at Cherasco,[10] he returned to Germany for the campaign against the invading swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and his Saxon allies in late 1631.

[14] After he was informed of the Emperor's decision to arrest or kill Wallenstein, Gallas left the army's headquarters in Pilsen on 12 February 1634 to plan the execution.

A numerically inferior Swedish force under Gustav Horn and Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar tried to lift the siege and attacked them on 5 September but Gallas directed the united Habsburg army to a resounding victory in the Battle of Nördlingen.

[17] The Swedes lost two armies and the control over southern Germany while the Imperials chased them up to the Main before moving into winter quarters in Württemberg.

At the approach of a French-Weimar relief force under Bernhard and Cardinal La Valette, Gallas retreated to harass them with light cavalry and to cut off their supplies.

After capturing the castle of Mirebeau-sur-Bèze on 24 October, he was again hesitant to advance further and decided to lay siege to Saint-Jean-de-Losne to secure its strategic bridge for supplies or a possible retreat.

However, the small town resisted all Imperial attacks until French reinforcements and heavy rain forced Gallas to abandon the siege and the overall invasion in early November.

Gallas trapped him at the coastline and raised a cordon along the Peene river, taking all strongholds except the most heavily fortified, such as Stralsund or Stettin.

The new Emperor Ferdinand III was willing to compromise but the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna eventually used his offers just to improve the French contributions in the Treaty of Hamburg in March 1638.

The Imperials were unable to sustain their army in the devastated area any longer and first retreated across the Elbe, then to Silesia, plundering and partially dissolving in the progress.

Unable to expel the Swedes from Bohemia and confronted with declining army morale and discipline, Gallas was replaced by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in September.

The emperor wanted Gallas to stay as counselor in Vienna, but he chose to return to Trento and to administer his various possessions for the next few years.

[27] In March 1643, Gallas returned to succeed the Archduke and the interim commander Piccolomini who both resigned following their defeat at Breitenfeld.

The Swedish fleet had been trapped in the Bay of Kiel after the Battle of Colberger Heide but Gallas arrived a few days too late to bombard it from land.

Gallas was forced to retreat back to Bernburg where Torstensson's superior cavalry supported by Hans Christoff von Königsmarck fully encircled the Imperials and denied them any supplies.

He collected the dispersed Imperial troops in Bohemia and organised the defence of the kingdom whereas Archduke Leopold Wilhelm held the Danube.

[39] According to his biographer Rebitsch, Gallas was an able and wily tactician who most excelled in the defence but often lacked the determination and risk appetite in the offensive.

He was competent in the operative planning of his campaigns but more and more overstrained in their execution under the increasingly difficult external conditions of the later Thirty Years' War.

[47] His loyalty to the Habsburgs during Wallenstein's dismissal in early 1634 brought Gallas as highest-ranking executor the majority of the Generalissimo's property in the Bohemian Duchy of Friedland with Frýdlant and Liberec but without the capital Jičín.