Wallenstein or Waldstein, Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von, Duke of Friedland and of Mecklenburg, Prince of Sagan 1583-1634
Austrian soldier

He was born in Hermanice in Bohemia, the son of a Czech nobleman, and educated by Jesuits. He married a Bohemian widow, whose vast estates he inherited in 1614. In 1617 he commanded a force which he supplied to Archduke Ferdinand (later Ferdinand II) for use against Venice. At the outset of the Thirty Years War (1618-48) he helped to crush the Bohemian revolt (1618-20) under Frederick V, thereafter acquiring numerous confiscated estates, and consolidating them into Friedland, of which he became Duke in 1623. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief (1625) of all the Imperial forces, and at Dessau Bridge (1626) defeated the army of Count Mansfeld. Establishing the peace in Hungary by a truce imposed on the combined forces of Mansfeld and Bethlen Gabor, he subdued (1627) Silesia, acquiring the dukedom of Sagan, joined Count von Tilly against Kristian IV, was invested (1628) with the duchies of Mecklenburg, but encountered resistance in garrisoning the Hanse towns, notably at his unsuccessful Siege (1628) of Stalsund, consequently failing to remove the threat of Protestant invasion by sea. This materialized in 1630, following Ferdinand II's Edict of Restitution, when Gustav II Adolf of Sweden and his forces invaded northern Germany. The Catholic princes, aroused by Wallenstein's ambition, forced Ferdinand to dismiss him (1630) and appoint Tilly Commander-in-Chief. After Tilly's death, Wallenstein was reinstated. His new army, repulsing the attempt by the Swedish forces to storm his entrenched camp near Nuremberg, prevented the Swedish king from advancing on Ferdinand in Vienna. He was defeated in 1632 by Gustav Adolf at L�tzen, where Gustav himself was fatally wounded. In the interests of a united Germany with himself as its supreme authority, Wallenstein now intrigued with Protestants and Catholics. Finally, his enemies persuaded the emperor to depose him again and denounce him. Threatened in Pilsen by Piccolomini and others, he went to Eger, hoping for support from Bernhard, Duke of Weimar. He was assassinated there by Irish and Scottish officers in his retinue. The Wallenstein trilogy by Schiller is based on Wallenstein's career.

Bibliography: Golo Mann, Wallenstein: Sein Leben erz�hlt (4th edn, 1971, Eng trans Wallenstein: His Life Narrated, 1976)