His
subsequent fortunes the next narrative must declare.
_THE END OF TWO GREAT SOLDIERS._
Two armies faced each other in central Bavaria, two armies on which the
fate of Germany depended, those of Gustavus Adolphus, the right hand of
Protestantism, and of Wallenstein, the hope of Catholic imperialism.
Gustavus was strongly intrenched in the vicinity of Nuremberg, with an
army of but sixteen thousand men. Wallenstein faced him with an army of
sixty thousand, yet dared not attack him in his strong position. He
occupied himself in efforts to make his camp as impregnable as that of
his foeman, and the two great opponents lay waiting face to face, while
famine slowly decimated their ranks.
It was an extraordinary position. Both sides depended for food on
foraging, and between them they had swept the country clean. The
peasantry fled in every direction from Wallenstein's pillaging troops,
who destroyed all that they could not carry away. It had become a
question with the two armies which could starve the longest, and for
three months they lay encamped, each waiting until famine should drive
the other out.
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