Johann Ludwig von Erlach (1595 – 1650)
The first Battle of Rheinfelden took place on 28 February 1638, during the Thirty Years' War. On one side of the field was the Bernese Johann Ludwig von Erlach, the Chief of Staff to Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and organiser of the High Rhine campaign, which ended with the cession of Alsace to France. Johann Ludwig von Erlach ended his career as Marshal of France, and is regarded as one of the greatest generals in the mercenary service of the 17th century.
Johann Ludwig von Erlach was born in Bern on 30 October 1595. At the age of 13, he was sent to Geneva to learn French. From 1614 to 1615, he served as a page at the courts of several German princes and the Prince of Orange in Holland. In 1617, he volunteered to join Hercules von Salis' regiment in Friuli, and later that of his uncle Anton von Erlach in the service of the House of Savoy, where he was promoted to captain in 1618, to major in 1622 and to lieutenant colonel in 1623. During the Thirty Years' War, from 1618 to 1625, he served as an officer in Anhalt, Brandenburg and Brunswick. In 1624, he took part in the Livonia campaign as quartermaster general (chief of general staff) to the Swedish military forces under the command of King Gustav Adolf of Sweden.
He returned to Bern in 1625, where he was responsible for the Bernese military reform of 1628 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Bernese militia in 1629. Concerned by the unrest within the Confederation he realised that weakened national sentiment was a threat to the military and drew up plans for a federal military organisation, known as the Defensionale of Wil (which was implemented in 1647). In the Thirty Years' War, Swiss neutrality was repeatedly disregarded by the warring powers, and between 1628 and 1638 partial mobilisations took place almost continuously. However, in September 1633, the Tagsatzung, (the Confederation's legislative and executive council) decided to mobilise detachments of the cantonal militias and appointed Colonel Freiherr von Erlach supreme commander with the rank of lieutenant general (the second supreme commander in the history of the Confederation). In 1635, von Erlach rebuilt the artillery of the cantons by standardising calibres so that the same type of ammunition could be used. In 1636, he again commanded the federal forces that were set up to guard the Fricktal border. After the situation on the Swiss border had calmed down in 1638, he resigned.
As a lieutenant general under Louis XIV, von Erlach decisively contributed to the victory in the Battle of Lens, which ended the Thirty Years' War. On 26 January 1650, a few days after his appointment to Marshal of France, Johann Ludwig von Erlach died in Breisach where he was governor.