This Week in Christian History: Salem Witch Trials, Battle of Breitenfeld, Spanish Inquisitor Dies

Battle of Breitenfeld — September 17, 1631

This week marks the anniversary of when a major battle in the Thirty Years' War, a large seventeenth-century European conflict between Catholics and Protestants, took place.

Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus II, who championed himself as the "Protector of Protestantism," successfully defeated a Catholic League army that had attempted to violently impose Catholicism in Northern Germany.

Adolphus' army was a combined Swedish-Saxon force of about 39,000, while the Catholic League force had approximately 35,000. The Catholics lost about 7,000 dead and nearly 10,000 captured to the Protestants' 5,100 dead.

"Breitenfeld, a victory of movement and firepower over weight of formation, has been called the first battle of the modern age, and Gustavus Adolphus has been hailed as the father of modern warfare," noted historynet.com.

"His tactics were still in use by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, 70 years later. But in a war of unmatched brutality, Gustavus' conduct and noble purpose were his most lasting legacy."