In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Lutzen—one ofthe most crucial engagements in the bloody Thirty Years War—it was announced tothe world that King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden had died. During the course of the battle on thisday in 1632, the king had been surrounded by enemy soldiers. Before taking hislife, they demanded his name. Gustavus replied, “I am the King of Sweden!And this day I seal with my blood the liberties and religion of the Germannation.”
Throughout the horrific conflict, during which Gustavusdefended the cause of the Protestants against Emperor Ferdinand II, a staunchRoman Catholic, the people of Europe suffered terribly. Out of a German population of sixteenmillion people, only about four million survived. The town of Augsburg had apopulation of 80,000 people at the beginning of the conflict but only l8,000survived to the end. Indeed, before the awful war had concluded an estimated30,000 villages were destroyed. It was one of the saddest chapters in the longhistory of man—and the loss of Gustavus was a bitter loss for all the advocatesof freedom.
