Lennart Torstensson

Military career

At the age of fifteen he became one of the pages of the young King Gustavus Adolphus and was allowed to observe the military campaign in Livonia. He also served during the Prussian campaigns of 1628 and 1629.

It is told that at one battle Gustavus Adolphus sent Torstensson with an order to one of the officers. On his way Torstensson noticed that the enemy had changed position, and he altered the King's orders correspondingly. Gustavus noticed the new development. When Torstensson returned he told Gustavus what he had done.

Shortly thereafter, in 1629 Torstensson was put in charge of the Swedish artillery, which under his guidance contributed greatly to the victories of Breitenfeld and Lech. On 25 December 1630, he also commanded the artillery during an assault on Greifenhagen, which was captured. The same year he was taken prisoner at Alte Veste and imprisoned for nearly a year at Ingolstadt. Under Johan Banér he served at the Battle of Wittstock on the left wing of the combined army of Banér and Field Marshal Alexander Leslie. He also served with distinction during the defence of Pomerania in 1637 and 1638, as well as at the Battle of Chemnitz and the raid into Bohemia in 1639. Illness, contracted during his imprisonment, compelled him to return to Sweden in 1641.

Field Marshal

The sudden death of Banér in May 1641 recalled Torstensson to Germany as generalissimo of the Swedish forces and Governor General of Pomerania. He was at the same time promoted to the rank of Field Marshal. In 1642 he marched through Brandenburg and Silesia into Moravia, taking the principal fortresses of Głogów and Olomouc on his way. On returning through Saxony he crushed the imperial army at the second Battle of Breitenfeld on 23 October 1642.

In 1643 Torstensson invaded Moravia for the second time, but was suddenly recalled to invade Denmark, when his rapid and unexpected intervention paralysed the Danish defence on the land side, though Torstenson's own position in Jutland was for a time precarious owing to the skilful handling of the Danish fleet by Christian IV of Denmark. In December 1643, he successfully stormed Christianspris. In 1644, he successfully besieged Snoghøj. Later, in June, he participated in the Swedish invasion of Fehmarn. In 1644, he also he led his army for the third time into the heart of Germany and routed the imperials at the battle of Jüterbog on 3 December. In January 1645 he broke into Bohemia, and the destruction of the Imperial army at the Battle of Jankau on 6 March 1645 laid open before him the road to Vienna. He reached Korneuburg near the Habsburg capital in April but his exhausted army was unable to penetrate any further and lost 8,000 men in a failed siege of Brünn in Moravia from 3 May to 23 August. Afterwards, the Swedish commander marched once more against Vienna but on 25 September turned to retreat back to northwestern Bohemia. On 23 December 1645, Torstensson, crippled by gout, was forced to resign his command to Carl Gustaf Wrangel and returned to Sweden in the early summer of 1646.

In 1647 he was created a count. From 1648 to 1651 he ruled all the western provinces of Sweden, as Governor-General. After his death in Stockholm on 7 April 1651 he was buried in the Riddarholm Church, the Pantheon of Sweden.

Assessment

Torstensson was remarkable for the extraordinary and incalculable rapidity of his movements, though very frequently he had to lead the army in a litter, as his bodily infirmities would not permit him to mount his horse. He was often considered the most scientific artillery officer and most successful engineer in the Swedish army.

Family

Torstensson was married in 1633 to Baroness Beata De la Gardie (1612–1680), daughter of the Privy Councillor Johan De la Gardie (1582–1640) and Katarina Kristersdotter Oxenstierna (–1625). They had a son, Anders Torstenson, who also served as a Privy Councillor and Governor-General of Estonia.