When Gustavus was at Nuremberg he again opened correspondence with this Bohemian general, but Wallenstein by that time had come to the conclusion that Gustavus was so far from his base of supplies, was so poorly sustained by Saxony and Brandenburg, that with an army of fifty thousand he could drive Gustavus home, and possibly he had the dream (as he is charged with) that he could make himself Emperor, so that while Gustavus was at Nuremberg the correspondence closed finally, and it began to be whispered that Wallenstein would soon be again at the head of the Imperial army.
General Tilly died of his wounds April 30th, 1632. Gustavus had barely escaped death on the day that Tilly was wounded. His horse was shot under him, and his friend, the Margrave of Baden, had his head carried away by a cannon ball almost at the same moment. As Gustavus sprang from the wounded horse his followers screamed, for they thought him killed, but, while covered with blood and dust, he arose from the mêlée, saying, "The apple is not yet ripe." After his return to camp, his officers attempted to offer congratulations. He replied: "The Margrave's death and the ball which came so close to me, recall to my mind my mortality. Man, thou must die, that is the old law from which neither my high descent, not my royal crown, nor my arms, nor my numerous victories can save me. I submit to God's will and guidance. If He removes me from this world, He will not forsake the holy cause which I now defend."
From this time on he talked to his officers of what should be done in case of his death. He was not entranced with the glories of earth; he cared nothing for fame, but he cared very much that he should accomplish the great work he believed himself called upon to perform. He expected soon to be called home to God; therefore, he was careful to show mercy wherever it was possible.
Gustavus now had an army of about one hundred thousand men, this he expected to greatly enlarge during the coming year. He had eighteen thousand in his own command. Horn had twenty thousand on the Main; William of Hesse had eight thousand kept in his own country; Baner, at Magdeburg, had thirteen thousand. Tott, who had been called from Mecklenburg to Lower Saxony, had thirteen thousand, and the Dukes of Mecklenburg had been ordered to send four thousand more. The Saxons in Bohemia had twenty thousand, besides the twelve thousand engaged in garrison duty. The army had many languages, the soldiers were not homogeneous, and were, therefore, hard to manage.
Wherever there was an attack, Gustavus, no difference how much needed where he happened to be, seems to have dropped everything and rushed to the weak point. He was the needed man everywhere, and with that small royal army he seems to have really been blown from one point of attack to another. In each place, in the midst of victory, he had to turn away to help, once Nuremberg, then General Horn, then Saxony. All this shows that, although he had now a large army, he did not regard any part of it strong enough to sustain itself against the Imperial army without his presence. It shows how small a foundation he had for his hopes of delivering Germany, which was so unready, so divided into selfish factions, that unless God's hand had been as markedly with him as it was with Moses, Germany would have been forced back into the mental and spiritual darkness of the age preceding the Reformation.
The occupation of Ratisbon by the Bavarians caused Gustavus Adolphus to decide that he would attack Ingolstadt, and penetrate into the center of Bavaria. He hoped to draw the Elector Maximilian from the Danube and strip it of its protectors. As he was planning for this, France again sent a diplomat to negotiate a peace for Bavaria. To all the talk now concerning Maximilian's neutrality, the king only laughed. He knew that Maximilian was all that was left of the Catholic League, and he replied: "I clearly see that you have only come to impose upon me. I cannot believe that the Duke of Bavaria seriously intends to come to a settlement of our differences. I know him and his priesthood too well. He wears a double cassock, and according to circumstances he turns it, to-day the red, to-morrow the blue. This time I shall not be deceived." The Ambassador ceased to cajole and began to threaten, saying that France was quite able to throw forty thousand troops into Bavaria for the help of the Elector.
Gustavus replied: "If France withdraws her alliance, I shall secure that of the Turks, who are no worse allies than the papists, with their idolatry. At all events I know that I can rely on the help of Almighty God, who has sent me into Germany." The plan was to keep him inactive till Maximilian had brought together his army.
When Tilly died, the Emperor, Ferdinand II., was at his wits' end, and had appealed to the disgraced Wallenstein to save him. Wallenstein made the most severe demands, to which the Emperor was obliged to agree. Immediately Wallenstein stamped his foot, and the robber bands of all Europe appeared again from Italy, from England and Scotland and from Poland. From every German State men flocked to the banner of the arch robber of the middle ages.
The articles of Znaim, in which Wallenstein agrees to take command, are unique on the page of history. They were completed in April, 1632. In this writing the Emperor agreed that no army, except that under Wallenstein, could be introduced into Germany. He alone possessed the power of confiscation and pardon. He could create a new class of princes to rule over States, princes who received and held power only under him. His power was purely military, but by these papers the Emperor practically put the power out of his own hands.
Wallenstein immediately drove the Saxons from Bohemia, offered to revoke the Edict of Restitution for John George of Saxony, that weak prince who was now wavering between his sworn allegiance to Gustavus and Wallenstein. At his side now appeared an army of sixty thousand skilled troops, the mercenaries who were promised large pay and all the loot they could gather.