§ 2. He orders the siege to be commenced.
Wallenstein would have all or nothing. He ordered his commander in those parts, the Lutheran Arnim, to enforce submission. "I will never," he wrote, "allow them to keep anything back from me, lest others should be encouraged to do the like." Arnim, already master of Rügen, seized Dänholm, a smaller island commanding the mouth of the harbour. In February hostilities were commenced. In March the citizens attacked the imperialists in Dänholm, and drove them out of the island.
§ 3. Wallenstein's first check.
It was Wallenstein's first check, and desperately did he struggle to wipe out the disgrace. Every day the spirit of the citizens was rising. There were old soldiers there, fugitives from the Danish war, and peasants who had fled from their desolated homes, and who had terrible tales to tell of the wretchedness which followed in the track of Wallenstein's soldiers. In April, all within the town bound themselves by a solemn oath to defend their religion and their liberty to the last drop of their blood, and to admit no garrison within their walls. In the midst of their resistance they still kept up some recollection of their nationality, so far as any tie of nationality could still be said to exist. The name of the Emperor was carefully avoided, but they professed attachment to the Empire and its laws.
§ 4. Succour from Denmark and Sweden.
Practically, however, the shape in which the Empire presented itself to them was that of Wallenstein's army, and if they were to resist that army, the Stralsunders must, whether they liked it or not, make common cause with those who were hostile to the Empire. In May a Danish embassy appeared amongst them, and the King of Sweden sent a present of gunpowder. When the siege was formally opened, these overtures were followed by a succour of armed men. Sweden and Denmark were working together to break up the new military Empire, and their forlorn hope was thrown into Stralsund.
§ 5. Wallenstein abandons the siege.
Wallenstein saw that the case was serious, and came in person to the help of his lieutenant. According to a doubtful story, he exclaimed, 'I will have Stralsund, even if it be fastened by chains to heaven.' It is certain that when a deputation from the citizens pleaded with him that he would abandon his demand that they should admit a garrison within their walls, he drew his hand along the surface of a table before him, and answered sternly, 'Your town shall be made as flat as this.' But the problem of overcoming the resistance of a fortress open to unlimited succours by sea is one of the most difficult in the whole art of war. Still, however, there were fearful odds in favour of the besiegers. Without the walls Wallenstein had no enemy to fear. He was himself Duke of Mecklenburg. With the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Pomerania he was on friendly terms, and he had received the support of the latter in his attempts upon the town. Within the walls there was no certainty of ultimate success. Those who had anything to lose placed their property on shipboard. Many sent their wives and daughters to seek a safe refuge in Sweden. But whatever doubts might arise the defenders of the town fought sturdily on. Week after week passed away, and Stralsund was still untaken. Wallenstein lowered his terms. He ceased to demand entrance for a garrison of his own men. It would be enough, he now said, if the citizens would entrust their walls to troops of their own ruler, the Duke of Pomerania, and would in this manner tear themselves away from the connexion with foreign powers hostile to the Emperor. And to this offer the governing council of the town was ready to assent. But the general body of the citizens rejected it utterly. They deliberately preferred the alliance of the two foreign kings to submission, however indirect, to the Emperor's authority. Before this resolution, Wallenstein, with all his armies, was powerless. On August 3 he raised the siege.
§ 6. Character of the resistance.