The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo only five days after the accession of Louis XIV to the throne of France after his father's death. Rocroi shattered the myth of invincibility of the Spanish Tercios, the terrifying infantry units that had dominated European battlefields for the previous 120 years. The battle is therefore often considered to mark the end of Spanish military greatness and the beginning of French hegemony in Europe during the 17th century. After Rocroi, the Spanish progressively transformed the tercio system incorporating more of the line infantry doctrine used by the French over time.
La Bataille de Rocroi by Sauveur Le Conte
Duc d'Enghien at the Battle of Rocroi
François Joseph Heim, "The Battle of Rocroi"
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as le Grand Condé, was a French military commander. A brilliant tactician and strategist, he is regarded as one of France's greatest generals, particularly celebrated for his triumphs in the Thirty Years' War and his campaigns during the Franco-Dutch War.
Louis as Duke of Enghien , c. 1640s
Battle of Rocroi, 19 May 1643, the duc d'Enghien ordering his troops to stop fighting the Spanish, who have come to him to surrender
Condé at the Battle of Lens, 20 August 1648
The duc d'Enghien saving his father, the Grand Condé at the 1674 battle of Seneffe