Editing Battle of Nördlingen (1634) (section)

==Aftermath==
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens 121.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.0|''The Victory of the Two Ferdinands'', [[Peter Paul Rubens]] (1635)]]

Nördlingen effectively destroyed Swedish power in southern Germany, and has been described by some commentators as "arguably the most important battle of the war".{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=386}} It has been also portrayed as "a Spanish victory," with victory owing much to the performance of the veteran tercios, while Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand performed well in what was his first battlefield command.{{Sfn|Benavides|2021|pp=131-132}} The Imperial army retook most of Württemberg and moved into the [[Rhineland]], while Ferdinand and his troops continued into the [[Spanish Netherlands]], where he took up his appointment as Governor.{{Sfn|Benavides|2021|p=133}} 

Swedish Chancellor [[Axel Oxenstierna]] faced domestic pressure to end the war, stating defeat was "so terrible, it couldn't have been worse."{{Sfn|Benavides|2021|p=131}} In December, two of their main allies, [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] and [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Hesse-Darmstadt]], negotiated a peace agreement with Emperor Ferdinand, later formalised in the May 1635 [[Peace of Prague (1635)|Treaty of Prague]]. Its terms included the dissolution of the Heilbronn and Catholic Leagues, and the treaty is generally seen as the point when the Thirty Years' War ceased to be primarily a German religious conflict.{{Sfn|Parker|1997|pp=127–129}}

However, the collapse of the anti-Habsburg alliance in Germany now prompted direct French intervention. In February 1635, [[Cardinal Richelieu]] signed a treaty agreeing a joint Franco-Dutch offensive in the Spanish Netherlands, while a French army under [[Henri, Duke of Rohan]], cut the Spanish Road by invading the [[Valtellina]] in March.{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=387}} This was followed in April by a [[Treaty of Compiègne (1635)|new alliance]] with Sweden, as well as financing an army of 12,000 under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar in the Rhineland. In May, France formally declared war on Spain, starting the 1635 to 1659 [[Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)|Franco-Spanish War]].{{Sfn|Wedgwood|2005|pp=389–191}}