On the following year, Mansfeld and his troops, marched toward the Catholic stronghold of Budweis, 75 miles to the southeast. After seven hours of fighting, Mansfeld withdrew at nightfall ~ he lost his baggage train and 1,500 troops in casualties or captured. This was a great Catholic victory. General Ambrogio di Spinola sent a 20,000-man army from the Spanish Netherlands to be under the direction of Gonzales de Cordoba to occupy Mainz. Kreuznach, Oppenheim and other Rhine strong points in the fall of 1621. Europe had expected that the struggle between Catholic and Protestant would be renewed in 1621, when the truce between Spain and the northern provinces of the Netherlands came to an end. But it began in the Empire several years earlier and gradually most of Europe became involved. Since Charles V, backed by the power of Spain, had been unable either to strengthen his authority at the expense of the territorial princes or to wipe out Protestantism, it was understandable that his immediate successors preferred to leave the constitutional and religious issues alone. Ferdinand I and Maximilian II devoted most of their energy to fighting the Turks. .
In the winter of 1621 General Count Ernst Von Mansfield encamped in Aisace. In the spring of 1622 he crossed the Rhine to team up with an allied force under George Frederick (the margrave of Baden - Durlach. On April 22,1622 the army of Tilly crashed into the Protestant rear guard at Wiesloch. Tilly pulled back, but when Mansfield stayed put, the Catholic Commander marched around him to team up with Cordoba later that month. This made the Protestant forces disadvantaged, until Christian of Brunswick (who was moving down north) could reinforce them. In May 1622 the Protestant forces of Frederick V found themselves opposed by two Catholic armies, the Spanish army under the direction of Gonzalez de Cordoba and the Catholic league under the Count of Tilly.
