The Thirty Years' War - James Aitken Wylie

having been foreseen, no plan of resistance had
been arranged; and though the citizens, knowing
the horrors that were entering with the soldiers,
fought with a desperate bravery, they were unable -
- without a leader, and without a plan -- to stem the
torrent of armed men who were every minute
pouring into their city. It was easy scaling the
walls, when defended by only a handful of men; it
was equally easy forcing the gates, when the
guards had been withdrawn to fight on the
ramparts. Every moment the odds against the
citizens were becoming more overwhelming, and
by twelve o'clock all resistance was at an end, and
Magdeburg was in the hands of the enemy.
Tilly now entered with the army. He took
possession of the principal streets with his troops,
and pointing his shotted cannon upon the masses of
the citizens, compelled them to retire into their
houses, there to await their fate. Regiment after
regiment poured into Magdeburg. There entered,
besides the German troops, the pitiless Walloons,
followed by the yet more terrible Croats. What a
horde of ruffianism! Although an army of wolves
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