Which battle in 1643 was a major French victory?

The Battle of Rocroi was the major French victory in 1643. Fought on 19 May near Rocroi in northern France, it pitted a French army commanded by the young Duke of Enghien, later known as the Great Condé, against Spain’s Army of Flanders under Francisco de Melo.

Rocroi took place only days after the death of King Louis XIII and the accession of the child Louis XIV. French victory relieved the siege of Rocroi and prevented the Spanish army from opening a route deeper into France. The battle also strengthened the position of the queen regent, Anne of Austria, and Richelieu’s successor, Cardinal Mazarin.

Its greatest significance was symbolic and military. Spanish tercios had dominated European battlefields for generations, but French cavalry and coordinated attacks broke the Spanish formation and forced a costly surrender by parts of the infantry. Rocroi therefore became associated with the decline of Spanish military supremacy and the rise of France.

The victory did not immediately end the war or destroy Spanish power. Spain regrouped, and the wider Franco-Spanish conflict continued until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.