re-focus on the war against Spain in the Netherlands. On 19 May, Condé won an emphatic victory over the Spanish at Rocroi, though this was less significant than often assumed. It had no effect on control of the Southern Netherlands, and the Spanish veterans taken prisoner were quickly exchanged. However, in the long term it ended any prospect of invading France from the Low Countries. Condé's inability to take full advantage of Rocroi was partially due to factors that affected all the combatants. The devastation inflicted by 25 years of warfare meant armies spent more time foraging than fighting, forcing them to become smaller and more mobile with a much greater emphasis on cavalry. It also shortened the campaigning seasons, since the need to gather forage meant they started later, and restricted them to areas that could be easily supplied, usually close to rivers. In addition, the French had to rebuild their army in Germany after it was shattered by an Imperial-Bavarian force led by Franz von Mercy at Tuttlingen in November. Soon after Rocroi, Ferdinand invited Sweden and France to attend peace talks in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück, but these were delayed when Christian of Denmark blockaded Hamburg and increased toll payments in the Baltic. This severely impacted the Dutch and Swedish economies and in December 1643 the Swedes began the Torstenson War by invading Jutland, with the Dutch providing naval support. Ferdinand pulled together an Imperial army under Gallas to attack the Swedes from the rear, which proved a disastrous decision. Leaving Wrangel to finish the war in Denmark, in May 1644 Torstenson marched into the Empire; Gallas was unable to stop him, while the Danes sued for peace after their defeat at Fehmarn in October 1644. In August 1644, the French and Bavarian armies met in the three day Battle of Freiburg, in which both sides suffered heavy casualties but is generally viewed as a narrow Bavarian victory. His losses convinced Maximilian the war could no longer be won and he now put pressure on Ferdinand to end the conflict. Shortly after peace talks restarted in November, Gallas' Imperial army disintegrated and the remnants retreated into Bohemia, where they were scattered by Torstenson at Jankau in March 1645. In May, a Bavarian force under von Mercy destroyed a French detachment at Herbsthausen, before he was defeated and killed at Second Nördlingen in August. With