 In 1621, George Frederick began recruiting troops to campaign against the Catholic forces, which had begun a successful advance in 1620.In order not to lose his Margraviate to an imperial ban for waging war on the emperor, he abdicated in 1622, in favour of his son, Frederick V.

In the spring of 1622, after the Estates granted him a special war tax for three years, he had between and  mercenaries at his disposal, with a relatively large amount of artillery, in addition to the regiment that would remain behind to defend Baden.On 24/25 April 1622, he began a campaign against the Emperor and his Catholic allies.