The Latin phrase bellum se ipsum alet or bellum se ipsum alit The Latin phrase bellum se ipsum alet or bellum se ipsum alit The Latin phrase bellum se ipsum alet or bellum se ipsum alit . Episodes of
famineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species, which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality...
and disease significantly decreased the populace of the German states and the
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
and Italy, while
bankruptingNational bankruptcy is the formal declaration of a government to not or only partially pay/meet its debts or the de facto cessation of due payments.-Insolvency/over-indebtedness of the state:...
most of the combatant
powersIn international relations, a regional power is a state that has power within a geographic region. They define the polarity of any given regional security complex...
. While the regiments within each army were not strictly
mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
in that they were not guns for hire that changed sides from battle to battle, the individual soldiers that made up the regiments for the most part probably were. The problem of discipline was made more difficult still by the ad hoc nature of 17th century military financing. Armies were expected to be largely self-funding from loot taken or tribute extorted from the settlements where they operated. This encouraged a form of lawlessness that imposed often severe hardship on inhabitants of the occupied territory. Some of the quarrels that provoked the war went unresolved for a much longer time. The Thirty Years' War was ended with the treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider
Peace of WestphaliaThe term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Republic of the Seven...
.
Origins of the war
The
Peace of AugsburgThe Peace of Augsburg was a treaty between Charles V and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes, on September 25, 1555, at the imperial city of Augsburg, now in present-day Bavaria, Germany. It provided the first legal basis for the co-existence of Catholicism and...
(1555), signed by
Charles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
, confirmed the result of the 1526
Diet of SpeyerThe First Diet of Speyer was the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire 1526 in the city of Speyer, Germany.-Cause:As Protestantism advanced, the execution of the Edict of Worms became less and less...
, ending war between German Lutherans and Catholics.
The Peace of Augsburg stated:
- Rulers of the 225 German states could choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) of their realms according to their consciences, and compel their subjects to follow that faith (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio
Cuius regio, eius religio is a phrase in Latin loosely translated as "Whose realm, his religion". In other words, the religion of the ruler dictated the religion of the ruled...
).
- Lutherans living in a prince-bishopric (a state ruled by a Catholic bishop) could continue to practice their faith.
- Lutherans could keep the territory that they had captured from the Catholic Church since the Peace of Passau
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had won a victory against Protestantism in the Schmalkaldic War of 1547. Many Protestant princes were unhappy with the religious terms of the Augsburg Interim imposed after this victory. In January 1552, led by Maurice of Saxony, many formed an alliance with Henry II of...
in 1552.
- Those prince-bishop
A Prince-Bishop is a bishop who is a territorial Prince of the Church on account of one or more secular principalities, usually pre-existent titles of nobility held concurrently with their inherent clerical office...
s who had converted to Lutheranism were required to give up their territories (the principle called reservatum ecclesiasticumThe reservatum ecclesiasticum was a measure inserted into the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 to balance the principal proviso of cuius regio, eius religio in ecclesiastical lands...
).
Although the Peace of Augsburg created a temporary end to hostilities, it did not solve the underlying religious conflict. In addition,
CalvinismCalvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
spread quickly throughout Germany in the years that followed. This added a third major faith to the region, but its position was not recognized in any way by the Augsburg terms, to which only Catholicism and Lutheranism were parties.
The rulers of the nations neighboring the Holy Roman Empire also contributed to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War:
- Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
was interested in the German states because it held the territories of the Spanish Netherlands on the western border of the Empire and states within Italy which were connected by land through the Spanish RoadThe "Spanish Road" was a military supply/trade route used from 1567–1620, which stretched from Northern Italy to the Low Countries. It crossed through relatively neutral territory, and was therefore Europe's most preferred military route...
. The Dutch revolted against the Spanish domination during the 1560s, leading to a protracted war of independenceThe Dutch Revolt or the Revolt of the Netherlands , was the partially successful revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries against the Spanish Empire. It led to the formation of the independent Dutch state of the Netherlands and marked the beginning of the Eighty Years' War...
that led to a truce only in 1609.
- France
France , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
was nearly surrounded by territory controlled by the two Habsburg states (Spain and the Holy Roman Empire), and was eager to exert its power against the weaker German states; this dynastic concern overtook religious ones and led to Catholic France's participation on the otherwise Protestant side of the war.
- Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
and DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
were interested in gaining control over northern German states bordering the Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
.
The
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
was a fragmented collection of largely independent states. The position of Holy Roman Emperor was mainly titular, but the emperors, from the House of Habsburg, also directly ruled a large portion of Imperial territory (the
Archduchy of AustriaThe Archduchy of Austria , one of the most important states within the Holy Roman Empire, was the center of the Habsburg Monarchy and the predecessor of the Austrian Empire. Over nearly 700 years, it evolved from a margravate to the center of an empire...
, as well as
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
and
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
). The Austrian domain was thus a major European power in its own right, ruling over some eight million subjects. The Empire also contained several regional powers, such as
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Electoral Saxony, the Margravate of Brandenburg, the Palatinate,
HesseThe Landgraviate of Hesse was a Landgraviate of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a unity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided between the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse.-History:...
, the
Archbishopric of TrierThe Archbishopric of Trier was a Roman Catholic diocese in Germany, that existed from Carolingian times until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Its suffragans were the dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun. Since the 9th century the Archbishops of Trier were simultaneously princes and since the 11th...
and
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
(containing from 500,000 to one million inhabitants). A vast number of minor independent duchies,
free citiesFree city may refer to:* City-state, region controlled exclusively by a sovereign city* Free Imperial City, city in the Holy Roman Empire under the emperor's direct control...
, abbeys, prince-bishoprics, and petty lordships (whose authority sometimes extended to no more than a single village) rounded out the Empire. Apart from Austria and perhaps Bavaria, none of those entities was capable of national-level politics; alliances between family-related states were common, due partly to the frequent practice of splitting a lord's inheritance among the various sons.
Religious tensions remained strong throughout the second half of the 16th century. The Peace of Augsburg began to unravel as some converted bishops refused to give up their
bishopricsIn some forms of Christianity, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a bishop. It is also referred to as a bishopric or Episcopal Area or episcopal see, though strictly the term episcopal see refers to the domain of ecclesiastical authority officially held by the bishop,...
, and as certain Habsburg and other Catholic rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain sought to restore the power of Catholicism in the region. This was evident from the
Cologne WarThe Cologne War, 1583–1588, also called the Seneschal War or the Seneschal Upheaval, was triggered by the 1582 conversion of the Archbishop-Prince Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, to Calvinism, his subsequent marriage to Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben in 1583, and his...
(1583-88), a conflict initiated when the prince-archbishop of the city,
Gebhard Truchsess von WaldburgGebhard Truchsess von Waldburg was the prince-elector and archbishop of Cologne. After pursuing an ecclesiastical career, he won a close election in the Cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst of Bavaria...
, converted to Calvinism. As he was an imperial elector, this could have produced a Protestant majority in the College that elected the Holy Roman Emperor – a position that had always been held by a Catholic.
In the Cologne War, Spanish troops expelled the former prince-archbishop and replaced him with Ernst of Bavaria, a Roman Catholic. After this success, the Catholics regained pace, and the principle of
cuius regio, eius religio began to be exerted more strictly in Bavaria,
WürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located on the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
and other states. This forced Lutheran residents to choose between conversion or exile. Lutherans also witnessed the defection of the lords of the Palatinate (1560), Nassau (1578), Hesse-Kassel (1603) and Brandenburg (1613) to the new Calvinist faith. Thus at the beginning of the 17th century the Rhine lands and those south to the
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
were largely Catholic, while Lutherans predominated in the north, and Calvinists dominated in certain other areas, such as west-central Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. However, minorities of each creed existed almost everywhere. In some lordships and cities the number of Calvinists, Catholics, and Lutherans were approximately equal.
Much to the consternation of their Spanish ruling cousins, the Habsburg emperors who followed
Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
(especially
Ferdinand IFerdinand I was a Central European monarch from the House of Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526. He ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs most of his public life, at the behest of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and...
and
Maximilian IIMaximilian II was king of Bohemia from 1562, king of Hungary from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1564 and king of the Romans until his death. He was a member of the House of Habsburg.-Biography:...
, but also
Rudolf IIRudolf II , Holy Roman Emperor as Rudolf II , King of Hungary as Rudolf , King of Bohemia as Rudolf II and Archduke of Austria as Rudolf V...
, and his successor
MatthiasMatthias was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary from 1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611...
) were content for the princes of the Empire to choose their own religious policies. These rulers avoided religious wars within the empire by allowing the different Christian faiths to spread without coercion. This angered those who sought religious uniformity. Meanwhile, Sweden and Denmark, both Lutheran kingdoms, sought to assist the Protestant cause in the Empire, and also wanted to gain political and economic influence there as well.
Religious tensions broke into violence in the German
free cityIn the Holy Roman Empire, a free imperial city was a city formally ruled by the emperor only — as opposed to the majority of cities in the Empire, which were governed by one of the many princes of the Empire, such as dukes or prince-bishops...
of
DonauwörthDonauwörth is a city in the German State of Bavaria , in the region of Swabia . It is said to have been founded by two fisherman where the Danube and Wörnitz rivers meet...
in 1606. There, the Lutheran majority barred the Catholic residents of the
SwabiaSwabia, Suabia, or Svebia is both a historic and linguistic region in Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg , as well as the Bavarian administrative region of Swabia...
n town from holding a procession, which provoked a riot. This prompted foreign intervention by Duke
Maximilian of BavariaMaximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....
(1573–1651) on behalf of the Catholics. After the violence ceased, Calvinists in Germany (who remained a minority) felt the most threatened. They banded together and formed the League of Evangelical Union in 1608, under the leadership of the Palatine
Prince-ElectorThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors....
Frederick IVFrederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine , only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" .-Life:Born in Amberg, his father had died in October 1583 and Frederick came under the...
(1583–1610), (whose son,
Frederick VFrederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia...
, married
Elizabeth StuartElizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of James VI and I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. She was thus sister to King Charles I and cousin to King Frederick III of Denmark...
, the daughter of
James I of EnglandJames VI & I was King of Scots as James VI from 1567 to 1625, and King of England and Ireland as James I from 1603 to 1625....
). The establishment of the League prompted the Catholics into banding together to form the
Catholic LeagueThe German Catholic League was initially a loose confederation of Roman Catholic German states formed on July 10, 1609 to counteract the Protestant Union , whereby the participating states concluded an alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire." Modeled...
in 1609, under the leadership of Duke Maximilian.
By 1617 it was apparent that
MatthiasMatthias was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary from 1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611...
, Holy Roman Emperor and King of
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
, would die without an heir, with his lands going to his nearest male relative, his cousin
Archduke Ferdinand II of AustriaFerdinand II , of the House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , King of Hungary .-Life:...
, heir-apparent and Crown Prince of Bohemia.
Ferdinand, having been educated by the
JesuitsThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits.Jesuits are the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church, with 18,815 members—13,305 priests, 2,295 scholastic students, 1,758 brothers and 827 novices—as of January 2008, although the...
, was a staunch Catholic who wanted to impose religious uniformity on his lands. This made him highly unpopular in Protestant (primarily
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
) Bohemia. The population's sentiments notwithstanding, the added insult of the
nobilityNobility is a state-privileged status which is generally hereditary, but which may also be personal only. Titles of nobility are usually associated with present or former monarchies. The term originally referred to those who were "known" or "notable" and was applied to the highest social class in...
's rejection of Ferdinand, who had been elected Bohemian Crown Prince in 1617, triggered the Thirty Years' War in 1618 when his representatives were thrown out of a window into a pile of horse manure. The so-called
Defenestration of Prague provoked open revolt in Bohemia which had powerful foreign allies. Ferdinand was quite upset by this calculated insult, but his intolerant policies in his own lands had left him in a weak position. The Habsburg cause in the next couple of years would seem to suffer unrecoverable reverses. The Protestant cause seemed to wax toward a quick overall victory.
The war can be divided into four major phases: The Bohemian Revolt, the Danish intervention, the Swedish intervention and the French intervention.
1618–1620
Without heirs,
Emperor MatthiasMatthias was Holy Roman Emperor from 1612, King of Hungary from 1608 and King of Bohemia from 1611...
sought to assure an orderly transition during his lifetime by having his dynastic heir (the fiercely Catholic Ferdinand of Styria, later
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman EmperorFerdinand II , of the House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , King of Hungary .-Life:...
) elected to the separate royal thrones of
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
and Hungary. Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared they would be losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II in his letter of majesty. They preferred the Protestant
Frederick V, elector of the PalatinateFrederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia...
(successor of
Frederick IVFrederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine , only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" .-Life:Born in Amberg, his father had died in October 1583 and Frederick came under the...
, the creator of the League of Evangelical Union). However, other Protestants supported the stance taken by the Catholics, and in 1617, Ferdinand was duly elected by the Bohemian
estatesThe Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners recognized in the Middle Ages and later, in some parts of Europe...
to become the Crown Prince, and automatically upon the death of Matthias, the next King of Bohemia.
The king-elect then sent two Catholic councillors (
Vilem Slavata of ChlumVilém Slavata z Chlumu a Košumberka was a Czech nobleman from old Bohemian family. As representative of Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg he became famous as co-victim, along with Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice, of the 1618 Defenestration of Prague.-Life:Vilém was born at his family's estates in...
and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice) as his representatives to
HradčanyHradčany , the Castle District, is the district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, surrounding the Prague Castle.The castle is said to be the biggest castle in the world at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide. Its history stretches back to the 9th century...
castlePrague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Czech kings, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here...
in
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
in May 1618. Ferdinand had wanted them to administer the government in his absence. According to legend, the Bohemian Hussites suddenly seized them, subjected them to a mock trial, and threw them out of the palace window, which was some 50 feet off the ground. Remarkably, they survived unharmed; they landed in a pile of
manureManure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen that is trapped by bacteria in the soil...
, which saved their lives.
This event, known as the (Second) Defenestration of Prague, started the Bohemian Revolt. Soon afterward the Bohemian conflict spread through all of Greater Bohemia, which was effectively
BohemiaBohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands, currently the Czech Republic...
,
SilesiaSilesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany....
,
LusatiaLusatia is a historical region between the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers and the Elbe river in the eastern German states of Saxony and Brandenburg and south-western Poland ....
and
MoraviaMoravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...
. Moravia was already embroiled in a conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The religious conflict eventually spread across the whole continent of Europe, involving France, Sweden, and a number of other countries.
Had the Bohemian rebellion remained a local conflict, the war could have been over in fewer than thirty months. However, the death of Emperor Matthias emboldened the rebellious Protestant leaders, who had been on the verge of a settlement. The weaknesses of both Ferdinand (now officially on the throne after the death of Emperor Matthias) and of the Bohemians themselves led to the spread of the war to western Germany. Ferdinand was compelled to call on his nephew, King
Philip IV of SpainPhilip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640. On the eve of his death in 1665, the Spanish empire reached its territorial zenith spanning almost 3 billion acres...
, for assistance.
The Bohemians, desperate for allies against the Emperor, applied to be admitted into the
Protestant UnionThe Protestant Union or League of Evangelical Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that was formed in 1608 to defend the rights, lands and person of each member....
, which was led by their original candidate for the Bohemian throne, the Calvinist
Frederick V, Elector PalatineFrederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia...
. The Bohemians hinted that Frederick would become King of Bohemia if he allowed them to join the Union and come under its protection. However, similar offers were made by other members of the Bohemian Estates to the
Duke of SavoyCharles Emmanuel I , , surnamed the Great, was the Duke of Savoy from 1580 to 1630...
, the
Elector of SaxonyJohn George I was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.-Biography:Born in Dresden, he was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg....
, and the
Prince of TransylvaniaGabriel Bethlen was a prince of Transylvania , duke of Opole and leader of an anti-Habsburg insurrection in the Habsburg Royal Hungary. His last armed intervention in 1626 was part of the Thirty Years' War...
. The Austrians, who seemed to have intercepted every letter leaving Prague, made these duplicities public.
This unraveled much of the support for the Bohemians, particularly in the court of Saxony.
The rebellion initially favoured the Bohemians. They were joined in the revolt by much of
Upper AustriaUpper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
, whose nobility was then chiefly Lutheran and Calvinist.
Lower AustriaLower Austria is the northeast state of the nine states or Bundesländer in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten , but formerly, the capital of Lower Austria was Vienna, even though Vienna is not properly part of Lower Austria...
revolted soon after and in 1619,
Count ThurnCount Jindrich Matyas Thurn-Valsassina, English: Henry Matthew Thurn-Valsassina, German: Heinrich Matthias Graf von Thurn und Valsassina, Italian: Enrico Matteo Conte della Torre di Valsassina, Finnish: Henrikki Matias Thurn-Valsassina , was a leading Bohemian nobleman, one of leaders against...
led an army to the walls of
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
itself.
Ottoman support
In the east, the Protestant Hungarian Prince of
TransylvaniaTransylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term frequently encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
Bethlen Gabor led a spirited campaign into Hungary with the support of the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
Sultan,
Osman IISultan Osman II or Othman II
was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1618 until his death on 20 May 1622...
. Fearful of the Catholic policies of
Ferdinand IIFerdinand II , of the House of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , King of Hungary .-Life:...
, Bethlen Gabor requested a protectorate by Osman, so that "the Ottoman Empire became the one and only ally of great-power status which the rebellious Bohemian states could muster after they had shaken off Habsburg rule and had elected
Frederick VFrederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia...
as a Protestant king". Ambassadors were exchanged, with Heinrich Bitter visiting
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
in January 1620, and Mehmed Aga visiting Prague in July 1620. The Ottomans offered a force of 60,000 cavalry to Frederick and plans were made for an invasion of Poland with 400,000 troops in exchange for the payment of an annual tribute to the Sultan. These negotiations triggered the Polish–Ottoman War of 1620-21. The Ottomans defeated the Poles, who were supporting the Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War, at the
Battle of CecoraThe Battle of Ţuţora was a battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Ottoman forces , fought from September 17 to October 7, 1620 in Moldavia, near the Prut river.- Prelude to battle :Because of the failure of Commonwealth diplomatic mission to Istanbul, and violations of...
in September-October 1620, but were not able to further intervene efficiently before the Bohemian defeat at the Battle of the White Mountain in November 1620.
The emperor, who had been preoccupied with the
Uskok WarThe Uskok War was fought between the Austrians and Spanish on one side and the Venetians, Dutch and English on the other. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe caused a wave of refugees which settled along the eastern Adriatic. Based out of Senj The Uskok War was fought between the...
, hurried to reform an army to stop the Bohemians and their allies from overwhelming his country. Count Bucquoy, the commander of the Imperial army, defeated the forces of the
Protestant UnionThe Protestant Union or League of Evangelical Union was a coalition of Protestant German states that was formed in 1608 to defend the rights, lands and person of each member....
led by
Count MansfeldErnst, Graf von Mansfeld was a German military commander.-Biography:Mansfeld was an illegitimate son of Graf Peter Ernst von Mansfeld , and passed his early years in his father's palace at Luxembourg....
at the Battle of Sablat, on 10 June 1619. This cut off Count Thurn's communications with Prague, and he was forced to abandon his siege of Vienna. The Battle of Sablat also cost the Protestants an important ally — Savoy, long an opponent of Habsburg expansion. Savoy had already sent considerable sums of money to the Protestants and even troops to garrison fortresses in the
RhinelandThe Rhineland is the general name for the land on both sides of the river Rhine in the west of Germany. After the collapse of the French Empire in the early 19th century, the German and Dutch speaking regions at the middle and lower course of the Rhine were annexed to the kingdom of Prussia...
. The capture of Mansfeld's field chancery revealed the Savoyards' involvement and they were forced to bow out of the war.
In spite of Sablat, Count Thurn's army continued to exist as an effective force, and Mansfeld managed to reform his army further north in Bohemia. The Estates of Upper and Lower Austria, still in revolt, signed an alliance with the Bohemians in early August. On 17 August 1619 Ferdinand was officially deposed as King of Bohemia and was replaced by the Palatine Elector Frederick V. In Hungary, even though the Bohemians had reneged on their offer of their crown, the Transylvanians continued to make surprising progress. They succeeded in driving the Emperor's armies from that country by 1620.
1620–1625
The Spanish sent an army from Brussels under Ambrogio Spinola to
support the Emperor. In addition, the Spanish ambassador to Vienna,
Don Íñigo Vélez de OñateÍñigo Vélez de Guevara, seventh Count of Oñate and Count of Villamediana was a Spanish political figure. He played an important role in the Thirty Years War.He was the son of Pedro Vélez de Guevara and María de Tassis.
...
, persuaded Protestant
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
to intervene against Bohemia in exchange for control over Lusatia. The Saxons invaded, and the Spanish army in the west prevented the Protestant Union's forces from assisting. Oñate conspired to transfer the electoral title from the Palatinate to the Duke of Bavaria in exchange for his support and that of the Catholic League.
Under the command of General Philyaw, the Catholic League's army (which included
René DescartesRené Descartes , , also known as Renatus Cartesius , was a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic...
in its ranks) pacified Upper Austria, while the Emperor's forces pacified Lower Austria. The two armies united and moved north into Bohemia. Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the
Battle of White MountainThe Battle of White Mountain, 8 November 1620 was an early battle in the Thirty Years' War in which an army of 15,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 27,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor under Charles Bonaventure de Longueval,...
, near
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Nicknames for Prague have included "the mother of cities" , "city of a hundred spires", or Stověžatá Praha in Czech and "the golden city" or Zlaté město in Czech.Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia, Prague has been the...
, on 8 November 1620. In addition to becoming Catholic, Bohemia would remain in Habsburg hands for nearly three hundred years.
This defeat led to the dissolution of the League of Evangelical Union and the loss of Frederick V's holdings. Frederick was outlawed from the Holy Roman Empire and his territories, the Rhenish Palatinate, were given to Catholic nobles. His title of elector of the Palatinate was given to his distant cousin Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. Frederick, now landless, made himself a prominent exile abroad and tried to curry support for his cause in Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark.
This was a serious blow to Protestant ambitions in the region. As the rebellion collapsed, the widespread confiscation of property and suppression of the Bohemian nobility ensured that the country would return to the Catholic side after more than two centuries of
HussiteThe Hussites were a Christian movement following the teachings of Czech reformer Jan Huss , who became one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation...
and other religious dissent. The Spanish, seeking to outflank the Dutch in preparation for renewal of the Eighty Years' War, took Frederick's lands, the Rhine Palatinate. The first phase of the war in eastern Germany ended 31 December 1621, when the Prince of Transylvania and the Emperor signed the
Peace of NikolsburgThe Peace of Nikolsburg or Peace of Mikulov was signed on December 31 1621 in Nikolsburg, Moravia . Esterhazy of Galantha contributed significantly to the negotiations...
, which gave Transylvania a number of territories in
Royal HungaryRoyal Hungary was the name of medieval Kingdom of Hungary where the Habsburgs were recognized as Kings of Hungary in the wake of the Ottoman victory at the Battle of Mohács and subsequent partition of the country....
.
Some historians regard the period from 1621–1625 as a distinct portion of the Thirty Years' War, calling it the "Palatinate phase". With the catastrophic defeat of the Protestant army at White Mountain and the departure of the Prince of Transylvania, greater Bohemia was pacified. However, the war in the Palatinate continued: Famous mercenary leaders - such as, particularly, Count
Ernst von MansfeldErnst, Graf von Mansfeld was a German military commander.-Biography:Mansfeld was an illegitimate son of Graf Peter Ernst von Mansfeld , and passed his early years in his father's palace at Luxembourg....
- helped Frederick V to defend his countries, the Upper and the Rhine Palatinate. This phase of the war consisted of much smaller battles, mostly sieges conducted by the Spanish army.
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
and
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
fell in 1622, and
FrankenthalFrankenthal is a city in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.- History :Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, after the founder, as the Erkenbertruine — still stand today in the town...
was taken two years later, thus leaving the Palatinate in the hands of the Spanish.
The remnants of the Protestant armies, led by Count
Ernst von MansfeldErnst, Graf von Mansfeld was a German military commander.-Biography:Mansfeld was an illegitimate son of Graf Peter Ernst von Mansfeld , and passed his early years in his father's palace at Luxembourg....
and Duke Christian of Brunswick, withdrew into Dutch service. Although their arrival in the Netherlands did help to lift the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom (October 1622), the Dutch could not provide permanent shelter for them. They were paid off and sent to occupy neighboring East Friesland. Mansfeld remained in the Dutch Republic, but Christian wandered off to "assist" his kin in the
Lower Saxon CircleThe Lower Saxon Circle was an Imperial Circle of the Holy Roman Empire. Covering much of the territory settled by the original Saxons firstly the circle used to be called the Saxon Circle , only to be later better differentiated from the Upper Saxon Circle the more specific name prevailed.An...
, attracting the attentions of Tilly. With the news that Mansfeld would not be supporting him, Christian's army began a steady retreat toward the safety of the Dutch border. On 6 August
1623, Tilly's more disciplined army caught up with them 10 miles short of the Dutch border. The battle that ensued was known as the
Battle of StadtlohnThe Battle of Stadtlohn was fought on August 6, 1623 between Roman Catholic and Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War. The Catholics were led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, while the Protestants were led by Duke Christian of Brunswick....
. In this battle Tilly decisively defeated Christian, wiping out over four-fifths of his army, which had been some 15,000 strong. After this catastrophe, Frederick V, already in exile in The Hague, and under growing pressure from his father-in-law James I to end his involvement in the war, was forced to abandon any hope of launching further campaigns. The Protestant rebellion had been crushed.
Huguenot rebellions (1620-1628)
In
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the Protestant Huguenots, mainly located in the southwestern provinces, revolted against the central Royal power of the French government. The uprising followed the death of
Henry IVHenry IV was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France. His parents were Queen Jeanne III and King Antoine of Navarre.As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the Wars of Religion before...
, who, himself originally a Huguenot before converting to
CatholicismCatholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole...
, had protected Protestant through the
Edict of NantesThe Edict of Nantes was issued on April 13, 1598. by Henry IV of France to grant the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic...
. The new ruler however, Louis XIII, under the regency of his Italian Catholic mother
Marie de' MediciMarie de Médici , was queen consort of France. She was the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the Bourbon branch of the kings of France...
, became more intolerant of the Protestant religion. The Huguenots tried to respond by defending themselves, establishing independent political and military structures, establishing diplomatic contacts with foreign powers, and openly revolting against central power. The Huguenot rebellions came after two decades of internal peace under Henry IV, following the intermittent
French Wars of ReligionThe French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants...
of 1562–1598. The rebellion led to major military encounters, which ended in defeat for the Huguenots: the
Siege of MontaubanThe Siege of Montauban was a siege accomplished by the young French king Louis XIII in 1621, against the Protestant stronghold of Montauban...
, the
Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-RéThe Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré took place on 27 October 1622, between the Huguenot fleet of La Rochelle under Jean Guiton, and a Royal fleet under Charles de Guise....
on 27 October 1622, the
Capture of Ré islandThe Capture of Ré Island was accomplished by the army of Louis XIII in 1625. The Island of Ré was retaken from the Protestant admiral Soubise and the Huguenot forces of La Rochelle, during the second of the Huguenot rebellions.-Background:The Protestants had been resisting the central Royal...
in 1625, and the
Siege of La RochelleThe Siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627-1628...
in 1627-1628 which became an international conflict with the involvement of England in the
Anglo-French War (1627-1629)The Anglo-French war of 1627-1629 was part of the Thirty Years' War. It mainly involved actions at sea. The center of the conflict surrounded the Siege of La Rochelle, in which the English crown supported the French Huguenots in their fight against the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France in...
. After this defeat, England stopped being involved in European affairs to the dismay of Protestant forces on the continent.
Danish intervention (1625–1629)
Peace in the Empire was short-lived, however, as conflict resumed at the initiation of Denmark. Danish involvement, referred to as
Low Saxon War or
Kejserkrigen ("Emperor's War"), began when
Christian IV of DenmarkChristian IV was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 until his death. He is sometimes referred to as Christian Firtal in Denmark and Christian Kvart or Quart in Norway.-Biography:...
, a Lutheran who was also the Duke of Holstein, a duchy within the Holy Roman Empire, helped the Lutheran rulers of neighbouring
Lower SaxonyLower Saxony lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen Bundesländer of Germany...
by leading an army against the Imperial forces. Denmark had feared that its
sovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
as a Protestant nation was threatened by the recent Catholic successes. Christian IV had also profited greatly from his policies in northern Germany. For instance, in 1621, Hamburg had been forced to accept Danish sovereignty and Christian's second son was made bishop of
BremenThe Archdiocese of Bremen was a historical Roman Catholic diocese and formed from 1180 to 1648 an ecclesiastical state , named Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen within the Holy Roman Empire...
. Christian IV had obtained for his kingdom a level of stability and wealth that was virtually unmatched elsewhere in Europe. This stability and wealth was paid for by tolls on the
OresundØresund or Öresund , sometimes also known as The Sound, is the strait that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania...
and also by extensive war reparations from Sweden. Denmark's cause was aided by France which, together with England, had agreed to help subsidize the war. Christian had himself appointed war leader of the Lower Saxon Circle and raised an army of 20,000 mercenaries and a national army 15,000 strong.
To fight him, Ferdinand II employed the military help of
Albrecht von Wallenstein,a Bohemian soldier and politician, gave his services during the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II...
, a Bohemian nobleman who had made himself rich from the confiscated estates of his countrymen. Wallenstein pledged his army, which numbered between 30,000 and 100,000 soldiers, to Ferdinand II in return for the right to plunder the captured territories. Christian, who knew nothing of Wallenstein's forces when he invaded, was forced to retire before the combined forces of Wallenstein and Tilly. Christian's poor luck was with him again when all of the allies he thought he had were forced aside: England was weak and internally divided, France was in the midst of a civil war, Sweden was at war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and neither Brandenburg nor Saxony were interested in changes to the tenuous peace in eastern Germany. Wallenstein defeated Mansfeld's army at the
Battle of Dessau BridgeThe Battle of Dessau Bridge was a battle of the Thirty Years' War near Dessau on April 25 1626. The Imperial Roman Catholic forces of Albrecht von Wallenstein defeated the Protestant forces of Ernst von Mansfeld in the battle....
(1626) and General Tilly defeated the Danes at the
Battle of LutterThe Battle of Lutter took place during the Thirty Years' War, on 27 August 1626, between the forces of the Protestant Christian IV of Denmark and those of the Catholic League...
(1626). Mansfeld died some months later of illness, apparently tuberculosis, in
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
.
Wallenstein's army marched north, occupying
MecklenburgMecklenburg is a region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, and Neubrandenburg....
,
PomeraniaThe Capitulation of Franzburg was a treaty providing for the capitulation of the Duchy of Pomerania to the forces of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War...
, and ultimately
JutlandJutland , historically also called Cimbria, forms the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish-German border to its south...
itself. However, he was unable to take the Danish capital on the island of Zealand. Wallenstein lacked a fleet, and neither the
HanseaticHanseatic may refer to:* The Hanseatic League, a trading alliance in northern Europe in existence between the 13th and 17th centuries.* The Hanseatic , the synonym for the members of the upper class of the free imperial cities Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck since the middle of the 17th century after...
ports nor the
PolesThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was formed by the union of the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569. The new Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th-century Europe....
would allow an Imperial fleet to be built on the
BalticThe Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the...
coast. He then laid siege to
StralsundStralsund is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, situated at the southern coast of the Strelasund ....
, the only belligerent Baltic port with the facilities to build a large fleet. However, the cost of continuing the war was exorbitant compared to what could possibly be gained from conquering the rest of Denmark. Wallenstein feared to lose his North German gains to a Danish-Swedish alliance, and Christian IV had suffered another defeat in the
Battle of WolgastThe Battle of Wolgast was an engagement in the Thirty Years' War, fought on 22 August or 2 September 1628 near Wolgast, Duchy of Pomerania, Germany.[In the 17th century, the Julian calendar was used in the region, which then was ten days late compared to the Gregorian...]
, so both were ready to negotiate.
Negotiations were concluded with the
Treaty of LübeckTreaty or Peace of Lübeck ended the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War . It was signed in Lübeck on 22 May 1629 by Albrecht von Wallenstein and Christian IV of Denmark, and on 7 June by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. The Catholic League was formally included as a party...
in 1629, which stated that Christian IV could keep his control over Denmark if he would abandon his support for the Protestant German states. Thus, in the following two years more land was subjugated by the Catholic powers. At this point, the Catholic League persuaded Ferdinand II to take back the Lutheran holdings that were, according to the Peace of Augsburg, rightfully the possession of the Catholic Church. Enumerated in the
Edict of RestitutionThe Edict of Restitution, passed eleven years into the Thirty Years' Wars on March 6, 1629 following Catholic successes at arms, was a belated attempt by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor to impose and restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg...
(1629), these possessions included two Archbishoprics, sixteen bishoprics, and hundreds of monasteries. The same year, Gabriel Bethlen, the Calvinist Prince of Transylvania, died. Only the port of
StralsundStralsund is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, situated at the southern coast of the Strelasund ....
continued to hold out against Wallenstein and the Emperor.
Swedish intervention (1630–1635)
Some within Ferdinand II's court did not trust Wallenstein, believing that he sought to join forces with the German Princes and thus gain influence over the Emperor. Ferdinand II dismissed Wallenstein in 1630. He was to later recall him after the Swedes, led by King
Gustaf II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus)Gustav II Adolf , widely known in English by the Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus and variously in historical writings sometimes as simply just Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolf the Great, , was founder of the Swedish...
, had invaded the Holy Roman Empire with success and turned the tables on the Catholics. His contributions made Sweden the continental leader of Protestantism until the
Swedish EmpireSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
collapsed in 1721.
Gustavus Adolphus, like Christian IV before him, came to aid the German Lutherans, to forestall Catholic aggression against their homeland, and to obtain economic influence in the German states around the Baltic Sea. In addition, Gustavus was concerned about the growing power of the Holy Roman Empire. No one knows the exact reason for Gustavus to enter the war and this has been widely argued. Like Christian IV, Gustavus Adolphus was subsidized by
Cardinal RichelieuArmand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu , was a French clergyman, noble, and statesman....
, the Chief Minister of
Louis XIII of FranceLouis XIII reigned as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.-Early life, 1601—1610:Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici . As son of the king, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin...
, and by the Dutch. From 1630 to 1634, Swedish-led armies drove the Catholic forces back, regaining much of the lost Protestant territory. During his campaign he managed to conquer half of the Imperial kingdoms.
Swedish forces entered the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
via the
Duchy of PomeraniaThe Duchy of Pomerania was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania ....
, which served as the Swedish
bridgeheadA bridgehead is a military fortification that protects the end of a bridge that is closest to the enemy...
since the
Treaty of Stettin (1630)The Treaty of Stettin or Alliance of Stettin was the legal framework for the occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania by the Swedish Empire during the Thirty Years' War...
. After dismissing Wallenstein in 1630, Ferdinand II became dependent on the Catholic League. Gustavus Adolphus allied with
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in the
Treaty of BärwaldeThe Treaty of Bärwalde of 23 January 1631 was a treaty concluding an alliance between Sweden and France during the Thirty Years' War, shortly after Sweden had invaded Northern Germany then occupied by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor's forces...
(January 1631). France and Bavaria signed the secret
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1631)The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed on May 30, 1631 between Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and the Kingdom of France. The accord established a secret alliance between the two Catholic states during the Thirty Years' War.-Terms:...
, but this was rendered irrelevant by Swedish attacks against Bavaria. At the
Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)The Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld , was fought at the crossroads villages of Breitenfeld , Podelwitz , and Seehausen , approximately five miles northwest of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, 1631 September 7 September 17 The Battle of Breitenfeld or First...
, Gustavus Adolphus's forces defeated the Catholic League led by General Tilly.
A year later they met again in another Protestant victory, this time accompanied by the death of Tilly. The upper hand had now switched from the league to the union, led by Sweden. In 1630, Sweden had paid at least 2,368,022
dalerThe riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the...
for its army of 42,000 men. In 1632, it contributed only one-fifth of that (476,439
dalerThe riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the...
) towards the cost of an army more than three times as large (149,000 men). This was possible due to subsidies from France, and the recruitment of prisoners (most of them taken at the
Battle of BreitenfeldThe Battle of Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld , was fought at the crossroads villages of Breitenfeld , Podelwitz , and Seehausen , approximately five miles northwest of the walled city of Leipzig on September 17, 1631 September 7 September 17 The Battle of Breitenfeld or First...
) into the Swedish army. The majority of mercenaries recruited by Gustavus II Adolphus were German but Scottish mercenaries were also common.
With Tilly dead, Ferdinand II returned to the aid of Wallenstein and his large army. Wallenstein marched up to the south, threatening Gustavus Adolphus's supply chain. Gustavus Adolphus knew that Wallenstein was waiting for the attack and was prepared, but found no other option. Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus clashed in the
Battle of LützenThe Battle of Lützen was one of the most decisive battles of the Thirty Years' War. It was a Protestant victory, but cost the life of one of the most important leaders of the Protestant alliance, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, causing the Protestant campaign to lose direction.- Prelude to the battle...
(1632), where the Swedes prevailed, but Gustavus Adolphus was killed.
Ferdinand II's suspicion of Wallenstein resumed in 1633, when Wallenstein attempted to arbitrate the differences between the Catholic and Protestant sides. Ferdinand II may have feared that Wallenstein would switch sides, and arranged for his arrest after removing him from command. One of Wallenstein's soldiers, Captain Devereux, killed him when he attempted to contact the Swedes in the town hall of Eger (Cheb) on 25 February 1634. The same year, the Protestant forces, lacking his leadership, were defeated at the
First Battle of NördlingenThe Battle of Nördlingen was fought on 27 August or 6 September , 1634 during the Thirty Years' War...
.
By the Spring of 1635, all Swedish resistance in the south of Germany had ended. After that, the two sides met for negotiations, producing the
Peace of PragueThe Peace of Prague of 15 June 1635 was a treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, and most of the Protestant states of the Empire...
(1635), which entailed a delay in the enforcement of the Edict of Restitution for 40 years and allowed Protestant rulers to retain secularized bishoprics held by them in 1627. This protected the Lutheran rulers of northeastern Germany, but not those of the south and west (whose lands had been occupied by the Imperial or League armies prior to 1627). The treaty also provided for the union of the army of the Emperor and the armies of the German states into a single army of the Holy Roman Empire (although
Johann Georg of SaxonyJohn George I was Elector of Saxony from 1611 to 1656.-Biography:Born in Dresden, he was the second son of the Elector Christian I and Sophie of Brandenburg....
and
Maximillian of BavariaMaximilian I, Duke/Elector of Bavaria , called "the Great", was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War ....
kept, as a practical matter, independent command of their forces, now nominally components of the "Imperial" army). Finally, German princes were forbidden from establishing alliances amongst themselves or with foreign powers, and amnesty was granted to any ruler who had taken up arms against the Emperor after the arrival of the Swedes in 1630.
This treaty failed to satisfy France, however, because of the renewed strength it granted the Habsburgs. France then entered the conflict, beginning the final period of the Thirty Years' War.
French intervention (1636–1648)
France, although overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, was a rival of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. Cardinal Richelieu, the Chief Minister of King
Louis XIII of FranceLouis XIII reigned as King of France and Navarre from 1610 to 1643.-Early life, 1601—1610:Born at the Château de Fontainebleau, Louis XIII was the eldest child of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici . As son of the king, he was a Fils de France, and as the eldest son, the Dauphin...
, felt that the Habsburgs were too powerful, since they held a number of territories on France's eastern border, including portions of the Netherlands. Richelieu had already begun intervening indirectly in the war in January 1631, when the French diplomat Hercules de Charnace signed the
Treaty of BärwaldeThe Treaty of Bärwalde of 23 January 1631 was a treaty concluding an alliance between Sweden and France during the Thirty Years' War, shortly after Sweden had invaded Northern Germany then occupied by Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor's forces...
with Gustavus Adolphus, by which France agreed to support the Swedes with 1,000,000
livreThe livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins.-Origin:...
s each year in return for a Swedish promise to maintain an army in Germany against the Habsburgs. The treaty also stipulated that Sweden would not conclude a peace with the Holy Roman Emperor without first receiving France's approval.
After the Swedish rout at Nördlingen in September 1634 and the Peace of Prague in 1635, as Sweden's ability to continue the war alone appeared doubtful, Richelieu made the decision to enter into direct war against the Habsburgs. France declared war on Spain in May 1635 and the Holy Roman Empire in August 1636, opening offensives against the Habsburgs in Germany and the Low Countries.
French military efforts met with disaster, and the Spanish counter-attacked, invading French territory. The Imperial general
Johann von WerthCount Johann von Werth , also Jan von Werth or in French Jean de Werth, was a German general of cavalry in the Thirty Years' War....
and Spanish commander Cardinal Ferdinand Habsburg ravaged the French provinces of Champagne, Burgundy and Picardy, and even threatened Paris in 1636 before being repulsed by
Bernhard of Saxe-WeimarBernard of Saxe-Weimar was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War.-Biography:Born in Weimar within the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt.Bernard received an unusually good education and studied at the...
. Bernhard's victory in the Battle of
CompiègneCompiègne is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.The city is located along the Oise River. Its inhabitants are called Compiégnois.-Administration:Compiègne is the seat of three cantons*Compiègne-Nord...
pushed the Habsburg armies back towards the borders of France. Widespread fighting ensued, with neither side gaining an advantage. In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died. A year later, Louis XIII died, leaving his five-year-old son
Louis XIVLouis XIV , popularly known as the Sun King , was King of France and of Navarre His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days, and is the longest documented reign of any European monarch.Louis began personally governing France after the death...
on the throne. His chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, facing the domestic crisis of the
FrondeThe Fronde was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, which Parisians mobs used to smash the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin....
in 1645, began working to end the war.
In 1645, the Swedish marshal
Lennart TorstensonLennart Torstenson, Count of Ortala, Baron of Virestad , was a Swedish Field Marshal and military engineer.-Early career:He was born at Forstena in Västergötland - he always wrote his name Linnardt Torstenson...
defeated the Imperial army at the Battle of Jankau near Prague, and
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de CondéLouis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...
defeated the Bavarian army in the
Second Battle of NördlingenThe second Battle of Nördlingen was fought on August 3, 1645 southeast of Nördlingen near the village of Alerheim...
. The last Catholic commander of note, Baron Franz von Mercy, died in the battle.
On 14 March 1647
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
,
CologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants...
, France and Sweden signed the
Truce of UlmThe Truce of Ulm was signed in Ulm on March 14, 1647 between France, Sweden, and Bavaria. This truce was developed after France and Sweden invaded Bavaria during the Thirty Years' War. Both invading nations forced Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, to conclude the truce and renounce his alliance...
. In 1648 the Swedes (commanded by Marshal
Carl Gustaf WrangelCarl Gustaf Wrangel was a Swedish soldier and Count of Salmis.He was the son of baroness Margareta Grip av Vinäs and Herman Wrangel and was paternally descended from a family of Baltic German origin, branches of which settled in Sweden, Russia and Germany...
) and the French (led by Turenne and Condé) defeated the Imperial army at the
Battle of ZusmarshausenThe Battle of Zusmarshausen was fought on May 7, 1648 between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden and France in the modern Augsburg district of Bavaria, Germany...
and
LensThe Battle of Lens was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold in the Thirty Years' War . It was the last major battle of the war....
. These results left only the Imperial territories of Austria safely in Habsburg hands.
Peace of Westphalia
French General
Louis II de Bourbon, 4th Prince de Condé, Duc d'Enghien, The Great CondéLouis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...
defeated the Spanish at the
Battle of RocroiThe Battle of Rocroi was fought on 19 May 1643, late in the Thirty Years' War. It resulted in a decisive victory of the French army under the Duc d'Enghien, against the Spanish army under General Francisco de Melo.-Prelude:...
in 1643, which led to negotiations. Over a four year period, the parties were actively negotiating at Osnabrück and Münster in Westphalia. The end of the war was not brought about by one treaty but instead by a group of treaties such as the
Treaty of HamburgThe Treaty of Hamburg was signed on June 30, 1641 by Cardinal Richelieu of France and representatives of Sweden. Based on the terms of the treaty, France paid Sweden 1,000,000 livres for its military contributions against the Habsburgs. Moreover, the accord confirmed their alliance set by the...
.
On 15 May 1648, the Treaty of Osnabrück was signed. Over five months later, on 24 October, the Treaty of Münster was signed, ending both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War.
Casualties and disease
So great was the devastation brought about by the war that estimates put the reduction of population in the
German statesThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
at about 15% to 30%. Some regions were affected much more than others. For example, the
WürttembergWürttemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
lost
three-quarters of its population during the war. In the territory of
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, the losses had amounted to half, while in some areas an estimated two-thirds of the population died. The male population of the German states was reduced by almost half. The population of the
Czech landsThe "Czech lands" is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia.Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts until the turn of the Era, later by Germanic tribes until the...
declined by a third due to war, disease, famine and the expulsion of Protestant Czechs. Much of the destruction of civilian lives and property was caused by the cruelty and greed of
mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
soldiers, many of whom were rich commanders and poor soldiers. The
SwedishSweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden .-Sweden's emergence into a great power:...
armies alone may have destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany, one-third of all German towns.
The war caused serious dislocations to both the economies and populations of central Europe, but may have done no more than seriously exacerbate changes that had begun earlier.
PestilenceA pestilence is any virulent and highly infectious disease that can cause an epidemic or even a pandemic. The word can also be used about parasites causing large scale sickness and death, such as Guinea worm...
of several kinds raged among combatants and civilians in Germany and surrounding lands from 1618 to 1648. Many features of the war spread disease. These included troop movements, the influx of
soldierA soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
s from foreign countries, and the shifting locations of battle fronts. In addition, the displacement of
civilianA civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agencies, which often use...
populations and the overcrowding of
refugeeUnder the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality,...
s into cities led to both disease and famine. Information about numerous
epidemicDefining an epidemic can be subjective, depending in part on what is "expected". An epidemic may be restricted to one locale , more general or even global...
s is generally found in local chronicles, such as
parishA parish is a territorial unit that was usually historically served by a local church. This administrative unit is typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church of Sweden, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches...
registers and
taxTo tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
records, that are often incomplete and may be exaggerated. The chronicles do show that epidemic
diseaseA disease or medical condition isan abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and signs...
was not a condition exclusive to war time, but was present in many parts of Germany for several decades prior to 1618.
However, when the Danish and Imperial armies met in
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
and
ThuringiaThe Free State of Thuringia is located in central Germany. It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen
Bundesländer...
during 1625 and 1626, disease and infection in local communities increased. Local chronicles repeatedly referred to "head disease", "Hungarian disease", and a "spotted" disease identified as
typhusEpidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
. After the
Mantuan WarMantua is a city in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name.Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century. These receive the waters from the Mincio, which descend from Lake Garda...
, between France and the Habsburgs in Italy, the northern half of the Italian peninsula was in the throes of a
bubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas. Plague is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death and devastation it brought...
epidemic (see
Italian Plague of 1629–1631The Italian Plague of 1629–1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague which occurred from 1629 through 1631 in northern Italy. This epidemic, often referred to as Great Plague of Milan, claimed the lives of approximately 280,000 people, with the cities of the Lombardy and Veneto regions...
). During the unsuccessful
siege of NurembergThe Siege of Nuremberg or Siege of Nürnberg was a battle campaign that took place in 1632 about the Imperial Free City of Nürnberg during the Thirty Years' War....
, in 1632, civilians and soldiers in both the Swedish and Imperial armies succumbed to typhus and
scurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
. Two years later, as the Imperial army pursued the defeated Swedes into southwest Germany, deaths from epidemics were high along the
RhineThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
River.
Bubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas. Plague is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death and devastation it brought...
continued to be a factor in the war. Beginning in 1634,
DresdenDresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
,
MunichMunich is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg...
, and smaller German communities such as
OberammergauOberammergau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Bavaria, Germany. The town is famous for its production of a Passion Play and the NATO School.- Passion Play :...
recorded large numbers of plague casualties. In the last decades of the war, both
typhusEpidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
and
dysenteryDysentery is an inflammatory disorder of the intestine, especially of the colon, that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the feces. If left untreated, dysentery can be fatal....
had become endemic in Germany.
Political consequences
One result of the war was the balkanization of Germany into many territories — all of which, despite their membership in the Empire, won
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
sovereignty. This limited the power of the
Holy Roman EmpireThe Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period under a Holy Roman Emperor. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was Otto I, crowned in 962. The last was Francis II, who abdicated and dissolved the Empire in 1806 during...
and decentralized German power.
The Thirty Years' War rearranged the European power structure. The conflict made Spain's military and political decline visible. While Spain was fighting in France, Portugal — which had been under personal union with Spain for 60 years — acclaimed
John IV of BraganzaJohn IV was the king of Portugal and the Algarves from 1640 to his death. He was the grandson of Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, who had in 1580 claimed the Portuguese crown and sparked the struggle for the throne of Portugal. John was nicknamed John the Restorer...
as king in 1640, and the
House of BraganzaThe Most Serene House of Braganza was the dynasty which ruled Portugal from 1640 to 1853 or until 1910 , and the Empire of Brazil from 1822 to 1889. It is a collateral line of the House of Aviz, which ruled Portugal from 1385 until 1580...
became the new dynasty of Portugal (see
Portuguese Restoration WarPortuguese Restoration War was the name given by nineteenth-century 'romantic' historians to the war between Portugal and Spain that began with the Portuguese revolution of 1640 and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon . The revolution of 1640 ended the sixty-year period of dual monarchy in Portugal...
, for further information). Meanwhile, Spain was forced to accept the independence of the
Dutch RepublicThe Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was a European republic between 1581 and 1795, in about the same location as the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands,...
in 1648, ending the Eighty Years' War. With Spain weakened, France started to replace Spain as the dominant European power, an outcome confirmed by its victories in the Franco-Spanish War,
War of DevolutionThe War of Devolution saw Louis XIV's French armies overrun the Habsburg-controlled Spanish Netherlands and the Franche-Comté, but forced to give most of it back by a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.-Background:Louis's claims to the...
and
Franco-Dutch WarThe Franco-Dutch War, often called simply the Dutch War was a war fought by the Kingdom of France, the Swedish Empire, the Bishopric of Münster, the Archbishopric of Cologne and the Kingdom of England against the Dutch Republic, which was later joined by Holy Roman Emperor, Brandenburg and Spain...
and by the late
1600sThe 17th Century was that century which lasted from 1601 to 1700 in the Gregorian calendar.The 17th Century falls into the Early Modern period of Europe and was characterized by the Baroque cultural movement, the French Grand Siècle dominated by Louis XIV, and the beginning of modern science and...
, Bourbon France under the leadership of Louis XIV had surpassed
Habsburg SpainHabsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
in influence.
From 1643–45, during the last years of the Thirty Years' War, Sweden and Denmark fought the Torstenson War. The result of that conflict and the conclusion of the great European war at the
Peace of WestphaliaThe term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Republic of the Seven...
in 1648 helped establish post-war Sweden as a force in Europe.
The edicts agreed upon during the signing of the
Peace of WestphaliaThe term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Republic of the Seven...
were instrumental in laying the foundations for what are even today considered the basic tenets of the
sovereignSovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
nation-state. Aside from establishing fixed territorial boundaries for many of the countries involved in the ordeal (as well as for the newer ones created afterwards), the Peace of Westphalia changed the relationship of subjects to their rulers. In earlier times, people had tended to have overlapping political and religious loyalties. Now, it was agreed that the citizenry of a respective nation were subjected first and foremost to the laws and whims of their own respective government rather than to those of neighboring powers, be they religious or secular.
The war also has a few more subtle consequences. The Thirty Years' War marked the last major religious war in
mainland EuropeContinental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. Notably, in British and Irish English usage, the term means Europe excluding the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel...
, ending the large-scale religious bloodshed accompanying the
ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
, in 1648. There were other religious conflicts in the years to come, but no great wars. Also, the destruction caused by
mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
soldiers defied description (see
SchwedentrunkThe Schwedentrunk is a method of torture and execution. The name was invented by German victims of Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War. This method of torture was administered by other international troops, mercenaries and marauders, and especially by civilians following the Swedish...
). The war did much to end the age of
mercenariesA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
that had begun with the first
Landsknechts, and ushered in the age of well-disciplined national armies.
The war also had consequences abroad, as the European powers extended their fight via naval power to overseas colonies. In 1630, a Dutch fleet of 70 ships had taken the rich sugar-exporting areas of Pernambuco (Brazil) from the Portuguese but lost everything in 1654. Fighting also took place in Africa and Asia.
Fiction
- Vida y hechos de Estebanillo González, hombre de buen humor, compuesta por él mismo (Antwerp, 1646). The last of the great Spanish Golden Age picaresque novels, set against the background of the Thirty Years' War and thought to be authored by a writer in the entourage of Ottavio Piccolomini. The main character crisscrosses Europe at war in his role as messenger, witnessing, among other events, the 1634 battle of Nordlingen.
- Simplicius Simplicissimus (1668) by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen was a German author.Grimmelshausen was born at Gelnhausen. At the age of ten he was kidnapped by Hessian soldiery, and in their midst tasted the adventures of military life in the Thirty Years' War...
, the most important German novel of the 17th century, is the comic fictional autobiography of a German peasant turned mercenary who serves under various powers during the war, based on the author's first-hand experience. An opera adaptation by the same name was produced in the 1930s, written by Karl Amadeus HartmannKarl Amadeus Hartmann was a German composer. Some have lauded him as the greatest German symphonist of the 20th century, although he is now largely overlooked, particularly in English-speaking countries.- Life :...
.
- Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain, and is even referred to by some as one...
(1720). Memoirs of a CavalierMemoirs of a Cavalier is a work of historical fiction by Daniel Defoe, set during the Thirty Years' War and the English Civil Wars. The full title, which bore no date, was:-External links:...
. "A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England. From the Years 1632 to 1648".
- George Alfred Henty (1886). Lion of the North, A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus and the Wars of Religion. From Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library, including an archive of the World Wide Web....
.
- George Alfred Henty (1900). Won by the Sword; A Tales of the Thirty Years' War, With twelve illus. by C.M. Sheldon, and four plans. From Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library, including an archive of the World Wide Web....
.
- Hermann Löns
Hermann Löns was a German journalist and writer. He is most famous as "The Poet of the Heath" for his novels and poems celebrating the people and landscape of the North German moors, particularly the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony...
(1910). The Warwolf (Der Wehrwolf), an alternately heart-warming and heart-rending chronicle of a North German farming community suffering tragedies and ultimate triumph during the harrowing period of the Thirty Years' War.
- Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
's play Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. There was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, but the play bears very scant resemblance to the life of the actual person....
(act IV is set during the siege of ArrasArras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
in 1640).
- Bertolt Brecht
' was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner...
's play Mother Courage and Her ChildrenMother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin...
, an anti-war theatre piece, is set during the Thirty Years' War.
- The Last Valley
The Last Valley is a 1971 historical drama film directed by James Clavell. Set during the Thirty Years War, it stars Michael Caine as the leader of a band of mercenaries, and Omar Sharif as a teacher fleeing from the violence endemic to Germany during this period...
(1971). A film starring Michael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English film actor. Caine has appeared in more than 100 films, and is one of only two actors to have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade since the 1960s Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, Jr.; 14 March 1933) is an...
and Omar SharifOmar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in many Hollywood films. He is most famous for his roles in Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl and Lawrence of Arabia...
, who discover a temporary haven from the Thirty Years' War. Written by James ClavellJames Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell was a British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
, the author of ShogunShōgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel in the author's Asian Saga. It is set in feudal Japan in the year 1600 some months before the critical battle of Sekigahara, and gives an account of the rise of the daimyo "Toranaga" to the Shogunate, seen through the eyes of an...
.
- The Last Valley
The Last Valley is a 1959 historical novel by English author J. B. Pick. Set in southern Germany during the Thirty Years' War, the story centers on two individuals- a ruthless mercenary leader weary of war and a hapless intellectual fleeing destruction and starvation- as they each discover a...
(1959) by J. B. Pick. The book upon which the film version was based. Originally published in Great Britain as The Fat Valley.
- Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer primarily of science fiction and fantasy who has also published a number of literary novels....
's novel, The War Hound and the World's PainThe War Hound and the World's Pain is a 1981 fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock, the first of the "von Bek" series of novels.The book is set in Europe ravaged by the Thirty Years' War. Its hero Ulrich von Bek is a mercenary and freethinker, who finds himself a damned soul in a castle owned by Lucifer...
(1981) has as its central character Ulrich von BekGraf Ulrich von Bek is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock. He and his descendants are a somewhat unusual family in Moorcock's works, as they function both as an aspect of his Eternal Champion and as a companion to him. The family is considered to be the current Keeper of the Holy...
, a mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
who took part in the sack of MagdeburgThe Sack of Magdeburg refers to the siege and subsequent plundering of Magdeburg by the army of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. The siege lasted from November 1630 until 20 May 1631....
.
- Eric Flint
| influenced =| website = http://www.ericflint.net/}}Eric Flint is an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works are alternate history science fiction, but he also writes humorous fantasy adventures....
's Ring of FireThe 1632 series, also known as the 1632-verse or Ring of Fire series, is an alternate history book series, created, primarily co-written, and coordinated by historian Eric Flint...
series of novels deals with a temporally displaced West VirginiaWest Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast...
town from the early 21st century arriving in the early 1630s war torn Germany. The experimental novel has grown into an intensive collaborative fictionCollaborative fiction is a form of writing by two or more authors who take it in turns to write a portion of the story. A collaborative author may focus around a specific protagonist or character 'owned' by an author in a narrative thread, and then passes the story on to the next writer for further...
online project now in its seventh year which explores how modern knowledge and the cast of 3-3,500 townies would impact the developmental history of Europe; the theme of what would occur if the Americans set a course deliberately to undermine the power of the nobility in Europe and introduce things like a Bill of Rights, Nationalism, et al. are at the heart of the works.
- Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller [johan/joːhan krɪstɔf friːtʁɪç fɔn ʃɪləʁ/ʃɪlɐ] was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright...
's Wallenstein trilogy (1799) is a fictional account of the downfall of this general.
- Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed, one of the major works of Italian literature.-Biography:...
's I Promessi Sposi (1842) is an historical novel taking place in Italy in 1629. It treats a couple whose marriage is interrupted, among other things, by the Bubonic Plague, and other complications of 30 Years' War.
- Parts of Neal Stephenson
Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. He has also written under the pseudonym of Stephen Bury.Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics,...
's Baroque CycleThe Baroque Cycle is a series of novels written by American writer Neal Stephenson.Appearing in print in 2003 and 2004, the cycle contains eight novels originally published in three volumes:* Quicksilver, Vol...
are set in lands devastated by the Thirty Year's War.
- Das Treffen in Telgte (1979) trans. The Meeting at Telgte (1981) by Günther Grass, set in the aftermath of the war, sets out to make implicit parallels with the postwar Germany of the late 1940s.
External links