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The Thirty Years' War, [j] from 1618 to 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease, while parts of Germany reported population declines of over 50%. [19]
- Central Europe
- Peace of Westphalia
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Jul 31, 2024 · Learn about the Thirty Years’ War, a series of wars fought by various nations in Europe from 1618 to 1648. Explore the causes, combatants, events, and significance of this conflict that changed the map and balance of power in Europe.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Though the struggles of the Thirty Years War erupted some years earlier, the war is conventionally held to have begun in 1618, when the future Holy...
- The Thirty Years’ War was a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercia...
- Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman emperor (1619–37) and the king of Bohemia, was the leading champion of the Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation and abso...
- The Thirty Years' War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which changed the map of Europe irrevocably. The peace was negotiated, from 1644...
- Near the beginning of the Thirty Years' War in 1625, King Christian IV of Denmark saw an opportunity to gain valuable territory in Germany to balan...
- Causes of The Thirty Years’ War
- Defenestration of Prague
- Bohemian Revolt
- Catholic League Victories
- Gustavus Adolphus
- French Involvement
- A Shift in The Thirty Years’ War
- Prague Castle Captured
- Peace of Westphalia
- Legacy of The Thirty Years’ War
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With Emperor Ferdinand II’s ascension to head of state of the Holy Roman Empire in 1619, religious conflict began to foment. One of Ferdinand II’s first actions was to force citizens of the empire to adhere to Roman Catholicism, even though religious freedom had been granted as part of the Peace of Augsburg. Signed in 1555 as a keystone of the Refo...
But after Ferdinand’s decree on religion, the Bohemian nobility in present-day Austria and the Czech Republic rejected Ferdinand II and showed their displeasure by throwing his representatives out of a window at Prague Castle in 1618. The so-called Defenestration of Prague (fenestration: the windows and doors in a building) was the beginning of ope...
In response to Ferdinand II’s decision to take away their religious freedom, the primarily Protestant northern Bohemian states of the Holy Roman Empire sought to break away, further fragmenting an already loosely structured realm. The first stage of the Thirty Years’ War, the so-called Bohemian Revolt, began in 1618 and marked the beginning of a tr...
To the west, the Spanish army aligned with the so-called Catholic League, nation-states in present-day Germany, Belgium and France, who supported Ferdinand II. At least initially, Ferdinand II’s forces were successful, quelling the rebellion to the east and in northern Austria, leading to the dissolution of the Protestant Union. However, fighting c...
But in 1630, Sweden, under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus, took the side of the northern Protestants and joined the fight, with its army helping to push Catholic forces back and regain much of the lost territory lost by the Protestant Union. With the support of the Swedes, Protestant victories continued. However, when Gustavus Adolphus was kil...
The French, though Catholic, were rivals of the Habsburgs and were unhappy with the provisions of the Peace of Prague. Thus, the French entered the conflict in 1635. However, at least initially, their armies were unable to make inroads against the forces of Ferdinand II, even after he died of old age in 1637. Meanwhile, Spain, fighting at the behes...
The next year, 1643, was pivotal in the decades-long conflict. That year, Denmark-Norway took up arms again, this time fighting on the side of the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire. At around the same time, French monarch Louis XIII died, leaving the throne to his 5-year-old son, Louis XIV, and creating a leadership vacuum in Paris. Over the ensu...
In 1647, the Habsburg forces led by Octavio Piccolomini were able to repel the Swedes and the French from what is now Austria. The next year, in the Battle of Prague – the last significant fighting in the Thirty Years’ War – the Swedes captured Prague Castle from the forces of the Holy Roman Empire (and looted the priceless art collection in the ca...
Over the course of 1648, the various parties in the conflict signed a series of treaties called the Peace of Westphalia, effectively ending the Thirty Years’ War – although not without significant geopolitical effects for Europe. Weakened by the fighting, for example, Spain lost its grip over Portugal and the Dutch republic. The peace accords also ...
Ultimately, though, historians believe the Peace of Westphalia laid the groundwork for the formation of the modern nation-state, establishing fixed boundaries for the countries involved in the fighting and effectively decreeing that residents of a state were subject to the laws of that state and not to those of any other institution, secular or rel...
Learn about the 17th-century religious conflict that ravaged central Europe and involved multiple states and empires. Find out the causes, events, consequences and legacy of the Thirty Years’ War.
Aug 11, 2022 · Learn about the causes, phases, results and significance of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), one of the most devastating conflicts in European history. The war involved religious divisions, state sovereignty, balance of power and the end of the Protestant Reformation.
- Joshua J. Mark
Jul 26, 2024 · History of Europe - Thirty Years War, Religious Conflict, Peace of Westphalia: The war originated with dual crises at the continent’s centre: one in the Rhineland and the other in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire.
Learn about the origins, causes, and consequences of the Thirty Years’ War, a series of wars between Protestant and Catholic states in the Holy Roman Empire from 1618 to 1648. Explore the key terms, events, and players that shaped this conflict and its impact on European history.
Learn about the causes, events and consequences of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), one of the most devastating conflicts in European history. Explore the timeline of the war and its impact on the modern era.