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May 9, 2024 · Thirty Years’ War, (1618–48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe, and, when it ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the map of Europe had been ...
- Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II (born July 9, 1578, Graz, Styria [now in...
- Władysław IV Vasa
Władysław won an advantageous peace from Sweden in the...
- Eighty Years' War
Fighting resumed in 1621 and formed a part of the general...
- History of Europe
History of Europe - Thirty Years War, Religious Conflict,...
- Ferdinand II
The first phase from 1618 until 1635 was primarily a civil war between German members of the Holy Roman Empire, with support from external powers. After 1635, the empire became one theatre in a wider struggle between France, supported by Sweden, and Emperor Ferdinand III, allied with Spain.
- 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
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...
Aug 11, 2022 · The Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648, also known as the Dutch Revolt) between Spain and the Netherlands was then in the period known as the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609-1621), allowing Catholic Spain and the Protestants of the Netherlands to send resources to Bohemia to help their respective causes.
- Joshua J. Mark
The Thirty Years’ War was a series of wars in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. It was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, resulting in millions of casualties.
May 8, 2018 · The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was an extended conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor* and the princes* of individual territories within the empire. It began as a struggle over the crown of Bohemia but eventually developed into a political and religious war that raged over much of central Europe and involved most of the major powers of ...
