The Thirty Years War 1618-1648
Europe in the 1590's suffered from bad weather which fluctuated
from rain to drought and heat to bitter cold. Starvation and plague
went hand in hand with massive crop failures and food shortages.
Some prophesied that the world would end in the year 1600, but a
brief and temporary return of good weather arrived instead. After
1600, however, and throughout the 17th century, major problems
returned throughout Europe, resulting in a population decline. The
frustrated masses began several peasant wars as monarchs tried to
keep peace and raised taxes to pay for their growing armies.
By 1617, the Habsburgs had chosen as king of Bohemia a red-haired,
good-natured, staunch Catholic and devoted father and husband,
Ferdinand II. In 1618, he moved against rebellious Protestants who
formed the majority in Bohemia, by closing some Protestant churches
in Prague to quell religious dissent. A year before, Protestant Bohemian
leaders had thrown two of his imperial officials out of a window in the
Prague palace.  click 1618 Map, right. Religious Situation in Europe
The Swedish King was a pleasant, popular man and a sincere Lutheran who wanted control over
the Baltic for economic reasons. Gustavus had been trained since childhood for kingship, often
accompanying the army on campaigns, sitting at the council table voicing his opinions and receiving
ambassadors when he was barely a teenager. He had been king for 19 years, proving himself an able
administrator and a careful a military organizer. Known as the "Lion of the North", he sent his armies
across the Baltic Sea (ironically, financed by Cathlolic French King Louis XIII and his minister
Cardinal Richelieu who wanted to ebb the strength of the Habsburgs). The Swedish blue and yellow
brigades of highly disciplined soldiers cut through the Imperial armies which were, at that point,
formed largely from Swiss and German "landsknechts"or mercenaries.
In 1634, the Habsburgs defeated the Swedes at Nordlingen, but since Gustavus had gained Catholic
France as an ally, a small, poorly trained French army of 30,000 men crossed the Rhine River in
1635 and began the bloodiest phase of the war which had by now spread across Europe to Italy, to
the Spanish-French border and to war between Denmark against Sweden, with the Netherlands
joining France in war against Spain, annihilating the Spanish fleet in 1639. Portugal revolted against
Habsburg rule and re-established its independence in  1640.
The treaty returned rule in Bohemia to the Habsburgs, but it otherwise ended Habsburg dominance in
Europe. France emerged as the preeminent power on the European continent, its new authority in
Germany becoming even greater than that of the Holy Roman Empire. France's navy increased as a
challenge to the navies of the British and the Dutch. Sweden gained Western Pomerania and large
bishoprics in Bremen and Stettin. They also gained control over the mouths of the Oder, Elbe and
Weser rivers and emerged from the war, for a short time, as one of Europe's great powers. Spain
was compelled to make peace with France in 1659, emerging from the war a weakened state...and
without Portugal. The Peace of Westphalia contributed to the concept of sovereign states with equal
rights based on an inter-governmental order constituted of treaties and international law.       
They miraculously survived the 70 foot fall, protected by the Virgin Mary according to Catholics,
and protected by falling into a dung hill according to the Protestants. This led to other arguments.
The rebel Bohemian nobles were opposed to the encroachment on their power by Habsburg officials
and were afraid that Ferdinand would push them even further when he came to power.
The loss of Bohemia could mean the choice of a Protestant instead of a Catholic Habsburg in an
imperial election, and so he asked Maximilian of Bavaria and Spain for assistance, and with these
allies quickly reconquered Bohemia between 1618 and 1625.
Ferdinand, meanwhile, had neither money nor troops, and he badly needed to regain Bohemia which
furnished half the imperial revenue. Albrecht von Wallenstein was recruited by Ferdinand to raise an
army. Born a Lutheran, ambitious Wallenstein had become a Catholic for political reasons, but it was
said that he turned more to the stars than to God for guidance.
The clever Wallenstein married a wealthy widow who conveniently died soon after,
leaving him her wealth as well as the freedom to marry the rich daughter of one of
Ferdinand's councillors. He shrewdly came into control a quarter of the land in
Bohemia, and he offered to raise, quarter and provision 50,000 men at his own
expense, leaving to Ferdinand only the responsibility of their pay, an offer Ferdinand
couldn't refuse. The king of Denmark and Norway, Christian IV, invaded Germany
in 1625 to stunt the power of the Habsburgs and expand his holdings. Habsburg forces
under Wallenstein pushed northward from Germany into Denmark against him, and
the two foes made peace in the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629. Wallenstein was given
Mecklenburg as a reward for his services after its former ruler made the mistake of
siding with the Danes. Left: Maximilian, Ferdinand II and Wallenstein
The Habsburgs wanted to secure the Baltic Sea as a
buffer against Denmark and Sweden and to stunt Dutch
trade. The Protestant king of Sweden was tall,
handsome, 36 year old Gustavus II who was worried
about a Habsburg threat against Sweden's Baltic Sea
domination, and he aggressively expanded into Poland
where from he expanded into northern Germany,
invading Pomerania in June, 1630. He landed in
Germany with a well-trained, well-disciplined army to
ensure that the Habsburgs would not consolidate their
hold on the southern shores of the Baltic Sea so as to
secure a place to attack Sweden from whence they could
re-establish Catholicism.
Magdeburg, top. Bottom:Gustavius
Adolphus, Pappenheim and Tilly.
Protestant Magdeburg was the most important city on the River Elbe, and had been an Imperial
target for some time. Since November of 1630, the Imperial army under Pappenheim had been
besieging it unsuccessfully, until joined by John Tserclaes (Count Tilly) and the larger Imperial army
in April, 1631. Although the city bravely held out on attacks in May, on the morning of November
20th, Pappenheim attacked again and this time the city fell. After the capture of the city, populated
by both Catholics and Protestants, the victors of Maximilian's Catholic League ordered his soldiers to:
"Kill them all. God will find his own."  The Imperial troops rapidly went out of control, and a horrible
massacre resulted. Around midday, twenty or more fires started, and the conquerors could not put
out the fire. Only 5,000 of the 30,000 population of the city survived the vicious sack of the city and
consequent fire, while the Imperial army found itself without the supplies and food. Stunned,
Gustavus Adolphus was helpless in Magdeburg's moment of agony.
The Swedish invasion completely altered the situation in the Empire. After a great victory in the
battle of Breitenfeld, Gustavus Adolphus was free to march anywhere he pleased. Protestant princes
joined Gustavus' forces, and by 1631 he had secured northern Germany for Protestantism and was
hailed as a liberator. The Swedish army pushed on and wintered in Mainz. In the spring of 1632, war
resumed. A Protestant army from Saxony drove into Bohemia and occupied Prague. Gustavus
recruited, among others, 20,000 to 30,000 Scottish Highlanders to help.
The Swedes passionately avenged the destruction of the lovely city of Magdeburg. They defeated an
imperial army at Breitenfeld and then cut like lightning through imperial territory between the Rhine
and the Danube defeating every army.   Schiller's account
The Swedes drove as far south as Augsburg and Munich, where Bavarian Catholic peasants battled
them. Ferdinand recalled Wallenstein, and the two generals fought an indecisive battle at Nürnberg.
Gustavus Adolphus withdrew to the north. Once more they clashed at Lützen. The Swedes were
victorious, but at the cost of their beloved king's life.
The death of Gustavus gave the Catholics hope, but rivalry between Maximilian and Wallenstein
remained. The Bohemian Wallenstein, who had never forgiven Maximilian and Ferdinand for his
first dismissal, plotted with the Swedes and French. Ferdinand knew that he could not be trusted
and declared him guilty of treason and had Wallenstein, defenseless in his bedroom, murdered.
The war was fought almost entirely on German soil, and she lost a third of her urban population and
two-fifths of her rural people: 13 out of 17 million Germans were killed from the war or its effects.
943,000 persons in Saxony and 500,000 in Würtemberg died in just one year. 90 percent of
Thuringia's population was eliminated. The Palatinate lost 457,000 out of 500,000 people. The war
ended in 1648 with a negotiated settlement, the Peace of Westphalia, 30 years after the war's start,
with France and Spain continuing the war for ten more years. Over 300,000 people had been killed
in battle and millions had died of malnutrition and disease.
But the devastation of the Thirty Years' War awakened in people the need for some tolerance, and
the Peace of Westphalia favorably readjusted the religious and political affairs of Europe. Finally,
Lutheranism, Calvanism and Catholicism were all recognized as legitimate faiths. The borders of
German principalities were restored to what had they been in 1618. The Peace of Westphalia gave
recognition to secular kingship as the legitimate and dominant form of government. The sovereignty
of Switzerland and the United Netherlands was recognized. With this new order, Europe's period of
religious wars as such came largely to an end.
In 1632, Scots mercenaries arrived in Stettin to serve with the
Swedish army. Often described as "Irrlanders," Scots were
often thought of as Irish as they both spoke Gaelic. However,
in 1609, Gustav Adolphus also recruited Irishmen along with
Scotsmen to fight in the German lands. But the Swedes were
wary of the Catholic Irish, many of whom later joined Polish
and German armies. The Spanish also raised Irish Regiments.
When, in 1618, the Protestant estates of Bohemia rebelled against the Catholic King Ferdinand II,
they offered the crown of Bohemia to Calvinist Elector Friedrich of the Palatinate since he was the
leader of the Protestant Union, a military alliance founded by his father. By accepting the crown, the
outbreak of the Thirty Years War was triggered. Friedrich's father-in-law, James I of England,
opposed the takeover of Bohemia from the Habsburgs. Additionally, Friedrich's allies in the
Protestant Union failed to support him militarily by signing the Treaty of Ulm (1620). All the same,
the rebels quickly seized control of Bohemia, won help from Transylvania and marched on Vienna.
Only a year and four days after his coronation, Friedrich's brief reign as King of Bohemia ended with
his defeat at the Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620, thus he was called, 'the Winter
King'. After this battle, the Imperial forces invaded Friedrich's Palatinate lands and he had flee to
Holland. An Imperial edict formally deprived him of the Palatinate in 1623 and he lived the rest of his
life in exile at the Hague with his wife, Elizabeth Stuart, and family before his death in Mainz in
1632. His eldest surviving son Karl I. Ludwig, Elector of Palatine returned to power in 1648 with the
end of the war, and his daughter Princess Sophia, as heiress presumptive to the British throne, was
the founder of the Hanoverian line of kings.
Catholicism and imperial authority were ruthlessly restored with the help of the Jesuits
and forced conversions. In Prague, on June 21, 1621, twenty-six noblemen were
executed. The confiscated property of other rebel nobles in Bohemia and Moravia was
parceled out to noble Catholic loyals.
Wallenstein
Gustavus
Thousands of wandering, out of
work mercenaries drifted, robbed,
burned, and looted, damaging crops
and spreading the plague and
syphilis. Most authorities believe
that the population of the Empire
dropped from about 21,000,000 to
13,500,000 between 1618 and
1648. It took years to restore law
and order. Swedish troops did not
withdraw until 1650 and some
remained in Pomerania. A farm is
plundered, left
Wallenstein advised Ferdinand II to use his power to create a more centralized Germany, even
though it would be a move which might alienate Maximilian and other Catholic princes who were
opposed to any increase in imperial power. Ferdinand's other alternative was to satisfy the Catholic  
demands for the restoration of Church lands seized by the Protestants since the Peace of Augsburg in
1555, but this was a move which might frighten the remaining Protestant princes, some of whom had
thus far been neutral. Even so, he opted for Catholicism and political disunity. By the Edict of
Restitution in 1629, he ordered the restoration of the former ecclesiastical territories to the Catholics,
but dismissed Wallenstein to placate Maximilian.