Download 30 years war

The European Age of Religious Wars
(1517 -1648)
European
Religious
Divisions – 16th
17th century
The Thirty Years’ War was
a series of conflicts that
began early in the 17th
century in the Holy Roman
Empire and finally involved
much of Europe.
It started as a conflict
between Protestants and
Roman Catholics but soon
became a struggle for
political power between
nations.
The 30 Years’ War
Four Phases of the
30 Years’ War:
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1. Bohemian Phase
(1618-1625)
2. Danish Phase
(1625-1630)
3. Swedish Phase
(1630-1635)
4. French Phase
(1635 – 1648)
Historical Background
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By 1600, Protestants outnumbered Catholics in
Bohemia but the Protestants were fragmented into
denominations or sects.
Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II issued a Letter of Majesty
granting some limited freedoms and tolerance to Protestants
but Rudolph died before Protestants fully enjoyed the limited
freedoms.
Catholics prohibited Protestants from building
churches in towns where Protestant churches did not
already exist.
Ferdinand II was to be the new King of Bohemia and
Protestants feared for the worst.
Holy Roman Empire 1618
The war began in
Bohemia. There in 1618
the Protestant nobility
refused to recognize
Ferdinand II, soon to be
Holy Roman emperor, as
their king.
Instead they chose
Frederick V, the
Palatine elector. This
brought on a war
involving the
member states of the
Holy Roman Empire.
Ferdinand the Catholic
Defenestration of Prague
Some Protestants set up a meeting with
Catholic officials in Prague on May 23,
1618 but the meeting went badly; the
Protestants seized two Catholic officials
and tossed them out of the window.
This event is known as The
Defenestration of Prague. The word
defenestrate comes from Latin word for
“window” and means “out the window.”
They survived the fall, Protestants saying
because they landed in a heap of horse
manure, and Catholics saying that angels
saved them.
This was the spark that ignited the 30 Years’
War.
Battle of White Mountain
Count of Tilly
Christian IV of Denmanrk
German and Spanish forces under
the count of Tilly defeated the
Bohemians in 1620 at White
Mountain. Bohemia became an
Austrian crown land, and
Ferdinand was crowned king.
At this point Ferdinand could have
made peace, but he insisted that
Protestantism be wiped out. This
attitude aroused the Protestant
rulers of England, Holland, and
Denmark. They sent an invading
army under King Christian of
Denmark.
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Between 1625 and 1629
the Danish army suffered
a series of losses and
was finally driven out of
Germany by a general
called Albrecht von
Wallenstein. His men
roved the country,
robbing farms and
torturing people.
Wallenstein Palace
Edict of Restitution
Neutral Protestant rulers
were aroused to join the
battle when Ferdinand
signed the Edict of
Restitution.
This document forced all
Protestants to give up any
Catholic property acquired
since 1555.
Gustavus Adolphus of
Sweden invaded Germany
in 1630, but was killed in
battle 1632.
France tries to defeat the
Habsburgs
At this point France, under the
guidance of Cardinal Richelieu,
entered the war on the Protestant
side in a political rather than
religious move Richelieu saw a
chance to defeat the Spanish and
Austrian Hapsburgs. He sent
troops under Turenne and Condé,
and the tide turned against
Ferdinand.
Peace of Westphalia
For the next 14 years fighting
by French, Spanish, Swedish,
and German troops went on in
Germany, Italy, Flanders, and
the Pyrenees.
In 1648 Ferdinand III, who had
succeeded his father, saw that
further warfare was useless and
signed the Peace of Westphalia
on October 24. Word of the
peace arrived as the French
were preparing for the siege of
Prague.
Consequences of the War
The Thirty Years’ War marked the end of
one era and the beginning of another. It
began an era in which nation-states
struggled for territorial and political power.
It ended the dominance of the powerful
Hapsburg family and began the era in which
France was the strongest nation in Europe.
It ended an era of Spanish military
domination.
It also ushered in an era in which states
completed the long process of centralizing
their governments, becoming what we
recognize today as modern nations.
Les misères et les malheurs de
la guerre
Jacques Callot (1592 – 1635)
The war reduced the
population of Germany by
more than half in some places.
Education and agriculture were
halted. There were not enough
people left to rebuild and to
replant. Religious unity was not
established. Inflation was
rampant and trade declined.
Loss of
German
Lives in
30 Years’
War
Other Wars of Religion
1. German
Peasants’ War
(1520s)
Europe's largest and most
widespread popular
uprising prior to the French
Revolution of 1789. The
fighting was at its height in
the spring and summer of
1525. Peasants were
inspired in part by the
teachings of Martin Luther,
although he did not agree
with the uprisings.
2. War of German Princes against
Emperor Charles V (1520s-1555)
(Catholic) Charles defeated a group of Protestant princes at Mühlberg in April 1547.
Nevertheless, only eight years later he was forced to allow the Peace of Augsburg,
which acknowledged the legitimacy of Lutheranism within the Holy Roman Empire.
3. Civil War In France (1562-1598)
French noble families of the
House of Guise and the House
of Bourbons were also
involved. Foreign monarchs
supported different sides.
St. Bartholomew ´s Day Massacre 1572
The French Wars of Religion were a
series of wars that took place in
France over a span of 36 years,
between 1562-1598.
They were mainly fought between
the French Catholics and the French
Protestants or Huguenots.
Finally King Henry IV
(who had converted
from Calvinism to
Catholicism to satisfy
the majority of the
French people who
were Catholics)
signed the Edict of
Nantes, granting
religious rights to
Huguenots.