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The Thirty Years War
1618-1648
The Lead-Up

The Peace of Augsburg (1555), passed by Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V, ended war in
Germany between Lutherans and Catholics.
 What was the main thing that the Peace did?
 This Peace did not last, because the root cause
was not addressed…this was more of a bandaid solution.
 There was unrest among and between
territories and tensions were at a boiling point.
Protestant areas had formed into a
“Protestant Union” and allied themselves
with other enemies of Spain (England, the
Dutch, the French).
 Why would the French have been
interested in fighting for the Protestants?


By 1617, the Holy
Roman Emperor was
close to death and there
was no apparent heir.
His cousin, Ferdinand
II of Austria was the
next in line.
 He was very Catholic
(educated by Jesuits).
The Protestant
population in Bohemia
was angered by this.
Ferdinand II sent representatives to Prague in
1618 to meet with some Protestant lords about
abuses of the religious freedoms they had
previously been promised.
 The representatives were being accused of
being responsible for the abuses. The
representatives tried to stall the meeting.
 The protestant delegation grabbed the
representatives and threw them out of the thirdstory window into a pile of manure down below.
This is known as the Defenestration of Prague.


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Outbreak of War
A) General Details
1) The war is usually divided into four periods:
a) Bohemian (B)
b) Danish (D)
c) Swedish (S)
d) Swedish – French (S –F)
2) The B and D periods were fought by Protestants (P) and Catholics
over the practice of religion.
3) The S, and S – F periods were political. The first was to diminish
the power of the Hapsburg house and the second was an attempt
by S and F to take land from Germany,
Bohemian Period
1618-1625
1) Bohemia is in modern day Slovakia and Czech Republic
2) P churches were attacked and power in the area shifted to the
C’s
3) Count Mathias of Thurn led a P revolt in Prague.
4) The “Protestant Union” sent Count Mansfeld to assist.
5) The Holy Roman Emperor (HRE) sent imperial forces from
Silesia and Lusatia to assist the Catholics but were defeated
by Mathias and Mansfeld
6) Thurn marched twice on Vienna while developments kept
bringing more entrants to the war.
7) The Spanish attacked the County Palatine which resulted in
the Treaty of Ulm in 1620 which made the Protestant Union
neutral while Lutherans retook Silesia and Lusatia.
B)
8) The “Catholic League” and HRE joined forces in B where they
won the Battle of the White Mountain. This resulted in the defeat
of the P’s and a counter-reformation in B followed by Austria.
9) The County Palatine was occupied by Spanish forces and the
Protestant League was dissolved.
C)
Danish Period
1) The centre of fighting moved from Bohemia and Southern
Germany to north-western Germany and Denmark.
2) The leader of the “Lower Saxon Circle” (A protestant group) was
the King of Denmark, (Christian IV, Duke of Holstein)
3) The Duke of Freidland was born a P in B, but was raised a C and
was the commander of an Imperial army, also known as Albert of
Wallenstein.
4) Wallenstein beat Mansfeld in 1626 at the Bridge of Dessau and
then chased him into Hungary where, with reinforcements, he
killed him.
5) Later in 1626, Tilly defeated Christian IV in Brunswick.
6) The next year Tilly and Wallenstein occupied Holstein, Schleswin,
Jutland and forced Pomerania to submit to them
7) In 1628, Wallanstein laid siege to Straslund but he had to stop
because CITIZENS put up a very strong defence
8) This second phase was brought to an end through the:
a) Edict of Restitution
b) Treaty of Lubeck
c) Electoral Assembly of Regensberg
9) The “Edict of Restitution” saw all confiscated religious estates
returned. This affected 2 archbishoprics, 12 bishoprics, and 120
monasteries, while only recognizing the areas who agreed to the
Augsburg Confession. All other areas were killed by Wallenstein’s
troops.
10) The Treaty of Lubeck was signed in 1629 by Christian IV and the
Emperor who agreed that Christian IV would get his lands back
while abandoning his allies and accepting that some cities would
be given to Wallenstein.
11) The Electoral Assembly of Regensberg assumed a determined
position in opposition to Wallenstein’s methods in Germany which
included tax extortion and cruelty that led the Emperor to dismiss
the commander and much of his army.
Swedish Period
D)
1630-1635
1) King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden used the excuse of protecting the
P’s to justify invading Pomerania
2) King Gustavus had other concerns which included, among other things,
concerns about the HRE’s naval plans
3) Politically, S controlled most of the territory around the Baltic Sea, but
they wanted to make the Baltic a Swedish sea.
4) Gustavus reached a monetary agreement with France (Cardinal
Richelieu) and used the funds to drive the Imperial towards the Rhine
5) In May 1631, Tilly captured Magdeburg but his troops sacked and
burned the city to the ground against Tilly’s orders – only the Cathedral
survived.
6) Tilly went on to capture and sack several other cities resulting in
Gustavus forming an alliance with the Elector of Saxony
7) The Swedish-Saxon alliance put 40,000 troops against an equal force of
Imperial troops near Leipzig under Tilly
8) At the Battle of Leipzig, Tilly put the Saxons to rout but was defeated by
Gustavus’s brilliant leadership.
9) Following the Battle of Leipzig the Saxons occupied B and Prague while
Gustavus occupied Thuringia, Franconia, and the City of Mainz on the
Rhine River
10)Emperor Ferdinand II attempted to negotiate with the Saxons without
success which resulted in him reactivating Wallenstein.
11)Wallenstein was given permission to raise an army that he would control
without any limits placed upon his command by the Emperor
12)The Saxons were driven from Prague and Bohemia by Wallenstein
13)In 1632 Gustavus first defeated Tilly, who died from his wounds, and then
attacked Maxmillian near Munich
14)Gustavus attacked Wallenstein’s trenches and was bloodily beaten.
15)Following this battle, Gustavus moved to the Danube River while
Wallenstein invaded and sacked Saxony
16)The Elector of Saxony called upon Gustavus for help and a battle was
fought between 18,000 Imperial troops and 20,000 Swedish troops near
Lutzen.
17)The Battle of Lutzen was won by the Swedish but Gustavus was killed
18)Following Gustavus’s death, military operations continued but with
Wallenstein trying to create an independent position for himself, possibly
the rulership of Bohemia. Afterwards, he purged his officer corps
19)The Imperial court was under the influence of the “Spanish Party,” which
wanted Wallenstein removed from his command.
20)Wallenstein was opposed to the “Spanish Party” influence and began
planning to “liberate” the Emperor from their influence through foreign
alliances and even open revolt.
21)Emperor Ferdinand II restricted Wallenstein’s powers through two
proclamations
22)Wallenstein was assassinated on February 24, 1634
23)May 30, 1635 the Elector of Saxony and the Emperor agreed to the Treaty
of Prague which:
a) gave Lusatia and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg to the Elector
b) returned confiscated lands to their owners
c) offered an extensive amnesty
d) established a common cause against the Swedes,
e) and once again established Lutheranism as the only version of
Protestantism afforded freedom of religion
Swedish – French Period
E)
1635-1648
1) The leadership of many of the protagonists changed:
a) Cardinal Richelieu was succeeded by Mazarin in France
b) Ferdinand II died in 1636 and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand
III, who wanted peace
c) Baner, the commander of the Swedish army, died and was replaced
by Torstenson
d) George William, the Elector of Brandenburg was succeeded by
Frederick William “the Great Elector” of Brandenburg
2) Initially, the French remained out of the war but signed a treaty of
subsidy with Bernhard of Saxe-Coburg, who sought to replace the
Dutchy of Franconia, which he had lost in 1638, with Alsace.
3) Bernhard died in 1639 and France took command of his army
4) It was agreed that a congress of peace be held.
5) Torstenson directly attacked the lands of the Emperor in 1642 and was
very successful thus gaining the jealousy of King Christian IV
6) This resulted in war between the D and S which drew Torstenson’s forces
to northern Germany
7) A series of marches in 1643 resulted in Torstenson being able to capture
Schleswig, Holstein, and Jutland while the F pushed into southern
Germany until their commander was killed and they defeated.
8) Peace negotiations begun in 1643 all over the area.
9) Fighting continued through 1644 with Torstenson nearly annihlating the
Imperial forces in a very rare winter battle near Magdeburg in January 1645
10)D sued for peace with S after several defeats and was agreed to in May.
11)Torstenson and his army were sick from plague and he chose to retire to B
and give his command to Wrangel
12)Wrangel unified the various protestant/anti-Hapsburg armies and invaded
Bavaria where forced the Treaty of Ulm
13)Under this treaty, Maximillian was forced to abandon the Imperialist cause
which he took up again as soon as the army had been returned to different
parts of Europe.
14)This resulted in F and S launching the second invasion of Bavaria where
the ravages were fierce and resulted in terrible losses of men, the
destruction of towns and trade, and an increase in poverty
Treaty of Westphalia
F)
October 24, 1648
1) Negotiations lasted five years (1643-1648)
2) Several treaties were the result with the following major points:
a) Indemnities – various nations received lands and titles in payment for damages
b) Secular Affairs of the Empire – a general amnesty was put into place that
extended back to 1618, with a further exchange of titles and lands internally to
the HRE
c) Ecclesiatical Affairs
i) the Treaty of Augsburg was confirmed
ii) C and P states were accepted as equals within the empire
iii) the Imperial court was restored with equal numbers of C and P members
iv) some states (B and Austria) remained C by force while others were
allowed to revert to P (Lower Palatinate, Wurtemburg, Baden…) if they
had been P by 1618
v) property was to be restored if taken after Jan. 1, 1624 (annus normalis)
vi) the “jus referandi” stated that rulers could decide the religion of their
subjects by fiat with the citizens having the right to emigrate for religious
freedom.