The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)

Characteristics of the Thirty Years War

• Holy Roman Empire is the battleground

• At the beginning, it was Catholics vs Protestants

• At the end, it was Habsburg power threatened

• Resolved by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648

4 Phases

Bohemian Phase

• 1618-1622

• Ferdinand II inherited Bohemia

  • Bohemians hated him

  • Ferdinand refused to tolerate Protestants

  • Defenestration of Prauge→May 1618

  • Bohemians named a new king: Frederick II

• Ferdinand becomes Holy Roman Emperor

  • borrows part of the Bavarian army

  • Frederick lost his land in the fighting

• Rebellion in Bohemia inspired others

The Danish Phase

• 1625-1629

• Ferdinand II tried to end all resistance

  • tried to crush Protestants northern Holy Roman Empire

  • Ferdinand used Albrecht von Wallenstein for the army

  • Wallenstein defeated Protestants

• Edict of Restitution (1629)

  • restored all lands Catholics lost since 1552

  • deprived all Protestants, except Lutherans, of political and religious rights

• German princes feared Ferdinand → fired Wallenstein to try to calm them

The Swedish Phase

• France and Sweden now involved

  • both wanted to stop Habsburg power

  • Sweden led the charge

  • France provided support

• Gustavus Adolphus invaded Holy Roman Empire

  • Ferdinand brought back Wallenstein

  • Swedish advance stopped

• German princes still feared Ferdinand

• Wallenstein assassinated to appease them

The French Phase

• France and Sweden switch roles

• All countries in Europe has participated

• This phase was the most destructive

  • German towns decimated

  • Agriculture collapsed →famine resulted

  • 8 million dead- 1/3 of the population

    from ~21 million to ~13.5 million

  • caused massive inflation (supply and demand)

  • trade was crippled throughout Europe

The Peace of Westphalia

• Political Provisions

  • each German prince became free from the Holy Roman Empire

  • united provinces (Dutch Netherlands) became independent

    • southern part remained under Spanish possession

  • France received most of German speaking province of Algace

  • Sweden got lands in northern Germany on Baltic/Black Sea coasts

  • Switzerland became totally independent of the Holy Roman Empire →Swiss Confederation

  • Sweden won a voice in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire

  • Brandenburg got important territories on North Sea and central Germany

• Religious Provisions

  • Calvinists got the same provisions and Lutherans in the Peace of Augsburg

  • Ruler of each state could determine its official religion, BUT (except Habsburgs) he must permit freedom of private worship

Nobody was happy

• Protestants felt betrayed

• Pope denounced it → losing land, power, and money

• For the next few centuries, this war was blamed for everything that went wrong in Central Europe