In
my blog of October 11, I introduced you to the first phase of the Thirty Year’s
War which was marked by the Bohemian revolt and the defeat of the French Huguenot
cause.
Since posting that blog, I have travelled to Germany and Austria and was thrilled to end up in Heidleberg and actually walk through the Castle, the seat of the Palatinate rulers and the home of the Winter King and Queen. As a historian it was fascinating to see "on the ground" how the history of Europe at the time tied together. Plenty of ideas for future blogs!
Back to the Thirty Year's War!
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| A model of Heidleberg Castle in the mid 17th century |
Back to the Thirty Year's War!
At
the end of 1625 we had left the situation as following:
Frederick V, Elector
of Palatine and one time King of Bohemia is in exile, the Catholic Habsburgs
are in full control of Bohemia, Holland and the Palatinate. The French
Catholics, who are unaligned to the Habsburgs are in control of France. The
Protestant cause is now resting in Holland, Denmark and Sweden (and over in the
East where Transylvania has triumphed) and an uneasy peace is ensuing.
We
now move to phase 2 of the Thirty Year’s War – the interventions by Denmark and
Sweden. You may wonder why these two States became involved. While the
defence of the Protestant Religion was certainly a reason, it was in their economic interest to keep the Baltic German States
Protestant and friendly.
Round 3: The “Emperor’s
War” or the Low Saxon War (1625 -1629)
While
the Bohemian War raged, the Lutheran (protestant) King Christian IV of Denmark
had come to the aid of the protestant forces in Lower Saxony. Christian IV had
one important commodity – money. Due gleaned from tolls on the Oresund (the
strait separating Denmark from Scandanavia) and war reparation from Sweden.
With aid from England (and, rather surprisingly, France), Christian raised a
substantial force of 20,000 mercenaries.
Unknown
to Christian, Ferdinand II had recruited Albrecht von Wallenstein, a Bohemian
nobleman who had profited enormously for supporting the winning side in the
Bohemian revolt. When Christian invaded Lower Saxony in 1626 he found his
little force up against a force of up to 100,000 soldiers. He was forced to
retire and Wallenstein marched north and occupying Denmark as far as the
capital itself.
Christian
IV was forced to sue for peace and in 1629 the Treaty of Lubeck was signed
which allowed Christian to keep Denmark as long as he stayed out of the German
States. Denmark was out of the war.
End of Round 1: Denmark is out. In the next 2 years the
Emperor assumes more German territory and the death of Gabriel Bethlan, the
protestant ruler of Transylvania, marks the fall of the Protestant cause in the
East.
Round 4: Sweden to the
rescue! (1630 - 1635)
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| King Gustavus Adophus of Sweden |
The
warrior king, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is a blog subject in his own right. His
intervention in the wars, turned the tables on the Emperor’s ambitions and
ensured Sweden remained a major influence in European affairs until well into
the eighteenth century.
Like
Christian IV of Denmark, Gustavus Adolphus was subsidised by France and by the
Dutch and in 1630 Swedish forces entered the arena through the Duchy of Pomerania,
defeating the Catholic League at the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631. With an
army composed mainly of German and Scottish mercenaries, he marched south,
virtually unopposed.
The
Emperor was forced to once again call on the aid of Wallenstein, whom he had
dismissed in 1630 and did not entirely trust. The Swedish defeated Wallenstein
at the Battle of Lutzen in 1632 but Gustavus Adolphus was killed in that
battle.
Wallenstein
became involved in trying to broker a peace between the two sides and in 1633
Ferdinand fearing Wallenstein would switch sides, arranged for his arrest but
Wallenstein was killed by one of his own officers when he attempted to contact
the Swedes. With Gustav Adolphus dead,
the Swedes were defeated at the battle of Nordlingen in 1634 and driven out of
the south of Germany.
In
1635 the Peace of Prague was signed in which an amnesty was granted to those
who had sided with the Swedes. It was agreed that the Lutheran rulers of northeast
Germany would be protected, the armies of the German states were assumed into
the Imperial army and the German princes were forbidden from treating with each
other.
The
Peace of Prague did not involve the Swedish who still occupied the northern
states of Germany and nor did it satisfy the French because of the power it
gave to the Habsburgs.
End of Round 4: The Swedish forces are in occupation in the
northern part of Germany. The Habsburgs still control Bohemia, Austria, Spain
and the Low Countries.
The
Swedes and the French came together for the final phase of the Thirty Year’s
War.
Round 5: The French
connection (1635 -1648)
You
would think that the French, being Catholic, would have supported the Imperial
cause, but France (notably Cardinal Richlieu) felt threatened by the rising
power of the Habsburgs whose territories now bordered France on all sides. In
1635 Richelieu declared war on Spain and in 1636 and the Holy Roman Empire in
1636. France aligned with Sweden and opened the offensive in the Low Countries
and Germany.
Initially
the French suffered disaster with the Imperial forces entering French territory
and threatening Paris itself but with the aid of the Swedes they pushed the
Spanish back and began to regain the lost German territories. At the second
battle of Breitenfeld (outside Liepzig) in 1642, the Swedish general
Torstenson, inflicted a massive defeat on the Imperial army, forcing Ferdinand
III, now the Holy Roman Emperor (following the death of his father in early
1637).
In
1643 Denmark re-entered the war, but this time on the Imperial side. Torstenson
and the Swedish navy made short work of the Danes, neutralising them. Over the
next few years Torstenson drove through Germany, driving the Imperial army
before him and culminating in the battle of Jankau near Prague in 1644.
Meanwhile the French under the Duke de Conde defeated the Bavarian forces at second
battle of Nordlingen in 1645. In 1648, the Swedes entered Prague and the Thirty
Years War was over. Over the next few months a series of treaties were signed,
known collectively as the Peace of Westphalia.
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| The fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire following the Peace of Westphalia |
End Round 5: Only Austria/Bohemia remains in the Habsburg
hands, the remainder of the Holy Roman Empire is fragmented into individual
states. France and Spain remain at war for another eleven years.
The Human price of
the War: It is estimated that the population of
Germany by 15-30% with some parts (such as Westphalia) losing 75% of its
population to disease and famine.
Involvement: This graph illustrates the complex involvement
of the European powers in the struggle.
Directly
against Emperor
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Indirectly
against Emperor
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Directly
for Emperor
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Indirectly
for Emperor
|
This is very much a simplistic overview of what was an extraordinarily complex political and religious scenario. It has, however, helped me clarify what the major issues and movements were in the period and I hope you have found it interesting.
For further reading, I commend you to good old Wikipedia which just abounds in resources on this subject.
