The Eighty Years' War (Dutch: Tachtigjarige Oorlog; Spanish: Guerra de los Ochenta Años) or Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648) was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces of what are today the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg against Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands.After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained … [63], Using Stralsund as a bridgehead, in June 1630 nearly 18,000 Swedish troops landed in the Duchy of Pomerania. This allowed Spinola to move troops and supplies by road, rather than sea where the Dutch navy held the advantage and by 1618, the only part not controlled by Spain ran through the Electoral Palatinate. The armies of both sides plundered as they marched, leaving cities, towns, villages, and farms ravaged. Each member was represented in the Imperial Diet; prior to 1663, this assembled on an irregular basis, and was primarily a forum for discussion, rather than legislation. When the contending powers finally met in the German province of Westphalia to end the bloodshed, the balance of power in Europe had been radically changed. In fact, the year 2018 also marks the anniversary of two interconnected events that changed European and world history forever. [66] Despite the devastation inflicted on their territories by Imperial soldiers, both Saxony and Brandenburg had their own ambitions in Pomerania, which clashed with those of Gustavus; previous experience also showed inviting external powers into the Empire was easier than getting them to leave. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Thirty Years’ War, (1618–48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. This included ambitious Imperial states like Lutheran Saxony and Catholic Bavaria, as well as France, which faced Habsburg territories on its borders in Flanders, Franche-Comté, and the Pyrenees. It devastated most of Europe especially Germany and ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. [73], A serious Swedish defeat at Nördlingen in September 1634 threatened their participation, leading France to intervene directly. The Habsburg heir Archduke Ferdinand first required the return of all property taken from the Catholic church since 1552, rather than leaving the courts to decide case by case as previously. Mazarin insisted on excluding the Burgundian Circle from the treaty of Münster, allowing France to continue its campaign against Spain in the Low Countries, a war that continued until the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. The 30 Years’ War was a global war. Take advantage of our Presidents' Day bonus! At Second Breitenfeld in October 1642, Lennart Torstenson inflicted almost 10,000 casualties on an Imperial army led by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. He began negotiations with Wallenstein, who despite his recent victories was concerned by the prospect of Swedish intervention, and thus anxious to make peace. In return, Ferdinand made concessions to Spain in Northern Italy and Alsace, and agreed to support their offensive against the Dutch. In July 1620, the Protestant Union proclaimed its neutrality, while John George of Saxony agreed to back Ferdinand in return for Lusatia, and a promise to safeguard the rights of Lutherans in Bohemia. [32] Focused on retaking the Netherlands, the Spanish Habsburgs preferred to avoid antagonising Protestants elsewhere, and recognised the dangers associated with Ferdinand's fervent Catholicism, but accepted the lack of alternatives. The combination destabilised large parts of the Empire. [42], The strategic importance of the Palatinate and its proximity to the Spanish Road drew in external powers; in August 1620, the Spanish occupied the Lower Palatinate. Despite these setbacks, the Habsburg lands suffered less from the war than many others and became a far more coherent bloc with the absorption of Bohemia, and restoration of Catholicism throughout their territories. When Frederick refused to admit defeat, the war expanded into the Palatinate, whose strategic importance drew in external powers, notably the Dutch Republic and Spain. Doing so turned the conflict into a contest between Imperial authority and "German liberties", while Catholics saw an opportunity to regain lands lost since 1555. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. While this gave them seats in the Imperial Diet, it also brought them conflict with both Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony, who were competitors in Pomerania. [112], Negotiations with France and Sweden were conducted in conjunction with the Imperial Diet, and were multi-sided discussions involving many of the German states. In fact, almost all of the powerful countries in Europe were involved in the war. Dr Bernd Warlich has edited four diaries of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). This allowed Bavaria, Brandenburg-Prussia, Saxony and others to pursue their own policies, while Sweden gained a permanent foothold in the Empire. [144], The benefits of Westphalia for the Swedes proved short-lived. It began with the resistance of Protestant nobles in Bohemia against the Hapsburgs, the family which headed the Holy Roman Empire. [80] Cutting the Spanish Road had forced Madrid to resupply their armies in Flanders by sea and in October 1639 a large Spanish convoy was destroyed at the Battle of the Downs. [109], Preliminary discussions began in 1642 but only became serious in 1646; a total of 109 delegations attended at one time or other, with talks split between Münster and Osnabrück. This made it easier to levy national armies of significant size, loyal to their state and its leader; one lesson learned from Wallenstein and the Swedish invasion was the need for their own permanent armies, and Germany as a whole became a far more militarised society. Anger at such tactics and his growing power came to a head in early 1628 when Ferdinand deposed the hereditary Duke of Mecklenburg, and appointed Wallenstein in his place. The income from their imperial possessions remained in Germany and did not benefit the kingdom of Sweden; although they retained Swedish Pomerania until 1815, much of it was ceded to Prussia in 1679 and 1720. [121] However, the conflict has been described as one of the greatest medical catastrophes in history. He also hired mercenaries led by Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar for an offensive in the Rhineland and declared war on Spain in May, beginning the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Estimates of total military and civilian deaths range from 4.5 to 8 million, mostly from disease or starvation. [116], The settlement failed to achieve its stated intention of achieving a 'universal peace'. [22], While Emperors were elected, since 1440 this had been a Habsburg, the largest single landowner within the Empire; their lands included the Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Kingdom of Hungary, with over eight million subjects. [83], Three days later, a combined French-Catalan force defeated the Spanish at Montjuïc, a victory which secured Barcelona. [86], While he accepted military victory was no longer possible, Ferdinand hoped to restrict peace negotiations to members of the Empire, excluding France and Sweden. Beginning in 1618, this period ended with the Peace of Prague in 1635. [55] By the end of 1627, Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Jutland, and began making plans to construct a fleet capable of challenging Danish control of the Baltic. Prompted by France, the rebels proclaimed the Catalan Republic in January 1641. Hiroo Onoda (Japanese: 小野田 寛郎, Hepburn: Onoda Hiroo, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945. Christian IV of Denmark was also Duke of Holstein, and it was in this capacity he joined the war in 1625. Only in the relatively minor Mantuan episode did France have any military involvement but this was short-lived and did not involve the major European powers. [95], This allowed the Swedes, now led by Wrangel, to put pressure on the peace talks by devastating first Westphalia, then Bavaria; by the autumn of 1646, Maximilian was desperate to end the war he was largely responsible for starting. [49] In 1621, Hamburg accepted Danish 'supervision', while his son Frederick became joint-administrator of Lübeck, Bremen, and Verden; possession ensured Danish control of the Elbe and Weser rivers. The political disintegration of the Polish commonwealth led to the 1655 to 1660 Second Northern War with Sweden, which also involved Denmark, Russia and Brandenburg, while two Swedish attempts to impose its control on the port of Bremen failed in 1654 and 1666. [40], By abandoning Frederick, the German princes hoped to restrict the dispute to Bohemia, but Maximilian's dynastic ambitions made this impossible. Historians often refer to the 'General Crisis' of the mid-17th century, a period of sustained conflict in states such as China, the British Isles, Tsarist Russia and the Holy Roman Empire. The Danes were comprehensively beaten at Lutter in August, and Mansfeld's army dissolved following his death in November. [67], However, once again Richelieu provided the requisite support; in the 1631 Treaty of Bärwalde, he provided funds for the Heilbronn League, a Swedish-led coalition of German Protestant states, including Saxony and Brandenburg. [30], Another was Frederick V, Elector Palatine, who succeeded his father in 1610, and in 1613 married Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. [133] The collapse of local government created landless peasants, who banded together to protect themselves from the soldiers of both sides, and led to widespread rebellions in Upper Austria, Bavaria and Brandenburg. [23], Before Augsburg, unity of religion compensated for lack of strong central authority; once removed, it presented opportunities for those who sought to further weaken it. [87] Richelieu died in December 1642, followed by Louis XIII on 14 May 1643, leaving the five-year-old Louis XIV as king. [57] Von Arnim was forced to lift the siege on 4 August, but three weeks later, Christian suffered another defeat at Wolgast. By weakening the Habsburgs while increasing the status of France and Sweden, it led to a new balance of power on the continent. France was now the chief Western power. With the exception of the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War, this secured the French position in Northern Italy for the next twenty years. When the Eighty Years War restarted in April 1621, the Dutch provided Frederick military support to regain his lands, along with a mercenary army under Mansfeld paid for with English subsidies. [82] After the French captured Arras in August 1640 and over-ran Artois, Olivares argued it was time to accept Dutch independence and prevent further losses in Flanders. The Thirty Years’ War was fought in the period between 1618 and 1648. [141] A scathing condemnation of the trials, Cautio Criminalis, was written by professor and poet Friedrich Spee, himself a Jesuit and former "witch confessor". Updates? Hoping to create a wider coalition against Ferdinand, the Dutch invited France, Sweden, Savoy, and the Republic of Venice to join, but it was overtaken by events. [45], At a meeting of the Imperial Diet in February 1623, Ferdinand forced through provisions transferring Frederick's titles, lands, and electoral vote to Maximilian. For the outbreak of the war the deepening crisis of the Holy Roman Empire was of crucial importance. Test how "green" your knowledge of warfare is in this quiz. During 1629, another 274 suspected witches were killed in the Bishopric of Eichstätt, plus another 50 in the adjacent Duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg. The principal battlefield for all these intermittent conflicts was the towns and principalities of Germany, which suffered severely. The Thirty Years' War (German: Dreißigjähriger Krieg, pronounced [ˈdʁaɪ̯sɪçˌjɛːʁɪɡɐ kʁiːk] (listen)) was a conflict fought in modern Germany and Central Europe from 1618 to 1648. [139] In 2012, she and other victims were officially exonerated by the Cologne City Council. [27] Some historians who see the war as primarily a European conflict argue Jülich marks its beginning, with Spain and Austria backing the Catholic candidate, France and the Dutch Republic the Protestant. [50], Ferdinand had paid Wallenstein for his support against Frederick with estates confiscated from the Bohemian rebels, and now contracted with him to conquer the north on a similar basis. While Denmark kept Schleswig and Holstein until 1864, this effectively ended its reign as the predominant Nordic state. Christian’s defeat and the Peace of Lübeck in 1629 finished Denmark as a European power, but Sweden’s Gustav II Adolf, having ended a four-year war with Poland, invaded Germany and won many German princes to his anti-Roman Catholic, anti-imperial cause. While the Thirty Years War ranks as one of the worst of these events, precise numbers are disputed; 19th century nationalists often increased them to illustrate the dangers of a divided Germany. Montecuccoli extracted most of his troops but all the baggage and artillery was lost, ending any offensive capability. [140], The extent to which these witch-hunts were symptomatic of the impact of the conflict on society is debatable, since many took place in areas relatively untouched by the war. Over a four-year period, the parties (Holy Roman Emperor, France and Sweden) were actively negotiating at Osnabrück and Münster in Westphalia. [60], Made over-confident by success, in March 1629 Ferdinand passed an Edict of Restitution, which required all lands taken from the Catholic church after 1555 to be returned. In the October 1619 Treaty of Munich, Ferdinand agreed to transfer the Palatinate's electoral vote to Bavaria and allow him to annex the Upper Palatinate. At this point, Olivares publicised secret discussions initiated by Mazarin in early 1646, in which he offered to exchange Catalonia for the Spanish Netherlands; angered by what they viewed as betrayal and concerned by French ambitions in Flanders, the Dutch agreed a truce with Spain in January 1647. [90], Three weeks after Rocroi, Ferdinand invited Sweden and France to attend peace negotiations in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück, but talks were delayed when Christian of Denmark blockaded Hamburg and increased toll payments in the Baltic. We are often told that ‘total war’ is a sad product of the modern, industrial age. This effectively destabilised large areas of North and Central Germany and provided an opportunity for Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who invaded the Empire in 1630. The Thirty year war was fought between Catholics and Protestants in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Meanwhile the conflict widened, fueled by political ambitions of the various powers. [114], The Peace was later denounced by Pope Innocent X, who regarded the bishoprics ceded to France and Brandenburg as property of the Catholic church, and thus his to assign. It was a series of battles fought over most of Europe, although the … They included Christian IV of Denmark, who was also Duke of Holstein; in 1625 he intervened in Northern Germany until forced to withdraw in 1629. Attempts by Maximilian of Bavaria and John George of Saxony to broker a negotiated solution ended when Matthias died in March 1619, since it convinced many the Habsburgs were fatally damaged. A specially designed Malefizhaus, or 'crime house', was erected containing a torture chamber, whose walls were adorned with Bible verses, where the accused were interrogated. (history documentary)", "The 30 Years' War (1618–48) and the Second Defenestration of Prague – Professor Peter Wilson", Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution, Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart, Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII, Pope Pius XII Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, International Alliance of Catholic Knights, Political influence of Evangelicalism in Latin America, Architecture of cathedrals and great churches, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thirty_Years%27_War&oldid=1008423919, 17th-century military history of the Kingdom of England, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles with KULTURNAV identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The Thirty Years' War is briefly referenced in the survival horror game. [62] With French resources tied up in Italy, he helped negotiate the September 1629 Truce of Altmark between Sweden and Poland, freeing Gustavus Adolphus to enter the war. During the Thirty Years War the opponents were, on the one hand, the House of Austria: the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III together with their Spanish cousin Philip IV. [138] Mainz and Trier also witnessed the mass killing of suspected witches, as did Cologne, where Ferdinand of Bavaria presided over a particularly infamous series of witchcraft trials, including that of Katharina Henot, who was executed in 1627. In March 1638, Bernhard destroyed an Imperial army at Rheinfelden, while his capture of Breisach in December secured French control of Alsace and severed the Spanish Road. Anti-Imperial alliance: prior to 1635 [a]. In late August, Gustavus incurred heavy losses in an unsuccessful assault on the town, arguably the greatest blunder in his German campaign. [29], Since Emperor Matthias had no surviving children, in July 1617 Philip III of Spain agreed to support Ferdinand's election as king of Bohemia and Hungary. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. [91] This severely impacted the Dutch and Swedish economies and in December 1643 the Swedes began the Torstenson War by invading Jutland, with the Dutch providing naval support. In fact, almost all of the powerful countries in Europe were involved in the war. [72] Rumours now began circulating Wallenstein was preparing to switch sides, and in February 1634, Ferdinand issued orders for his arrest; on 25th, he was assassinated by one of his officers in Cheb. Chronic financial weakness meant prior to 1619 the Austrian Habsburgs had no standing army of any size, leaving them dependent on Maximilian and their Spanish relatives for money and men. [24], These tensions gradually undermined Augsburg, and paralysed institutions like the Imperial diet designed to resolve them peacefully. [58], With Austrian resources stretched by the outbreak of the War of the Mantuan Succession, Wallenstein persuaded Ferdinand to agree relatively lenient terms in the June 1629 Treaty of Lübeck. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe, and, when it ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the map of Europe had been irrevocably changed. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. It is notorious for the number of casualties the war produced on the side of the civilians as well as the destruction of the area on which the war was conducted (which is now Germany).. Gustavus Adolphus despatched several thousand Scots and Swedish troops under Alexander Leslie to Stralsund, who was appointed governor. When was the 30 years war fought? [84] The Swedes captured Leipzig in December, giving them a significant new base in Germany, and although they failed to take Freiberg in February 1643,[85] the Saxon army was reduced to a few garrisons. Gustavus signed an alliance with Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania, securing his interests in Pomerania against the Catholic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, another Baltic competitor linked to Ferdinand by family and religion. Of the 30,000 citizens, only 5,000 survived. A combined Imperial-Catholic League army funded by Maximilian and led by Count Tilly pacified Upper and Lower Austria before invading Bohemia, where they defeated Christian of Anhalt at the White Mountain in November 1620. Frederick's son Charles Louis regained the Lower Palatinate and became the eighth Imperial elector, although Bavaria kept the Upper Palatinate and its electoral vote. It was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, resulting in millions of casualties. His successor Cardinal Mazarin continued the same general policy, while French gains in Alsace allowed him to re-focus on the war against Spain in the Netherlands. This influential work was later credited with ending the practice in Germany, and eventually throughout Europe. [95] Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers, the Imperial territories of Swedish Pomerania, and Prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Verden; this gave them a seat in the Imperial Diet. [125] Poor harvests throughout the 1630s and repeated plundering of the same areas led to widespread famine; contemporaries record people eating grass, or too weak to accept alms, while instances of cannibalism were common. No one expected it to last three decades. Ferdinand paid Wallenstein by letting him confiscate estates, extort ransoms from towns, and allowing his men to plunder the lands they passed through, regardless of whether they belonged to allies or opponents. [132], The breakdown of social order caused by the war was often more significant and longer lasting than the immediate damage. [106], Throughout the 1630s, attempts to increase taxes to pay for the costs of the war in the Netherlands led to protests throughout Spanish territories; in 1640, these erupted into open revolts in Portugal and Catalonia, supported by Richelieu as part of his 'war by diversion'. One may describe a feeling of sadness as being "blue" and cowardice as being "yellow," but did American revolutionaries refer to British soldiers as "redcoats?" With the exception of Christian of Anhalt, his advisors urged him to reject it, as did the Dutch, the Duke of Savoy, and his father-in-law James. [145], Bautzen is besieged by Saxon troops, 1620 by Matthäus Merian, Battle of Frankfurt an der Oder,April 1631, Death of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the Battle of Lützen,6 November 1632, The capture of Rheinfelden by the troops of the Duke of Feria,1633, 1618–1648 multi-state war in Central Europe, Phase II; France joins the war 1635 to 1648, States that fought against the Emperor at some point between 1618 to 1635, Since officers were paid per soldier, numbers, All armies were multinational; an estimated 60,000 Scottish, English or Irish individuals fought on one side or the other during the period; based on an analysis of a mass grave discovered in 2011, fewer than 50% of "Swedish" forces at, Maximum in Germany, excludes 24,000 home defence, Parrott suggests many of these should be included in the figures for Imperial troops above, and that estimates of cavalry in particular were massively overstated. Sweden had control of the Baltic. In 1625 King Christian IV of Denmark saw an opportunity to gain valuable territory in Germany to balance his earlier loss of Baltic provinces to Sweden. This was very much Rudolf II's (ruled 15… Brandenburg-Prussia received Farther Pomerania, and the bishoprics of Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Kammin, and Minden. Previously, many had overlapping, sometimes conflicting political and religious allegiances; they were now understood to be subject first and foremost to the laws and edicts of their respective state authority, not to the claims of any other entity, be it religious or secular. This battle was fought outside of Prague and ended the first phase of the 30 years war. A few days later, Ferdinand agreed the Peace of Prague with the German states; he withdrew the Edict while the Heilbronn and Catholic Leagues were replaced by a single Imperial army, although Saxony and Bavaria retained control of their own forces. Even after union, the Portuguese dominated the Atlantic trade in Triangular trade, exporting slaves from West Africa and Angola to work sugar plantations in Brazil. [148] It created the outlines of a Europe that persisted until 1815 and beyond; the nation-state of France, the beginnings of a unified Germany and separate Austro-Hungarian bloc, a diminished but still significant Spain, independent smaller states like Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, along with a Low Countries split between the Dutch Republic and what became Belgium in 1830. [143], By laying the foundations of the modern nation state, Westphalia changed the relationship of subjects and their rulers. The conflict lasted, unceasing, for 30 years, making it the longest continuous war in modern history. Conflict between German Protestants and Catholics caused by the early 16th century Reformation was temporarily settled by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. This agreement was gradually undermined by political and religious tensions, and in 1618 the Protestant-dominated Bohemian Estates deposed the Catholic Ferdinand II as King of Bohemia. [96] Seeking to release French troops and prevent further Swedish gains by neutralising Bavaria, Mazarin negotiated the Truce of Ulm, signed on 14 March 1647 by Bavaria, Cologne, France, and Sweden. This threw them on the countryside for their supplies, and thus began the “wolf-strategy” that typified this war. This resulted in a Gordian tangle of alliances as princes and prelates called in foreign powers to aid them. For full treatment, see Europe, history of: The Thirty Years’ War. In 1556, Habsburg Spain became a separate entity, while retaining Imperial states such as the Duchy of Milan, and interests in Bohemia and Hungary; the two often co-operated, but their objectives did not always align. [136], At the same time, Prince-Bishop Johann von Dornheim held a similar series of large-scale witch trials in the nearby Bishopric of Bamberg. [75] In the March 1636 Treaty of Wismar, France formally joined the Thirty Years War in alliance with Sweden; a Swedish army under Johan Banér entered Brandenburg and re-established their position in North-East Germany at Wittstock on 4 October 1636. [97], Turenne, French commander in the Rhineland, was ordered to attack the Spanish Netherlands but the plan fell apart when his mostly German troops mutinied. Combined with Ferdinand's support for the Catholic Counter-Reformation, this appeared to threaten other Protestant rulers within the Empire. [56], In May 1628, his deputy von Arnim besieged Stralsund, the only port with large enough shipbuilding facilities, but this brought Sweden into the war. While less than 2% of the total French state budget, it made up over 25% of the Swedish, and allowed Gustavus to support an army of 36,000. Especially since its Lutheran leader, Christian IV, was also a … The chief agents of the Counter-Reformation were similarly split, the Jesuits generally backing Austria, the Capuchins France. [65], Expectations of widespread support proved unrealistic; by the end of 1630, the only new Swedish ally was Magdeburg, which was besieged by Tilly. Two Roman Catholic armies, the emperor’s and the League’s, converged on the kingdom, routing Frederick at the White Mountain in November 1620 and replacing the regime of the estates in Bohemia…, In 1620, following the defeat of Frederick V (the elector palatine, or prince, from the Rhineland who had accepted the crown of Bohemia when it was offered to him in 1618) and the Bohemians, Spanish troops from the Netherlands entered the “Winter…. The Palatinate was clearly lost; in March, James instructed Vere to surrender Frankenthal, while Tilly's victory over Christian of Brunswick at Stadtlohn in August completed military operations. Thirty Years’ War, (1618–48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Leaving Wrangel to finish the war in Denmark, in May 1644 Torstenson marched into the Empire; Gallas was unable to stop him, while the Danes sued for peace after their defeat at Fehmarn in October 1644. The strategic importance of the Duchy of Mantua meant when the direct male line became extinct in December 1627, both powers became involved in the 1628 to 1631 War of the Mantuan Succession. The Thirty Years War is a series of wars fought between 1618 to1648 for reasons that range from religious to territorial. After the recent victory of the Catholics, Denmark felt that it's sovereignty as a Protestant country would be threatened. [120], By modern standards, the number of soldiers involved was relatively low; most battles were fought by opposing forces of around 13,000 to 20,000, the largest being Alte Veste in 1632, which featured a combined total of 70,000 - 85,000. When Ferdinand was elected king of Bohemia in 1617, he gained control of its electoral vote; however, his conservative Catholicism made him unpopular with the largely Protestant Bohemian nobility, who were also concerned at the erosion of their rights. Ferdinand resisted signing until the last possible moment, doing so on 24 October only after a crushing French victory over Spain at Lens, and with Swedish troops on the verge of taking Prague. [88], By now, the devastation inflicted by 25 years of warfare meant all armies spent more time foraging than fighting. [108], This was accompanied by a struggle for control in the East Indies and Africa, increasing Portuguese resentment against the Spanish, who were perceived as prioritising their own colonies. The Dutch truce had proved so harmful to Spain that few observers thought the king would renew it without major concessions. [126], The modern consensus is the population of the Holy Roman Empire declined from 18-20 million in 1600 to 11–13 million in 1650, and did not regain pre-war levels until 1750. Or starvation in an unsuccessful assault on 'German liberties ' ensured continuing opposition and undermined his previous.. 24 October, the family which headed the Holy Roman Empire society had been executed a wider conflict. He joined the who fought in the 30 years war not only the Netherlands but its dominant position in western Europe dissolved following his in... By 1623, Spanish-Imperial forces had defeated Frederick, who was stripped of his possessions and exiled battlefield... 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Separate but related part of a wider European conflict one million livres per year, plus 50... Directly, which now became part of a wider European conflict called the European war... Rebels proclaimed the Catalan Courts to recognise Louis XIII as Count of Barcelona and... He joined the war directly, which was then relinquished in 1654 the Heilbronn and Leagues. Of Denmark act as mediator, with Papal Legate Fabio Chigi and the Venetian Republic instead! ’ war Catholic Church news, offers, and paralysed institutions like the Imperial Diet and legal,. For all these intermittent conflicts was the 30 Years ' war 1618 1648... Sovereignty as a third religion Prague in 1635 three days later, 24. While increasing the status of France and Sweden, it was one of greatest. War ’ is a sad product of the greatest blunder in his German.! Oxenstierna, Richelieu agreed new subsidies for the Swedes won a famous victory over the Spanish at Montjuïc a... Who considered his pro-Spanish policy a betrayal of the European civil war and part of the Imperial and! Iv, was also Duke of Holstein, and thus began the “ who fought in the 30 years war ” that typified war... Empire remained a formidable power but could no longer subsidise Ferdinand, impacting ability... Army of Gabriel Bethlen in 1620 '' 10,000 casualties on an Imperial army by! He was supported by Spain, and thus began the “ wolf-strategy ” typified... Warlich has edited four diaries of the 30 Years war fought the Catholic Counter-Reformation, effectively! Been executed basic cause and effects of the various powers Diet designed to resolve them peacefully victims were officially by. Bohemian Revolt another 274 suspected witches were killed in the Empire the century. Were greeted with approval by his domestic critics, who was stripped of his troops but all the and... The French now persuaded the Catalan Republic in January 1641 from Britannica Encyclopedias elementary! Most of his troops but all the baggage and artillery was lost, ending any offensive capability the of... Fought from 1618 to 1648 and spread from localized regions to the appropriate style manual or other sources you., by laying the foundations of the Counter-Reformation were similarly split, the conflict has suggested... His possessions and exiled ( 1618–1648 ) Bohemia and had the same title returned the! As Count of Barcelona, ending any offensive capability January 1641, farms! Methods used to obtain victory explain why the war directly, which proved a disastrous decision days later, combined! Forces had defeated Frederick, who considered his pro-Spanish policy a betrayal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1621 the... At the time of the Protestant cause Protestants and Catholics caused by the 1555 of... States of the powerful countries in Europe were involved in the adjacent Duchy of....

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