More on the Thirty Years War…and More… (I’m a poet, and I don’t even know it)
Phase One: The Bohemian Phase ( ) Phase Two: The Danish Phase ( ) Phase Three: The Swedish Phase ( ) Phase Four: The Franco-Swedish Phase ( )
On Like Donkey Kong Donkey Kong I see a little silhouette-o of a man… The Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand was accepted as the Bohemian Estates’ king These nobles were quickly unhappy with their choice because many of them were Calvinists, while Ferdinand was a devout Catholic In and of itself, the Catholicism would not have been a problem, but Ferdinand began re-Catholicizing Bohemia and strengthening royal power The Protestant nobles rebelled against Ferdinand in May 1618 and it was on like Donkey Kong No, they literally did something that Donkey Kong may have considered: they threw two Habsburg governors and a secretary out of the window of the royal castle in Prague!
They lived. No. Seriously. They fell 70 feet from a castle and lived. Now mind you, these are very religious people, so the Catholics pointed out that they survived only because of the Virgin Mary The Protestants pointed out they fell into a manure pile (You can’t make this up—sometimes history is greater than fiction) The Bohemian rebels seized Bohemia, ousted Ferdinand and elected Frederick V (also head of the Protestant Union) as his replacement Ferdinand refused to accept his deposition, as he was also recently elected as the Holy Roman Emperor If Ferdinand had left, the balance of religious and political power in central Europe may have shifted, giving the Protestants more control of the Holy Roman Empire Therefore, Ferdinand sought the help of Duke Maximilian of Bavaria and the Catholic League and Frederick was defeated on November 8, 1620 Spanish troops took advantage of Frederick’s predicament by invading the Palatinate and conquering it by the end of 1622 Frederick fled, the Spanish took control of the western part of the Palatinate to gain access from Italy to the Netherlands Now Emperor Ferdinand, he established Bohemia as a Habsburg possession, confiscated the land of the Protestant nobles, and established Catholicism as the sole religion And that’s what happens when keepin’ it real goes wrong…
The Danish phase of the war lasted from It began when King Christian IV of Denmark, a Lutheran, led an army for the Protestants into northern Germany His anti-Habsburg, anti-Catholic alliance with the United Provinces and England was looking to regain land for the Protestants and grab some Catholic territory in Northern Germany for his family On the other side, the Bohemian noble Albrecht von Wallenstein had taken advantage of Ferdinand’s victory in Bohemia to become the country’s richest landowner His tactics led the Catholic League to a victory over Christian IV’s troops in 1626 and 1627 Christian IV’s mission backfired as Wallenstein now occupied parts of northern Germany and ended Danish supremacy in the Baltic region The Boys of Ferdy are lookin’ purdy… …and because of that Ferdy 2 (also known by the rest of the civilized world as Emperor Ferdinand II) was at the height of his power and issued the Edict of Restitution in March, 1629 ◦ The devout Catholic prohibited Calvinist worship ◦ He restored all property taken by Protestant princes or cities in the previous 75 years to the Catholic Church ◦ However, German princes got scurred (scured? scurr’d?) and forced the dismissal of Wallenstein by Emperor Ferdy 2
The Swedish phase of the war takes from and begins Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus’s entry into the war He was responsible for reviving Sweden and turning it into a great Baltic power He would soon be seen as being responsible for being dead A devout Lutheran, Adolphus felt compelled to aid his fellow Protestants against the Catholics Gustavus’s army moved through Germany until the imperial side desperately recalled Wallenstein At the Battle of Lutzen, the Swedish forces won, but it was a pyrrhic victory as Adolphus was killed in the battle What do you think it means if one achieves a pyrrhic victory? Hopefully you recognize that it means the Swedish troops were less effective…because that’s what happened By 1634, on the orders of Ferdy 2, the imperial army knocked out the Swedes and guaranteed southern Germany for the Catholics This was agreed upon because Ferdy 2 agreed to annul the Edict of Restitution of 1629, making peace with the princes of Germany… …but that didn’t take care of the Swedes or the French… …God’s a helluva drug… (semi-pun intended)…
The final phase of the war is the Franco-Swedish Phase The Catholic French were now supporting the Protestant Swedes (for political reasons) against the Catholic Habsburgs of Germany and Spain This is where politics officially begins to supersede religion The Battle of Rocroi in 1643 was the decisive victory for the French and ended Spanish military might The French then defeated the imperialist-Bavarian armies in Southern Germany Finally, everyone is ready for Peace…the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (except the French and Spanish kept fighting until the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659) By then, Spain was second-rate and France was the dominant European nation (as hard as that is to believe…)
Peace of Westphalia: ◦ All German states, including the Calvinist ones, were free to determine their own religion ◦ France gained parts of western Germany, part of Alsace, and three cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun This gave France control of the border area between France and Germany If you ever wondered why Germany generally, and Hitler specifically, was so concerned with France regaining the Alsace-Lorraine region following World War I, this is one of the first reasons ◦ The Austrian Habsburgs didn’t lose any land of note but their authority as rulers of Germany was diminished ◦ More than 300 states that made up the Holy Roman Empire were recognized as virtually independent because they could look after their own foreign policy (the Habsburg emperor was merely a figurehead) ◦ Religion and politics are now documented as separate ◦ The pope was completely ignored—politics is the guiding light ◦ Religion is less state-based and more of an individual choice ◦ Argument: the beginning of sovereign states operating as equals within a secular framework ◦ Economically, the damage was inconsistent, with the Holy Roman Empire likely being hit the hardest (likely a 15%-20% decline in the population)
War terms to note (and know) to facilitate discussion: ◦ Calvary ◦ Squadrons/Battalions ◦ Conscription ◦ Salvo ◦ Standing armies ◦ Linear formations ◦ Musket + bayonet ◦ Naval arms race Green: No military Blue: No enforced conscription Orange: Plan to abolish conscription in near future Red: Conscription