The Thirty Years’
War, 1618 – 1648:
The Disintegration of
Germany
Section 3.16
Questions to consider
• How had the Peace of Augsburg attempted to settle the
religious question in German states? What developments
upset those arrangements?
• How may one attempt to analyze the issues of the 30
Years’ War? How did European rivalries and ambitions
become liked to the conflict within Germany?
• Sketch briefly the events associated with each of the
major phases of the 30 Years’ War.
• Summarize and evaluate the Peace of Westphalia with
respect to (A) the religious settlement, (B) the territorial
changes, (C) constitutional issues with the HRE. Of what
significance was the Peace of Westphalia for modern
international relations?
• How would you evaluate the broad significance of the 30
Years’ War and the Peace of Westphalia? What seems to
have been the net result of the wars of religion?
Introduction
•
•
•
HRE is a mix of Czech, Bohemian,
French and German (Majority), evenly
split between Protestant and Catholic
Isolationist perspectives of Lutheran
states led to cultural decline
– suspicious of the outside world and
suffered from cultural isolation
Universities attracted fewer students as
intellectual energies were spent
defending dogmas
– Witch burning
– Commercial activity is in decline
– Banking and financial interests were
shifting west
Background of the Thirty Years’ War
•
HRE Role
– Peace of Augsburg (1555) provided
that each state could prescribe the
religion of its subjects
– leads to the development of two
opposing forces
• Lutheran states are making gains by
converting leaders
• Catholics states are supported by
Spain
Background of the Thirty Years’ War
• Spain’s Role
• wanted Nether
back or at least
to end Dutch
trade in Indies
• wished to
consolidate
Habsburg
position in
Germany and
in Swiss
cantons
Philip III (1598-1621)
Background of the Thirty Years’ War
• French Role
– Spain’s moves
aroused France
– Idea of a stronger
power in Germany
also aroused French
• intent and
preventing a strong
Hapsburg state
from emerging in
the HRE
Louis XIII (1610-1643)
Background of the Thirty Years’ War
• Complexity of the Thirty Years’ War
– Fought over religion, constitutional issues,
centralization v independence of German states
– Between the French and Hapsburgs, Spain and
Dutch
– Fought mostly on German soil
– Divided into 4 or 5 phases
• Bohemian (1618-1625)
• Danish (1625-1629)
• Swedish(1630-1635)
• Swedish-French(1635-1648)
Phase One: The Bohemian War
•
•
•
•
1618 emissaries of HRE
are “thrown out the
window” by Protestant
Bohemians and Czechs
called the
“defenestration of
Prague”
King/HRE sends troops
Bohemians elect a new
king by choosing
Elector of Palatine
(Frederick V)
Phase One: The Bohemian War
• Catholic Ferdinand with
support of Pope, Spanish
troops, and Bavarian forces
combine to rout the Protestant
uprising at Battle of White
Mountain in 1620 Spaniards
begin concentrating forces in the
Rhineland
• Ferdinand is re-elected king and
confiscates estates of Protestants
– Forced re-Catholicization of
Bohemia is implemented with the
Jesuits
– Protestantism in Austria is
“stamped out”
Ferdinand I
Frederick V, Elector
of Palatine
The Winter King
Score
Protestants/Czechs
0
Catholics/HRE/Spain
1
Phase Two
Denmark Intervention
•
King of Denmark (also
the Duke of Holstein, a
state in HRE) raises
army with support from
Richelieu
•
HRE Ferdinand
commissions Albert of
Wallenstein to raise
army
– his army are
professional pillagers
– Wallenstein’s army is
ruthless and
aggressive and
defeats the King of
Denmark
King Christian
IV of Denmark.
General
of the Lutheran
army
Catholic
general
Albrecht von
Wallenstein
Score
Protestants/Denmark
0
Catholics/HRE
2
Half Time Regrouping
•
International realignment
– HRE issues Edict of
Restitution to reclaim all
secularized territories since
1552 in Germany for
Catholic Church
• terror sweeps over
Protestants of Germany
– France (Richelieu) plots to
engage Sweden in the
Protestant resistance
– Dutch also align with
Sweden and support the
Swedish military campaign
– Stage is set for final phase
of the war
Halftime Show
Phase Three
Swedish Intervention
Gustavus Adolphus= King of Sweden
– Excellent leader
– Used Dutch and other military experts
to create a modern army
• Disciplined, solid leadership,
advanced weapons (mobile
cannon), a very motivated (troops
sang Lutheran hymns into battle)
– Aided by
• Richelieu’s diplomatic efforts against
the HRE
• German Protestants and Catholics
that feared imperial centralization
– Gustavus Adolphus killed at Lutzen in
1632
• chancellor carries battle
Phase Three
Swedish Intervention
• Splintering in the Protestant effort
– Saxony makes a separate peace with HRE
– Wallenstein breaks ranks and negotiates
with Swedes independently
– Wallenstein assassinated by his own staff
– HRE annuls the Edict of Restitution and
German leaders are pacified
– The promise of peace seems near
The death of King Gustavus II
Adolphus on 16 November 1632
at the Battle of Lützen
Score
Protestants/Sweden/France
1
Catholics/HRE
2
Phase Four
Swedish-French Intervention
•
Richelieu
– To avoid unified
HRE Richelieu
redoubles efforts to
support Swedes
• Comes out
openly in favor of
the German
Protestants
• Moves France
into the conflict
Phase Four
Swedish-French Intervention
• Spanish are aggressive
and move into France
– Portugal and
Catalonia seize
opportunity to move
against Spain
– French troops move
into Spain
• Germany begins to see
the wars as an
international conflict
fought on German soil
and resentment to
foreign influence builds
The Peace of Westphalia 1648
•
Large representative body assembles to
discuss the terms
– Shift in tone is evident
• last large assembly (Constance, 1415))
discussed church issues
• this large assembly discussed affairs
of the state
• Evidence of how far secularization had
progressed
– The Pope was not heard and did not
sign the treaties
The Peace of Westphalia 1648
• Checkmates Counter Reformation
– Renewed the terms of the Peace of Augsburg
• Added Calvinism to list as acceptable faiths
• Catholic claims to church territories were abandoned
• HRE is downsized
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Dutch and Swiss are independent
French get territories in Lorraine and rights in Alsace
Sweden received territories in northern Germany
Mouth of the German rivers were controlled by non-Germans
Oder, Elbe and Weser by Sweden
Rhine and Scheldt by Dutch
Constitution of the peace is victory for states rights
Marks the advent in international law of the modern European
Staatensystem or system of sovereign states
– Use of balance of power
– the end of a possible “unified” or universal monarchy in Europe
– Numerous independent states were to exist
Aftermath of the Thirty Years War
•
Germany is a wreck
•
•
•
–
–
–
–
Starvation and depopulation
Magdeburg was besieged 10
times
Farmers ceased to farm
Germany fades into the
background of political
affairs in Europe
Western Europe takes the
lead in moving toward the
modern age
Eastern Europe sinks into
a sedentary culture and
begins to look eastward
State viewed as more
important than religion
Score
Winners
French Monarchy
Princes of Germany
Protestantism
Losers
German People
HRE
Catholicism
Spain
0
