The Thirty Years' War was a 17th-century religious conflict fought primarily in central Europe. It remains one of the longest and most brutal wars in human history, with more than 8 million casualties resulting from military battles as well as from the famine and disease caused by the conflict.

1. The Thirty Years’ War
1618-1648
Ch 12: Wars of Religion

2. Wars of Religion RECAP
France
Catherine Medici and her boy kings dealing with
feuding families, just trying to keep everyone
happy
St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre – slaughters
Protestants (Huguenots)
Henry of Navarre becomes Henry IV, starting
the Bourbon line, turns France Catholic again
BUT Edict of Nantes- though restricting, gives
Protestants basic freedoms

3. Wars of Religion RECAP
England & Spain
Mary Tudor is super Catholic (marries Philip II or Spain, also
super Catholic) & becomes Bloody Mary by executing
hundreds of Protestants
Philip II of Spain has a HUGE empire to manage. Loses the
Netherlands, its richest territory, in a revolt
Tensions with England & Spain grow because of England’s
support of the Netherland’s revolt
Elizabeth I – attempts to play the middle ground (politique)
through religious toleration
Spanish Armada – tensions explode and the Spanish are
defeated by the English at sea, permanently reducing the
power of the Spanish Empire

4. Focus Question
How did the Thirty Years War start out as a
War of Religion but shift to a war of politics?

5. Habsburgs

6. The House of Habsburg, often Anglicised as Hapsburg and
sometimes referred to as the House of Austria, was one of the
most important royal houses of Europe & is best known for
being an origin of all the formally elected HRE’s between
1438 & 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian & Spanish Emipres
and several other countries.
Originally from Switzerland, the dynasty first reigned in Austria,
which they ruled for over six centuries. A series of dynastic
marriages brought Burgundy, Spain, Bohemia, Hungary, and
other territories into the inheritance. In the 16th century, the
family separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior
Habsburg Austrian branches, who settled their mutual claims in the
Onate Treaty.
Source:
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/House_of_
Habsburg.html
Summary of Charles V

7. Thirty Years’ War
• Often called the last of
the religious wars, but
secular considerations
ended up playing a much
bigger role than religion
• Primary Battleground:
Germanic lands of the
HRE
• Eventually became a
Europe-wide struggle

8. Background
• Peace of Augsburg (1555) had brought an
end to fighting between German Catholics and
Lutherans, but both still competed for control of
various principalities
• Treaty didn’t recognize Calvinists but a number
of German states had adopted Calvinism
• About 360 autonomous entities within
Germany = POLITICAL DEFRAGMENTATION

9. Background
• In the Palatinate, a
Protestant alliance formed
between Calvinists and
England, France & the
Netherlands called the
Protestant Union
• Lutherans came to fear
them as much as they
feared Catholics
• To counteract, Duke
Maximilian of Bavaria
organized the Catholic
League of German States
(1609), and looked to Spain
for support

10. The Thirty Years’ War
Four Phases of the 30 Years’ War:
• The Bohemian Phase
• The Danish Phase
• The Swedish Phase
• The French Phase

11. Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)
• Ferdinand II became the new King of Bohemia
and revoked all religious freedoms that had
previously been given to Protestants

12. The Defenestration of Prague
• Protestants set up a meeting with Catholic
officials in Prague on May 23, 1618.
• Meeting went badly, the Protestants seized two
Catholic officials and tossed them out the window
• This event is known as The Defenestration of
Prague. The word defenestrate comes from Latin word for
“window” and means “out the window”
• Survived the fall because they landed in a dung heap
or ditch; Catholics claimed angels saved them
• This was the spark that ignited the 30 Years’ War

13. Defenestration of Prague

14. Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)
• Fighting between Catholics and
Protestants began soon after the
Defenestration in 1618
• The Protestants used a force
made up mostly of Czechs and
deposed Ferdinand, King of
Bohemia
• They chose Frederick V, head of
the Protestant Union, to take his
place

15. Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)
• In the meantime, Ferdinand II had been
elected HRE. He used funds from the Catholic
League and the Spanish Habsburgs to build an
army
• The Catholic forces crushed the Protestants
at the Battle of White Mountain

16. Bohemian Phase: Summary
• Ferdinand HRE + Spanish Habsburgs (Catholics)
vs. Frederick + Czechs (Protestant)
• Catholics crush Protestants

17. The Danish Phase (1625-1630)
• As the fighting went on,
mercenaries joined looking to make
some money in the war
• Albrecht von Wallenstein, born
a Czech Protestant, offered his
services to the Emperor
• Reluctantly the Emperor
commissioned Wallenstein and his
125,000 soldiers
• Wallenstein and his men unleashed
destruction on Germany
• The Emperor had no control
over Wallenstein or his men,
though

18. The Danish Phase (1625-1630)
• Habsburg enemies all over Europe were horrified at
Wallenstein’s antics
• King Christian IV of Denmark decided to enter the war
to help the Protestants turn the tide in Germany
• Wallenstein proved to be too much for Christian

19. The Danish Phase (1625-1630)
• Feeling confident after Wallenstein’s successes, the
Emperor issued the Edict of Restitution in 1629
• The Edict outlawed all sects of Christianity other than
Catholicism and Lutheranism (so Calvinism = illegal)
• Lutheranism took a hit, though, because the Edict
restored all lands taken by Protestants in the last 75
years back to the Catholic Church

20. The Danish Phase (1625-1630)
• The Habsburgs reached the pinnacle of their power
by 1630
• German princes feared for their independence and
forced the Emperor to dismiss Wallenstein

21. The Danish Phase: Summary
• Wallenstein, fighting for HRE & Catholics, defeats
Christian of Denmark, fighting for Protestants
• Ferdinand issues Edict of Restitution

22. The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)
• Protestantism on the continent seemed to be in trouble so King
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Lutheran) entered his
100,000-man army in the contest
• Gustavus Adolphus hoped to help the Protestants in Germany
but he also hoped to exert his influence in the region
• The French, at the urging of Cardinal Richelieu,
subsidized (bankrolled, paid for) the Swedish forces
• France hoped to undermine the Habsburgs by aiding the
Habsburg enemies
• Gustavus Adolphus experienced success in the North so the
Emperor reluctantly requested the services of Wallenstein once
again

23. The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)
• Gustavus Adolphus suffered a
wound in battle in 1632 and
died at the hands of
Wallenstein’s forces
• In 1634, Ferdinand had
Wallenstein assassinated. He
was resentful of Wallenstein’s
independence and distrustful
of him

24. The Swedish Phase: Summary
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden enters the war
• Experiences success then dies to Wallenstein’s
forces
• Wallenstein assassinated by Ferdinand

25. The Swedish French Phase
(1635-1648)
• France couldn’t stand to watch the Habsburg power
increase so the French officially entered the war
on the side of the Protestants
• Neither side possessed the power to knock out the
other so the fighting dragged on for 13 years
• France, Sweden, and Spain looted Germany but the
Germans were too disunited to drive them out
• Estimated 1/3rd of Germany’s population died

26. The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
• The Thirty Years’ War officially ended in 1648 with the
Peace of Westphalia
• The treaties recognized the sovereignty of the 300+
German princes
• Independence of the Swiss Confederacy and the
United Provinces of Holland
• The treaties upheld the Peace of Augsburg, added
Calvinism to the list of religions allowed in German
states and nullified the Edict of Restitution

27. Legacy
• After the Peace in 1648, the northern states in
Germany remained primarily Protestant while
the southern states in Germany remained
primarily Catholic
• German princes
won the right to
form alliances and
sign treaties as
long as they didn’t
declare war on the
Holy Roman
Empire

28. Legacy
• Because Spain lost territory and France gained
territory, France stood alone as the most powerful
nation on the continent
• France also benefited from the fragmentation of the
Holy Roman Empire and the weakening of the
Habsburg family influence

29. The Aftermath in Germany
• Though Germans seemed to win politically and
religiously, the Germans lost in other ways
• German homes, businesses and farms were
destroyed en masse during the war
• The German population took a major hit

30. Big Points
• The 30 Years War began as a war of religion
and developed into an international war of
politics
• While the war started as a religious war, the
war healed no religious wounds
• Because the vast majority of the fighting took
place in Germany, the German states suffered
more than any other participants