2. Thirty Years War: 1618 to 1648
◦ Longest continuous war in modern history
Fought primarily in the German Provinces
Began as religious war between Catholics and
Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire
Developed into general conflict over power of
Kings and National self determination in
western Europe
◦ Can be called a European Civil War (but there were
more than two sides)
3. Thirty Years War
◦ Religion
◦ Self-determination
◦ Power of Princes, Emperor, Pope
◦ Territorial, ethnic alliances versus religious alliances
◦ The War Feeds Itself
4. 1517 Lutheran Reformation breaks out in Germany-
spreads throughout central and northern Europe.
1520’s Henry VIII agitates for annulment of his
marriage and begins his breakaway from Rome.
1522-1522 Ignatius of Loyola writes Spiritual
Exercises and ushers in the Counter-Reformation.
1525 Zwingli begins agitating for new religious
practices in the Swiss Confederation.
1529 Princes in German Provinces protest that they
should decide the religion for their provinces.
1534 Ignatius of Loyola founds the Society of Jesus
1536 John Calvin writes The Institutes of the
Christian Religion
5. Early Reformer from Bohemia (will become
Czechoslovakia in the 20th century).
◦ Argued against Doctrine of Transubstantiation
At the Council of Constance, Huss was
accused of heresy and burned at the stake in
1416
Huss execution did not extinguish anti-
Roman Catholic sentiments in Austria,
Hungary, Bohemia, Poland
6. Protestants fought between themselves over
doctrine and power
Zwinglians, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Calvinists
sought dominance in central Europe
Roman Catholic princes and Holy Roman
Emperor fought to maintain order, bring
Protestants back to Church
Issue: who controls religion in a particular
territory—the Monarch or the Pope
◦ Early compromise--Peace of Augsburg 1555: Prince
controls religious choice in his territory
7. Roman Catholics
Lutherans
Hussites
Calvinists
◦ Zwingligans
◦ Moravians
Anglicans (Britain)
Orthodox Christianity
Islam
Everybody wants religious freedom for
themselves—not so much for anybody else
8. France
◦ Surrounded by Spanish Hapsburg Emperor in the
Netherlands and Spain
◦ Ruled by members of the Bourbon family
Holy Roman Empire: a non-contiguous kingdom
◦ Some territories were in revolt
◦ Independent Princes
◦ Ruled by members of the Hapsburg family
◦ The Spanish Road
Austria-Hungary and Bohemia also ruled by Hapsburg
princes
Netherlands divided into independent provinces and
Spanish provinces
Sweden and Denmark wanted control of northern
German States on border of the Baltic Sea
9.
10. Not yet a nation
Collection of Principalities within the Holy
Roman Empire
Princes were electors of the Holy Roman
Emperor
Religious affiliations of principalities after
Lutheran Reformation settled by Peace of
Augsburg (1555)
◦ Each of the 225 German princes could choose the
religion in his kingdom
11. King of Austria
King of Hungary
Elected King of Bohemia in 1618 by a coalition of
Lutheran and Catholic princes on the
understanding that he would leave religion to the
princes
◦ Lutherans and Catholics supported Ferdinand over
Frederick, Prince of Palatine, who was associated with
Calvinists
Bohemian princes in dispute with Catholic Bishop
over building Protestant Chapels
Ferdinand sided with the Bishop
12.
13. May, 1618 Ferdinand sent four Catholic
Counts to meet with the Bohemians in Prague
An assembly of townspeople (burghers) led
by Count Thurn of Bohemia was to meet the
delegation
When the Counts entered, the crowd threw
two of them and their secretary out the
window
They were saved from death because they
landed in a pile of horse manure
14.
15.
16. March 1619: Ferdinand II succeeded his cousin
Mathias as Holy Roman Emperor.
Bohemian Princes refuse Ferdinand and
supported the Saxon Prince, Frederick V of
Palatine, as Holy Roman Emperor.
◦ Frederick V is a Calvinist
◦ Frederick V is son-in-law of James I of England
Ferdinand II (Spanish Hapsburgs).
◦ Austrian Princes (Austrian Hapsburgs-- cousins of
Spanish Hapsburgs) join revolt against Ferdinand.
Count Thurn of Bohemia leads army to walls of
Vienna.
17. 1620 Protestant Prince, Bethlen Gabor, (with
support of the Muslim Ottomans) leads
campaign against Catholic forces of
Ferdinand II (Spanish Hapsburgs) in support
of Frederick V (Austrian Hapsburgs).
Ottomans provide troops and funding to
attack Poland who supported the Catholic,
Ferdinand II.
Polish-Ottoman War of 1620-1621 changes
nothing (status quo ante).
18. Battle of White Mountain
8 November 1620
◦ Bohemian Army of 30,000 men met Catholic forces
of 27,000 men (including Rene Descartes) on a hill
outside Prague.
◦ Catholic forces won decisive victory.
Battle of White Mountain lasted about an
hour.
19.
20. 1621: Ferdinand orders all non-Lutheran
Protestants to leave Bohemia or convert.
1622: Ferdinand II orders all Lutherans in
German principalities to convert or leave.
1625: Danish King goes to war on the
Protestant side. Danes fight from 1625-1629
1630: Sweden enters the war. Swedes fight
from 1630-1635
21. Gustavus II Adophus King of Sweden, secretly
funded by France, enters war on behalf of
Protestants.
After many victories, Gustavus Adophus killed
in Battle of Lutzen in 1632.
22. France enters the war on Protestant side in
1635
◦ French fear power of Ferdinand and being encircled
by Spanish and Austrian Hapsburgs
German lands lay in between French, Spanish
and Austrian forces
23. 25-40% of German population die during the 30
Years war.
◦ Principality of Wurttemberg: 75% of population
◦ Principality of Brandenburg: 50% of population
◦ Across German territory:
Swedes destroyed 2,000 castles; 1800 villages; 1500 towns
50% of male population of Germany died
Disease:
◦ Bubonic plague
◦ Typhus
◦ Dysentery
Famine:
◦ wholesale destruction of agriculture
◦ armies supported food needs through plunder.
24. The Miseries and Misfortunes of War
◦ Depicts the invasion of Lorraine by Cardinal
Richelieu
◦ Scenes depict the horrors of war but French
identified as a band of renegade soldiers
Inspired Goya’s Los Disatastres del la Guerra
depicting the Spanish War with Napoleon
1808-1814.
25. Scene of a Pillage. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
26. Plundering a Farmhouse. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
27. The Stappado. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
28. The Wheel. Jacques Callot ,1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm.
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
.
29. The Stake. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
30. The Hanging. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
31. The Hospital. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
32. Dying Soldiers by a Roadside. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
33. The Distribution of Rewards. Jacques Callot 1632, etching 8.1 x 18.6 cm,
Art Gallery of New South Wales. Sidney, Australia
34. The Third of May, Francisco Goya, 1814, Prado Musuem, Madrid
35. Series of treaties
Affirmed ruler’s right to determine the
religion of his state
Created territories of modern states in Europe
36.
37. France becomes dominant power in Europe.
Austrian & Spanish Hapsburgs lose territory
and power.
Germany will not be united until the 19th
century.
