Section 3.16

The Thirty Years’ The Thirty Years’ War, 1618 – 1648: War, 1618 – 1648:

The Disintegration of The Disintegration of GermanyGermany

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

• 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

Background of the Thirty Years’ War

Philip III (1598-1621)

• 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

Background of the Thirty Years’ War

Louis XIII (1610-1643)

• 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)

Background of the Thirty Years’ War

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)

• 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”

Phase One: The Bohemian War

Ferdinand I

Frederick V, Elector of Palatine

The Winter King

ScoreProtestants/Czechs

0Catholics/HRE/Spain

1

Phase TwoDenmark 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

ScoreProtestants/Denmark

0Catholics/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 ThreeSwedish 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

• 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

Phase ThreeSwedish Intervention

The death of King Gustavus II Adolphus on 16 November 1632 at the Battle of Lützen

ScoreProtestants/Sweden/France

1Catholics/HRE

2

Phase FourSwedish-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

• 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

Phase FourSwedish-French Intervention

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

• 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

The Peace of Westphalia 1648

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

ScoreWinners

French MonarchyPrinces of Germany

Protestantism

LosersGerman People

HRECatholicism

Spain