Thirty Years' War (1 gen 1618 anni – 1 gen 1648 anni)

Descrizione:

The Thirty Year's War drew in almost every European state and was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. In the Holy Roman Empire, a truce between Catholics and Protestants created by Peace of Augsburg in 1555 faded. Lutheran princes made the Protestant Union (1608) and Catholics the Catholic League (1609) to stop each other’s advances.

Phase One: The Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)

In 1618, Ferdinand II, Catholic ruler of Bohemia, started to limit the kinds of religious activities allowed by his subjects. Protestants under his rule felt restricted and oppressed and began to look for help from Protestants in other areas. These areas included Denmark, the Dutch, and Great Britain. When Ferdinand got wind that these nations planned to come to the Protestant aid, he reached out to Spain, German Catholics, and of course, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. Ferdinand and his pals were able to defeat the Protestant group in the Battle of White Mountain.

Phase Two: The Danish Phase (1625-1629)

In this part of the Thirty Years War, the Protestant Danes were challenged by the Catholic Imperial armies. Their success led to major Catholic victories and put the Catholic Habsburg rulers of Spain and Austria at the height of their power. After this Catholic victory, Ferdinand declared an “Edict of Restitution” which took back lands for the Catholic Church that had previously been overtaken by Protestants. Ferdinand also limited worship in the HRE to only two groups: Catholics and Lutherans.

Phase Three: The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)

In this phase, Sweden’s Protestant king, Gustavus Adolphus, decided to get involved in defending the Protestants in the HRE. However, France’s Catholic chief minister and Catholic Cardinal Richelieu were getting nervous about the increased power of the Hapsburgs. He, therefore, aided the Swedish Protestants in their fight against Habsburg Catholicism. Gustavus Adolphus was killed in battle in 1632, weakening the Protestants after two successive victories.

Phase Four: The French Phase (1635-1648)

Though Gustavus Adolphus death had dealt a blow to the Protestants course, Cardinal Richelieu was actually more afraid of the threat of the Habsburgs, who were gaining more and more power as they racked up victories, than he was of the Protestants. He believed the Hapsburg rulers could become a rival to the French absolute kings he had worked so hard to strengthen. As a result, Richelieu funded and sent the military to Spain to make war on the weaker side of the Habsburg clan.

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