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History in 20: The Thirty Years War (1618-48)

History in 20 Podcast • 2020-07-23 • 22:05 minutes • YouTube

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The Thirty Years War: A Turbulent Chapter in European History

The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) stands as one of the most devastating and complex conflicts in European history. Spanning nearly three decades, this war wrought profound changes across the continent, reshaping political and religious landscapes while leaving millions dead. In this blog post, we explore the causes, key events, major players, and lasting consequences of this monumental conflict.

When and Where?

  • Duration: 23 May 1618 – 15 May 1648 (30 years almost to the day)
  • Location: Central Europe primarily, but involving much of the continent
  • Death Toll: Estimated 8 million, including 20% of the German population at the time

The war’s geographic focus was mainly the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany and surrounding areas), but the repercussions and participants spanned across Europe.

What Sparked the War?

At its core, the Thirty Years War began as a religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant states within the fragmented Holy Roman Empire. However, it quickly escalated into a broader political and power struggle involving most European powers.

The immediate cause was the Defenestration of Prague (1618), where Protestant nobles in Bohemia rebelled against the Catholic Habsburg ruler Ferdinand II’s attempts to impose Catholicism by force. This act of rebellion ignited the Bohemian Revolt and set off a chain reaction of alliances and conflicts.

Key Figures and Players

Several notable leaders shaped the course of the war:

  • Ferdinand II: Catholic Habsburg king of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, whose strict Catholic policies ignited Protestant resistance.
  • Frederick V: Protestant Elector Palatine, elected by Bohemian rebels in place of Ferdinand, nicknamed the "Winter King" for his short reign.
  • Philip III and IV of Spain: Catholic monarchs supporting the Habsburg cause.
  • Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu of France: Catholic leaders who intriguingly sided with Protestant forces to counterbalance Habsburg power.
  • Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden: Protestant king whose military campaigns revitalized the Protestant cause.
  • Albrecht von Wallenstein: Catholic general whose mercenary armies played a pivotal role.
  • Duke de Condé (Louis II): French general who helped shift the war’s momentum in France’s favor.

Major Battles and Events

  • Defenestration of Prague (1618): Protestant nobles threw Catholic governors out of a castle window, igniting rebellion.
  • Battle of White Mountain (1620): Decisive Catholic victory crushing the Bohemian revolt; led to harsh reprisals and forced Catholicization of Bohemia.
  • Battle of Lützen (1632): Gustavus Adolphus’s Protestant forces won, but the king was killed—a heavy blow to Protestant morale.
  • Battle of Rocroi (1643): French victory over Spanish forces, ending Spanish military dominance in Europe.
  • Treaty of Westphalia (1648): Series of peace agreements that ended the war and redrew the political map of Europe.

The War’s Phases and International Involvement

Bohemian Revolt and Early Conflicts (1618-1629)

The war began with the Bohemian Protestant revolt against Ferdinand II’s Catholic rule. Frederick V’s election as king of Bohemia and subsequent defeat at White Mountain set the tone for early Catholic dominance.

Scandinavian Intervention (1625-1630)

Denmark, under Christian IV, entered to defend Protestant interests but was eventually forced out by Catholic forces led by Wallenstein. Sweden then intervened under Gustavus Adolphus, supported financially by Catholic France—a notable example of realpolitik trumping religious allegiance.

French Phase and the Broadening Conflict (1635-1648)

France officially entered the war against the Habsburgs, turning a religious conflict into a wider political and territorial struggle. The war expanded to include battles across France, Spain, and the Low Countries, drawing in the Ottoman Empire and altering the balance of power in Europe.

The Peace of Westphalia and Its Legacy

The Peace of Westphalia, signed in 1648, is one of the most significant diplomatic achievements in European history:

  • Restored the autonomy of German states, limiting the Holy Roman Emperor’s power.
  • Granted equal religious rights to Calvinists alongside Catholics and Lutherans.
  • Established principles of national sovereignty and self-determination.
  • Marked the emergence of the modern nation-state concept.

The treaty ended one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts but left the continent politically fragmented and economically devastated.

Consequences of the War

  • Massive loss of life and economic ruin in Central Europe, particularly Germany, where up to half the population perished in some areas.
  • Decline of the Holy Roman Empire’s influence and the rise of sovereign nation-states.
  • Emergence of Sweden and France as major European powers.
  • End of Spanish dominance in Europe.
  • Religious tolerance expanded but sectarian divisions remained.

Final Thoughts

The Thirty Years War began as a religious dispute but evolved into a complex power struggle with devastating consequences. Historian Veronica Wedgwood famously summarized it as:

"The combatants wanted peace and they fought thirty years to be sure of it. They did not learn then, and have not learned since, that war only breeds war."

This conflict serves as a powerful reminder of the tragic costs of religious intolerance and political ambition, and how war can reshape the world in unpredictable ways.

For those interested in diving deeper, including a glossary of terms and more detailed analysis, visit the full blog post at historyin20.blogspot.com — search for the Thirty Years War blog post.

If you enjoyed this overview, feel free to share with friends and family interested in history. Stay tuned for more episodes and deep dives into pivotal moments that shaped our world.

📝 Transcript Chapters (4 chapters):

📝 Transcript (579 entries):

## [00:00] hi everyone welcome back to the history and 20 podcast top roll our eyes so today it's not only 20 minutes as per its going to try name 30 minutes today because we are talking about the 30 Years War so 30 years and 20 minutes seemed a bit ambitious so see if the extra 10 minutes can help out so start off when was it it was from the 23rd of May 1618 to the 15th of May 1648 so almost exactly for 30 years and it happened in Weld Europe as a whole sort of made the fighting was mainly centered in Central Europe but it was across the whole continent and the death toll was 8 million people which included 20% of the German population which is pretty incredible when you think about that it's 20% of Germany's population at the time although a lot of the civilian deaths were down to plague but we'll discuss that a bit later so for such a water over so long what was the in inverted commas reason for it well mainly to put it simply it was a conflict between the European Catholic and Protestant states and it was a religious war which then developed into a case of a continent or power struggle between most of the states and rulers of Europe so that's it yeah that's the end pretty much but now so we've got notable people who are involved which I'll discuss throughout this podcast we've got ferdinand ii frederick v phillip the third louis xiii Cardinal Richelieu Gustavus Adolphus Phillip the fourth the duke dan hein and louis xiv among many others there's a lot of notable battles such as the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 the Battle of Britain felled in 1631 the Battle of lützen in 1632 in the Battle of Rock Roy in 1643 and notable events that happened there was the defenestration of Prague in 1618 the deposition of ferdinand ii as king of bohemia a year later in 1619 the Edict of restitution 1629 the Treaty of Lubeck 1629 the Treaty of bevelle 1631 and the Peace of Westphalia 1648 and also I just want to say if there's any sort of terms you're unfamiliar with of actually Medal glossary on my blog post which you can find at history in 20 blog spot.com and just search for 30 years while blog post there's a glossary at the end of terms it might be unfamiliar with so with that little introduction done let's get on with it so I was with all these sort of historical conflicts it's hard to actually pinpoint the exact moment when or why a war started so for example let's turn to the First World War was it Franz Ferdinand's assassination that kick-started the First World War or was it more a case of sort of increasing imperialism throughout European nations in the early 20th century which then led to increased ideas of rhetoric and nationalism so this sort of thing is similar with the 30 Years War as well so was it the succession of the Habsburg ferdinand ii as the king of bohemia in 1617 was at the defenestration of Prague the following year or was it Frederick the fifths response in 1619 so again I'll try my best to sort of discuss it so at the very beginning we'll start we'll start in 1617 so in 1617 thanks to King Matthias of Bohemia is actions against religious revolt Augsburg fell apart so then the Bohemian crown was then handed to a Jesuit trend member of the infamous Habsburg family ferdinand ii who reigned from 1617 to 37 and he also became Holy Roman Emperor in 1619 now the historian Simon Jenkins actually states that no succession could have been more disastrous for Europe and we'll soon see why so although Ferdinand undoubtably shared the same military enthusiasm of his cousin across the continent Philip the 3rd of Spain he showed this enthusiasm but why is the majority philip subjects were Catholic the majority of Ferdinand's bohemian subjects were Protestant and by spring 1618 news had reached Prague which was the land capital of Bohemia that Ferdinand intended to replace Bohemia Protestant governors with Catholics and this was an immediate revolt unlike a stated earlier the defenestration of Prague on the 23rd of May 1618 so upon hearing the news of op Ferdinand replacing Bohemia's protestant governors with catholic ones a delegation of protestant bohemian nobles entered the cannae castle polishes running pronunciation there rod kenny castle on 23rd ma 1618 through two hubs burg governor's Yaroslav on martinets and Vilhelm on salvato on the six story window and the london and dung heap which actually broke their fall and was also good for propaganda at times obviously now ironically both Phan Martinez and run Salvatore were protesting again its recent attacks on Protestant churches despite themselves being Catholics and against Ferdinand's assumption of the Bohemian throne and against his alleged violations of the Royal Charter of toleration of 1609 now this defenestration of Prague was actually a deliberate imitation of an incident almost two centuries before when seven members of the Prague City Council actually killed by a crowd of Czech ho sites in 1419 which started the whole site was but that's a whole different ballgame so anyway we'll move on to the I've sort of organized it through different countries and States responses so I'll start off chronologically with the Bohemian response and then Frederick the fifth so at the time of the defenestration of Prague Ferdinand was ## Frederick [05:34] campaigning for the Imperial election which was the election for Holy Roman Emperor and religious peace in Germany was sort of wavering a bit now the Lutheran princes were awkwardly watching as the newly formed Protestant Union which was led by Frederick the elector Palatine squared up to the Catholic League which was led by Maximilian elector of bavaria now eventually these religious tension cord snapped and the Bohemian rebels invaded Vienna which prompted a revolt in Austria so in 1619 upon Ferdinand successful successful successions the imperial throne the Bohemians formally deposed him as king of bohemia and instead elected the Calvinist frederick in his place so in simple terms you've got a Catholic who was elected Bohemians didn't like it let's replace him with a new bow Protestant that's what happened so obviously that means open war now Frederick then became Frederick v of Bohemia in Ferdinand's place now as I mentioned earlier Frederick was a Calvinist and he was actually married to Elizabeth Stewart who was daughter of King James the first ## Elizabeth Stuart [06:33] of England and she was dubbed the jewel of Europe and she was soon to become a lasting objective Protestant adoration so as you can see already we've had he MoveOn Spain now we've got England coming in and this is like all before 1620 so I've still got nearly 30 years left in all these nations are already getting involved so in response Ferdinand then summoned Catholic Monarchs and mercenaries from across Europe to wage a war of faith religious war and what he viewed as his Protestant subjects so spared under Philip the 3rd Poland and the Sigismund the 3rd and the papacy under Pope Paul the 5th all joined Ferdinand in the Catholic League which Simon Jenkins refers to as an inter intra European Crusader force now on the other hand Frederick was bucked by the Dutch Protestants Scandinavians the French rather deviously under louis xiii and the english half-heartedly under James the first just as dart was married to him and he was Frederick was his son-in-law now the ensuing conflict retracted the values of the Peace of Augsburg which I'll explain in a minute ensured how far one man's faith could dictate a faith the fate of Nations so the Peace of Augsburg was actually a treaty that was signed by then that then Holy Roman Emperor Charles the fifth and the shmell dickly in September 1555 so it officially ended the religious struggle between the two or four mention groups and made the legal division of Christianity permanent within the Holy Roman Empire and it allowed rulers to choose either Luther ISM or Roman Catholicism as the official confession of their state so yeah the conflict sort of did retract these values from the Peace of Augsburg less than 100 years earlier so as I said this man opened war and the very first pitched battle of the 30 Years War was the Battle of White Mountain on the 7th of November 1620 it was fought just outside of Prague so Ferdinand's Catholic forces and Frederick's Protestant forces met on the battlefield and Frederick's Protestant forces were soundly defeated by Ferdinand's Catholic forces and the consequences were of course huge so Ferdinand reacted to his victory the brutality and he had 27 bohemian leaders executed in Prague's Old Town Square now all of Bohemia is non Catholic Nobles had their lands confiscated and all Protestants were evicted and the majority of whom fled west into Germany and the Catholicism and Germanisation of Bohemia had begun and actually this religious lens and then was so successful in Bohemia that that to this day Bohemia still remains largely Catholic so Frederick fled along with his wife Elizabeth they both became refugees in the hague which is the modern-day Netherlands and they were known for the shortness of their one year read as the winter king and queen which sounds like something out Game of Thrones so after Frederick and Elizabeth had fled their lands in the Palatine were invaded by the Spanish Netherlands and then seized by the Bavarians so the general of the Catholic forces was a man called count Tilly now he stormed Heidelberg in 1622 and then traversed northern Germany in pursuit of the Protestant forces which were held by Count von Mansfeld so my next section on our side it's called pressure from the north and it's the Scandinavian involvement so now we're looking sort of six circa 1622 circa 1635 so one of the main countries involved was Denmark so while can't tell he was busy ravaging northern Germany Ferdinand discovered a major problem about using mercenaries in his army that he couldn't pay them enough she'd run out of money so the fighting became almost like banditry and as a result all of Europe was dragged into it including Denmark and Sweden so after the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 Christian the forth of Denmark a came in and entered the conflict in defense of his hard-pressed Protestant confreres so he had to contend with a new imperialist army which was raised by a bohemian Catholic nobleman Albrecht von Waldstein or more commonly known as Albrecht von Wallenstein 1585 1634 here and so the Protestant forces which included forces from England France and the Netherlands were defeated again at the bridge of Dessel on the river Elbe in 1626 and Count von Mansfield's Protestant forces which count till he had pursued since 1622 with n defeated knew her cell near Bratislava which is a capital of modern-day Slovakia so count Tilly then attack the Protestant Netherlands with help from the Spanish under Philip the third so main verb meanwhile Valen Steen overrun the majority of the lands on the Baltic coast which included Brunswick Lower Saxony Mecklenburg fleishig Holstein Jutland and the Baltic coast to the outskirts of Stralsund and declared himself Generalissimo of the Baltic and the ocean seas so then coming in we decide right time for a treaty so on the 6th of March 16 29 the Edict of restitution comes about and Ferdinand ordered the Protestants to surrender all the former ecclesiastical lands acquired since the Peace of Augsburg now interest in the Valen Steen objected because army contained many non Catholics he was then dismissed so finally the Treaty of Lubeck 22nd of May 16 29 was signed by Valen Steen Christian the 4th Unferth on the 2nd which ended Danish involvement in the 30 Years War by persuading them to retire on the return of their lost possessions so the deal really was a winner for everyone involved in the signing of the treaty but I mean we're only in 1629 the was far from over yet so I mentioned earlier that Sweden got involved too so swim entered the fray shortly after Denmark had signed the treaty of Lubeck Gustavus Adolphus your mansion right the beginning he was also known as gustav ii of sweden arranged from 1611 to 32 he sent a contingent told Strawson in northern germany now fortified by the treaty of Bovard which was signed on 23rd january 1631 and this was an agreement by france to provide sweden with financial support following its intervention in the 30 Years War Gustavus landed in Germany with the main Swedish army and he proceeded to vigorously restore Protestant fortunes now the reason behind this treaty was largely thanks to the Catholic King of France Louis xiii and his advisor Cardinal Richelieu as they followed French policy in siding with any foe of Habsburg so essentially their philosophy was my enemy's enemy is my friend even a Protestant one so hence King James the first of England a Protestant even sent a small army of soldiers to the continent to support Louie the 13th and Gustavus his treaty however the campaign did not get off to a strong start so Gustavus failed to relieve Magdeburg before it was mercilessly sucked by the imperialists but the Battle of Britain failed which was on the 17th September 1631 crushed count Tilly and moved into the polity note and in 1632 Gustavus entered Bavaria and Munich and Nuremberg also opened their gates to his forces now the Swedish army planned to move on Vienna later and so Ferdinand was forced to recall Valen Steen after he previously dismissed him after his objection towards the Edict of restitution three years before so next is the next major battle which is the Battle of Luxan which was just over a year after Bratton failed on the 16th of November 1632 now it was a furious Butler no law the Swedish forces won Gustavus fell who's found under a heap of dead bodies with bullet holes in his head and a dagger thrust into his side and similarly fallen infection from a wound Frederick v died on the 29th of November 1632 to these coot two catastrophes which were less than a fortnight pass - Danny Hawks a Protestant son of an early end to the conflict so next section I decided to divide it open to move on to his Cod the Western sphere and it's French involvement which we're looking at sort of circa 1635 to 1648 so concern that Philip the 4th of Spain would use the water reunite Charles the fifth Spanish in Austrian Habsburg empires in 1635 Louis the 13 from Richelieu officially declared war on Spain now at this point ## Louis XIII [14:31] it's not just Catholic versus Protestant Catholic Baldwin versus Catholic Habsburg so France once more took the Swedish forces into their pair and invaded Alsace so in 1636 Spanish forces reached the outskirts of Paris but soon realized how it could be a disadvantage German territory stationed throughout Europe when the French threatened Spanish Flanders and sent reinforcements to the Swedes in the north and the Protestants even invited the Ottoman Turks to attack Austria from the east so you were up was indeed in turmoil you're almost getting Asia involved at this point which is incredible so yer later 1637 third number ii dies which initially raised hopes for an eventual peace however by this point the war already had a momentum of its own it was no longer a religious war like back in Germany as I mentioned earlier so undisciplined mercenary troops tore principalities apart and create a conflict where I was previously non before so by 1638 French fortunes were mounting so was the rise of the youthful Duke dengan which he was called Louie the second Prince de condé and he was referred to by contemporary chroniclers as the finest general in Europe and he helped improve morale in the French forces who's aged just 21 and he took to the battlefield at rock quarry in the our den against the Flemish army on the 19th of May 1643 and roundly crushed the turkey us which were a Spanish infantry unit and he actually ended Spanish participation in the war as well as Spanish military supremacy in pavia which had lasted since 1525 and interestingly as well Rock Roy was also the final pitched battle of the 30 years while so this dynastic conflict between France and Spain from 1635 resulted in louis xiv of france because luna 13 had died he reigned from 1643 to 1715 he made peace in 1648 coming to what was a belief that the Habsburgs were too powerful so me last section is called the end in sight which this podcast is as well nearly you know the end in sight the Peace of Westphalia 1648 so in 1643 in the immediate aftermath of Rock Roy diplomats from all parties represented there was 109 diplomats in total they met in two separate towns in Westphalia under Brooke and monster now a mystery scuttled back and forth between the sides and the reach not just one treaty but a series of local deals designed to roll into a collective peace and the agreement took five years and was eventually signed on the 15th of May 1648 bringing about a fine a final formal end to 30 Years War but how did this particular treaty manage this and what were the main details of it so it was essentially a reversion to Augsburg which I mentioned earlier a principle of national self-determination in politics and faith so Westphalia restored the autonomy of the German states and denied authority over them to the Holy Roman Empire so in fact some historians even argue that Westphalia is credited with father in the concept of the nation-state now in addition Westphalia formally accepted the reality of a Europe that had Fault itself to exhaustion so on the religious issue which is what this war started out as in the first place it granted the same rights to Calvinists as it did to Lutheran's and Catholics in Germany so on the constitutional issue which the world evolved into throughout the 1630 it correctly strengthened the European princes by granting them the right to sign for entreaties by making all Imperial legislation conditional on the diet's approval so sort of consequences we out of this war it'd be rude to ignore these really so start like try new country by country if I can so German manufacturing and trade completely collapsed while sewing and harvesting your ceased altogether so estimates from a third to a half of 20 million German speakers died and the north well examples in Magdeburg which had 20,000 inhabitants in 1620 and 450 inhabitants in 1649 so completely decimated France also again run deep into Germany and Alsace and the Rhine Basin Germany itself was left ruined and it took over a century for it to recover now further north Sweden arose in northern European powerhouse again in some North German territories along the way so we'll fly back over to Southwest Europe now Spain was left a shattered realm it was decoupled forever from the Holy Roman Empire back to the center of Europe in Bohemia the Swedish general actually wrote at home saying that I did not expect to find the kingdom so Lane wasted and spoiled for between Prague and Vienna everything has been razed to the ground and hardly a living soul can be seen on the land which just shows exactly the state that Central Europe was in one of the few prosperous countries to emerge was Protestant Prussia under the leadership of the Holland Zeeland family Hawkins all and family sorry of the great Electra Frederico Vilhelm who reigned from 1640 to 88 and so of the thoughts of Pope Innocent the 10th who was Pope from 1644 to 55 some of the prophecies thoughts on Westphalia although this is possibly because the pops um represented for obvious reasons and he denounced it as null void invalid iniquitous unjust damnable reprobate inane and devoid of meaning so I'll just put in a few after thoughts there just to conclude this episode with so really the 30 Years War has been called by some historians a European civil war now this isn't far from the truth because almost all of the European states at some point from 1618 to 40 were actually involved a lot clearly some were involved more than others and another reason why this conflict is so significant as well and widely remembered on the continent is because of your hand Gutenberg's invention in the 15th century the printing press so images of tortured civilians were widespread and thanks to the printing press actual depictions of the levels and scale of torture could be witnessed by civilians and not just the soldiers actively taking part in the conflict so that's again why it's so widely remembered and why we have so many sauces on it today which as a historians grits a book yeah and sort of another view aired was the historian Norman Davies who argues that the 30 Years War can be seen as an age old German conflict between emperors and princes but that it can also be seen as an extension of the international Wars of Religion between Catholic and Protestant as an important stage in a continental power struggle involving most of the states and rulers of Europe now personally I'm inclined to agree with this that it initially started out was a wild religion and eventually development the aforementioned power struggle so thus I think a suitable conclusion would be to turn to the words of the acclaimed historian of the 30 Years War Veronica Wedgwood who wrote her sort of thesis on in 1957 and she summarized 30 years of conflict in two sentences and she said the combatants wanted peace and they fought 30 years to be sure of it that did not learn then and have not learned since that war only breeds war I think that's the best way to sum it up really so I hope you enjoyed this one like I said check out the blog I'll stick the link in the description and there feel free to share this with your friends and family regrets of some more subscribers and viewers viewers and stuff coming in so thanks very much for listening once again I'll see you next time you