Week 15: Thirty Years War

Europe’s Reformations

The Main Narrative.

A Religious War that developed into a political war.

The Setup

Emperor Rudolf II (r. 1576-1612)
Emperor Matthias (r. 1612-1619)
Compromises.
- Concessions to Bohemian Protestants.

Two Crises

Donauworth
- Free city in Bavaria.
- Protestant majority is oppressing Catholics.
- Maximilian of Bavaria (Catholic) sent to restore order.
- Becomes ruler of Donauworth and converts it to Catholicism.

1608: Protestant Union formed.
- Led by Elector Palatine, Frederick IV.
1609: Catholic League formed.
- Led by Duke Maximilian of Bavaria.

The Rise of Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637)

Governor of inner Austria (1596)
- instituted Counter-Reformation policies.
- Against religious concessions.
1617: accepted as successor to Matthias.

The Defenestration of Prague (1618)

Dispute: interpretation of religious concessions.
Defenestrate Ferdinand’s governors.
Bohemia elects new king: Frederick V of the Palatinate.

Dispute of interpretation of the letter of majesty that gave concessions to the Protestants of Bohemia.
Protestants thought it granted them privileges on royal lands, not just nobles and free towns.
Ferdinand ordered the stop of construction of Protestant churches on royal lands.
A dispute over this interpretation by leading nobles led to the defenestration of Prague.
Immediately the rebels appointed an interim administration.
- Decide to elect a new king.
- King Frederick, 1618
  - Head of protestant union elected King by the Bohemians.
  - Accepts in Nov. 1618.
  - This is a prince of an empire rebelling against the Emperor
  - Head of a Union being supported by outside sources.
    - By now Ferdinand of Styria is the Emperor.
    - In 1618 Protestant army of troops into bohemia and laid siege to the largest catholic city.

The Bohemian War Expands (1618-1625)

Battle of White Mountain (1620)
Spain enters war and attacks the Palatinate (1620)
Denmark enters war (1625)
The Edict of Restitution (1629)

Battle of White Mountain (1620)
- Catholic forces under Count Tilly defeat the Bohemian rebels.
- King Frederick flees to the Netherlands and is later exiled to England.
- Ferdinand II reasserts control over Bohemia and begins a harsh Counter-Reformation campaign.
- Bohemia loses elective monarchy and becomes a hereditary Habsburg possession.
- Protestant union dissolved.
Spain enters War and attacks the Palatinate (1620)
- Spain supports the Catholic League and attacks the Palatinate, which is ruled by Frederick V.
- Spanish forces under General Spinola capture key cities in the Palatinate.
- Frederick V loses his territories and flees to England, where he is given refuge by his father-in-law, King James I.
Denmark enters War (1625)
- King Christian IV of Denmark, a Lutheran, enters the war to support the Protestant cause and to gain influence in northern Germany.
- Gains support from the Netherlands, France, and the Ottoman Empire.
- France and Dutch attack Spain.
- Denmark’s forces are defeated by the Catholic League under Count Tilly and General Wallenstein.
- Peace of Lubeck (1629): Denmark agrees to withdraw from the war and give up claims in northern Germany in exchange for keeping its own territories.
The Edict of Restitution (1629)
- Issued by Emperor Ferdinand II, it aimed to restore Catholic properties that had been secularized since the Peace of Augsburg (1555).
- It declared that only Catholicism and Lutheranism were legal religions in the Holy Roman Empire, effectively outlawing Calvinism.
- This edict was a key component of the Counter-Reformation efforts.

The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden enters war (1630)
Military Reforms.
Sack of Magdeburg (1631)

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden enters war (1630)
- Overhauls tax system
  - Reforms (socio-economic + military)
  - Thinks Dutch were doing begin to show up in Sweden.
  - Divides country into districts for conscription
    - Makes sure army is paid on time all the time.
  - Decides to shift tactics
    - Establishes basic fighting union (squadron)(2-3 squadrons are a bettallion).
    - Mixed pike and shot. (more pike than shot).
    - Brings in drill and volley fire.
    - Aim is flexibility and mobility
    - Cavalry are shifted
      - Moves to the sabre for cavalry.
      - Strips cavalry of most of their armor to increase spead.
      - Put infantry elements to the cavalry
    - Artillery
      - Reduces weight
      - 24lb 15lb and 3lb shots.
      - Most important is the 3 pound shot because it can be moved quicker.
      - Assigns artillery to each platoon.
      - Means Swedish army has increased mobility and fire power.
    - By end of 1620s the Swedish army is very successful in Europe.
- Arrives in Polmerania in 1630.
  - Only Protestant Magdeburg allies with Gustavus.
  - Sweden also signs treaty with France.
- Count Tilly and Catholics attack Magdeburg in 1631.
  - Tilly saw it as a way to pay mercenaries.
  - Brandenburg didn’t let Swedish troops cross lands to help Magdeburg.
  - 20 May, Imperial troops sack Magdeburg.
  - Pillage and massacre.
  - Fire Breaks out.
    - 2 days for Tilly to regain order.
    - 30,000 people lived in Magdeburg, only 5,000 survived.
- Protestants rally to Gustavus’ cause after Magdeburg.
  - Brandenburg, Saxony join the war on the Protestant side.

Swedish Successes and Failures (1631-1635)

Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)
- The power of the Swedes is on full display.
Battle of Lützen (1632)
- Gustavus Adolphus killed in battle.
Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
- Loss without Gustavus Adolphus.
Peace of Prague (1635)

Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)
On Sept. 15, 18,00 saxon troops join Gustavus and give him the numerical advantage.
- Tilly picked the battlefield near the village of Leipzig
  - Used the winds to his advantage and placed his troop
- Formed 13-18 tercios
- Gustavus arrived on the 17th
- Gustavus uses mixture of infantry and heavy artillery.
- Poppenheim charges the Swedes right flanks and loses.
- Tilly attacks the Saxons on the Swedes left flank and the Saxons leave.
- Gustavus should be destroyed, but they swivel and form a new line then charge the tercios.
- Gustavus then sends his cavalry to flank Tilly.
- Gustavus lost 2100 men and Tilly lost 21,000 men
- Gustavus by 1631 controls the Rhine land, but Tilly has created a new army.
Battle of Lützen (1632)
- Swedes surprise the Imperial forces
- They attacked at the beginning of winter while imperial forces were not prepared.
- In battle a musket ball hits Gustavus Adolphus’s horse and he is thrown to the ground then shot in the back of the head and killed by enemy soldiers.
Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
- Without Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish forces are defeated by the combined Imperial and Spanish forces.
- This defeat leads to the loss of most of the Swedish gains in Germany.
Peace of Prague (1635)
- Sweden signs treaty with the Emperor.
- Emperor recognizes all protestants in the Empire.
- Emeperor given supremacy.

French Intervention (1635-1648)

France enters war in 1635.
- War becomes truly political.
Empire starts losing.
Battle of Rocroi (1643)
- French victory.
- Peace talks begin
Decline of Control in Empire.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

Sweden gains lands along Baltic.
France gains Alsace.
The Netherlands and Switzerland recognized as independent.
Religious freedom for Lutherans, Calvinists, and Catholics.
Maximilian of Bavaria gets the Palatinate and the elector monarchy.
Prince of Empire gain sovereignty.
- Can raise armies, make treaties, etc.