The Thirty Years’ WarThe Thirty Years’ War1618-16481618-1648

Ch 12: Wars of Religion

Wars of Religion RECAPWars of Religion RECAP

France Catherine Medici and her boy kings dealing with feuding families, just trying to keep everyone happySt Bartholomew’s Day Massacre – slaughters Protestants (Huguenots)Henry of Navarre becomes Henry IV, starting the Bourbon line, turns France Catholic againBUT Edict of Nantes- though restricting, gives Protestants basic freedoms

Wars of Religion RECAPWars of Religion RECAPEngland & SpainMary Tudor is super Catholic (marries Philip II or Spain, also super Catholic) & becomes Bloody Mary by executing hundreds of ProtestantsPhilip II of Spain has a HUGE empire to manage. Loses the Netherlands, its richest territory, in a revoltTensions with England & Spain grow because of England’s support of the Netherland’s revoltElizabeth I – attempts to play the middle ground (politique) through religious tolerationSpanish Armada – tensions explode and the Spanish are defeated by the English at sea, permanently reducing the power of the Spanish Empire

Focus Question

How did the Thirty Years War start out as a War of Religion but shift to a war of politics?

HabsburgsHabsburgs

The House of Habsburg, often Anglicised as Hapsburg and sometimes referred to as the House of Austria, was one of the most important royal houses of Europe & is best known for being an origin of all the formally elected HRE’s between 1438 & 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian & Spanish Emipres and several other countries.

Originally from Switzerland, the dynasty first reigned in Austria, which they ruled for over six centuries. A series of dynastic marriages brought Burgundy, Spain, Bohemia, Hungary, and other territories into the inheritance. In the 16th century, the family separated into the senior Habsburg Spain and the junior Habsburg Austrian branches, who settled their mutual claims in the Onate Treaty.

Source: http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/House_of_Habsburg.html

Summary of Charles V

Thirty Years’ WarThirty Years’ War• Often called the last

of the religious wars, but secular considerations ended up playing a much bigger role than religion

• Primary Battleground: Germanic lands of the HRE

• Eventually became a Europe-wide struggle

BackgroundBackground• Peace of Augsburg (1555) had brought

an end to fighting between German Catholics and Lutherans, but both still competed for control of various principalities

• Treaty didn’t recognize Calvinists but a number of German states had adopted Calvinism

• About 360 autonomous entities within Germany = POLITICAL

DEFRAGMENTATION

BackgroundBackground• In the Palatinate, a

Protestant alliance formed between Calvinists and England, France & the Netherlands called the Protestant Union• Lutherans came to fear

them as much as they feared Catholics

• To counteract, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria organized the Catholic League of German States (1609), and looked to Spain for support

The Thirty Years’ WarThe Thirty Years’ War

Four Phases of the 30 Years’ War:• The Bohemian Phase• The Danish Phase• The Swedish Phase• The French Phase

Bohemian Phase (1618-Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)1625)

• Ferdinand II became the new King of Bohemia and revoked all religious freedoms that had previously been given to Protestants

The Defenestration of PragueThe Defenestration of Prague

• Protestants set up a meeting with Catholic officials in Prague on May 23, 1618.

• Meeting went badly, the Protestants seized two Catholic officials and tossed them out the window

• This event is known as The Defenestration of Prague. The word defenestrate comes from Latin word for “window” and means “out the window”

• Survived the fall because they landed in a dung heap or ditch; Catholics claimed angels saved them

• This was the spark that ignited the 30 Years’ War

Defenestration of PragueDefenestration of Prague

Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)• Fighting between Catholics

and Protestants began soon after the Defenestration in 1618

• The Protestants used a force made up mostly of Czechs and deposed Ferdinand, King of Bohemia

• They chose Frederick V, head of the Protestant Union, to take his place

Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)• In the meantime, Ferdinand II had been

elected HRE. He used funds from the Catholic League and the Spanish Habsburgs to build an army

• The Catholic forces crushed the Protestants at the Battle of White Mountain

Bohemian Phase: SummaryBohemian Phase: Summary

• Ferdinand HRE + Spanish Habsburgs (Catholics) vs. Frederick + Czechs (Protestant)

• Catholics crush Protestants

The Danish Phase (1625-1630)The Danish Phase (1625-1630)

• As the fighting went on, mercenaries joined looking to make some money in the war

• Albrecht von Wallenstein, born a Czech Protestant, offered his services to the Emperor

• Reluctantly the Emperor commissioned Wallenstein and his 125,000 soldiers

• Wallenstein and his men unleashed destruction on Germany

• The Emperor had no control over Wallenstein or his men, though

The Danish Phase (1625-The Danish Phase (1625-1630)1630)

• Habsburg enemies all over Europe were horrified at Wallenstein’s antics

• King Christian IV of Denmark decided to enter the war to help the Protestants turn the tide in Germany

• Wallenstein proved to be too much for Christian

The Danish Phase (1625-The Danish Phase (1625-1630)1630)

• Feeling confident after Wallenstein’s successes, the Emperor issued the Edict of Restitution in 1629

• The Edict outlawed all sects of Christianity other than Catholicism and Lutheranism (so Calvinism = illegal)

• Lutheranism took a hit, though, because the Edict restored all lands taken by Protestants in the last 75 years back to the Catholic Church

The Danish Phase (1625-The Danish Phase (1625-1630)1630)

• The Habsburgs reached the pinnacle of their power by 1630

• German princes feared for their independence and forced the Emperor to dismiss Wallenstein

The Danish Phase: The Danish Phase: SummarySummary

• Wallenstein, fighting for HRE & Catholics, defeats Christian of Denmark, fighting for Protestants

• Ferdinand issues Edict of Restitution

The Swedish Phase (1630-The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)1635)

• Protestantism on the continent seemed to be in trouble so King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (Lutheran) entered his 100,000-man army in the contest

• Gustavus Adolphus hoped to help the Protestants in Germany but he also hoped to exert his influence in the region

• The French, at the urging of Cardinal Richelieu, subsidized (bankrolled, paid for) the Swedish forces

• France hoped to undermine the Habsburgs by aiding the Habsburg enemies

• Gustavus Adolphus experienced success in the North so the Emperor reluctantly requested the services of Wallenstein once again

The Swedish Phase (1630-The Swedish Phase (1630-1635)1635)

• Gustavus Adolphus suffered a wound in battle in 1632 and died at the hands of Wallenstein’s forces

• In 1634, Ferdinand had Wallenstein assassinated. He was resentful of Wallenstein’s independence and distrustful of him

The Swedish Phase: The Swedish Phase: SummarySummary

• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden enters the war

• Experiences success then dies to Wallenstein’s forces

• Wallenstein assassinated by Ferdinand

The Swedish French Phase The Swedish French Phase (1635-1648)(1635-1648)

• France couldn’t stand to watch the Habsburg power increase so the French officially entered the war on the side of the Protestants

• Neither side possessed the power to knock out the other so the fighting dragged on for 13 years

• France, Sweden, and Spain looted Germany but the Germans were too disunited to drive them out

• Estimated 1/3rd of Germany’s population died

The Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (1648)(1648)

• The Thirty Years’ War officially ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia

• The treaties recognized the sovereignty of the 300+ German princes

• Independence of the Swiss Confederacy and the United Provinces of Holland

• The treaties upheld the Peace of Augsburg, added Calvinism to the list of religions allowed in German states and nullified the Edict of Restitution

LegacyLegacy• After the Peace in 1648, the northern

states in Germany remained primarily Protestant while the southern states in Germany remained primarily Catholic

• German princes won the right to form alliances and sign treaties as long as they didn’t declare war on the Holy Roman Empire

LegacyLegacy

• Because Spain lost territory and France gained territory, France stood alone as the most powerful nation on the continent

• France also benefited from the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire and the weakening of the Habsburg family influence

The Aftermath in GermanyThe Aftermath in Germany• Though Germans seemed to win

politically and religiously, the Germans lost in other ways

• German homes, businesses and farms were destroyed en masse during the war

• The German population took a major hit

Big PointsBig Points

• The 30 Years War began as a war of religion and developed into an international war of politics

• While the war started as a religious war, the war healed no religious wounds

• Because the vast majority of the fighting took place in Germany, the German states suffered more than any other participants