Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was a conflict fought between the years 1618 and 1648, principally in the Central European territory of the Holy Roman Empire, but also involving most of the major continental powers. It occurred for a number of reasons. Although it was from its outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the self-preservation of the Habsburg dynasty was also a central motive.

The Bohemian Revolt

Period: 1618-1625

Related Topics:
1618 - 1625

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Being without descendents, Emperor Mathias sought to assure an orderly transition during his lifetime by having his dynastic heir (that fiercely Catholic, Ferdinand of Styria, later Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor) elected to the separate royal thrones of Bohemia and Hungary. Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II and so preferred the Protestant Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate (successor of Frederick IV, the creator of the League of Evangelical Union). But other Protestants supported the position also taken by the Catholic forces and so in 1617 Ferdinand was duly elected by the Bohemian Estates to become crown prince, and automatically, upon the death of Mathias, the next King of Bohemia. When the king-elect sent two Catholic councillors (Martinitz and Slavata) as his representatives to Hrad?any castle in Prague in May 1618 to administer the government in his absence, the Bohemian Calvinists seized them, subjected them to a mock trial, and threw them out of a palace window. The Catholic version of the story claims that angels appeared and carried them to safety. The Protestant version says that they landed in manure.

Related Topics:
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor - Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate - Frederick IV - League of Evangelical Union - 1617 - Martinitz - Slavata - Hrad?any - Castle - 1618

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This event, known as the Second Defenestration of Prague, began the Bohemian Revolt. Soon the Bohemian conflict erupted in the entirety of Greater Bohemia, effectively Bohemia, Silesia, Lusatia and Moravia, which was already riven by conflict between Catholics and Protestants. This confrontation was to find many facets and mirrors across the continent of Europe with the involvement of France, Sweden, inter alia.

Related Topics:
Second Defenestration of Prague - Bohemia - Silesia - Lusatia - Moravia - Europe - Sweden

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Had the Bohemian rebellion remained a purely Eastern European affair, the war could have been over in fewer than thirty months, but the death of Emperor Mathias in 1619 emboldened the rebellious Protestant leaders who had been on the verge of a settlement. The weaknesses of both Ferdinand (now officially on the throne after the death of Emperor Mathias) and of the Bohemians themselves led to the spread of the war to western Germany. Ferdinand was compelled to call on his cousin, King Philip IV of Spain for assistance.

Related Topics:
1619 - Philip IV of Spain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Bohemians, desperate for allies against the Emperor, applied to be admitted to the Protestant Union, led by their original candidate for the Bohemian throne, the Calvinist Frederick V, Elector Palatine. The Bohemians hinted that the Palatine Elector would become King of Bohemia if he allowed them to join the Union and come under its protection - however, similar offers were made by other members of the Bohemian Estates to the Duke of Savoy, the Elector of Saxony, and the Prince of Transylvania. The Austrians, who seemed to have intercepted every letter leaving Prague, made public these duplicities, and unraveled much support for the Bohemians, particularly in the court of Saxony.

Related Topics:
Protestant Union - Calvinist - Frederick V, Elector Palatine - Duke of Savoy - Elector of Saxony - Prince of Transylvania

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The rebellion initially favoured the Bohemians. They were joined in revolt by much of Upper Austria whose nobility was Lutheran and Calvinist (a fact that would swiftly change in the coming years.) Lower Austria revolted soon after and in 1619, Count Thurn led an army to the walls of Vienna itself. In the East, the Protestant Prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bethlen, led a spirited campaign into Hungary with the blessings of the Turkish Sultan. The Emperor, who had been preoccupied with the Uzkok War, hurried to reform an army to stop the Bohemians and their allies from entirely overwhelming his country. Count Bucquoy, the commander of the Austrian army, defeated the forces of the Protestant Union at the Battle of Sablat, led by Count Mansfeld, on 10 June 1619. This cut off Count Thurn's communications with Prague, and he abandoned his siege of Vienna at once. Sablat also cost the Protestants an important ally - Savoy, long an opponent of Habsburg expansion, had already sent considerable sums to the Protestants and even troops to garrison fortresses in the Rhineland. The capture of Mansfeld's field chancery revealed the Savoyards' plot, and forced the embarrassed duke to leave the war.

Related Topics:
Count Thurn - Gabriel Bethlen - Uzkok War - Count Bucquoy - Protestant Union - Battle of Sablat - 10 June - 1619

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In spite of Sablat, Count Thurn's army continued to exist as an effective force, and Mansfeld managed to reform his army further north in Bohemia. The Estates of Upper and Lower Austria, still in revolt, signed an alliance with the Bohemians in early August, and on the 22 August 1620 Ferdinand was officially deposed as King of Bohemia, replaced by the Palatine Elector, Frederick V. In Hungary, even though the Bohemians had reneged on their offer of their crown, the Transylvanians continued to make surprising progress, driving the Emperor's armies from that country by 1620.

Related Topics:
22 August - 1620

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Spanish sent an army from Brussels under Ambrosio Spinola to support the Emperor, and the Spanish ambassador in Vienna, Don Inigo Onate, persuaded Protestant Saxony to intervene against Bohemia in exchange for control over Lusatia. The Saxons invaded, and the Spanish army in the West prevented the Protestant Union's forces from assisting. Onate conspired to transfer the electoral title from the Palatinate to the Duke of Bavaria in exchange for his support and that of the Catholic League. Under the command of General Tilly, the Catholic League army (which included René Descartes in its ranks) pacified Upper Austria, while the Emperor's forces pacified Lower Austria; united, the two moved north into Bohemia. Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the Battle of White Mountain, near Prague on 8 November 1620. Bohemia would remain in Habsburg hands for three hundred years.

Related Topics:
Ambrosio Spinola - General Tilly - René Descartes - Battle of White Mountain - Prague - 8 November - 1620

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That defeat caused the dissolution of the League of Evangelical Union and the destruction of Frederick V's holdings. Frederick V was outlawed from the Holy Roman Empire and his territories, the Rhenish Palatinate, were given to Catholic nobles, while his title of elector of the Palatinate was given to his distant cousin Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. Frederick V, although landless, made himself a prominent exile abroad, and tried to curry support for his cause in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a serious blow to Protestant ambitions in the region. The rebellion effectively collapsed and widespread confiscations of property and suppression of the pre-existing Bohemian nobility ensured that the country would return to the Catholic fold after more than two centuries of Hussite and other religious dissent. The Spanish, seeking to outflank the Dutch in preparation for the soon-to-be-renewed Eighty Years' War, took Frederick's lands, the Rhine Palatinate. The first phase of the war in Eastern Germany was fully ended when Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania signed the Peace of Nikolsburg with the Emperor on December 31 1621, gaining a number of territories in Royal Hungary.

Related Topics:
Hussite - Eighty Years' War - Rhine Palatinate - Peace of Nikolsburg - December 31 - 1621 - Royal Hungary

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some historians regard the period from 1621-1625 as a separate phase of the Thirty Years War, calling it the Palatinate phase. The catastrophic defeat of the Protestant army at White Mountain and the departure of Gabriel Bethlen meant the pacification of eastern Germany. The war in the West, focused on occupying the Palatinate, consisted of much smaller battles than the Bohemian and Hungarian campaigns saw, and a much greater use of siege. Mannheim and Heidelberg fell in 1622, and Frankenthal in 1623. The Palatinate was in the hands of the Emperor.

Related Topics:
Mannheim - Heidelberg - Frankenthal

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The remnant Protestant army, led by Mansfeld, made an attempt to reach the Dutch border. Tilly outmanuevered them at Stadtlohn on 6 August 1623 and only a third of Mansfeld's force of 21,000 managed to escape the battle. Out of supplies, manpower, and money, Mansfeld's army dispersed in 1624.

Related Topics:
6 August - 1623

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~