The Thirty Years War, 1618 1648: The Disintegration of Germany

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Section 3.16

• The Thirty Years War, 1618 1648 The
  Disintegration of Germany

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Questions to consider

• How had the Peace of Augsburg attempted to settle
  the religious question in German states? What
  developments upset those arrangements?
• How may one attempt to analyze the issues of the
  30 Years War? How did European rivalries and
  ambitions become liked to the conflict within
  Germany?
• Sketch briefly the events associated with each of
  the major phases of the 30 Years War.
• Summarize and evaluate the Peace of Westphalia
  with respect to (A) the religious settlement, (B)
  the territorial changes, (C) constitutional
  issues with the HRE. Of what significance was the
  Peace of Westphalia for modern international
  relations?
• How would you evaluate the broad significance of
  the 30 Years War and the Peace of Westphalia?
  What seems to have been the net result of the
  wars of religion?

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Introduction

• HRE is a mix of Czech, Bohemian, French and
  German (Majority), evenly split between
  Protestant and Catholic
• Isolationist perspectives of Lutheran states led
  to cultural decline
• suspicious of the outside world and suffered from
  cultural isolation
• Universities attracted fewer students as
  intellectual energies were spent defending dogmas
• Witch burning
• Commercial activity is in decline
• Banking and financial interests were shifting west

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Background of the Thirty Years War

• HRE Role
• Peace of Augsburg (1555) provided that each state
  could prescribe the religion of its subjects
• leads to the development of two opposing forces
• Lutheran states are making gains by converting
  leaders
• Catholics states are supported by Spain

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Background of the Thirty Years War

• Spains Role
• wanted Nether back or at least to end Dutch trade
  in Indies
• wished to consolidate Habsburg position in
  Germany and in Swiss cantons

Philip III (1598-1621)
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Background of the Thirty Years War

• French Role
• Spains moves aroused France
• Idea of a stronger power in Germany also aroused
  French
• intent and preventing a strong Hapsburg state
  from emerging in the HRE

Louis XIII (1610-1643)
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Background of the Thirty Years War

• Complexity of the Thirty Years War
• Fought over religion, constitutional issues,
  centralization v independence of German states
• Between the French and Hapsburgs, Spain and Dutch
• Fought mostly on German soil
• Divided into 4 or 5 phases
• Bohemian (1618-1625)
• Danish (1625-1629)
• Swedish(1630-1635)
• Swedish-French(1635-1648)

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Phase One The Bohemian War

• 1618 emissaries of HRE are thrown out the
  window by Protestant Bohemians and Czechs
• called the defenestration of Prague
• King/HRE sends troops
• Bohemians elect a new king by choosing Elector of
  Palatine (Frederick V)

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Phase One The Bohemian War

• Catholic Ferdinand with support of Pope, Spanish
  troops, and Bavarian forces combine to rout the
  Protestant uprising at Battle of White Mountain
  in 1620 Spaniards begin concentrating forces in
  the Rhineland
• Ferdinand is re-elected king and confiscates
  estates of Protestants
• Forced re-Catholicization of Bohemia is
  implemented with the Jesuits
• Protestantism in Austria is stamped out

Ferdinand I
Frederick V, Elector of Palatine The Winter King
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Score

• Protestants/Czechs
• 0

• Catholics/HRE/Spain
• 1

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Phase TwoDenmark Intervention

• King of Denmark (also the Duke of Holstein, a
  state in HRE) raises army with support from
  Richelieu
• HRE Ferdinand commissions Albert of Wallenstein
  to raise army
• his army are professional pillagers
• Wallensteins army is ruthless and aggressive and
  defeats the King of Denmark

King Christian IV of Denmark. General of the
Lutheran army
Catholic general Albrecht von Wallenstein
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Score

• Protestants/Denmark
• 0

• Catholics/HRE
• 2

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Half Time Regrouping

• International realignment
• HRE issues Edict of Restitution to reclaim all
  secularized territories since 1552 in Germany for
  Catholic Church
• terror sweeps over Protestants of Germany
• France (Richelieu) plots to engage Sweden in the
  Protestant resistance
• Dutch also align with Sweden and support the
  Swedish military campaign
• Stage is set for final phase of the war

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Halftime Show
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Phase ThreeSwedish Intervention

• Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden
• Excellent leader
• Used Dutch and other military experts to create a
  modern army
• Disciplined, solid leadership, advanced weapons
  (mobile cannon), a very motivated (troops sang
  Lutheran hymns into battle)
• Aided by
• Richelieus diplomatic efforts against the HRE
• German Protestants and Catholics that feared
  imperial centralization
• Gustavus Adolphus killed at Lutzen in 1632
• chancellor carries battle

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Phase ThreeSwedish Intervention

• Splintering in the Protestant effort
• Saxony makes a separate peace with HRE
• Wallenstein breaks ranks and negotiates with
  Swedes independently
• Wallenstein assassinated by his own staff
• HRE annuls the Edict of Restitution and German
  leaders are pacified
• The promise of peace seems near

The death of King Gustavus II Adolphus on 16
November 1632 at the Battle of Lützen
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Score

• Protestants/Sweden/France
• 1

• Catholics/HRE
• 2

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Phase FourSwedish-French Intervention

• Richelieu
• To avoid unified HRE Richelieu redoubles efforts
  to support Swedes
• Comes out openly in favor of the German
  Protestants
• Moves France into the conflict

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Phase FourSwedish-French Intervention

• Spanish are aggressive and move into France
• Portugal and Catalonia seize opportunity to move
  against Spain
• French troops move into Spain
• Germany begins to see the wars as an
  international conflict fought on German soil and
  resentment to foreign influence builds

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The Peace of Westphalia 1648

• Large representative body assembles to discuss
  the terms
• Shift in tone is evident
• last large assembly (Constance, 1415)) discussed
  church issues
• this large assembly discussed affairs of the
  state
• Evidence of how far secularization had progressed
• The Pope was not heard and did not sign the
  treaties

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The Peace of Westphalia 1648

• Checkmates Counter Reformation
• Renewed the terms of the Peace of Augsburg
• Added Calvinism to list as acceptable faiths
• Catholic claims to church territories were
  abandoned
• HRE is downsized
• Dutch and Swiss are independent
• French get territories in Lorraine and rights in
  Alsace
• Sweden received territories in northern Germany
• Mouth of the German rivers were controlled by
  non-Germans
• Oder, Elbe and Weser by Sweden
• Rhine and Scheldt by Dutch
• Constitution of the peace is victory for states
  rights
• Marks the advent in international law of the
  modern European Staatensystem or system of
  sovereign states
• Use of balance of power
• the end of a possible unified or universal
  monarchy in Europe
• Numerous independent states were to exist

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Aftermath of the Thirty Years War

• Germany is a wreck
• Starvation and depopulation
• Magdeburg was besieged 10 times
• Farmers ceased to farm
• Germany fades into the background of political
  affairs in Europe
• Western Europe takes the lead in moving toward
  the modern age
• Eastern Europe sinks into a sedentary culture and
  begins to look eastward
• State viewed as more important than religion

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Score

• Winners
• French Monarchy
• Princes of Germany
• Protestantism

• Losers
• German People
• HRE
• Catholicism
• Spain