Countries involved in the 30 Years War. Thirty Years' War: Religious and Political Causes. What did the countries that won the war get?
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Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) - the first military conflict in the history of Europe, affecting to one degree or another almost all European countries (including Russia), with the exception of Switzerland. The war started as religious clash between Protestants and Catholics in Germany, but then escalated into a struggle against the hegemony of the Habsburgs in Europe. The last significant religious war in Europe, gave rise to the Westphalian system international relations.
Scheme (course, periods) of the war:
1. Czech period 1618-1625
2. Danish period 1625-1629
3. Swedish period 1630-1635
4. Franco-Swedish period 1635-1648
5. Other conflicts at the same time
6. Peace of Westphalia. (Internet)
Causes of the war
1). Internal causes. Strengthening of the Counter-Reformation in Germany (note: Reformation is a religious, broad political movement aimed at reforming the Catholic Church in the 16th century).
2). 1608 - 1609 - Creation of two military-political unions (camps): the Evangelical Union and the Catholic League. Bottom line: the threat of a military conflict between two opposing camps in Germany and the threat of interference in Germany's affairs by other states (external threat)
3). The struggle took place under religious banners, but the interests were not religious, but material, political calculations, class ambitions
four). external reasons. The resumption of confrontation between the coalitions: the Spanish-Austrian Habsburgs and France. Both powers claimed hegemony in Europe
5). England pursued a controversial policy on the eve of the war and collaborated with the anti-Habsburg coalition
6). Russia, Poland, the Ottomans did not take part in the war, but they had an impact. Russia contributed to the success of the Protestants by holding down the forces of Poland. The Ottomans fought with Persia (Iran) and did not fight on two fronts, they were for France.
7). 1618 - an uprising in Czech Prague of Protestant subjects against Emperor Ferdinand II (1619 - 1637) due to the dominance of foreign officials in the government of Prague, appointed by the Habsburgs - this is the impetus for war.
Stage number 1. Bohemian period of the war (1618 - 1623)
1. Czech troops began to fight with the Habsburgs. The Czech Republic refused the Czech crown to the Habsburgs. The Czech forces and the Protestant mercenaries from Germany were divided - this is their weakness, and the Catholics (the Catholic League of Germany) achieved unity.
2. 1620 - the defeat of the Czech troops by the combined forces of the Catholic League and the imperial army
3. The result of the battle: - Jesuits flooded the Czech Republic, - only Catholic worship, - everything else is prohibited, - the national shrines of the Czechs were desecrated, - the Inquisition expelled all Protestants from the Czech Republic, - torture and execution of the participants in the uprising, - a blow was dealt to craft, trade, - confiscation of lands and their transfer to German Catholics - the emergence of new magnates - the Czech Republic is deprived of all its former privileges.
Stage number 2. Danish war period (1625 - 1629)
1. The Danish king Christian IV feared for the fate of his possessions, which included secularized Catholic church lands, and also, in case of victories, wanted to annex more conquered lands. He secures cash subsidies from England and Holland and recruits a mercenary army. North German princes join Christian 4
2. By 1630 - Emperor Ferdinand 2 creates a huge army of mercenaries (up to 100 thousand people) through extortion and devastation of cities and villages
3. After the battles with the Danish king, F2 emerges victorious and Christian 4 asks for peace
4. 1629 - conclusion of peace in Lübeck. Outcome: Denmark retained its territories, but no longer interferes in German affairs F2
5. The result of the entire war: - F2 dealt a powerful blow to the Protestants, - disposed strong army, - through his vassal (Wallenstein), he began to build a fleet in the North (Baltic) to control the sea routes, - Protestant dissatisfaction with imperial policy and the results of the war, - strife in the Habsburg camp, - a sharp violation of the political balance in Germany.
Stage number 3. Swedish period of the war (1630 - 1635)
1. 1630 - The Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus lands in Pomerania with support from France. The army is homogeneous from personally free peasants-countrymen + mercenaries with high moral and combat qualities. Used firearms and light cannons and cavalry
2. 1631 - the battle near Leipzig is a turning point in the war. Opened the way to Central and Southern Germany
3. Ferdinand II recruits an army. The Swedish army becomes mercenary and robs everyone in its path, combat-ready units died in the first battles
4. 1632 - the second battle near Leipzig. The Swedes won, but their king Gustavus Adolf died, F2 goes to the Czech Republic
5. 1634 - the Swedish army loses its former power, military discipline and is defeated by F2
6. 1635 - conclusion of peace. North German Protestants joined the world. The political situation is favorable for the Habsburgs. Tactics of negotiating F2 with the enemy - designed for a split within the enemy.
Stage number 4. Franco-Swedish war period (1635 - 1648)
1. Great attrition of the parties due to many years of war in people and finances. The nature of the war: maneuverability, small battles, skirmishes, several times large battles
2. Early 1640s - success with the French
3. 1642 - the Swedes won the battle of Breitenfeld, went into Germany, France - captured Alsace
4. 1646 - the Swedes defeated F2 in South Bohemia
5. Ferdinand III (1637 - 1657) understands that the war is lost and seeks peace negotiations + partisan movement inside Germany against the emperor. In peace negotiations, a senseless war continues.
Stage number 5. Peace of Westphalia (total)
1. This local war at the beginning, involved many states at the end, lasted 30 years, became the First All-European War
2. 1648 - the conclusion of peace in the cities of Münster (Westphalia) between the emperor F3 and France, in Osnabrück (Westphalia) between Sweden and Germany
3. Results of the war:
a). Sweden:
The lands of Eastern Pomerania (Germany) and part of the coastal cities withdrew
Swedish kings became imperial princes
Withdrawn some secularized church lands
Received a large cash payment
Control of the rivers of Northern Germany
b). France:
Received Alsace, part of the territory of Germany, departed 10 imperial cities, confirmed the rights to three Lorraine bishoprics
in). Republic of the United Provinces:
Received recognition of its independence from all powers
Sovereignty issues resolved
G). Swiss Union:
Recognition of their sovereignty
Territory expansion
e). Spain:
She continued to fight with France, peace was concluded only in 1659.
4. Consolidated the political fragmentation of Germany
5. There are several religions in Germany: Lutherans, Catholics, Calvinism
6. The ruin of Germany and the countries that were part of the Habsburg empire
7. The population decreased several times, many villages disappeared, the lands were overgrown with forests, mines were abandoned, Germany slowed down in its development
8. This is the boundary of two periods in History.
Thirty Years' War(1618-1648) - the first military conflict in the history of Europe, affecting to one degree or another almost all European countries (including Russia). The war began as a religious clash between Protestants and Catholics in Germany, but then escalated into a struggle against Habsburg hegemony in Europe. The last significant religious war in Europe, which gave rise to the Westphalian system of international relations.
Since the time of Charles V, the leading role in Europe belonged to the House of Austria - the Habsburg dynasty. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Spanish branch of the house, in addition to Spain, also owned Portugal, the Southern Netherlands, the states of Southern Italy and, in addition to these lands, had at its disposal a huge Spanish-Portuguese colonial empire. The German branch - the Austrian Habsburgs - secured the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor, were the kings of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia. The hegemony of the Habsburgs tried in every possible way to weaken other major European powers. Among the latter, the leading position was occupied by France, which was the largest of the nation-states.
In Europe, there were several explosive regions where the interests of the warring parties intersected. The greatest number of contradictions accumulated in the Holy Roman Empire, which, in addition to the traditional struggle between the emperor and the German princes, was split along religious lines. Another knot of contradictions, the Baltic Sea, was also directly related to the Empire. Protestant Sweden (and partly also Denmark) sought to turn it into their inland lake and gain a foothold on its southern coast, while Catholic Poland actively resisted the Swedish-Danish expansion. Other European countries advocated the freedom of Baltic trade.
The third disputed region was the fragmented Italy, over which France and Spain fought. Spain had its opponents - the Republic of the United Provinces (Holland), which defended its independence in the war of 1568-1648, and England, which challenged Spanish dominance at sea and encroached on the colonial possessions of the Habsburgs.
The brewing of war
The Religious Peace of Augsburg (1555) ended for a while the open rivalry of the Lutheran Catholics in Germany. Under the terms of the peace, the German princes could choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) for their principalities at their own discretion. At the same time, the Catholic Church wanted to win back the lost influence. The Vatican in every possible way pushed the remaining Catholic rulers to eradicate Protestantism in their possessions. The Habsburgs were ardent Catholics, but their imperial status obliged them to adhere to the principles of religious tolerance. Religious tension grew. For an organized rebuff to the growing pressure, the Protestant princes of South and West Germany united in the Evangelical Union, created in 1608. In response, the Catholics united in the Catholic League (1609). Both alliances were immediately supported by foreign states. The reigning emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King Matthias of Bohemia had no direct heirs, and in 1617 he forced the Czech Sejm to recognize as his successor his nephew Ferdinand of Styria, an ardent Catholic and a pupil of the Jesuits. He was extremely unpopular in the predominantly Protestant Czech Republic, which was the reason for the uprising, which escalated into a long conflict.
The Thirty Years' War is traditionally divided into four periods: Czech, Danish, Swedish and Franco-Swedish. On the side of the Habsburgs were: Austria, most of the Catholic principalities of Germany, Spain, united with Portugal, the Holy See, Poland. On the side of the anti-Habsburg coalition - France, Sweden, Denmark, the Protestant principalities of Germany, the Czech Republic, Transylvania, Venice, Savoy, the Republic of the United Provinces, supported by England, Scotland and Russia. The Ottoman Empire (traditional opponent of the Habsburgs) in the first half of the 17th century was occupied with wars with Persia, in which the Turks suffered several serious defeats. In general, the war turned out to be a clash of traditional conservative forces with growing nation-states.
Periodization:
Czech period (1618-1623). Revolts in the Czech Republic against the Habsburgs. The Jesuits and a number of senior officials of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic were expelled from the country. The Czech Republic came out from under the rule of the Habsburgs for the second time. When in 1619 Ferdinand 2 replaced Matthew on the throne, the Czech Sejm, in opposition to him, chose Frederick of the Palatinate, the leader of the Evangelical Union, as king of the Czech Republic. Ferdinand was deposed shortly before his coronation. At the beginning, the uprising developed successfully, but in 1621 Spanish troops invaded the Palatinate, helping the emperor, who brutally suppressed the uprising. Friedrich fled from the Czech Republic, and then from Germany. The war continued in Germany, but in 1624 the final victory of the Catholics seemed inevitable.
Danish period (1624-1629). The troops of the emperor and the Catholic League were opposed by the north German princes and the Danish king, who relied on the help of Sweden, Holland, England and France. The Danish period ended with the occupation of Northern Germany by the troops of the emperor and the Catholic League, with the exit from the war of Transylvania and Denmark.
Swedish (1630-1634). During these years, the Swedish troops, together with the Protestant princes who joined them and with the support of France, occupied most of Germany, but were still defeated by the combined forces of the emperor and the Catholic League.
Franco - Swedish period 1635-1648. France enters an open struggle against the Habsburgs. The war takes on a protracted character and lasts until the participants are completely exhausted. France opposed Germany and Spain, having numerous allies on its side. On her side were Holland, Savoy, Venice, Hungary (Transylvania). Poland declared its neutrality, friendly to France. Military operations were conducted not only in Germany, but also in Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, in Italy, on both banks of the Rhine. The Allies were unsuccessful at first. The composition of the coalition was not strong enough. Allied actions were little coordinated. Only in the early 40s. the preponderance of forces was clearly determined on the side of France and Sweden. In 1646 The French-Swedish army invaded Bavaria. It became increasingly clear to the Viennese court that the war was lost. The imperial government of Ferdinand 3 was forced to negotiate peace.
Results:
over 300 small German states received de facto sovereignty, while nominally subject to the Holy Roman Empire. This situation continued until the end of the first empire in 1806.
The war did not lead to the automatic collapse of the Habsburgs, but changed the balance of power in Europe. Hegemony passed to France. The decline of Spain became evident.
Sweden became a great power for a period of about half a century, significantly strengthening its position in the Baltic. However, by the end of the 17th century, the Swedes lost a number of wars to Poland and Prussia, and North War 1700-1721 finally broke the Swedish power.
Adherents of all religions (Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism) gained equal rights in the empire. The main result of the Thirty Years' War was a sharp weakening of the influence of religious factors on the life of European states. Their foreign policy began to be based on economic, dynastic and geopolitical interests.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Europe was undergoing a painful “reformatting”. The transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age could not be carried out easily and smoothly - any break in the traditional foundations is accompanied by a social storm. In Europe, this was accompanied by religious unrest: the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. The religious Thirty Years' War began, in which almost all countries of the region were drawn into.
Europe entered the 17th century, carrying with it the burden of unresolved religious disputes from the previous century, which also exacerbated political contradictions. Mutual claims and grievances resulted in a war that lasted from 1618 to 1648 and was called " Thirty Years' War". It is considered to be the last European religious war, after which international relations took on a secular character.
Causes of the Thirty Years' War
- Counter-Reformation: an attempt by the Catholic Church to win back from Protestantism the positions lost during the Reformation
- The desire of the Habsburgs, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and Spain, for hegemony in Europe
- The fears of France, which saw in the policy of the Habsburgs an infringement of their national interests
- The desire of Denmark and Sweden to monopoly control the maritime trade routes of the Baltic
- Selfish aspirations of numerous petty European monarchs, who hoped to snatch something for themselves in a general dump
The protracted conflict between Catholics and Protestants, the collapse of the feudal system and the emergence of the concept of the nation-state coincided with the unprecedented strengthening of the Habsburg imperial dynasty.
The Austrian ruling house in the 16th century extended its influence to Spain, Portugal, the Italian states, Bohemia, Croatia, Hungary; if we add to this the vast Spanish and Portuguese colonies, the Habsburgs could claim the role of absolute leaders of the then "civilized world". This could not but cause discontent of the "neighbors in Europe".
Religious issues were added to everything. The fact is that the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 resolved the issue of religion with a simple postulate: "Whose power, that is faith." The Habsburgs were zealous Catholics, and meanwhile their possessions extended to the "Protestant" territories. The conflict was inevitable. His name is Thirty Years' War 1618-1648.
Stages of the Thirty Years' War
Results of the Thirty Years' War
- The Peace of Westphalia established the borders of European states, becoming the source document for all treaties until the end of the 18th century.
- German princes received the right to pursue a policy independent of Vienna
- Sweden has achieved dominance in the Baltic and the North Sea
- France received Alsace and the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, Verdun
- Holland is recognized as an independent state
- Switzerland gained independence from the Empire
- It is customary to count the modern era in international relations from the Peace of Westphalia
The main thing is that the old hierarchy, which was formed under the dictation of the Holy Roman Empire, was destroyed. From now on the heads independent states Europe became equal in rights with the emperor, which means that international relations reached a qualitatively new level.
The Westphalian system recognized as the main principle the principle of state sovereignty; the basis of foreign policy was the idea of a balance of power, which does not allow any one state to strengthen at the expense of (or against) others. Finally, having formally confirmed the Peace of Augsburg, the parties gave guarantees of religious freedom to those whose religion differed from the official one.
The Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648 affected almost all European countries. This struggle for the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was the last European religious war.
Causes of the conflict
There were several reasons for the Thirty Years' War.
The first is the clashes between Catholics and Protestants in Germany, which eventually escalated into a larger conflict - the struggle against the hegemony of the Habsburgs.
Rice. 1. German Protestants.
The second is the desire of France to leave the Habsburg Empire fragmented in order to retain the right to part of its territories.
And the third is the struggle between England and France for naval dominance.
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Periodization of the Thirty Years' War
Traditionally, it is divided into four periods, which will be clearly presented in the table below.
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years |
Period |
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Swedish |
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Franco-Swedish |
Outside of Germany, there were local wars: the Netherlands fought with Spain, the Poles fought with the Russians and Swedes.
Rice. 2. A group of Swedish soldiers during the Thirty Years' War.
Course of the Thirty Years' War
The beginning of the Thirty Years' War in Europe is associated with the Czech uprising against the Habsburgs, which, however, was defeated by 1620, and five years later, Denmark, a Protestant state, came out against the Habsburgs. France's attempts to draw a strong Sweden into the conflict were unsuccessful. In May 1629, Denmark was defeated and withdrawn from the war.
In parallel, the war with the Habsburg domination begins France, which in 1628 enters into a confrontation with them in northern Italy. But fighting were sluggish and protracted - ended only in 1631.
The year before, Sweden entered the war, which in two years went through all of Germany and eventually defeated the Habsburgs at the Battle of Lützen.
The Swedes in this battle lost about one and a half thousand people, and the Habsburgs - twice as much.
Russia also took part in this war, which opposed the Poles, but was defeated. After that, the Swedes moved to Poland, who were defeated by the Catholic coalition and in 1635 were forced to sign the Paris Peace Treaty.
However, over time, the superiority still turned out to be on the side of the opponents of Catholicism, and in 1648 the war was ended in their favor.
Results of the Thirty Years' War
This long religious war had a number of consequences. So, among the results of the war, one can name the conclusion of the Westphalian peace treaty, which was important for everyone, which took place in 1648, on October 24.
The terms of this agreement were as follows: South Alsace and part of the Lorraine lands departed France, Sweden received a significant indemnity and also actual power over Western Pomerania and the Duchy of Bregen, as well as the island of Rügen.
Rice. 3. Alsace.
The only ones that this military conflict did not affect in any way were Switzerland and Turkey.
Hegemony in international life ceased to belong to the Habsburgs - after the war, France took their place. However, the Habsburgs still remained a significant political force in Europe.
After this war, the influence of religious factors on the life of European states sharply weakened - interfaith differences ceased to be important. Geopolitical, economic and dynastic interests came to the fore. Report Evaluation
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The events of May 1618 in Prague served as the immediate cause for the war. Openly trampling on the religious and political rights of the Czechs, guaranteed in the 16th century and confirmed at the beginning of the 17th century by a special imperial "Letter of Majesty", the Habsburg authorities persecuted Protestants and supporters of the country's national independence.
The answer was mass unrest, during which the noble opposition played a particularly active role. An armed mob broke into the old royal palace of Prague Castle and threw two members of the Habsburg-appointed government and their secretary out of a window. All three miraculously survived after falling from an 18-meter height into the moat. This act of "defenestration" was perceived in the Czech Republic as a sign of its political break with Austria. The uprising of "subjects" against the power of Ferdinand was the impetus for war.
First (Czech) period of the war (1618-1624).
The new government, elected by the Czech Diet, strengthened the country's military forces, expelled the Jesuits from it, negotiated with Moravia and other nearby lands on the creation of a general federation similar to the Dutch United Provinces.
Czech troops, on the one hand, and their allies from the Transylvanian principality, on the other, moved to Vienna and inflicted a number of defeats on the Habsburg army.
Declaring its refusal to recognize Ferdinand's rights to the Czech crown, the Sejm elected the head of the Evangelical Union, Elector-Calvinist Frederick of the Palatinate, as king. The noble leaders of the Czech uprising counted on the German Protestants to provide them with military assistance. They were afraid to rely on the armament of the people.
Calculations on the power of Frederick of the Palatinate turned out to be false: he had neither large funds nor an army that had yet to be recruited from mercenaries. Meanwhile, a stream of money from the pope and the Catholic League poured into the treasury of the emperor for similar purposes, Spanish troops were recruited to help Austria, promised assistance to Ferdinand polish king.
In this situation, the Catholic League succeeded in forcing Frederick of the Palatinate to agree that hostilities would not affect German territory proper and would be limited to Bohemia. As a result, the mercenaries recruited by the Protestants in Germany and the Czech forces were separated. The Catholics, by contrast, achieved unity of action.
On November 8, 1620, approaching Prague, the combined forces of the imperial army and the Catholic League defeated the Czech army, which was significantly inferior to them, in the battle of the White Mountain. It fought steadfastly, but without success. Bohemia, Moravia and other areas of the kingdom were occupied by the winners.
Terror began on an unprecedented scale. Torture and executions of participants in the uprising were particularly sophisticated. The country was invaded by the Jesuits. Any worship, except for the Catholic, was banned, the national shrines of the Czechs, associated with the Hussite movement, were desecrated. The Inquisition expelled tens of thousands of Protestants of all denominations from the country. Craft, trade and Czech culture suffered a heavy blow.
The rampant counter-reformation was accompanied by mass confiscations of the lands of the executed and refugees, whose property passed to local and German Catholics. New fortunes were formed, new magnates appeared. In total, during the years of the Thirty Years' War in the Czech Republic, the owners of three-quarters of the lands changed. In 1627, the so-called Funeral Diet in Prague confirmed the loss of Czech national independence: the "Chart of Majesty" was canceled, the Czech Republic was deprived of all previous privileges.
The consequences of the Battle of Belogorsk affected the change in the political and military situation not only in the Czech Republic, but throughout Central Europe in favor of the Habsburgs and their allies. The possessions of Frederick of the Palatinate were occupied on both sides by the armies of the Spaniards and the Catholic League. He fled Germany himself. The emperor announced that he was depriving him of the dignity of the Elector - from now on it passes from the Count of the Palatinate to Maximilian of Bavaria, the head of the league.
Meanwhile, the troops of the league, under the leadership of the great military leader Tilly, plundering entire regions along the way, moved north, supporting and asserting the Catholic order. This caused particular alarm in Denmark, England and the Republic of the United Provinces, who saw Tilly's successes as a direct threat to their interests. The first stage of the war was over, its expansion was brewing.
Second (Danish) period of the war (1625-1629).
The Danish king Christian IV became a new participant in the war. Fearing for the fate of his possessions, which included secularized church lands, but also hoping to increase them in case of victories, he secured large cash subsidies from England and Holland, recruited an army and sent it against Tilly in the interfluve of the Elbe and Weser. The troops of the North German princes, who shared the sentiments of Christian IV, joined the Danes.
To fight new opponents, Emperor Ferdinand II needed large military forces and large financial resources, but he had neither one nor the other. The emperor could not rely only on the troops of the Catholic League: Maximilian of Bavaria, to whom they obeyed, well understood what real power they provided, and was increasingly inclined to pursue an independent policy. To this he was secretly pushed by the energetic, flexible diplomacy of Cardinal Richelieu, who headed the French foreign policy and set as its goal, first of all, to bring discord into the Habsburg coalition.
The situation was saved by Albrecht Wallenstein, an experienced military leader who commanded large detachments of mercenaries in the imperial service. The richest magnate, a German Catholic Czech nobleman, he bought up so many estates, mines and forests during the confiscation of land after the Battle of Belogorsk that he owned almost the entire northeastern part of the Czech Republic.
Wallenstein proposed to Ferdinand II a simple and cynical system for creating and maintaining a huge army: it should live off high but strictly established contributions from the population. The larger the army, the less will be able to resist its demands.
Wallenstein intended to make the robbery of the population a law. The Emperor accepted his offer. For the initial expenses for the formation of the troops, Ferdinand provided Wallenstein with several of his own districts, in the future the army was to be fed from the conquered territories.
Wallenstein, who later proved himself to be an outstanding commander, had outstanding organizational skills. In a short time, he created a 30,000-strong army of mercenaries, which by 1630 had grown to 100,000 people. Soldiers and officers of any nationality were recruited into the army, among them were Protestants.
They were paid a lot and, most importantly, regularly, which was rare, but they were kept in strict discipline and paid great attention to professional military training. In his possessions, Wallenstein established a manufactory production of weapons, including artillery, and various equipment for the army. In necessary cases, he mobilized thousands of craftsmen for urgent work; warehouses and arsenals with large reserves were prepared in different parts of the country. Wallenstein quickly and repeatedly blocked his expenses due to huge military booty and gigantic indemnities mercilessly levied from cities and villages.
Having devastated one territory, he moved with his army to another.
Wallenstein's army advancing north, together with Tilly's army, inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Danes and the troops of the Protestant princes. Wallenstein occupied Pomerania and Mecklenburg, became the master in Northern Germany and failed only at the siege of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, which was helped by the Swedes.
Having invaded Jutland with Tilly and threatening Copenhagen, he forced the Danish king who fled to the islands to ask for peace. Peace was concluded in 1629 at Lübeck on terms quite favorable to Christian IV due to the intervention of Wallenstein, who was already making new, far-reaching plans.
Without losing anything territorially, Denmark pledged not to interfere in German affairs. Everything seemed to return to the situation of 1625, but in fact the difference was great: the emperor dealt another powerful blow to the Protestants, now he had a strong army, Wallenstein was entrenched in the north, having received the whole principality as a reward - the Duchy of Mecklenburg.
Wallenstein also got a new title - "General of the Baltic and Oceanic Seas." There was a whole program behind him: Wallenstein began the feverish construction of his own fleet, apparently deciding to intervene in the struggle for dominance over the Baltic and the northern sea routes. This caused a sharp reaction in all northern countries.
Wallenstein's successes were also accompanied by outbursts of jealousy in the Habsburg camp. During the passage of his army through the princely lands, he did not consider whether they were Catholics or Protestants. He was credited with wanting to become something like the German Richelieu, intent on depriving the princes of their freedoms in favor of the emperor's central authority.
On the other hand, the emperor himself began to fear the excessive strengthening of his commander, who had troops loyal to him and who was increasingly independent in political matters. Under pressure from Maximilian of Bavaria and other leaders of the Catholic League, who were dissatisfied with the rise of Wallenstein and did not trust him, the emperor agreed to dismiss him and disband the army subordinate to him. Wallenstein was forced to return to privacy on their estates.
One of the biggest consequences of the defeat of the Protestants in the second stage of the war was the adoption by the emperor in 1629, shortly before the Peace of Lübeck, the Edict of Restoration.
It provided for the restoration (restitution) of the rights of the Catholic Church to all secularized property seized by the Protestants since 1552, when Emperor Charles V was defeated in the war with the princes. In accordance with the edict, the lands of two archbishoprics, twelve bishoprics, a number of abbeys and monasteries were to be taken away from the owners and returned to the churches.
Taking advantage of military victories, the emperor and the Catholic Church wanted to turn back time. The edict caused general indignation among the Protestants, but also worried some Catholic princes, who feared that the emperor was beginning to reshape the established order of the Empire too vigorously.
Growing deep dissatisfaction with the results of the war and imperial policy among the Protestants, strife in the Habsburg camp, and finally, serious fears of a number of European powers in connection with a sharp violation of the political balance in Germany in favor of the Habsburgs - all these were symptoms of the unreliability of the position of the emperor and the forces supporting him, which, seemed to be at the pinnacle of success. The events of 1630-1631 again decisively changed the situation in Germany.
Third (Swedish) period of the war (1630-1635).
In the summer of 1630, having imposed a truce on Poland, secured large subsidies from France for the war in Germany and the promise of diplomatic support, the ambitious and courageous commander, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, landed in Pomerania with his army.
His army was unusual in Germany, where both belligerents used mercenary troops and both had already mastered Wallenstein's methods of keeping them well.
The army of Gustavus Adolphus was small, but uniformly national in its main core and distinguished by high combat and moral qualities. Its core consisted of personally free peasants-countrymen, holders of state lands, obliged military service. Hardened in battles with Poland, this army used the talented innovations of Gustavus Adolphus, not yet known in Germany: the wider use of firearms, light field artillery from rapid-fire cannons, light, flexible infantry battle formations. Gustavus Adolph attached great importance to her maneuverability, not forgetting the cavalry, whose organization he also improved.
The Swedes came to Germany under the slogans of getting rid of tyranny, defending the freedoms of German Protestants, fighting attempts to enforce the Restitution Edict; their army, then not yet expanded by mercenaries, did not plunder at first, which caused the joyful astonishment of the population, which gave it the warmest welcome everywhere. All this ensured at first the major successes of Gustavus Adolf, whose entry into the war meant its further expansion, the final development of regional conflicts into a European war on German territory.
The actions of the Swedes in the first year were constrained by the maneuvering of the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, who remembered the defeat of Denmark and were afraid to openly support Gustavus Adolphus, which made it difficult for him to move through their possessions.
Taking advantage of this, Tilly, at the head of the league troops, besieged the city of Magdeburg, which had gone over to the Swedes, took it by storm and subjected it to wild robberies and destruction. The brutal soldiery killed almost 30 thousand citizens, not sparing women and children.
Having forced both Electors to join him, Gustavus Adolf, despite the low effectiveness of the help of the Saxon troops, moved his army against Tilly and in September 1631 inflicted a crushing defeat on him at the village of Breitenfeld near Leipzig.
This was a turning point in the war - the Swedes opened the way to Central and Southern Germany. Making swift transitions, Gustavus Adolf moved to the Rhine, spent the winter period, when hostilities ceased, in Mainz, and in the spring of 1632, he was already near Augsburg, where he defeated the emperor's troops on the Lech River. Tilly was mortally wounded in this battle. In May 1632, Gustavus Adolf entered Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the emperor's main ally. The victories strengthened the Swedish king in his rapidly expanding plans to create a great power.
Frightened, Ferdinand II turned to Wallenstein. Having stipulated for himself unlimited powers, including the right to collect any indemnity in the conquered territory and to independently conclude truces and peace with opponents, he agreed to become the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Empire and quickly recruited a large army.
By this time, Germany was already so devastated by the war that both Wallenstein, who tried to use the military innovations of the Swedes in his army, and Gustavus Adolf began to increasingly resort to the tactics of maneuvering and waiting, which led to the loss of combat capability and even the death of part of the enemy’s troops from lack of supplies.
The nature of the Swedish army has changed: having lost part of its original composition in battles, it has grown greatly due to professional mercenaries, of whom there were many in the country at that time and who often moved from one army to another, no longer paying attention to their religious banners. The Swedes now plundered and looted in the same way as all other troops.
In an effort to force Saxony - the largest ally of the Swedes in Germany - to break the alliance with Gustavus Adolf, Wallenstein invaded her lands and began to devastate them methodically.
Responding to the desperate appeals of the Elector of Saxony for help, Gustavus Adolf led his troops to Saxony. In November 1632, near the city of Lützen, again near Leipzig, the second largest battle took place: the Swedes won and forced Wallenstein to withdraw to Bohemia, but Gustavus Adolf died in the battle.
His army was henceforth subject to the policy of the Swedish Chancellor Oxenstierna, who was strongly influenced by Richelieu. The death of Gustavus Adolphus hastened the fall of the Swedish hegemony that had actually been established in Germany. As had already happened more than once, the princes, fearing any great power plans, began to lean towards the idea of reconciliation with the Habsburgs if they refused to carry out a counter-reformation in foreign possessions.
These sentiments were used by Wallenstein. In 1633, he negotiated with Sweden, France, Saxony, far from always informing the emperor about their progress and about his diplomatic plans.
Suspecting him of treason, Ferdinand II, set against Wallenstein by a fanatical court camarilla, removed him from command at the beginning of 1634, and in February, in the fortress of Eger, Wallenstein was killed by conspiring officers loyal to the imperial power, who considered him a traitor to the state.
In the autumn of 1634, the Swedish army, having lost its former discipline, suffered a severe defeat from the imperial troops at Nördlingen.
Detachments of imperial soldiers and Spanish troops, having forced the Swedes out of southern Germany, began to devastate the lands of the Protestant princes in the western part of the country, which strengthened their intention to achieve a truce with Ferdinand.
At the same time, peace negotiations between the emperor and the Saxon elector were under way. He was imprisoned in Prague in the spring of 1635. The emperor, having made concessions, refused to carry out the Restorative Edict in Saxony for 40 years, until further negotiations, and this principle was to be extended to other principalities if they joined the Peace of Prague.
The new tactics of the Habsburgs, designed to split the opponents, bore fruit - North German Protestants joined the world. The general political situation again turned out to be favorable for the Habsburgs, and since all other reserves in the fight against them were exhausted, France decided to enter the war itself.
Fourth (Franco-Swedish) period of the war (1635-1648).
Resuming the alliance with Sweden, France made diplomatic efforts to intensify the struggle on all fronts, where it was possible to confront both the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs.
The Republic of the United Provinces continued its liberation war with Spain and achieved a number of successes in major naval battles. Mantua, Savoy, Venice, the Principality of Transylvania supported the Franco-Swedish alliance. Poland took a neutral but friendly position for France. Russia, on favorable terms, supplied Sweden with rye and saltpeter (for the manufacture of gunpowder), hemp and ship timber.
The last, longest period of the war was fought in conditions when the exhaustion of the opposing sides was increasingly felt as a result of the huge long-term strain of human and financial resources.
As a result, mobile warfare, small battles, and only a few times larger battles prevailed.
The battles went on with varying success, but in the early 40s, the growing preponderance of the French and Swedes was determined. Swedes smashed imperial army in the autumn of 1642, again under Breitenfeld, after which they occupied all of Saxony and penetrated into Moravia.
The French captured Alsace, acting in concert with the forces of the Republic of the United Provinces, won a number of victories over the Spaniards in the Southern Netherlands, and dealt them a heavy blow at the Battle of Rocroix in 1643.
Events were complicated by the intensified rivalry between Sweden and Denmark, which led them to war in 1643-1645.
Mazarin, who replaced the deceased Richelieu, made a lot of efforts to end this conflict.
Having significantly strengthened its positions in the Baltic under the terms of peace, Sweden again stepped up the actions of its army in Germany and in the spring of 1646 defeated the imperial and Bavarian troops at Jankov in South Bohemia, and then launched an offensive in the Czech and Austrian lands, threatening both Prague and Vienna.
Emperor Ferdinand III (1637-1657) became increasingly clear that the war was lost. Both sides were pushing for peace negotiations not only by the results of hostilities and the growing difficulties of further financing the war, but also by the wide scope partisan movement in Germany against the violence and looting of “our own” and enemy armies.
Soldiers, officers, generals on both sides have lost their taste for the fanatical defense of religious slogans; many of them changed the color of the flag more than once; desertion became a mass phenomenon.
As early as 1638, the pope and the Danish king called for an end to the war. Two years later, the idea of peace negotiations was supported by the German Reichstag in Regensburg, which met for the first time after a long break.
Concrete diplomatic preparations for peace began, however, later. Only in 1644 did a peace congress begin in Münster, where negotiations were held between the emperor and France; in 1645, in another, also Westphalian city - Osnabrück - negotiations opened, at which Swedish-German relations were clarified.
At the same time, the war continued, more and more senseless.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia was concluded, according to which Sweden received all of Western Pomerania with the port of Stettin and a small part of Eastern Pomerania, the islands of Rügen and Wolin, as well as the right to the Pomeranian Gulf with all coastal cities. As dukes of Pomeranian, the Swedish kings became imperial princes and were given the opportunity to directly intervene in imperial affairs. The secularized archbishoprics of Bremen and Ferden (on the Weser), the Mecklenburg city of Wismar, and the Mecklenburg city of Wismar also went to Sweden as imperial fiefs. Sweden controlled the mouths of the largest rivers in Northern Germany - the Weser, Elbe and Oder. Sweden became a great European power and realized its goal of dominating the Baltic.
France, which was in a hurry to complete negotiations in connection with the parliamentary opposition that had begun and was ready, having achieved the necessary general political result of the war, to be content with relatively little, made all its acquisitions at the expense of imperial possessions. She received Alsace (except for Strasbourg, which was not legally part of it), Sundgau and Haguenau, confirmed her already hundred-year-old rights to three Lorraine bishoprics - Metz, Toul and Verdun. Under the tutelage of France were 10 imperial cities.
The Republic of the United Provinces has received international recognition of its independence. Under the Treaty of Munster - part of the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia - the issues of its sovereignty, territory, the status of Antwerp and the mouth of the Scheldt were resolved, problems that still remained controversial were outlined.
The Swiss Union received direct recognition of its sovereignty. Significantly increased their territories at the expense of smaller rulers, some large German principalities Elector of Brandenburg, whom France supported in order to create a kind of counterbalance to the emperor in the north, but also - for the future - and Sweden, received under the treaty Eastern Pomerania, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, the bishoprics of Halberstadt and Minden .
The influence of this principality in Germany increased dramatically.
Saxony secured the Lusatian lands, Bavaria received the Upper Palatinate, and its duke became the eighth elector.
The Peace of Westphalia sealed the political fragmentation of Germany for two hundred years. The German princes achieved the right to conclude alliances among themselves and treaties with foreign states, which effectively ensured their sovereignty, although with the proviso that all these political ties should not be directed against the empire and the emperor.
The empire itself, formally remaining a union of states headed by an elected monarch and permanent Reichstags, after the Peace of Westphalia, in fact, turned not into a confederation, but into a barely connected conglomerate of "imperial officials". Along with Lutheranism and Catholicism, Calvinism also received the status of an officially recognized religion in the empire.
The Peace of Westphalia brought to Spain the end of only part of her wars: she continued hostilities with France. Peace between them was concluded only in 1659. He gave France new territorial acquisitions: in the south - at the expense of Roussillon; in the northeast, at the expense of the province of Artois in the Spanish Netherlands; in the east, part of Lorraine passed to France.
The Thirty Years' War brought unprecedented ruin to Germany and the countries that were part of the Habsburg empire. The population of many regions of North-East and South-West Germany has halved, in a number of places - by 10 times. In the Czech Republic, out of 2.5 million people in 1618, only 700 thousand remained by the middle of the century.
Many cities suffered, hundreds of villages disappeared, vast areas of arable land were overgrown with forest. Many Saxon and Czech mines were disabled for a long time. Trade, industry, culture were severely damaged. The war that swept through Germany slowed down its development for a long time.
