The Thirty Years' War was primarily fought in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Estimates of the total number of military and civilian deaths which resulted range from 4.5 to 8 million, the vast majority from disease or starvation. In some areas of Germany, it has been suggested up to 60% of the population died. Until 1938, the war was usually presented as a German conflict; this changed when historian CV Wedgwood argued it formed part of a wider, ongoing European struggle, with the Habsburg-Bourbon conflict at its centre. This is now the generally accepted view, with related conflicts such as the 1568–1648 Eighty Years War, the 1635-59 Franco-Spanish War, and the 1629–31 War of the Mantuan Succession.
Introduction
Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War | Introduction
Yes, from 1618 to 1648. Yes, from  1618 to 1648. The Great Northern War took place between 1700–1721. Yes, between 1618 and 1648
the mitochrondria is the powerhouse of the cell
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Yes.
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who was the first to discover it?
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Richard Altmann.
assistant
what exactly is it?
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It is a semi autonomous double-membrane-bound organelle found in most eukaryotic organisms.
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who is the above-mentioned person?
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A German pathologist and histologist.
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when did he discover this organelle mentioned above?
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1890.
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where is he from?
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Deutsch Eylau in the Province of Prussia.
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where is this province located?
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Kingdom of Prussia.
assistant
who are the natives of this kingdom?
user
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
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which year did it experience a plague?
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1708.
assistant
has it experienced any wars?
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Thirty Years' War, the Great Northern War and others.
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where was the latter war fought?
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Swedish Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish Livonia, and Swedish Ingria among others.
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when did it end?
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1721.
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what was the reason behind the start of the war?
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The war began when an alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony and Russia, sensing an opportunity as Sweden was ruled by the young Charles XII, declared war on the Swedish Empire.
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did the former war mentioned earlier, really stretch for thirty years?
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Defeat at Nördlingen threatened Sweden participation, leading Richelieu to intervene directly. After tense negotiations with Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, in the April 1635 Treaty of Compiègne Richelieu agreed to provide additional subsidies, and declared war on Spain in May, beginning the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War. A few days later, Ferdinand withdrew the Edict and signed the Peace of Prague, dissolving the Heilbronn and Catholic Leagues, and creating a single Imperial army, although Saxony and Bavaria retained control of their own forces. This is generally seen as the point when the conflict ceased to be primarily a German civil war.
Thirty Years' War | Phase II; France joins the war 1635 to 1648
The income from their imperial possessions remained in Germany and did not benefit the kingdom of Sweden; although they retained Swedish Pomerania until 1815, much of it was ceded to Prussia in 1679 and 1720.
Thirty Years' War | Political consequences
The Thirty Years War originated in Bohemia with the Defenestration of Prague (1618). It spread like wildfire from 1620 through the entire Holy Roman Empire. On this occasion, Swedish troops led by Marshal Gustaf Horn were stationed in the village in the autumn of 1632. Engaged by the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus in the European politico-religious conflict in support of the German Protestant princes, they practiced a policy of terror against Catholics in the region (the peasants fled at the cry of "Der Schwedt kommt" (the Swedes are coming), terrified by the "Swedish torture" or "Schwedentrunk" which consisted of ingesting manure to suffocation).
Altorf | The Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War began in 1618 when the Protestant dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown to fellow Protestant Frederick of the Palatinate, rather than conservative Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II. Most members of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral, and the revolt was quickly suppressed. An army of the Catholic League, dominated by Bavarians, then invaded the Palatinate and sent Frederick into exile. His replacement by the Catholic Maximilian of Bavaria changed the nature and extent of the war. It drew in Protestant German states like Saxony and Brandenburg-Prussia, as well as external powers like Denmark-Norway. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Pomerania, partly to support his Protestant co-religionists, but also to control the Baltic trade, which provided much of Sweden's income.
Battle of Jankau | Background
In the Battle of Lützen on November 6, 1632, he was killed, though, and Sweden lost their warrior-king. The battle itself was a draw, but two years later the tide turned at Nördlingen, where Imperial troops won a convincing victory over the Protestant Army. In order to prevent the Habsburgs from winning the war, France, who had already given subsidies to Sweden following the Treaty of Bärwalde (1631), intervened on the Protestant side. The war dragged on for many years until a peace agreement was at last reached in 1648.
History of Sweden (1611–1648) | The Thirty Years' War
After invading the Spanish Netherlands in May 1635, the poorly equipped French army collapsed, suffering 17,000 casualties from disease and desertion. A Spanish offensive in 1636 reached Corbie in Northern France; although it caused panic in Paris, lack of supplies forced them to retreat, and it was not repeated. In March 1636, France finally joined the Thirty Years War in alliance with Sweden, launching offensives in Germany and the Low Countries. At the same time, the Swedes under Johan Banér marched into Brandenburg; victory at Wittstock on 4 October 1636 regained most of the ground lost after Nördlingen. Ferdinand II died in February 1637 and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand III, who faced a rapidly deteriorating military situation.
Thirty Years' War | Phase II; France joins the war 1635 to 1648
The Swedish phase of the Thirty Years War began when Gustavus Adolphus and his force of 13,000 landed at Peenemünde in 1630. Initially, Sweden's entrance into the war was considered a minor annoyance to the Catholic League and its allies; his only battles to this point had been inconclusive ones, or fought against generals of modest military ability. Consequently, the Imperial Commander of the German Catholic League, Tilly, did not immediately respond to the arrival of the Swedes, being engaged in northern Italy. However, the effective end of the Mantuan War in 1631 ensured that the large Imperial army previously tied up there was now free to move into the German states.
Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) | Preliminaries
In 1645 he sent his son, Johan Oxenstierna, to the Peace Congress in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster, to argue against peace. Christina, however, wanted peace at any cost and sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius.
Christina, Queen of Sweden | Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years War began in 1618 when the Protestant dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown of Bohemia to fellow Protestant Frederick of the Palatinate, rather than conservative Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II. Most members of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral, and the revolt was quickly suppressed. An army of the Catholic League, dominated by Bavarians, then invaded the Palatinate and sent Frederick into exile. His replacement by the Catholic Maximilian of Bavaria changed the nature and extent of the war. It drew in Protestant German states like Saxony and Brandenburg-Prussia, as well as external powers like Denmark-Norway. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Pomerania, partly to support his Protestant co-religionists, but also to control the Baltic trade, which provided much of Sweden's income.
Battle of Herbsthausen | Background
This made it easier to levy national armies of significant size, loyal to their state and its leader; one lesson learned from Wallenstein and the Swedish invasion was the need for their own permanent armies, and Germany as a whole became a far more militarised society. The benefits of Westphalia for the Swedes proved short-lived. Unlike French gains which were incorporated into France, Swedish territories remained part of the Empire, and they became members of the Lower and Upper Saxon "kreis". While this gave them seats in the Imperial Diet, it also brought them conflict with both Brandenburg-Prussia and Saxony, who were competitors in Pomerania.
Thirty Years' War | Political consequences
In order to prevent the Habsburg's from winning the war, France, who had already given major financial subsidies to Sweden, intervened on the Protestant side. The war dragged on for many years until a peace agreement was at last reached in 1648. In the Peace of Westphalia Sweden received an indemnity, as well as control of Western Pomerania and the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden. It thus won control of the mouth of the Oder, Elbe, and Weser Rivers, and acquired three voices in the Council of Princes of the German Reichstag.
Military history of Sweden | The Thirty Years' War
While the peace negotiations had been dragging on, events elsewhere in Europe of course had not stood still. While Spain was busy fighting the Mantuan war, the Swedes had intervened in the Thirty Years' War in Germany under Gustavus Adolphus in 1630, supported by French and Dutch subsidies. The Swedes used the new Dutch infantry tactics (enhanced with improved cavalry tactics) with much more success against the Imperialist forces than the German Protestants had done and so gained a number of important successes, turning the tide in the war. However, once its war with Italy ended in 1631, Spain was able to build its forces in the northern theatre of war up to strength again.
Eighty Years' War | Franco-Dutch Alliance (1635–1640)
The war ended as foreseen with a Swedish victory, and with the Treaty of Brömsebro in 1645, Denmark–Norway had to cede some of their territories, including Norwegian territories Jemtland, Herjedalen and Idre & Serna, and the Danish Baltic Sea islands of Gotland and Ösel. Thus the Thirty Years' War facilitated rise of Sweden as a great power, while it marked the start of decline for the Danes.
Denmark–Norway | Torstenson War
These measures were self-imposed by the circle's nobility, and the local authorities were given the task of their implementation. In contrast, Tilly imposed analogous measures in the same year on a territory he had just conquered, Hersfeld. The contributions he demanded were unreasonably high, and were collected with military means.
Bellum se ipsum alet | Thirty Years' War
Ferdinand still resisted signing, but after France gained a crushing victory over Spain at Lens in August, and with Swedish troops attacking Prague, he finally did so on 24 October 1648.
Thirty Years' War | Peace of Westphalia (1648)
Much of the area was part of an important strategic location during the Thirty Years War. It changed hands three times over the course of the conflict.
Jümme | Under the Cirksenas (1464-1744)
However, the Swedes camped in a nearby forest, and the next day – Christmas – after a solemn observation of religious traditions was observed, the attack was begun. A breach was made in the Greifenhagen fortifications, and the king in person led the first assault. After this place was successfully assaulted, the Imperial troops here started to retreat towards their comrades in Western Pomerania.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Temporary setbacks
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. 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 Danes and then Swedes intervened at various points to protect their interests. The Danish intervention began when Christian IV (1577–1648) the King of Denmark-Norway, himself a Lutheran, helped the German Protestants by leading an army against the Holy Roman Empire, fearing that Denmark's sovereignty as a Protestant nation was being threatened.
History of Scandinavia | Thirty Years War
The conflict can be split into two main phases. The first, from 1618 to 1634, was primarily a German civil war, during which Emperor Ferdinand II tried to re-assert Habsburg authority over the Holy Roman Empire, with external powers playing a largely supportive role. After the 1635 Peace of Prague, most of the German states sought to remain neutral, and the war became a continuation of the French–Habsburg rivalry, fought between Sweden and France on one side, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs on the other.
Thirty Years' War | Introduction
Fighting in the field, the Swedish army (which during the Thirty Years' War contained more German and Scottish mercenaries than ethnic Swedes, but was administered by the Swedish Crown) was able, in particular, to make quick, sustained marches across large tracts of land and to maintain a high rate of small arms fire due to proficient military drill. However, the Swedish state ultimately proved unable to support and maintain its army in a prolonged war. Campaigns on the continent had been proposed on the basis that the army would be financially self-supporting through plunder and taxation of newly gained land, a concept shared by most major powers of the period.
Great Northern War | Background
The Thirty Years' War was fought between 1618 and 1648, principally on the territory of today's Germany, and involved most of the major European continental powers, including Sweden. Although it was from the outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the rivalry between the Habsburg dynasty and other powers was also a central motive. Sweden held, for a time, control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic; and the increment of revenue resulting from this commanding position was of material assistance during the earlier stages of the war in Germany, whither the Swedish king Gustavus II Adolphus transferred his forces in June 1630.
Military history of Sweden | The Thirty Years' War
At any rate, recognizing an opportunity, Tilly sent the majority of his infantry against the remaining Saxon forces in an oblique march diagonally across his front.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Battle of Breitenfeld
This was especially important because at the present he did not have as large of a force as the Imperialists did. By having this position he would be able to march his troops between both his lines as necessity required.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Securing Pomerania
He was also to recruit forces in this area in order to ensure that his forces were of sufficient strength to hold the flank. Shortly thereafter he received orders to march to Crossen and establish a strong camp there.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | The Elbe
Christian had not thoroughly planned the advance against the combined forces of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Catholic League, as promises of military support from the Netherlands and England did not materialise. In the summer of 1627 both Tilly and Albrecht von Wallenstein occupied the duchies and the whole peninsula of Jutland.
Christian IV of Denmark | Thirty Years' War
This achieved the Danish aim of cutting off Sweden from the North Sea, blocking critical salt imports. Erik XIV then countered by attacking Halmstad in October, managing to breach the walls with artillery, but two assaults were beaten back.
Povel Huitfeldt | Seven Years' War
The idea was to win Sweden's and Denmark's support, both of which had for a long time sought the destruction of the "Hanseatic League".
Bremen | Thirty Years' War
Dutch leader Frederick Henry recaptured Breda in October, and three months later Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar destroyed an Imperial army at Rheinfelden. Although von Hatzfeldt defeated a Swedish-English-Palatine force at Vlotho in October 1638, Breisach's surrender to Bernhard in December secured French control of Alsace and the Rhineland, severing the Spanish Road. Spain was now forced to resupply their armies in Flanders by sea, making them vulnerable to the Dutch navy.
Thirty Years' War | Phase II; France joins the war 1635 to 1648
The legend tells that when the Swedish army besieged the town, a teenage girl took the children to the Swedish general to beg for mercy. The Swedish general had recently lost his young son to illness, and a boy who approached him so closely resembled his own son that he decided to spare the town.
Dinkelsbühl | Thirty Years War
The religious and political divisions sowed by the conflict blocked centralization as was occurring in France, England and Spain at the time. Political Unification of Germany would only occur centuries later.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Introduction
The battle started in the middle of the day and lasted over six hours. The first two hours consisted of an exchange of artillery fire. This was followed by an Imperial attack with cavalry from both wings to both ends of the Protestant line. The cavalry attack routed the Saxon troops on the Swedish left flank. The imperial army then conducted a general attack to exploit the exposed left flank. The Swedes repositioned their second line to cover the left flank and counterattacked with their cavalry to both imperial flanks. The attack on the Imperial left was led personally by Gustavus Adolphus, capturing the Imperial artillery and enveloping the Imperial left flank.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Battle of Breitenfeld
The Thirty Years' War was a series of wars in Europe lasting from 1618 to 1648. Thirty Years' War or Thirty Years War also may refer to:
Thirty Years War (disambiguation) | Introduction
In the wake of the Swedish victory, there could be no more reticence to join the Protestant cause for fear of imperial retribution. The King who had come out of Scandinavia had proven his ability to successfully fight pitched battles, and take strong places from the Emperor's forces. Since the beginning of the war – almost 12 years past at this point – the Protestants had not been in such a strong position. With the destruction of the Imperial army, which retreated towards the Weser, the entirety of Germany was by and large open to the Swedish army. There were two strategies available to the Protestant army at this point.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | The Main
Now that the defence of the Spanish Netherlands depended almost wholly on the Allies William III insisted on replacing its Spanish governor, the Marquis of Gastañaga, with the Elector of Bavaria, thus overcoming delays in getting decisions from Madrid.
Nine Years' War | Expanding war: 1690–91
But the period of the Truce, and the military events that followed after the Truce had ended and the war was resumed, until the conclusion of the Peace of Münster in 1648, still form one continuous whole with the Dutch Revolt (though the "second part" of the war, after 1621, had a different character, as it now became a conflict between sovereign states, instead of a "domestic conflict" inside one polity), and this continuous narrative, spanning the period 1566–1648, is still known as the Eighty Years' War.
Eighty Years' War (1566–1609) | Introduction
The Smolensk War is considered a separate but related part of the Thirty Years' War. Expectations of widespread support proved unrealistic; by the end of 1630, the only new Swedish ally was Magdeburg, which was besieged by Tilly. Despite the devastation inflicted on their territories by Imperial soldiers, both Saxony and Brandenburg had their own ambitions in Pomerania, which clashed with those of Gustavus; previous experience also showed inviting external powers into the Empire was easier than getting them to leave.
Thirty Years' War | Swedish intervention; 1630 to 1635
The Torstenson war, Hannibal controversy or Hannibal War () was a short period of conflict between Sweden and Denmark–Norway from 1643 to 1645 towards the end of the Thirty Years' War. The names refer to Swedish general Lennart Torstenson and Norwegian governor-general Hannibal Sehested. Denmark had withdrawn from the Thirty Years' War in the Treaty of Lübeck (1629). After its victories in the war, Sweden felt it had to attack Denmark due to its advantageous geographical position in relation to Sweden. Sweden invaded in a short two-year war. In the Second Treaty of Brömsebro (1645), which concluded the war, Denmark had to make huge territorial concessions and exempt Sweden from the Sound Dues, "de facto" acknowledging the end of the Danish "dominium maris baltici".
Torstenson War | Introduction
He burned every field and house and destroyed every head of livestock he could. An attempt to cut off his retreat over the Holaveden failed, as Rantzius' army went over the ice of lake Sommen and in the middle of February 1568 he returned to Halland. Attempts were made to make peace between the fighting nations during these years. Negotiators included the dukes of Pomerania, French messenger Charles Dancay, and Holy Roman Emperors Ferdinand I and Maximilian II. The emperors wanted Denmark and Sweden to give back the territories won in Livonia, during the ongoing Livonian War, but Sweden refused to give in to those demands.
Northern Seven Years' War | Later phase
However, lacking a fleet, he was unable to take the Danish capital on the island of Zealand. Peace negotiations were concluded in the Treaty of Lübeck in 1629, which stated that Christian IV could keep his control over Denmark-Norway if he would abandon his support for the Protestant German states.
European wars of religion | Thirty Years' War
Christian IV invaded at the head of a mercenary army of 20,000 men, but the Danish forces were severely beaten, and Christian IV had to sign an ignominious defeat, the first in a series of military setbacks to weaken his kingdom. The Swedish intervention began in 1630 and lasted until 1635. Some within Ferdinand II's court believed that Wallenstein wanted to take control of the German princes and thus gain influence over the emperor. Ferdinand II dismissed Wallenstein in 1630. He later recalled him after Gustavus Adolphus attacked the empire and prevailed in a number of significant battles.
History of Scandinavia | Thirty Years War
During the thirty years war, as the Imperial army had defeated many Protestant states from 1618 to 1629, German Protestants increasingly looked to the king of Sweden as their main protector and many enlisted in his army. The Swedes could also easily pay foreign troops thanks to French subsidies. This policy continued in later wars.
Military of the Swedish Empire | Invading the Holy Roman Empire
The Peace of Westphalia settled for a partition of the duchy between Brandenburg and Sweden, who determined the exact border in the Treaty of Stettin (1653). Sweden retained the western part including the lower Oder (Swedish Pomerania), while Brandenburg gained the eastern part (Farther Pomerania). Frederick William was dissatisfied by this outcome, and the acquisition of the whole Duchy of Pomerania was to become one of the main goals of his foreign policy.
Brandenburg-Prussia | Conclusion of the Thirty Years' War
By July 18, he had assembled this force and the next day he set out from the Swine Inlet to Stettin. He was squarely between Savelli and Conti, and once he was able to acquire the city, he would have established himself on interior lines. This is important because he would have a shorter period of time to bring his troops to any given point, and would therefore be able to reinforce any position that was threatened more quickly than the Imperialists if they should attack a sector that he had taken. In addition, he would be able to apply pressure to any point in the Imperialist line more quickly than the Imperials themselves could apply to his line.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Securing Pomerania
The Thirty Years War began in 1618 when the Protestant-dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown of Bohemia to Frederick of the Palatinate, rather than the conservative Catholic, Emperor Ferdinand II. Most of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral, viewing it as an inheritance dispute, and the revolt was quickly suppressed. However, when Frederick refused to admit defeat, Imperial forces invaded the Palatinate and forced him into exile; removal of a hereditary prince changed the nature and extent of the war. Accompanied by a renewed Counter-Reformation, this threatened Protestant states within the Empire. It also drew in external powers who held Imperial territories; Nassau-Dillenburg was a hereditary possession of the Dutch Prince of Orange, while Christian IV of Denmark was also Duke of Holstein.
Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) | Background
Any Spanish advantage, however, would be undercut by the new Franco-Dutch alliance that threatened to engulf the Spanish Netherlands in a pincer movement between her two enemies. France and Oxenstierna agreed to a treaty at Hamburg, extending the annual French subsidy of 400,000 riksdalers for three years, but Sweden would not fight against Spain. With the French entry into the war in 1636, the Army of Flanders initially made a good showing, counter-attacking and threatening Paris in 1636. Over the next few years, however, France's military strength continued to grow and the earlier successes of the Army would be overshadowed by their defeat at the Battle of Rocroi in 1643.
Army of Flanders | Role in the Thirty Years' War, 1618–48
Only the Duke of Coburg switched immediately over to the Swedish side. Nuremberg concluded an alliance with Sweden under public pressure and supplied troops and cannon. When Wallenstein entered the war again, Gustavus Adolphus set up a huge camp around Nuremberg in summer 1632. Wallenstein took up position west of Nuremberg around Zirndorf, but did not allow himself to be lured onto the offensive. As a result, the Swedes started the Battle of the Alte Veste and suffered heavy losses. Two weeks later the Swedish king withdrew from Franconia and the theatre of war moved to central Germany. Nevertheless, for a further 16 years, Franconia was beset by raids, the quartering of troops, the passage of armies, the extortion of financial contributions and plague epidemics.
History of Franconia | Thirty Years' War
Many middle and small powers in Europe, as in the previous wars, tried steering away from the escalating conflict, even though they had interests in the conflict or with the belligerents. Denmark–Norway, for instance, was close to being dragged into the war on France's side when Peter III became Russian emperor and switched sides; Dano-Norwegian and Russian armies were close to ending up in battle, but the Russian emperor was deposed before war formally broke out. The Dutch Republic, a long-time British ally, kept its neutrality intact, fearing the odds against Britain and Prussia fighting the great powers of Europe, and even tried to prevent Britain's domination in India.
Seven Years' War | Summary
Later that year, the Swedish attempted to relieve a Hessian force under siege in Dorsten, where Amalie Elisabeth had once held court, but they were too late, and Dorsten fell to Imperial forces in September. Two Hessian cavalry regiments fought alongside Swedish Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson’s forces at the Second Battle of Breitenfeld in October 1642. The battle was a major victory for the allies, leaving the Habsburg Hereditary lands vulnerable and further turning the tide of the war. Hessian forces were also present at the last battle of the Thirty Years’ War, which took place at Wevelinghoven in 1648.
Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg | Thirty Years' War
During the Thirty Years War, the Swedes laid siege to Sélestat. They occupied Kintzheim and left its castle in ruins.
Kintzheim | Thirty Years' War
The time for wintering his troops was coming, but he desired to strike a blow to the Catholic cause before taking to camp for the winter. The army moved mostly down the right (east) bank of the Oder towards Gartz. There were also troops on the left (western) bank that were kept in constant communication with the main army via the naval force that was to keep the two armies in communication with each other. Moving towards Greifenhagen first, when the Imperial general in command of the city observed the army coming to his position he deemed it to be nothing more than a salvo that was typical of the Swedes to distract him.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Temporary setbacks
The Imperials made a huge circuit, hoping to avoid detection marched via an elaborate circuit to the south. However, their movement and subsequent attack was repulsed, and they retreated. However, the Imperialists were so eager to take relieve the city, and expecting to catch the Swedes off guard, contemplated another move on Kolberg. For whatever reason, during the beginning of this plan it lost impetus, and the army that was marching to relieve Kolberg became disorganized. Upon arriving on the eastern side of his new acquisitions, the king assembled his generals, got all the facts from them pertaining to the dispositions of the enemy forces, and resolved to attack Garz.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Temporary setbacks
After renewing Hesse-Kassel’s alliance with France, Amalie Elisabeth rejoined the war on the allied side. She soon agreed to support a joint allied offensive and in 1640 ordered General Peter Melander to link up with the armies of France and Sweden. Melander, however, did not support rejoining the war against the Emperor and strongly objected to serving under the Swedish Field Marshal Johan Banér, who had been given overall command of the allied army. In July 1640 Melander returned to Kassel and offered his resignation. Amalie Elisabeth, having had enough of Melander’s criticisms of her leadership, accepted the resignation. Peter Melander would later become a general in the Imperial army and fight against Hesse-Kassel.
Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg | Thirty Years' War
His expedition was even larger. He embarked 30,000 men and 80 field guns on 3,000 rivercraft for his amphibious descent on IJzendijke. From there he penetrated to the Bruges-Ghent canal that the Brussels government had dug to circumvent the Dutch blockade of the coastal waters. Unfortunately, at this stage a sizeable Spanish force appeared to his rear, which caused a row with panicky deputies-in-the-field that, as usual, were micro-managing the campaign for the States General. The civilians prevailed, and a very angry Frederick Henry had to order an ignominious retreat of the Dutch invading force.
Eighty Years' War | The Republic sallies forth (1629–1635)
The Dutch had therefore a large role in precipitating the Thirty Years' War. Maurice's motivation was the desire to manoeuvre the Republic into a better position should the war with Spain resume after the expiration of the Truce in 1621. Renewal of the Truce was a distinct possibility, but it had become less likely, as both in Spain and in the Republic more hard-line factions had come to power. Though civil war had been avoided in the Republic, national unity had been bought with much bitterness on the losing Remonstrant side, and Maurice for the moment had to garrison several former Remonstrant-dominated cities to guard against insurrection.
Eighty Years' War | Dutch intervention in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War (1619–1621)
In 1623, the principle was implemented by the Upper Saxon Circle on its own territory, and by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, commander of the Catholic League's army, on occupied enemy territory. The Upper Saxon Circle had raised an army for its defense, and dispersed it over its territory. The territory was divided into "Kontributionsbezirke" ("contribution districts"), each of which had to provide certain amounts of food for the soldiers as well as the horses. The soldiers were quartered in the houses of ordinary people, who had to provide shelter, food and "Servisgeld", a defined sum to allow the soldier to buy firewood and salt.
Bellum se ipsum alet | Thirty Years' War
However, after Lutzen, arguing ensued amongst many of the officers of the Swedish army and as a result they were defeated at the Battle of Nördlingen. The petty differences on the part of those in command led to no properly defined plan of attack and George Munro was so disgusted with these matters that he returned home to Scotland.
George Munro, 1st of Newmore | Thirty Years' War
Meanwhile, the Imperial forces had surged in Germany after the initial setback from the intervention of Christian IV of Denmark in the war in 1625. Both the Danes and Mansfelt were defeated in 1626, and the Catholic League occupied the northern German lands that had hitherto acted as a buffer zone for the Republic. For a while in 1628 an invasion of the eastern part of the Republic seemed imminent. However, the relative might of Spain, the main player up to now in the German civil war, was ebbing fast. By April 1629 the States Army counted 77,000 soldiers, half as much again as the Army of Flanders at that point in time.
Eighty Years' War | The Republic sallies forth (1629–1635)
The assassination thus finally unleashed a civil war that would last almost 30 years.
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War | Outbreak of the war
The Catholic cause, had lost an able general. Additionally, the army which he headed, 100,000 strong was entirely his personally. The officers were personally loyal to him, and so were the men. The majority of the officers in the main army quit the imperial service.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Mecklenburg
The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War (, ) was an alleged state of war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (located off the southwest coast of Great Britain), and its existence is disputed. It is said to have been extended by the lack of a peace treaty for 335 years without a single shot being fired, which would make it one of the world's longest wars, and a bloodless war. Despite the uncertain validity of the declaration of war, and thus uncertainty about whether or not a state of war ever actually existed, peace was finally declared in 1986, bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist.
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War | Introduction
Frederick William took over Brandenburg-Prussia in times of a political, economical and demographic crisis caused by the war. Upon his succession, the new elector retired the Brandenburgian army, but had an army raised again in 1643/44. Whether or not Frederick William concluded a truce and neutrality agreement with Sweden is disputed: while a relevant 1641 document exists, it was never ratified and has repeatedly been described as a falsification. However, it is not disputed that he established the growth of Brandenburg-Prussia. At the time, the forces of the Swedish Empire dominated Northern Germany, and along with her ally France, Sweden became guarantee power of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Brandenburg-Prussia | Conclusion of the Thirty Years' War
The conflict was sparked by the revolt of the Protestant nobility of Bohemia against emperor Matthias' succession policies. After imperial triumph at the Battle of White Mountain and a short-lived peace, the war grew to become a political European conflict by the intervention of King Christian IV of Denmark from 1625 to 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden from 1630 to 1648 and France under Cardinal Richelieu from 1635 to 1648. The conflict increasingly evolved into a struggle between the French House of Bourbon and the House of Habsburg for predominance in Europe, for which the central German territories of the empire served as the battleground.
History of Germany | Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648
This achieved the Danish aim of cutting off Sweden from the North Sea, blocking the all-important salt imports. Eric then attacked Halmstad, without result; the Swedish counterattack was driven back by the professional Danish army. After the king's departure from his army, Charley de Mornays stepped in as the commanding officer and was beaten by the Danish at the Battle of Mared. At sea a battle broke out near Öland on 11 September, whereafter the war took a pause.
Northern Seven Years' War | Initial phase
At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War "John Frederick" and his prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Lübeck maintained neutrality, as did most of the territories in the Lower Saxon Circle.
John Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp | Life
Thus Sweden held, for a time, the control of the principal trade routes of the Baltic up to the very confines of the empire; and the increment of revenue resulting from this commanding position was of material assistance during the earlier stages of the war in Germany, whither Gustavus transferred his forces in June 1630. Gustavus, later to be called "the Lion of the North" due to his skills as a commander, intervened on the Protestant side in the German civil war. Using new military techniques such as lighter and more mobile artillery and cavalry shocks, he won an astounding victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631.
History of Sweden (1611–1648) | The Thirty Years' War
In 1625, as part of the Thirty Years' War, Christian IV, who was also the Duke of Holstein, agreed to help the Lutheran rulers of neighbouring Lower Saxony against the forces of the Holy Roman Empire by intervening militarily. Denmark's cause was aided by France, which, together with England, had agreed to help subsidize the war. Christian had himself appointed war leader of the Lower Saxon Alliance and raised an army of 20,000–35,000 mercenaries. Christian, however, was forced to retire before the combined forces of Imperial generals Albrecht von Wallenstein and Tilly. Wallenstein's army marched north, occupying Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and ultimately Jutland.
European wars of religion | Thirty Years' War
Denmark–Norway then carried out some naval attacks on Sweden, which effectively started the war. After seven years of fighting, the conflict concluded in 1570 with a "status quo ante bellum".
Denmark–Norway | Northern Seven Years' War
Also, because malignant and horrible sickness came out of this, many died and many had to languish from hunger. Since the soldiers had taken away all the horses and cattle, the farmers have to push themselves against the plow, so that they might only grow something [].”
Frohnlach | Thirty Years' War
In the course of the conflict, and as a consequence of its fiscal-military innovations, the Dutch Republic emerged as a Great Power, whereas the Spanish Empire lost its European hegemonic status.
Eighty Years' War | New border between North and South
In June 1651, soon after the declaration of war, the Parliamentarian forces under Admiral Robert Blake forced the Royalist fleet to surrender. The Dutch fleet, no longer under threat, left without firing a shot. Due to the obscurity of one nation's declaration of war against a small part of another, the Dutch did not officially declare peace.
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War | Royalist surrender
The Thirty Years' War thus began the rise of Sweden as a great power, while it marked the start of decline for the Danish.
Nordic countries | Early modern period and industrialization
Later the Dutch and English succeeded the Portuguese as colonial rulers of the island.
Thirty Years' War | Outside Europe
Buckingham and Charles were humiliated and Buckingham became the leader of the widespread British demand for a war against Spain. Meanwhile, the Protestant princes looked to Britain, since it was the strongest of all the Protestant countries, to give military support for their cause. His son-in-law and daughter became king and queen of Bohemia, which outraged Vienna. The Thirty Years' War began in 1618, as the Habsburg Emperor ousted the new king and queen of Bohemia, and massacred their followers. Catholic Bavaria then invaded the Palatine, and James's son-in-law begged for James's military intervention. James finally realized his policies had backfired and refused these pleas.
Caroline era | Foreign policy
Her father, Gustavus Adolphus, had come to the aid of the German Protestants in the Thirty Years' War, to diminish Catholic influence and gain economic influence in the German states around the Baltic Sea. He won several battles, and in 1631, Cardinal Richelieu decided France would support Sweden with money and soldiers. But Gustavus was killed in 1632. Count Oxenstierna became regent and continued Sweden's part in the war. Defeated in the Battle of Nördlingen (1634), the Swedish army retreated from southern Germany to Pomerania. Though Sweden won some later battles, the war effort was exhausting. Christina reached her majority in 1644, and Chancellor Oxenstierna soon discovered that her political views differed from his own.
Christina, Queen of Sweden | Thirty Years' War
According to J. N. Hays, "In the period of the Swedish occupation and the Imperial siege the population of the city was reduced from about 70,000 to about 16,000, with typhus and plague playing major roles."
Augsburg | Thirty Years' War
In the Peace of Westphalia that had ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Sweden secured its position as a superpower. However, the Thirty Years' War and other conflicts in the superpower age drained Sweden's and Finland's resources badly. A significant part of the peasants had to serve in the army and the navy, and many of them died in service.
Finland under Swedish rule | The Thirty Years' War
In 1622 the bell "Petrus" was founded. It still tolls in the church tower. Imperial forces led by Tilly looted and devastated Lensahn in 1628. In 1633 Lensahn got a new owner, "Detlef Ratlow zu Lensahn". Swedish forces infested Lensahn again in 1643.
Lensahn | Thirty Years' War
One of the results coming out of the Kalmar War was the establishment of Denmark – Norway as a competent army recognized throughout Europe. The rise of the Maritime Powers including Great Britain and the Dutch established a rivalry for power in the Baltic Sea. Archduke Albert of the Habsburgs sought out aid from the Hanseatics in order to challenge the military prowess of King Christian IV. Because the Dano-Norwegian Alliance did not achieve a total overall victory, Sweden would recover under Gustavus Adolphus. Surprisingly enough, Sweden and the Danish and Norwegians would enter into a brief alliance in the coming Thirty Years' War.
Kalmar War | Aftermath
The Thirty Years' War began, as the Habsburg Emperor ousted the new king and queen of Bohemia, and massacred their followers. Catholic Bavaria then invaded the Palatine, and James’s son-in-law begged for James’s military intervention. James finally realized his policies had backfired and refused these pleas. He successfully kept Britain out of the European-wide war that proved so heavily devastating for three decades. James's backup plan was to marry his son Charles to a French Catholic princess, who would bring a handsome dowry. Parliament and the British people were strongly opposed to any Catholic marriage, were demanding immediate war with Spain, and strongly favored with the Protestant cause in Europe.
Jacobean era | Foreign-policy
Beginning as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a general war involving much of Europe, for reasons not necessarily related to religion. The war marked a continuation of the France-Habsburg rivalry for pre-eminence in Europe, which led later to direct war between France and Spain. Military intervention by external powers such as Denmark and Sweden on the Protestant side increased the duration of the war and the extent of its devastation. In the latter stages of the war, Catholic France, fearful of an increase in Habsburg power, also intervened on the Protestant side.
European wars of religion | The Thirty Years' War
Upon taking Demmin, the king would hold the entirety of the Tollense river. This he had set out some time back to do, but had been distracted from the project. Being winter as it was, the king could afford to take up a project that was comparatively conservative in scope for a winter campaign as such that he was in the process of conducting. In addition, in spite of the fact that it was winter, it was important that he should establish a firm base between the Stralsund and Stettin country. With this line secured, his proposed expedition into Mecklenburg would be more secure.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Frankfurt
The Thirty Years' War was a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Germany. It originated in the of politics and religion that was common in Europe at the time. Its distal causes reside in the previous century, at the political-religious settlement of the Holy Roman Empire known as the Peace of Augsburg. The peace was an agreement between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the Protestant powers of the Holy Roman Empire in the 16th century. It established the legitimacy of Lutheranism in Germany and allowed Dukes and high lords to expel non-conforming subjects from their territory. Additionally, it permitted subjects of a different religion to peaceably move to land where their practices would be recognized and respected.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Religious and political underpinnings of the Thirty Years' War – the Bohemian Revolt
The Thirty Years' War was primarily fought in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Estimates of the total number of military and civilian deaths which resulted range from 4.5 to 8 million, the vast majority from disease or starvation. In some areas of Germany, it has been suggested up to 60% of the population died. Until 1938, the war was usually presented as a German conflict; this changed when historian CV Wedgwood argued it formed part of a wider, ongoing European struggle, with the Habsburg-Bourbon conflict at its centre. This is now the generally accepted view, with related conflicts such as the 1568–1648 Eighty Years War, the 1635-59 Franco-Spanish War, and the 1629–31 War of the Mantuan Succession.
Thirty Years' War | Introduction
On 28 October 1719, an armistice was agreed with Denmark, and a peace treaty was signed in Frederiksborg on 3 July 1720.
Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld | The last years (1718–1722)
The Swedish army at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War was equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry of domestic designs, including the leather cannon – a lightweight artillery piece that could fire at a fast rate and maneuver during the battle with only a handful of infantrymen (as opposed to the hostile artillery, which consisted almost entirely of enormous cannons that were very difficult to move even with horses). However, the cannon itself could quickly overheat and Gustavus had to rely on superior infantry and cavalry to defeat the Holy Roman Empire. The common "gallop cavalry" were armed with broadswords and also equipped with one flintlock carbine and two flintlock pistols.
Military of the Swedish Empire | Equipment and tactics
Soon after the conclusion of the peace the political system of the Republic entered a crisis. The same forces that had sustained the Oldenbarnevelt regime in Holland, and that had been so thoroughly shattered after Maurice's 1618 coup, had finally coalesced again around what was to become known as the States-Party faction. This faction had slowly been gaining prominence during the 1640s until they had forced Frederick Henry to support the peace. And now they wanted their peace dividend. The new stadtholder, William II, on the other hand, far less adept as a politician than his father, hoped to continue the predominance of the stadtholderate and the Orangist faction (mostly the aristocracy and the Counter-Remonstrant regents) as in the years before 1640.
Eighty Years' War | Political situation
Alternate views on understanding conflicts during the same time period include the Second Thirty Years' War, which extends from 1914 to 1945 and includes both the First World War and the Second World War and so forms a subdivision within Bobbitt's "Long War", and the European Civil War, which extends the beginning of the period to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 but still concludes with the Second World War in 1945.
The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History | Long War (20th century)
The Torstenson war was a short period of conflict between Sweden and Denmark/Norway which occurred in 1643 to 1645 during the waning days of the Thirty Years' War. It was named after Lennart Torstenson.
Military history of Sweden | The Torstenson War
The Swedish invasion of the Holy Roman Empire or the Swedish Intervention in the Thirty Years' War is a historically accepted division of the Thirty Years' War. It was a military conflict that took place between 1630 and 1635, during the course of the Thirty Years' War. It was a major turning point of the war: the Protestant cause, previously on the verge of defeat, won several major victories and changed the direction of the War. The Habsburg-Catholic coalition, previously in the ascendant, was significantly weakened as a result of the gains the Protestant cause made. It is often considered to be an independent conflict by most historians.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Introduction
The Peace reconfirmed "German liberties", ending Habsburg attempts to convert the Holy Roman Empire into an absolutist state similar to Spain. This allowed Bavaria, Brandenburg-Prussia, Saxony and others to pursue their own policies, while Sweden gained a permanent foothold in the Empire. Despite these setbacks, the Habsburg lands suffered less from the war than many others and became a far more coherent bloc with the absorption of Bohemia, and restoration of Catholicism throughout their territories. By laying the foundations of the modern nation state, Westphalia changed the relationship of subjects and their rulers. Previously, many had overlapping, sometimes conflicting political and religious allegiances; they were now understood to be subject first and foremost to the laws and edicts of their respective state authority, not to the claims of any other entity, be it religious or secular.
Thirty Years' War | Political consequences
The final inherited war, the war against Poland, ended in 1629 with the Truce of Altmark, which transferred the large province Livonia to Sweden and freed the Swedish forces for the subsequent intervention in the Thirty Years' War in Germany, where Swedish forces had already established a bridgehead in 1628.
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden | Military commander
His overall orders were to capture Magdeburg, and secure the western front all imperialist forces and to hold it.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | The Main
After the end of the Thirty Years' War, a financially constrained Spanish government steadily reduced the size of the Army of Flanders; this trend continued after the end of the Franco-Spanish War that continued after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Despite its decline in numbers and quality, the army remained "an opponent to be treated with respect" at least until the 1650s, though it started to rely more on auxiliary forces such as the allied army of Louis, Grand Condé and a Royalist Army in Exile loyal to Charles II of England. The Battle of Dunkirk in 1658, resulting in a defeat for the Army of Flanders at the hands of the French, produced a renewed peace.
Army of Flanders | The final years of the Army, 1648–1706
Even though the realm of Charles V was divided between the German and the Spanish branches of his dynasty in 1556, most of the territories of the Burgundian Inheritance, including Flanders, stayed with the Spanish crown, whereas the German and North Italian regions remained with the Austrian branch of the dynasty within the Holy Roman Empire. France regarded the encirclement by the Habsburg powers as a permanent threat, and intervened in several years, to prevent an Austrian-Spanish dominance in Europe. The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 as a result of religious intolerance and insurrection between the Roman Catholics and Protestants in Bohemia, a region belonging to Austria.
French–Habsburg rivalry | Thirty Years' War
The war caused great damage before it ended in the compromise Peace of Westphalia on 24 October 1648.
Jesuit College of Ingolstadt | Thirty Years' War
The war proved a severe blow to the city, with frequent arrests, kidnapping and rape. Even after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648, troops remained in the city until 9 September 1650.
Essen | Thirty Years' War
Meanwhile, the Protestant princes looked to Britain, since it was the strongest of all the Protestant countries, to provide them with military support for their cause. James' son-in-law and daughter became king and queen of Bohemia, an event which outraged Vienna. The Thirty Years' War began, as the Habsburg Emperor ousted the new king and queen of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and massacred their followers. The Catholic Duchy of Bavaria then invaded the Electoral Palatinate, and James's son-in-law begged for James's military intervention. James finally realised that his policies had backfired and refused these pleas. He successfully kept Britain out of the European-wide war that proved so heavily devastating for three decades.
Stuart period | Foreign policy
These discussions were taking place through the English. Several other gains had been made though. The princes in Anhalt were also joining the cause. They negotiated a treaty which promised to; pay three thousand rix dollars a month, build forts and bridges in strategically important places as directed by the Swedish at their own expense, to hold these places for the Protestant cause, to deny the Emperor and the Catholic League access to these places, and to act and obey the directions of the Swedish King. Shortly after the victory, these treaties were negotiated at Halle in addition to a conference.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | The Main
These were stationed there so that he could retreat towards them if a numerically larger foe should present itself against his front at Soldin, while simultaneously protecting Swedish gains along the right bank of the Oder and Eastern Pomerania. The king set out from Bärwalde to Stettin, crossed there and accumulated 12,000 men. From Stettin he marched through Germany towards Prenzlau, Neubrandenburg. Taking Neubrandenburg, the Imperial garrison at Treptow also retreated for fear of being captured. The next day Klempenow was also taken. These towns were important, because they could prevent any Imperial armies from advancing north to relieve Demmin.
Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War | Frankfurt
Above all, he wanted to maintain the large wartime military establishment, even though the peace made that superfluous. The two points of view were irreconcilable. When the States-Party regents started to cut down the size of the standing army to a peacetime complement of about 30,000, a struggle for power in the Republic ensued. In 1650 stadtholder William II finally followed the path of his uncle Maurice and seized power in a coup d'état, but he died a few months later from smallpox. The power-vacuum which followed was quickly filled by the States-Party regents, who founded their new republican regime that has become known as the First Stadtholderless Period.
Eighty Years' War | Political situation