The book is based on the authors firsthand experience. Cicely veronica wedgwoods history is considered a classic englishlanguage history of the war, and with good reason. Though it was primarily centered in germany, several other countries became involved in the conflict, including france, spain, and sweden. Sep 26, 2016 the thirty years war is divided into four phases. The principal battlefield for all these intermittent conflicts was the towns. The thirty years war was a 17thcentury religious conflict fought primarily in central europe. His letter of majesty was partly a cause of the thirty years war. This is the second book ive read recently about the thirty years war, both of which have the same informative, if unimaginative, title of the thirty years war. The thirty years war was a war full of bloody, while battles and glorious victories of each party were so temporal, and then the political situation was soon flipped over. He was a great leader of the catholics but ended up murdered by his own mercenaries after attempting retaliation for his dismissal. Richard bonney the thirty years war 16181648 essential histories isbn10. What two major powers emerged at the end of the thirty. What are the best history books for the 30 years war.
To mark the fact that 2018 is a very special anniversary, and because i have to write a book about the event anyway, i decided to turn my podcasting attentions to the thirty years war 161848 once again. The thirty years war was an incredibly brutal conflict. The thirty years war 161848 is a central episode in early modern history. Its casus belli was the extinction of the direct male line of the house of gonzaga in december 1627. The thirty years war, a series of wars fought by european nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of bohemia the future holy roman emperor ferdinand ii to. The two drawbacks of the book are that it is written by a number of different authors and is a bit choppy because of this. There are a few problems with this book but the main one is that it is simply too long. Briefly summarize the four phases of the 30 years war.
With each successive phase, the war became more continental in scope, bloodier, and more. There were several reasons that the thirty years war started. A new history of the thirty years war reprint by peter h. Oct 22, 2019 the thirty years war, a series of wars fought by european nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of bohemia the future holy roman emperor ferdinand ii to. The war lasted for 30 years, but the problems that caused the war were not fixed for a long time after the war was over. The result of that conflict and the conclusion of the great european war at the peace of westphalia in 1648 helped establish postwar sweden as a force in europe. What began as a local, religious conflict became more and more continental and political with each expanding phase of the war. The first period of the war imperial triumphs 16181630 in 1618, the protestants of bohemia refused the bohemian crown to the archduke ferdinand, and chose for their. Thirty years war 161848, in european history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries.
Of particular interest to the authors is the question of why the thirty years war lasted so long. It remains one of the longest and most brutal wars in human. Thirty years war 161848, in european history, a series of wars fought by. Two of the emperors officials were thrown from a window opening. The thirty years war was a series of conflicts that began early in the 17th century in the holy roman empire and finally involved much of europe. The thirty years war condemned the germans to two centuries of internal division and international impotence and became a benchmark of brutality for centuries. The thirty years war london, 1984, xv, makes the oppositeand more plausibleclaim that wedgwood represents a continuation of the german war approach.
In what ways are the wars of religion really expression of civil war within the holy roman empire. Dame wedgwood was the third woman to be appointed member of the order of merit on the strength of her biographies of among. In 1618 the peace of augsburg unraveled and war broke out. Wedgwood a descendent of the potter who founded the wedgwood company. Cities were destroyed, and inflation in europe rose sharply due to the destrution of land. From 164345, during the last years of the thirty years war, sweden and denmark fought the torstenson war. These events would culminate in the defenestration of prague and the bohemian revolt, which would spark the fire of war. The thirty years war was fought from 1618 until 1648. Whilst the conflict took place mainly in the area of modern day germany, it involved many of the great european powers at that time. The thirty years war 161848 was the most destructive european conflict prior to the twentieth century. Parker tries to examine the war from all of the sides invovled.
Hundred years war 371453 was a series of wars fought between england and france. Helfferich has done a remarkable job in assembling texts that convey the sweep of the war, the religious and constitutional questions involved, the international involvement of especially denmark, sweden, and france, and the turbulent misery that the war. They wanted peace and they fought for thirty years to be sure of it. Over 200 states of varying sizes fought in the war. Turkish delights, habsburg disasters in this episode, we look at an oftforgotten theatre of the thirty years war, the east. Peter wilsons book is a major work, the first new history of the thirty years. Historians typically portray the thirty years war as the last and goriest of europes religious warsa final bonfire of the zealots before the cooler age of enlightened statecraft. Holy roman emperor also king of hungary and croatia, king of bohemia and archduke of austria, a member of the habsburgs. What two major powers emerged at the end of the thirty years. The thirty years war had complex and diverse origins but religion was perhaps the most important, and religious motivation was an integral part of the political, economic, and dynastic policies that formed and reshaped the course of. France was nearly surrounded by territory controlled by the two habsburg.
The thirty years war is thought to have claimed between 4 and 12 million lives. In fact, almost all of the powerful countries in europe were involved in the war. The first two phases, the bohemian and danish, were local and religious. The thirty years war, which stemmed from a religious conflict between protestants and catholics, did in fact last thirty years, from 16181648. The bohemian phase of the thirty years war thus ended with a hapsburg and. The book is devoted primarly to political history, diplomatic history, and the structural effects of the thirty years war on the european state system and the organization of individual states. They did not learn then, and have not learned since, that war only breeds warthe. The thirty years war and the conflict for european hegemony 16001660 london, 1966. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of europe, and, when it ended, the map of europe had been irrevocably changed. The thirty years war was a series of wars between various protestant and catholic states in the fragmented holy roman empire between 1618 and 1648. History of europe history of europe the thirty years war. How did the war change the economic and political landscape of the holy roman empire.
The war originated with dual crises at the continents centre. As late as the 1960s, germans placed it ahead of both world wars and the black death as their countrys greatest disaster. At the peace of augsburg 1555, the emperor agreed to let each fief follow its lords religion. The thirty years war consistently features on lists of major conflicts in. The four phases of the thirty years can be summarised as the bohemian phase, danish phase, swedish phase and french phase, which induced the holy roman empire to lose money and caused the empire to split. Start studying four phases of the thirty years war. The thirty years war was a european continental war that took place from 16181648 thirty years. Livestock, land, trade, and commerce were negatively affected. Why is it difficult to pinpoint the end of the protestant reformation.
Brothers francesco iv 1612, ferdinando 161226 and vincenzo ii 162627, the last three dukes of mantua from the direct line, had all died. A contagion of war almost all of the combatants were actuated by fear rather than by lust of conquest or passion of faith. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. It began as a fight about religion the protestants and catholics were the two groups that disagreed. Disease and famine took the lions share of the death toll. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. All the major european powers apart from russia were heavily involved and, while each. The french, who had joined the protestant side, despite the catholics having just won the war over the french protestants a few decades. After several attempts by the holy roman empire to prevent the spread of protestantism in europe, king gustav ii adolf of sweden ordered a fullscale invasion of the catholic states. It started as a conflict between protestants and roman catholics but soon became a struggle for political power. With each successive phase, the war became more continental in scope, bloodier, and more focused on political power than religion. The thirty years war had a profound impact on europe, and some of the consequences of this war can be seen in the changes that were made to european society. The thirty years war caused things like famine and disease in almost every country involved. War of austrian succession began in 1740 when frederick the great invaded.
The war of the mantuan succession 162831 was a peripheral part of the thirty years war. It was a pivotal area because its ruler was an elector and could potentially make a protestant. What you are about to read is an attempt at a new and different account of the thirty years war, seen as an example of two civilizations and ideological conflict. Europes tragedy is a history of prodigious erudition that manages to corral the byzantine complexity of the thirty years war into a coherent narrative. Negative consequences of the thirty years war the thirty years war is considered as one of the most destructive in history. Somewhere along the way i picked up that the book on the thirty years war was the prosaically entitled the thirty years war written in 1938 by a twentyeightyearold english woman, c. It continues to provide a narrative and analytical account of the war. The holy roman empire was a fragmented collection of largely independent states, which, after the protestant reformation in the 16th century, was divided between catholic and protestant rulership. One of the immediate reasons for the war was the claim to the french throne by edward iii of england, when french. Four phases of the thirty years war flashcards quizlet. The clash of one conception, deriving from the legacy of humanism, tinged with protestantism and taking as its model the united netherlands, with another, catholichumanist one which followed the example of spain, becomes thus the. He was born a czech protestant, however when the thirty years war came around he offered his services to the holy roman emperor obviously on the catholic side, angling for land and titles.
This uniquely comprehensive collection of translated documents covers all aspects of the war in the words and images of those who directly experienced it, from the key. The thirty years war was a war fought primarily in central europe between 1618 and 1648. Finally, a book that you can find on amazon or in libraries, such as the fauquier county public library, offers wedgwoods personal judgement on the thirty years war. Specifically, we examine the habsburg border with the ottoman empire, and assess the conflicts and slights which the two radically different powers had committed in. There were wars fought earlier between england and france, but this war lasted for a long period of 116 years and had disastrous consequences. The swedish intervention in the thirty years war, which took place between 1630 and 1635, was a major turning point of the war, often considered to be an independent conflict. There is, to my knowledge, no other book of this sort in english that competes in giving a detailed account of the thirty years war. The thirty years war was the last religious war in europe, and was also the bloodiest war to affect the continent before the twentieth century.
The bohemian revolt was crushed in the battle of white mountain 1620, and the protestant union dissolved in 1621. The series of protracted religiousdynastic wars that afflicted the holy roman empire and most western european states from 1618 to 1648. I was interested in learning about the war because it is one of those topics that are skimmed over in european history classes and there really isnt that. What are the four phases of the thirty years war answers. Sep 26, 2017 the thirty years war was a major european war that occurred during the 17th century. Thirty years war students britannica kids homework help.
This revised edition of geoffrey parkers text incorporates recent research whilst retaining the range and depth of coverage of the first edition. Only in retrospect did the strife acquire coherence as the thirty years war, and wilson incisively cuts through its several phases to. Thirty years war simple english wikipedia, the free. There in 1618 the protestant nobility refused to recognize. Geoff mortimer eyewitness accounts of the thirty years war 161848 isbn10. It reduced the population of central europe by around a quarter and left thousands of towns and villages in ruins.
Most of the fighting took place in the holy roman empire, although the war grew to include european powers outside of the empire. The bohemian phase was purely a local, religious conflict. Protestant resistance was crushed at the battle of stadtlohn. The bohemian phase of the thirty years war 16181624 bohemia, a region north of austria, had a protestant majority but was ruled by the catholic hapsburgs. During the reformation, germany was part of the holy roman empire, a vast domain made up of hundreds of independent fiefs. Taking a viewpoint and approach of siding with protestants this could offer as a good read into the subject of the thirty years. It can be divided into four stagesthe bohemian, danish, swedish, and french.
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