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How destructive was the Thirty Years War?

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the all-destructive fury The Lamentations of Germany (1638) Friedrich Schiller, 1790s Gustav Freytag, Bilder aus der deutschen Vergangenheit, 5 vols. (1859-1867) = Pictures from the German Past 1. boundless, chaotic violence 2. Germans as innocent victims of brutal foreign aggressors 3. hope for a new Germany

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the early decline school (vs. the disastrous war school) S. G. Steinberg, The Thirty Years War and the Conflict for European Hegemony (1967) claims, but little evidence

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The extensive operations and rapid reversals of fortune fostered a climate of uncertainty (p. 783) shifts in theatres (p. 785) peasant revolts crop failures disease depopulation / shift in population imprecise statistical data

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Steinberg: population increase Gnther Franz: decline by 40% Even a 15 per cent decline would make the Thirty Years War the most destructive conflict in European history (p. 787). Depopulation varied by region. Statistics on p. 788. The post-war demographic recovery flowed from a rising birth rate and a fall in mortality (p. 795).

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violence: soldiers, not civilians, the main victims Disease proved more potent than muskets, swords and cannon (p. 790). ratio for soldiers killed in action to soldiers killed by disease (p. 791) bubonic plague migration, troop movements very likely that many of the people who died in the Empire between 1618 and 1648 would have had their lives cut short even without the war (p. 793)

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trade and industry regional variations overwhelmingly negative impact of the War drainage project in the Archbishopric of Salzburg, 1625-1644 agriculture consolidation of farms Increasing value of labour

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economic situation before the War Kipper and Wipper hyperinflation (1622) coin debasement after 1618 private consortium (1622) 1 silver mark = 19 fl. (1618), 79 fl., 110 fl. fall of revenue in real terms, price increases 1623: use of imperial institutions to end crisis

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indebtedness in evidence before 1618 hyperinflation imprudent investments in conspicuous consumption shrinking tax base (p. 803) Reichstag Recess, 1654 (p. 804) uneven economic recovery animal husbandry labour and capital shortages capital- and time-intensive industries viticulture

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decline of Estates centralization of princely power territorial changes threat to local government change of the ideal of the state from the guardian of the established order to promoter of the common good (p. 811)

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destruction / removal of cultural treasures demise of some Protestant universities emigration of artists

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artistic developments music: Heinrich Schtz (1585-1672) poetry: Martin Opitz (1597- 1639) Johann Rist (1607-1667) Johann von Grimmelshausen (1622- 1676) Simplicissimus (1668)

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1. What do the documents tell us about the Thirty Years War and the way in which contemporaries experienced it? Can we use them to show that absolute destruction was a myth (Wilson, Europes Tragedy, p. 779)? 2. Do you think the accounts of contemporaries are reliable? 3. How do the documents relate to the argument about the religious nature of the War? 4. Identify two passages that you find particularly revealing about the violence of the War and / or the experience of living through the War. Why did you choose these passages?