The Thirty Years War

(1618-1648)

Cuius regio, eius religio

Pope Urban VIII

Whose land, his religion.

1. In what ways are the Wars of Religion really expression of civil war within the Holy Roman Empire?

2. Why is it difficult to pinpoint the end of the Protestant Reformation?

Overview

• 1st continent wide war in Europe, (with many more to come!), fought mainly in Germany

• The culmination of the religious wars of the 16th century between Catholics and Protestants

Describe the main idea:

Goals:

• German Princes want to gain autonomy from Holy Roman Empire

• France wants to limit Hapsburg power• Spain wants to expand Hapsburg power into

Germany• Sweden and Denmark want to strengthen their

control over the Baltic.

• Majority of goals are geopolitical, not religious!!!!!!!!

The Bohemian Phase (1618-1625)• Bohemians (modern day Czechs and Slovaks) were

mostly Calvinist• Emperor Matthias I Catholic Bohemians begin to

fear loss of religious freedoms• Defenestration of Prague• Ferdinand II becomes Holy Roman Emperor and

with support of Spanish Hapsburgs crushes protestant forces

• Catholics win and take land away from Protestant nobles

The Danish Phase (1625-1630)

• Christian IV of Denmark (Lutheran) wants to strengthen Protestants in Germany and annex German lands for his son.

• Ferdinand II has mercenary army raised much pillaging and plundering, defeat Danes in 1626.

• 1629 Ferdinand II passes The Edict of Restitution restored all of the protestant states back to Catholicism

The Swedish Phase (1625-1630)

• Cardinal Richelieu (Regent to Louis XIII of France) gives financial aid to Sweden to encourage more war.

• Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, a Lutheran is eager to fight to strengthen protestant claims.

• Adolohus wins decisive victory against Catholics, but is then killed.

• German princes enter into separate peace with emperor.• The Peace of Prague revokes Edict of Restitution• Swede defeated, but Richelieu still hopes to undermine

Hapsburg power in Germany

The French-Swedish Phase (1635-1648)

• France, Holland, and Savoy all enter war on Sweden’s side

• Spain continues to support Holy Roman Empire

• French defeat Spanish at Rocroi• 1644 peace talks begin in Westphalia

The Peace of Westphalia Cuius region, eius religio!

• Peace of Augsburg reinstituted, Calvinism added• Edict of Restitution revoked, land lost by protestant

landlords returned• Switzerland and Holland gain independence from

Hapsburgs• France, Sweden, and Brandenburg (eventually

Prussia) gain territory• German princes were made sovereign rulers limiting

power of HRE. – Over 300 leaders in Germany, unification will not occur

until 19th century!

Effects of Thirty Years War

• Germany devastated• age of religious wars end, greater religious

tolerance, rise of nation-states, “balance of power

• Hapsburg power weakened greatly• Protestant and counter reformations slowed,

Protestantism safely established.