The Thirty Years War, 1618 - 1648: The First Global War and the end of Habsburg Supremacy

The 'Defenestration of Prague', the coup d'etat staged by Protestant Bohemian nobles against officials of the Hapsburg Emperor triggered the Thirty Years War. When Habsburg Spain intervened in support of their Holy Roman Emperor relative, what had started as a localized political and religious dispute in Germany, transformed into a European and global conflict. In seeking to exploit the Bohemian revolt, Spanish Habsburg revanchist ambitions directed by the Spanish Count of Olivarez at the economically powerful Dutch Republic were allied with the Habsburg Emperor’s counter-reformation ambitions. After the Bohemian defeat at the White Mountain in 1620 the war widened as the Dutch Republic, England, Transylvania, Denmark, Sweden, and Richelieu’s France all intervened to roll back Habsburg hegemony and restore the balance power. There was extensive fighting across the globe, as the Dutch and English sought to challenge the Spanish Habsburg global monopoly. These colonial wars were a major factor in the Iberian revolutions with brought down the Habsburg Imperium. Professor Charles Boxer called it: “the first world war”. It was a tragic war of attrition but also an epic story of remarkable individuals including the 'titans’ of the era, Imperial General Wallenstein, warrior King Gustavus, sinister Count Olivarez, and the masters of international intrigue, realpolitik and diplomacy- Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin. Above all there were the decisive victories of the under-sung military genius of the era, Lennart Torstensson. The Treaties of Westphalia followed a war which not only changed the global balance of power, but accelerated over thirty years the transformation of the European continent from a world characterized by dynasties and the medieval concept of United Christendom to a European order that was recognizably modern. The 'Defenestration of Prague', the coup d'etat staged by Protestant Bohemian nobles against officials of the Hapsburg Emperor triggered the Thirty Years War. When Habsburg Spain intervened in support of their Holy Roman Emperor relative, what had started as a localised political and religious dispute in Germany, transformed into a European and global conflict. In seeking to exploit the Bohemian revolt, Spanish Habsburg revanchist ambitions directed by the Spanish Count of Olivarez at the economically powerful Dutch Republic were allied with the Habsburg Emperor’s counter-reformation ambitions. After the Bohemian defeat at the White Mountain in 1620 the war widened as the Dutch Republic, England, Transylvania, Denmark, Sweden, and Richelieu’s France all intervened to roll back Habsburg hegemony and restore the balance power. There was extensive fighting across the globe, as the Dutch and English sought to challenge the Spanish Habsburg global monopoly. These colonial wars were a major factor in the Iberian revolutions with brought down the Habsburg Imperium. Professor Charles Boxer called it: “the first world war”. It was a tragic war of attrition but also an epic story of remarkable individuals including the 'titans’ of the era,' Imperial General Wallenstein, warrior King Gustavus, sinister Count Olivarez, and the masters of international intrigue, realpolitik and diplomacy- Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin. Above all there were the decisive victories of the under-sung military genius of the era, Lennart Torstensson. The Treaties of Westphalia followed a war which not only changed the global balance of power, but accelerated over thirty years the transformation of the European continent from a world characterized by dynasties and the medieval concept of United Christendom to a European order that was recognisably modern. Contents Introduction I. The Naval and Economic Challenge to the Habsburg Imperium II. Habsburg Domains, Ferdinand and the Defenestration of Prague III. The Thirty Years War: Military developments in the Thirty Years War 1618–1634 IV. Gustavus: the War in the Baltic V. The Emergence of France, the Edict, Wallenstein and the Mantuan War VI. The Dutch Front and Naval War VII. Gustavus Invades Germany VIII. Wallenstein Returns and the Battle of Lutzen IX. Wallenstein’s fall, Oxenstierna and the Peace of Prague X. France Declares War and the Dutch Alliance XI. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar Defects and the Swedish Army Mutiny XII. French Economic and Military Mobilisation XIII. Swedish Recovery and the Emergence of Hesse XIV. Saxe-Weimar Breaks Out and the Battle for the ‘Spanish Road’ XV. Global War XVI. Stalemate on Land; Dutch Supremacy at Sea and Prelude to Revolution XVII. Iberian Revolutions and the Fall of Olivares XVIII. Origins of Peace XIX. Enter Torstensson and Mazarin, Italy and Habsburg Exhaustion XX. Torstensson’s War and the Invasion of Denmark XXI. War and Peace: Mazarin and France Ascendant XXII. Setting up the Conference 1643–1645 XXIII. Peace and the End of Habsburg Supremacy in Europe XXIV. Postscript: The Struggle for the Mastery of Europe and European Identity Notes Index Index