The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation were brought to an end by the Thirty Years’ War. Now considered the first worldwide conflict, the Thirty Years’ War began with a seemingly isolated struggle between Catholics and Protestants in Bohemia. Religious differences soon spread to other countries and then escalated into confrontations over social and political issues involving all of the major world powers. The Habsburg monarchs of the sixteenth century regarded themselves as apostles of the Catholic Reformation. By 1600 they had, to a large extent, eliminated Protestantism from Austria. Bohemia was the next target for their reforming zeal, but the country had become increasingly Protestant, and most of the influential nobility were anti-Catholic. Habsburg efforts at reform fell apart, however, in 1607 when the incompetent Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612; ruled 1576–1612) quarrelled with his brother Matthias (1557–1619), governor of Austria, over control of Habsburg lands. The following year Protestants formed the Evangelical Union, a defensive alliance of princes and cities. When Roman Catholics formed a similar organization in 1609, violence became the most likely solution to the tensions between the religious groups. The Bohemian section of the Evangelical Union triggered the first act of violence, which eventually led to the Thirty Years’ War.

Dispute leads to revolt

The incident began when Rudolf found he needed the support of the Bohemians against his brother. In order to buy this support, he granted the Bohemian Estates (representative assembly) a Letter of Majesty, or royal order, in 1609. Under the decree, religious freedom was granted to all Bohemians, along with the right to construct churches and schools on royal lands. But these concessions did little to strengthen Rudolf’s position, and in 1611 Matthias won control of Bohemia. When Rudolf died in 1612, Matthias succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor (ruled 1612–19). The reign of Matthias brought the religious issue in Bohemia to the forefront, but now it was coupled with a political issue, the search for a successor to the childless emperor. Although Matthias lost little time in supporting the Letter of Majesty, the Bohemian Estates soon had cause to wonder if his support meant anything. The emperor quickly removed Protestant officials from key offices in Bohemia and replaced them with Catholics. A more serious threat to Bohemian religious liberty came when Matthias named his cousin, Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria (1578–1637; later Emperor Ferdinand II, 1619–37)—the most fanatical Habsburg promoter of the Catholic Reformation— as his successor. The Bohemian Estates were divided and had no candidate of their own. On June 17, 1617, they reluctantly agreed to “accept” Ferdinand as their king. He was to share the title with Matthias. On the following day, Ferdinand announced support of the Letter of Majesty.

Within a few months a dispute developed over the interpretation of the Letter of Majesty. The quarrel resulted in a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburgs and ultimately led to the Thirty Years’ War. Two Protestant churches, one in Hrob (Klostergrab) and the other in Broumov (Braunau), had been built on land owned by the Catholic Church. In Bohemia this was customarily regarded as royal property. The Protestants therefore felt that they were within their rights as set forth in the Letter of Majesty. The Habsburg authorities rejected this argument. In 1617 the churches were ordered to close, and the one at Hrob was even torn down. The matter caused such an uproar that a radical wing of the Bohemian Estates, led by Count Matthias Thurn, Baron Colona Fels, and Wenceslaus Ruppa, called for a revolt against the Habsburgs in 1618. Protestant assemblies were forbidden by law, but in defiance of this ban the Protestants met on May 21, 1618.

They were in session for two days. On May 22, they demanded a redress of grievances arising out of the religious dispute, but the Habsburg government rejected their demands. The Protestant leaders, Thurn, Ruppa, and Fels, then plotted the murder of the deputy governors of Bohemia, Count Jaroslav Martinitz and Count Wilhelm Slavata. The deputy governors were leaders of the Catholic, pro-Habsburg group in the Bohemian Estates. An armed band of more than one hundred men marched to Hradcany Castle in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, for a formal confrontation with Martinitz and Slavata. Both officials denied any personal involvement in the rejection of Protestant demands. Heated words were exchanged. Suddenly, Thurn and others stepped forward, seized the two deputy governors, and hurled them through a castle window into the trash-filled moat forty feet below. Miraculously the victims survived the fall and managed to escape.

Revolt leads to war

This confrontation is known in history as the “Defenestration of Prague.” It triggered widespread revolt against the Habsburg regime beyond the religious issue, and beyond Bohemia, for the next thirty years. Thurn and Ruppa became leaders of a revolutionary government in Bohemia. They mobilized fighting forces that fought on the side of Habsburg troops between 1618 and 1620, though the outcome was indecisive. In August 1619 Bohemia formed a confederation with Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia. This confederation proceeded to arrange a pact of mutual assistance with the Protestant states of Upper and Lower Austria. The revolt was completed when the confederation removed Ferdinand from the Bohemian throne and elected Frederick V (1596– 1632), elector of the Rhenish Palatinate (a region on the Rhine River in Germany), to take his place.

Frederick’s rule is known as “the reign of the Winter King.” It was brief because Matthias died in March 1619 and Ferdinand was elected to succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor in August. As emperor, Ferdinand was determined to suppress Protestantism in Bohemia and regain the Bohemian crown. On November 8, 1620, the Bohemian army was defeated by the Catholic League army at the Battle of White Mountain near Prague. The Catholic League army was under the command of the Flemish (inhabitant of Flanders) general Johann Tserclaes (pronounced TSER-klahs; 1559–1632), count of Tilly. The Catholic victory ended Bohemia’s bid for self-rule. Protestantism was outlawed and the Evangelical Union soon disintegrated. Frederick and a few allies continued the Protestant struggle in the Palatinate in Germany. Although they won against Tilly’s army at Wiesloch in April 1622, they met numerous defeats during the next two years. By late 1624 the Palatinate, which was now ruled by Maximilian I (1573– 1651), duke of Bavaria, was forced to return to Catholicism.

Christian IV aids Protestants

The scope of the war expanded in 1625 when Christian IV (1577– 1648; ruled 1588–1648), the king of Denmark and Norway, came to the aid of the German Protestants. Although Denmark was a Lutheran country, Christian was not motivated by religion. Instead, he wanted to end Habsburg control of the Danish duchy (province) of Holstein, Germany. Allied with Lutheran and Calvinist German princes, Christian organized a large army and invaded Saxony. The Protestants met little resistance until 1625. By this time Ferdinand II had realized that he could not rely solely on Tilly’s Catholic League forces to combat the German Protestants and the Danes. The emperor brought in Albrecht von Wallenstein, duke of Friedland (1583– 1634), who assembled a powerful army of mercenaries, or hired soldiers. In April 1626 Wallenstein’s troops won their first victory at Dessau, Germany. The following August, Tilly completely defeated Christian’s army at Lutter am Barenberge, Germany. Ferdinand’s combined forces then took all of northern Germany. In 1627 Wallenstein forced Christian to retreat to the Jutland Peninsula (a landmass projecting into the North Sea in western Germany).

Sweden enters war

Ferdinand achieved total victory on March 6, 1629, when he issued the Edict of Restitution. This order provided for the return of some land in Germany to the Roman Catholic Church. It also outlawed all Protestant sects (religious groups) except Lutheranism. Wallenstein was largely responsible for Ferdinand’s success. Wallenstein was unpopular with many German princes, however, because of his misuse of power. He had also aroused Swedish fears that the Habsburgs might soon control the Baltic Sea, the lifeline of Swedish commerce and defense. Thus, in 1629, King Gustav II Adolf (1594–1632; ruled 1611–32) of Sweden was able to convince the Swedish Riksdag (representative assembly) that the Swedes must take the offensive in northern Germany to meet the threat. Sweden was at war with Poland at the time, but a six-year truce was arranged with the help of Cardinal Richelieu (also known as Armand-Jean du Plessis; 1585–1642), chief minister of France. The Swedish king was now free to give his undivided attention to Germany.

In the mind of Gustav II, politics and religion were closely connected. For this reason he looked upon Swedish intervention in German affairs as necessary. If the Habsburgs were not stopped in Germany, he reasoned, the strong position of Sweden would be jeopardized. The collapse of Protestantism in Germany would also be inevitable. In the interest of Swedish security, he had to gain a permanent hold on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Gustav spent nine months in 1629 and 1630 organizing and equipping his forces for an invasion of Germany. He also made plans to recruit additional soldiers in Germany and bring in reinforcements from as far away as Scotland. Late in June 1630, the Swedish army appeared off the coast of Pomerania (then under Polish rule) with an armada, a fleet of ships, consisting of twenty-eight troop carriers and an equal number of warships.

Numbering only thirteen thousand men, the army was equipped with new flintlock muskets (handheld pistols) and a new type of light artillery, or weapons. In addition, the discipline and morale of Swedish forces was far above the standards then prevailing in Germany. The king led his army into every battle and was idolized by officers and soldiers. Gustav is credited with creating the first modern army.

Conflict now a “foreign” war

Meanwhile the position of both sides, Catholic and Protestant, in Germany had deteriorated. At the Electoral Assembly held at Regensburg in 1630, Emperor Ferdinand II was persuaded to dismiss Wallenstein and a large part of his army. Ferdinand had already realized that Wallenstein’s usefulness had come to an end. Wallenstein had enforced the Edict Resolution too strictly, producing disastrous results. His harsh measures had created thousands more Protestant refugees in Germany and had further weakened the emperor’s cause. Ferdinand replaced Wallenstein with Tilly. Sweden’s entry into the conflict now made this a “foreign war,” and not primarily a German struggle. In 1631 Gustav formed an alliance with France and with certain German princes. The French provided only financial aid and moral support. Relying on revenue from Sweden’s Baltic ports and the French aid, Gustav built up his forces with mercenaries before opening his German campaign.

Military operations got off to an unpromising start. After moving through eastern Pomerania and Mecklenburg, the Swedes advanced rapidly up the Oder River to Frankfurt. The Swedish monarch hoped to prevent Tilly’s troops from taking the German city of Magdeburg, Sweden’s ally. Magdeburg fell on May 10, 1631, and 80 percent of its population died in the violence. The defeat of Magdeburg dealt a serious blow to Protestant morale and Gustav’s prestige. On August 25 Tilly crossed into Saxony, and on September 7 he met the Saxons at Breitenfeld, five miles north of Leipzig. The Saxon army disintegrated under Tilly’s assault, but by nightfall Gustav had won the Battle of Breitenfeld. He then led his forces in victories at Frankfurt-am-Main, Worms, and Mainz. Hailed as the savior of Protestantism, Gustav controlled most of Germany, and Sweden was now a great world power.

Gustav spent the winter creating an administrative structure to extract “contributions” to his campaign from the regions under Swedish control. He expected to raise an army of more than two hundred thousand men, which required huge sums of money and an effective organization. The closest thing Germany had ever had to a central government took shape during the winter of 1631 and 1632 as Gustav took charge. He planned to launch attacks on Bavaria, Bohemia, and Austria with seven armies. The offensive got off to a brilliant beginning when he staged a surprise crossing of the River Lech on April 5, 1632. The Swedes inflicted a devastating defeat on Tilly’s forces, and Tilly himself was killed. The whole of Bavaria and the road to Vienna, the seat of the Habsburg Empire, now lay open to Gustav.

Wallenstein was recalled to service by Ferdinand. Moving the emperor’s armies through Germany, Wallenstein met Gustav at Lützen in November. The Swedish king took personal command of a cavalry regiment and prepared for the assault. The battle had only begun when Gustav was shot and killed. As news of the king’s death spread through the Swedish lines, the psychological damage proved greater than any physical losses. A regiment wavered until one of its chaplains started to sing a Lutheran hymn. Soon the Swedish soldiers and their Finnish allies solemnly sang along. Inspired by anguish and the thirst for revenge, they surged forward. The Battle of Lützen ended in another Swedish victory but at a high cost. Sweden’s military supremacy ended soon after: in September 1634, at the battle of Nördlingen, Swedish forces were defeated by Wallenstein’s armies. To preserve the military balance, France directly entered the war in Germany, supporting Sweden against the Habsburgs.

The Treaty of Prague (1635)

By 1635 the Thirty Years’ War had reached a critical stage. With the defeat of the Swedish army and its allies at Nördlingen, the way seemed to be open for peace. Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister of France, and Count Axel Oxenstierna (1583–1654), the chancellor, or chief secretary, of Sweden, signed a treaty at Compiègne in April 1635. This arrangement did not receive much sympathy among the German princes, and a peace movement began to grow in Germany itself. From their point of view it was far better to arrange a German peace and permit the German people to reconstruct their devastated society.

John George I of Saxony (1595–1656) took the lead in arranging such a peace. In 1635 he and Emperor Ferdinand II signed an agreement called the Treaty of Prague. Under the terms of the treaty, John George received Lusatia on the middle Elbe, while his second son was guaranteed the Archbishopric of Magdeburg. The difficult problem of church lands was resolved by a compromise that allowed some property to remain for forty years in the hands of those who possessed them in 1627. During this period attempts at satisfactory settlements were to be made. Other lands that were not currently held by the emperor were to remain permanently in the hands of their holders. Amnesty (freedom from punishment for crimes against the state) was given to Protestants who complied with the Treaty of Prague. John George agreed to put his forces at the disposal of Ferdinand, so that the emperor could regain his former lands, which were now held by Sweden. The emperor would allow Lutherans freedom of worship within the Holy Roman Empire. The Treaty of Prague was proclaimed in Vienna. It was accepted in the Brandenburg and Württemberg districts of Germany and by most of the Protestant rulers.

Nine days earlier, at Brussels (a city in present-day Belgium), Spanish officials learned that Louis XIII of France (1601–1643; ruled 1610–43) had declared war on their king, Philip IV (1605–1665; ruled 1621–65). It soon became obvious to German rulers that peace was not possible. Instead, Germany was being drawn into an expanded struggle between the Habsburgs and France. The German states realized that, under the terms of the Treaty of Prague, they were obligated to fight all the battles of both the Austrian and the Spanish Habsburgs. The Treaty of Prague, far from bringing peace, actually prolonged the war in Germany and elsewhere for another thirteen years.

The Peace of Westphalia (1643–48)

On December 25, 1641, the new emperor, Ferdinand III (1608– 1657; ruled 1637–57), agreed to begin peace negotiations the following year in the German region of Westphalia. His negotiators would meet with Swedish representatives at the city of Osnabrück and with French representatives at the city of Münster. Military and political events delayed the formal opening of the peace conference at Osnabrück until July 1643, and the Münster conference did not open until April 1644. Then it took the emperor’s negotiators almost three years to hammer out peace treaties with the Swedes and the French. The Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück were both signed on October 24, 1648, and a separate agreement was signed earlier between Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

A turning point in European history

All of these agreements are considered parts of a single settlement, known as the Peace of Westphalia. It was designed to bring Protestants and Catholics together within the empire. Calvinism was given equal legal status with Catholicism and Lutheranism, so the Catholic and Protestant states of the empire were now considered to have equal status. Equality was limited to the free exercise of religion by individuals, however, and the princes in several states still had the right to determine the religion of their territories. Finally, territories formerly owned by the Catholic Church were to remain under the religion that was in effect on January 1, 1624. In addition, some lands in the Holy Roman Empire were given to Sweden and France. Sweden obtained Western Pomerania (a region on the Baltic Sea), Bremen (a province in northwest Germany), and Verden (a province in Saxony). France received Metz, Toul, and Verdun, cities in northeast France, as well as Alsace, a province in northeast France. The German district of Brandenburg- Prussia received Eastern Pomerania and several former bishoprics (church districts). The settlement gave the United Provinces of the Netherlands independence from Spain and declared Switzerland independent from the Holy Roman Empire. Each of the German states was also given sovereignty, or the right of self-rule, within the Holy Roman Empire.

The Peace of Westphalia was a landmark in European history. The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation had ended, so religion no longer played an important role in issues that divided European states. Sweden emerged as a great power in northern Europe for at least the following sixty years. Likewise, the position of Brandenburg-Prussia was greatly strengthened. The Holy Roman Empire, however, became more loosely organized than before. Spain’s decline, which had already begun by 1648, was more evident when peace was finally made with France in 1659. In the second half of the seventeenth century, France, which was under the rule of King Louis XIV, emerged as the leading power on the European continent.