Thirty Years' War 1618 1648. Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)

We all know that world wars that affected the interests of several states at once occurred in the 20th century. And we will be right. However, if we dig a little deeper into European history, we will find the fact that 300 years before the world wars, Europe has already experienced something similar - maybe not on such a scale, but nonetheless suitable for a world war. This is a 30-year war that took place in the 17th century.

Prerequisites

As early as the end of the 16th century, Europe experienced a painful clash between religious groups - Catholics and Protestants. The Roman Catholic Church lost more and more parishioners every year - European countries one by one they abandoned the old religion and embraced the new. In addition, countries gradually began to move away from the enormous power of the Pope and accepted the power of a local ruler. Absolutism was born. During this period, a real dynastic boom began - the princes of the blood entered into marriages with representatives of other states to strengthen both countries.

The Catholic Church sought by all means to regain its former influence. The role of the Inquisition increased - waves of bonfires, torture and executions swept across Europe. Spies of the Vatican - the Jesuit order - thanks to its special proximity to Rome, strengthened its position. Germany most zealously defended its position on freedom of religion. Despite the fact that the Habsburg dynasty that ruled there was Catholic, the representatives had to stand above all strife. A wave of uprisings and rebellions swept across the country. Religious disputes eventually turned into a war, which became a long stage for many European states. Starting as a religious dispute, it eventually turned into a political and territorial conflict between the countries of Europe.

Causes

Among the many causes of war, some of the most significant can be distinguished:

1. the beginning of the counter-reformation - attempts by the Catholic Church to regain their former positions -
2. The Habsburg dynasty, which ruled in Germany and Spain, aspired to complete dominance in Europe under its rule.
3. the desire of Denmark and Sweden to control the Baltic and trade routes
4. the interests of France, which also saw itself as the sovereign of Europe
5. Throwing England in one direction or the other
6. inciting Russia, Turkey to participate in the conflict (Russia supported the Protestants, and Turkey supported France)
7. the desire of some petty princelings to snatch some piece for themselves as a result of the division of European states

Start

The uprising in Prague in 1618 served as a direct cause for war. Local Protestants rebelled against the policies of King Ferdinand of the Holy German Nation because he allowed foreign officials to huge number come to Prague. It is worth noting here that Bohemia (the territory of the present Czech Republic) was ruled directly by the Habsburgs. Ferdinand's predecessor, King Rudolph, granted the locals freedom of religion and tolerance. Having ascended the throne, Ferdinand abolished all liberties. The king himself was a devout Catholic, brought up by the Jesuits, which, of course, did not suit the local Protestants. But they haven't been able to do anything serious yet.

Before his death, Emperor Matthias suggested that the German rulers choose their successor, thus joining those dissatisfied with the policies of the Habsburgs. Three Catholic bishops had the right to vote, three Protestants - the princes of Saxony, Brandenburg and the Palatinate. As a result of the vote, almost all votes were cast for the representative of the Habsburgs. Prince Frederick of the Palatinate offered to cancel the results and become King of Bohemia himself.

Prague began to rebel. Ferdinand did not tolerate this. Imperial troops entered Bohemia in order to root out the uprising. Of course, the result was predictable - the Protestants lost. Since Spain helped the Habsburgs in this, she also snatched a piece of German land for herself in honor of the victory - she got the land of Electoral Hall. This circumstance gave Spain the opportunity to continue another conflict with the Netherlands, which had begun years earlier.

In 1624, France, England and Holland make an alliance against the Empire. This agreement was soon joined by Denmark and Sweden, rightly fearing that the Catholics would extend their influence to them. Over the next two years, local skirmishes between the troops of the Habsburgs and the Protestant rulers took place on the territory of Germany, and the victory was for the Catholics. In 1628, the army of General Wallenstein, the leader of the Catholic League, captured the Danish island of Jutland, forcing Denmark to withdraw from the war and sign a peace treaty in 1629 in the city of Lübeck. Jutland was returned with the condition that Denmark would no longer interfere in hostilities.

Continuation of the war

However, not all countries were afraid of the Danish defeat. Already in 1630, Sweden entered the war.

A year later, an agreement was concluded with France, according to which Sweden pledged to provide its troops on German lands, and France to pay the costs. This period of the war is characterized as the most fierce and bloody. Catholics and Protestants mixed up in the army, no one remembered why the war started. Now everyone had only one goal - to profit from the devastated cities. Whole families died, entire garrisons were destroyed.

In 1634, Wallenstein was killed by his own bodyguards. A year earlier, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolf had died in battle. Local rulers leaned one way or the other.

In 1635, France finally decided to enter the war in person. The Swedish troops, who had previously suffered mostly defeats, perked up again and defeated the imperial troops at the battle of Wittstock. Spain fought on the side of the Habsburgs as best they could, but the king had something to do, except for the military arena - in 1640, a coup took place in Portugal, as a result of which the country achieved independence from Spain.

Results

For the past few years, wars have been fought throughout Europe.

Already not only Germany and the Czech Republic were the main arena of battles - clashes took place in the Netherlands, the Baltic Sea, France (the province of Burgundy). The Europeans were tired of the incessant fighting and sat down at the negotiating table in 1644 in the cities of Münster and Osanbrück. As a result of 4 years of negotiations, agreements were reached that took the form of the Peace of Westphalia.

• German rulers received autonomy from the empire
• France received the lands of Alsace, Metz, Verdun, Toul
• Sweden - a monopoly in the Baltic
• The Netherlands and Switzerland gained independence.

Speaking of losses, this war can be compared to the world wars - about 300,000 people on the Protestant side, and about 400,000 on the imperial side in a few battles. This is only a small part - in just 30 years, almost 8 million people died on the battlefield. For Europe of that time, not very densely populated - a huge figure. And whether the war was worth such sacrifices - who knows.

One of the most important events of the 17th century was the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. Almost all European countries participated in it, it left behind millions of human victims. The decisive point in this war was put by an agreement called the Peace of Westphalia. Its results were of great importance for all subsequent European history. It was concluded on October 15 and 24, 1648, after lengthy negotiations that had dragged on since 1644 and could not satisfy the conditions of all participants.

1648

He united Münster and Osnabrück peace treaties concluded this year in Westphalia. In the city of Munster, negotiations were held with representatives of Catholicism, and in Osnabrück - with the Protestant side. Sometimes the Peace of Westphalia also includes the treaty concluded on January 30 of the same year by Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which ended the Eighty Years' War, since researchers consider the struggle between these states to be part of the Thirty Years' War.

What were the combined treaties?

The Treaty of Osnabrück was an agreement between Sweden and its allies.

The Roman Empire signed Munster with France and those countries that supported it (these included Holland, Venice, Savoy, Hungary). It was these two states that took such an active part in the fate of a large part of Europe because in the third and most important, critical period of the Thirty Years' War, they contributed to the loosening of the Roman forces, which contributed to their fragmentation in the future. The Peace of Westphalia mainly denoted the provisions that determined the territorial changes, political structure and religious features in the Holy Roman Empire.

The results of the 30-year war

How did the confrontation between countries end? Under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, Spain recognized the independence of the Netherlands. Also, according to this document, the countries that won the Thirty Years' War - France and Sweden, were appointed guarantors of peace. These powerful powers controlled the operation of the signed treaty, and without their consent they could not change a single article in it. Thus, the whole of Europe was reliably protected from any global changes, which could lead to a threat to the security of many countries. And since, thanks to the German emperor, he was powerless, the rest of the strong powers could not be afraid of his influence. The Peace of Westphalia contributed to significant territorial reshaping, primarily in favor of the victorious powers of France and Sweden.

One such cardinal change on the map was that, under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, Spain recognized the independence of the Republic of the United Provinces. This state, having begun its liberation war against Catholic Spain as a rebellion, received international recognition in 1648.

What did the countries that won the war get?

According to the decision taken at the signing of the Peace of Westphalia, the empire paid an indemnity to Sweden, amounting to 5 million thalers. In addition, the island of Rügen, Western Pomerania and part of Eastern Pomerania (together with Stettin), the city of Wismar, the Bishopric of Verden and the Archbishopric of Bremen departed (the city of Bremen itself was not included there).

Sweden also got the mouths of many navigable rivers in Northern Germany. Having received the German principalities at his disposal, the king of Sweden had the opportunity to send deputies to the imperial diet.

The signing of the Peace of Westphalia made it possible for France to obtain the possessions of the Habsburgs located in Alsace, although without the city of Strasbourg, as well as sovereignty over several bishoprics in Lorraine. New possessions after the signing of the treaty and the increased influence of the country helped her to further take the position of hegemon in Europe.

The German principalities of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Brunswick-Lüneburg and Brandenburg, which supported the victorious countries, also benefited - they were able to expand their possessions as a result of the annexation of secularized bishoprics and monasteries. As a result of this treaty, Lusatia was annexed to Saxony, and the Upper Palatinate became part of Bavaria. The Elector of Brandegburg also received vast lands in his possession, on which Prussia was later formed.

What did this peace bring to the Germans?

The conditions of the Peace of Westphalia were such that the German emperor lost a significant amount of his former rights. At the same time, the German princes became independent of the Roman ruler and were able to conduct an independent external and internal politics. For example, they could participate in decision-making regarding the outbreak of war and the conclusion of peace, their department had the determination of the amount of taxes, and the adoption of laws in the Roman Empire largely depended on them.

The specific princes could also conclude treaties with other states. The only thing that was inaccessible to them was the conclusion of alliances with other powers against the ruler of the Roman Empire. If to speak modern language, after the signing of this agreement, the specific German princes became subjects international law and could take an active part in the political life of Europe. The strengthening of their positions contributed to the formation of the federal structure of modern Germany.

Religious life after 1648

As for the religious sphere, as a result of the Peace of Westphalia in Germany, Catholics, Calvinists and Lutherans were equalized in rights, and also legalized, which was held in the 20s of the 17th century. From now on, the electors could not determine their religious affiliation for their subjects. In addition, under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, Spain recognized the independence of Holland. Recall that the liberation movement in this country began with a speech against Catholic Spain. In fact, this treaty legitimized the political fragmentation of Germany, ending the imperial history of this power.

Thus, the Peace of Westphalia significantly increased the power of France, ridding it of its main rival, Spain, which claimed the first role among all European states.

Another important function of this treaty, which historians talk about: it was the basis for all subsequent European agreements until the 18th century, when French Spain recognized the independence of the Northern Netherlands under the terms of the Peace of Westphalia. The Swiss Union also received international legal recognition.

Significance of the Peace of Westphalia

Thus, this treaty is called the event that marked the beginning of the modern world order, which provides for the existence of nation-states in the world and the operation of certain principles of international law. The principle of political equilibrium probably developed precisely as a result of the appearance of the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia. The tradition of solving complex territorial, legal, religious problems in relations between two or more states with the help of the intervention of other strong and influential European powers has appeared since then.

The Significance of the 30 Years' War for the Formation of the Current Legal System

The concept of "Westphalian system", which refers to the field of world law and appeared after 1648, means ensuring the sovereignty of any state in its legal territory. Until the 19th century, the norms of the treaty and the terms of the Peace of Westphalia largely determined the laws

After the appearance of the agreement, the rights of reformed Christianity with traditional Roman Catholic Christianity were especially strengthened, which is important from the point of view of cultural studies. True, many scholars find certain shortcomings in the provisions according to which, after the signing of the treaty, the inhabitants of Germany were to live. So, they were forced to profess the religion chosen by the ruler, that is, in fact, there was no freedom of religion yet. But, despite all the shortcomings, the Peace of Westphalia was indeed the first (and successful) attempt to create a system of international law.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND YOUTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA

RVEI "CRIMEAN HUMANITARIAN UNIVERSITY" (YALTA)

YEVPATORIA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND LAW

(in the discipline history of the Slavic peoples)

on the topic "Thirty Years' War"

Is done by a student:

Ismailov S.N.

Evpatoria, 2014

Introduction

The balance of power in Europe

The brewing of war

periodization of the war. Warring parties

The course of the war

1 Czech period 1618-1625

2 Danish period 1625-1629

3 Swedish period 1630-1635

Peace of Westphalia

Consequences

Bibliography

Introduction

The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) is one of the first pan-European military conflicts, affecting to one degree or another almost all European countries (including Russia), with the exception of Switzerland and Turkey. The war began as a religious clash between Protestants and Catholics in Germany, but then escalated into a struggle against Habsburg hegemony in Europe.

conflict war germany westphalian

1. The balance of power in Europe

Since the time of Charles V, the leading role in Europe belonged to the House of Austria - the Habsburg dynasty. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Spanish branch of the house, in addition to Spain, also owned Portugal, the Southern Netherlands, the states of Southern Italy and, in addition to these lands, had at its disposal a huge Spanish-Portuguese colonial empire. German branch - Austrian Habsburgs- secured the crown of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, were the kings of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia. The hegemony of the Habsburgs tried in every possible way to weaken other major European powers.

In Europe, there were several explosive regions where the interests of the warring parties intersected. The greatest number of contradictions accumulated in the Holy Roman Empire, which, in addition to the traditional struggle between the emperor and the German princes, was split along religious lines. Another knot of contradictions, the Baltic Sea, was also directly related to the Empire. Protestant Sweden (and also, to some extent, Denmark) sought to turn it into their inland lake and gain a foothold on its southern coast, while Catholic Poland actively resisted the Swedish-Danish expansion. Other European countries advocated the freedom of Baltic trade.

The third disputed region was the fragmented Italy, over which France and Spain fought. Spain had its opponents - the Republic of the United Provinces (Holland), which defended its independence in the war of 1568-1648, and England, which challenged Spanish dominance at sea and encroached on the colonial possessions of the Habsburgs.

2. The brewing of war

The Peace of Augsburg (1555) put an end to the open rivalry between Lutherans and Catholics in Germany for a time. Under the terms of the peace, the German princes could choose the religion (Lutheranism or Catholicism) for their principalities at their own discretion, according to the principle "Who rules, that is the faith."

At the same time, the Catholic Church wanted to win back the lost influence. Censorship and the Inquisition intensified, the Jesuit order strengthened. The Vatican in every possible way pushed the remaining Catholic rulers to eradicate Protestantism in their possessions. The Habsburgs were ardent Catholics, but their imperial status obliged them to adhere to the principles of religious tolerance. Therefore, they gave way to the main place in the Counter-Reformation to the Bavarian rulers. Religious tension grew.

For an organized rebuff to the growing pressure, the Protestant princes of South and West Germany united in the Evangelical Union, created in 1608. In response, the Catholics united in the Catholic League (1609). Both alliances were immediately supported foreign countries. Under these conditions, the activities of the all-imperial bodies - the Reichstag and the Judicial Chamber - were paralyzed.

In 1617, both branches of the Habsburg dynasty entered into a secret agreement - the Treaty of Oñate, which settled the existing differences. Under its terms, Spain was promised lands in Alsace and northern Italy, which would provide a land connection between the Spanish Netherlands and the Italian possessions of the Habsburgs. In return, the Spanish king Philip III renounced his claims to the crown of the empire and agreed to support the candidacy of Ferdinand of Styria. The reigning emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King Matthew of Bohemia had no direct heirs, and in 1617 he forced the Czech Sejm to recognize as his successor his nephew Ferdinand of Styria, an ardent Catholic and a pupil of the Jesuits. He was extremely unpopular in the predominantly Protestant Czech Republic, which was the reason for the uprising, which escalated into a long conflict.

3. Periodization of the war. Warring parties

The Thirty Years' War is traditionally divided into four periods: Czech, Danish, Swedish and Franco-Swedish. Outside of Germany, there were several separate conflicts: the War of Spain with Holland, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Russian-Polish War, the Polish-Swedish War, etc.

On the side of the Habsburgs were: Austria, most of the Catholic principalities of Germany, Spain, united with Portugal, the Holy See, Poland. On the side of the anti-Habsburg coalition - France, Sweden, Denmark, the Protestant principalities of Germany, the Czech Republic, Transylvania, Venice, Savoy, the Republic of the United Provinces, supported by England, Scotland and Russia. In general, the war turned out to be a clash of traditional conservative forces with growing nation-states.

The Habsburg block was more monolithic, the Austrian and Spanish houses kept in touch with each other, often conducting joint fighting. Wealthier Spain provided financial support to the emperor. There were major contradictions in the camp of their opponents, but they all receded into the background before the threat of a common enemy.

Ottoman Empire(the traditional enemy of the Habsburgs) in the first half of the 17th century was occupied with wars with Persia, in which the Turks suffered several serious defeats. The Commonwealth was not affected by the Thirty Years' War, but the Polish king Sigismund III sent an elite and cruel detachment of fox mercenaries to help the allied Habsburgs. In 1619, they defeated the army of the Transylvanian Prince George I Rakoczi at the Battle of Humenny, after which Transylvania turned to the Ottoman Sultan for military aid. The Turks in the Battle of Khotyn were stopped by the army of the Commonwealth.

4. The course of the war

1 Czech period 1618-1625

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia

On May 1618, the opposition nobles, led by Count Turn, threw out of the windows of the Czech Chancellery into the ditch of the royal governors Slavata, Martinitsa and their secretary Fabricius (“Second Prague Defenestration”). After the death of Emperor Matthew, the leader of the Evangelical Union, Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, was chosen as king of Bohemia.

"Prague Defenestration"

In the autumn of the same year, 15,000 imperial soldiers, led by Count Buqua and Dampier, entered Bohemia. The Czech directory formed an army led by Count Thurn, in response to the requests of the Czechs, the Evangelical Union sent 20,000 soldiers under the command of Mansfeld. Dampier was defeated, and Bukua had to retreat to Ceska Budejovice.

Thanks to the support of the Protestant part of the Austrian nobility, in 1619 Count Thurn approached Vienna, but met with stubborn resistance. At this time Bukua defeated Mansfeld near Ceske Budejovice (Battle of Sablat June 10, 1619), and Turn had to retreat to the rescue. At the end of 1619, the Transylvanian prince Bethlen Gabor with strong army also moved against Vienna, but the Hungarian magnate Druget Gomonai hit him in the rear and forced him to retreat from Vienna. On the territory of the Czech Republic, protracted battles were fought with varying success.

Meanwhile, the Habsburgs made some diplomatic progress. August 28, 1619 Ferdinand was elected emperor. After that, he managed to get military support from Bavaria and Saxony. For this, the Elector of Saxony was promised Silesia and Lusatia, and the Duke of Bavaria - the possessions of the Elector of the Palatinate and his electoral rank. In 1620, Spain sent a 25,000-strong army under the command of Ambrosio Spinola to help the emperor.

Under the command of General Tilly, the army of the Catholic League pacified upper Austria while the Imperial troops restored order in lower Austria. Then, having united, they moved to the Czech Republic, bypassing the army of Frederick V, who was trying to fight a defensive battle on distant lines. The battle took place near Prague (Battle of the White Mountain) on November 8, 1620. The Protestant army suffered a crushing defeat. As a result, the Czech Republic remained in the power of the Habsburgs for another 300 years.

The defeat caused the collapse of the Evangelical Union and the loss of Frederick V of all his possessions and title. Frederick V was expelled from the Holy Roman Empire. He tried to enlist the support of the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Bohemia fell, Bavaria gained the Upper Palatinate, and Spain captured the Palatinate, securing a springboard for another war with the Netherlands. The first phase of the war Eastern Europe finally ended when Gábor Bethlen signed peace with the emperor in January 1622, gaining vast territories in eastern Hungary.

Some historians distinguish a separate period of the Thirty Years' War 1621-1625 as the Palatinate period. The end of operations in the east meant the release of the imperial armies for operations in the west, namely in the Palatinate. The Protestants received small reinforcements in the person of Duke Christian of Brunswick and Margrave Georg-Friedrich of Baden-Durlach. April 27, 1622 Mansfeld defeated Tilly at Wiesloch. On May 6, 1622, Tilly and González de Cordoba, who came from the Netherlands with Spanish troops, defeated George Friedrich at Wimpfen. Mannheim and Heidelberg fell in 1622, and Frankenthal in 1623. The Palatinate was in the hands of the emperor. At the Battle of Stadtlon on August 6, 1623, the last Protestant forces were defeated. August 27, 1623 George Friedrich concluded a peace treaty with Ferdinand.

The first period of the war ended with a convincing victory for the Habsburgs. This served as an impetus for closer rallying of the anti-Habsburg coalition. June 10, 1624 France and Holland signed the Treaty of Compiègne. It was joined by England (June 15), Sweden and Denmark (July 9), Savoy and Venice (July 11).

2 Danish period 1625-1629

Christian IV, King of Denmark (1577-1648), a Lutheran, fearing for his own sovereignty in the event of the defeat of the Protestants, sent his army to their aid. Christian led a mercenary army of 20,000 soldiers.

To fight him, Ferdinand II invited the Czech nobleman Albrecht von Wallenstein. Wallenstein suggested that the emperor recruit a large army and not spend money on its maintenance, but feed it by plundering the occupied territories. Wallenstein's army became a formidable force, and in different time its number ranged from 30,000 to 100,000 soldiers. Christian, who previously had no idea of ​​the existence of Wallenstein, was now forced to hastily retreat before the combined forces of Tilly and Wallenstein. Denmark's allies were unable to come to the rescue. In France and England there was Civil War, Sweden was at war with Poland, the Netherlands fought off the Spaniards, and Brandenburg and Saxony tried to maintain a fragile peace at all costs. Wallenstein defeated Mansfeld at Dessau (1626), and Tilly defeated the Danes at the Battle of Lutter (1626).

Albrecht von Wallenstein

Wallenstein's army occupied Mecklenburg and Pomerania. The commander received the title of admiral, which testified to the emperor's big plans for the Baltic. However, without a fleet, Wallenstein could not capture the capital of Denmark on the island of Zeeland. Wallenstein organized the siege of Stralsund, a large free port with military shipyards, but failed.

This led to the signing of a peace treaty in Lübeck in 1629.

Another period of the war ended, but the Catholic League sought to return the Catholic possessions lost in the Peace of Augsburg. Under her pressure, the emperor issued the Restitution Edict (1629). According to it, 2 archbishoprics, 12 bishoprics and hundreds of monasteries were to be returned to the Catholics. Mansfeld and Bethlen Gabor, the first of the Protestant military leaders, died the same year. Only the port of Stralsund, abandoned by all the allies (except Sweden), held out against Wallenstein and the emperor.

3 Swedish period 1630-1635

Both Catholic and Protestant princes, as well as very many of the emperor's entourage, believed that Wallenstein wanted to seize power in Germany himself. In 1630, Ferdinand II dismissed Wallenstein. However, when the Swedish offensive began, I had to call him again.

Sweden was the last major state capable of changing the balance of power. Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, like Christian IV, sought to stop the Catholic expansion, as well as to establish his control over the Baltic coast of northern Germany. Like Christian IV, he was generously subsidized by Cardinal Richelieu, first minister of Louis XIII, King of France.

Prior to this, Sweden was kept from the war by the war with Poland in the struggle for the Baltic coast. By 1630, Sweden ended the war and enlisted the support of Russia (Smolensk War).

The Swedish army was armed with advanced small arms and artillery. It did not have mercenaries, and at first it did not rob the population. This fact has had a positive effect. In 1629, Sweden sent 6 thousand soldiers under the command of Alexander Leslie to help Stralsund. In early 1630, Leslie captured the island of Rügen, as a result, control was established over the Straits of Stralsund. And on July 4, 1630, Gustav II Adolf, King of Sweden, landed on the continent, at the mouth of the Oder.

Victory of Gustav II at the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)

Ferdinand II had been dependent on the Catholic League ever since he disbanded Wallenstein's army. At the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), Gustavus Adolphus defeated the Catholic League under the command of Tilly. A year later, they met again, and again the Swedes won, and General Tilly died (1632). With the death of Tilly, Ferdinand II turned his attention back to Wallenstein.

Wallenstein and Gustav Adolf clashed at the fierce Battle of Lützen (1632), where the Swedes narrowly won, but Gustav Adolf died. In March 1633 Sweden and the German Protestant principalities formed the Heilbronn League; the fullness of the military and political power in Germany, it passed to an elected council headed by the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. But the lack of a single authoritative commander began to affect the Protestant troops, and in 1634 the previously invincible Swedes suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Nördlingen (1634).

Ferdinand II's suspicions again got the better of him when Wallenstein began to conduct his own negotiations with the Protestant princes, the leaders of the Catholic League and the Swedes (1633). In addition, he forced his officers to take a personal oath to him. On suspicion of treason, Wallenstein was removed from command, a decree was issued on the confiscation of all his estates. On February 25, 1634, Wallenstein was killed by soldiers of his own guard at Eger Castle.

After that, the princes and the emperor began negotiations that ended the Swedish period of the war with the Peace of Prague (1635). Its terms provided for:

Annulment of the "Edict of Restitution" and the return of possessions to the framework of the Peace of Augsburg.

The unification of the army of the emperor and the armies of the German states into one army of the "Holy Roman Empire".

The ban on the formation of coalitions between princes.

Legalization of Calvinism.

This peace, however, could not suit France, as the Habsburgs, as a result, became stronger.

4 Franco-Swedish period 1635-1648

Having exhausted all diplomatic reserves, France entered the war itself (on May 21, 1635, war was declared on Spain). With her intervention, the conflict finally lost its religious overtones, since the French were Catholics. France involved in the conflict its allies in Italy - the Duchy of Savoy, the Duchy of Mantua and the Venetian Republic. She managed to prevent new war between Sweden and the Republic of both peoples (Poland), which concluded the Stumsdorf Truce, which allowed Sweden to transfer significant reinforcements from behind the Vistula to Germany. The French attacked Lombardy and the Spanish Netherlands. In response, in 1636, the Spanish-Bavarian army under the command of Prince Ferdinand of Spain crossed the Somme and entered Compiègne, while the imperial general Matthias Galas tried to capture Burgundy.

In the summer of 1636, the Saxons and other states that had signed the Peace of Prague turned their troops against the Swedes. Together with the imperial forces, they pushed the Swedish commander Baner to the north, but were defeated at the Battle of Wittstock.

In 1638, in East Germany, Spanish troops under the command of the Bavarian general Gottfried von Gehlein attacked the superior forces of the Swedish army. Having avoided defeat, the Swedes spent a hard winter in Pomerania.

The last period of the war proceeded in conditions of exhaustion of both opposing camps, caused by colossal tension and overexpenditure of financial resources. Maneuvering actions and small battles prevailed.

In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, and a year later, King Louis XIII of France also died. Five-year-old Louis XIV became king. His regent, Cardinal Mazarin, began peace negotiations. In 1643, the French finally stopped the Spanish invasion at the Battle of Rocroix. In 1645 Swedish marshal Lennart Torstensson defeated the Imperials at the Battle of Jankow near Prague, and Prince Condé defeated the Bavarian army at the Battle of Nördlingen. The last prominent Catholic military leader, Count Franz von Mercy, died in this battle.

In 1648, the Swedes (Marshal Carl Gustav Wrangel) and the French (Turenne and Condé) defeated the Imperial-Bavarian army at the Battle of Zusmarhausen and Lans. Only the imperial territories and Austria proper remained in the hands of the Habsburgs.

5. Peace of Westphalia

As early as 1638, the Pope and the Danish king called for an end to the war. Two years later, the idea was supported by the German Reichstag, which met for the first time after a long break. On December 25, 1641, a preliminary peace treaty was signed, according to which the emperor, who also represented Spain, and, on the other hand, Sweden and France, declared their readiness to convene a congress in the Westphalian cities of Münster and Osnabrück to conclude a general peace. In Munster, negotiations were held between France and the emperor. In Osnabrück - between the emperor and Sweden.

A fierce struggle has already unfolded around the question of who has the right to participate in the work of the congress. France and Sweden managed to overcome the resistance of the emperor and obtain an invitation to the subjects of the empire. As a result, the congress turned out to be the most representative meeting in the history of Europe: it was attended by delegations from 140 subjects of the empire and 38 other participants. Emperor Ferdinand III was ready to make large territorial concessions (more than he had to give in the end), but France demanded a concession that he had not originally thought of. The emperor had to refuse to support Spain and not even interfere in the affairs of Burgundy, which was formally part of the empire. National interests took precedence over dynastic ones. The emperor signed all the conditions in fact separately, without the Spanish cousin.

The peace treaty concluded on October 24, 1648 simultaneously in Münster and Osnabrück went down in history under the name of Westphalia. A separate treaty, signed a little earlier, ended the war between Spain and the United Provinces. The United Provinces, as well as Switzerland, were recognized as independent states. Only the war between Spain and France remained unsettled, which lasted until 1659.

Under the terms of the peace, France received South Alsace and the Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, Sweden - the island of Rügen, Western Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen, plus an indemnity of 5 million thalers. Saxony - Lusatia, Brandenburg - Eastern Pomerania, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Minden. Bavaria - Upper Palatinate, Bavarian Duke became Elector.

6. Consequences

The Thirty Years' War was the first war that affected all sections of the population. In Western history, it has remained one of the most difficult European conflicts among the predecessors of the World Wars of the 20th century. The greatest damage was inflicted on Germany, where, according to some estimates, 5 million people died. Many regions of the country were devastated and long time remained deserted. A crushing blow was dealt to the productive forces of Germany. The Swedes burned and destroyed almost all metallurgical and foundry plants and ore mines in Germany, as well as a third of German cities. Villages were especially easy prey for marauding armies. The demographic losses of the war were made up in Germany only 100 years later.

In the armies of both opposing sides epidemics broke out, constant companions of wars. The influx of soldiers from abroad, the constant deployment of troops from one front to another, as well as the flight of the civilian population, spread the plague farther and farther from the centers of disease. Information about numerous epidemics was preserved in parish books and tax reports. At first this problem existed only locally, but when the Danish and Imperial armies met in Saxony and Thuringia during 1625 and 1626, the diseases increased and assumed great proportions. Local chronicles mention the so-called "Hungarian disease" and the "major disease", which were identified as typhus. And after the clashes between France and the Habsburgs in Italy, the north of the Italian peninsula was engulfed by bubonic plague. The plague became a significant factor in the war. During the siege of Nuremberg, the armies of both sides were struck by scurvy and typhus. In the last decades of the war, Germany was gripped by incessant outbreaks of dysentery and typhus.

The immediate result of the war was that over 300 small German states received full sovereignty with nominal membership in the Holy Roman Empire. This situation continued until the end of the first empire in 1806.

The war did not lead to the automatic collapse of the Habsburgs, but changed the balance of power in Europe. Hegemony passed to France. The decline of Spain became evident. In addition, Sweden became a great power, significantly strengthening its position in the Baltic.

Adherents of all religions (Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism) gained equal rights in the empire. The main result of the Thirty Years' War was a sharp weakening of the influence of religious factors on the life of European states. Their foreign policy began to be based on economic, dynastic and geopolitical interests.

It is customary to count from the Peace of Westphalia modern era in international relations.

Bibliography

1. Shtokmor V.V. History of Germany in the Middle Ages M.: 1983

Livantsev K.E. History of the bourgeois state and law Ed. "Drofa" 1992

Lyublinskaya A.D. Germany in the Middle Ages. Absolutism 1630 - 1642 Moscow: Yurait 1995

History of state and law foreign countries Ch.1-2 Ed. prof. Krasheninnikova N.A. and prof. Zhidkova O.A. Moscow: INFRA Publishing Group. M-NORMA, 1997

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It was the largest of the nation-states.

In Europe, there were several explosive regions where the interests of the warring parties intersected. The greatest number of contradictions accumulated in the Holy Roman Empire, which, in addition to the traditional struggle between the emperor and the German princes, was split along religious lines. Another knot of contradictions was also directly related to the Empire -. The Protestant (and also, in part,) sought to turn it into their inland lake and gain a foothold on its southern coast, while the Catholic actively resisted the Swedish-Danish expansion. Other European countries advocated the freedom of Baltic trade. The third disputed region was fragmented Italy, for which France fought with. Spain had its opponents - (), which defended its independence in the war - years, and which challenged Spanish dominance at sea and encroached on the colonial possessions of the Habsburgs.

The brewing of war

periodization of the war. Opposing sides.

The Thirty Years' War is traditionally divided into four periods: Czech, Danish, Swedish and Franco-Swedish. Outside of Germany, there were several separate conflicts: the Polish-Swedish War, etc.

On the side of the Habsburgs were:, most of the Catholic principalities of Germany, united with,. On the side of the anti-Habsburg coalition, the Protestant principalities of Germany provided support, and. (the traditional enemy of the Habsburgs) at that time was busy with the war with and did not interfere in the European conflict. In general, the war turned out to be a clash of traditional conservative forces with growing nation-states.

The Habsburg bloc was more monolithic, the Austrian and Spanish houses kept in touch with each other, often conducting joint military operations. Wealthier Spain provided financial support to the emperor. There were major contradictions in the camp of their opponents, but they all receded into the background before the threat of a common enemy.

The course of the war

Czech period

In the autumn of the same year, 15,000 imperial soldiers led by and entered the Czech Republic. The Czech directory formed an army led by Count Thurn, in response to the requests of the Czechs, the Evangelical Union sent 2000 soldiers under the command of . Dampier was defeated and Buqua had to retreat to.

Thanks to the support of the Protestant part of the Austrian nobility, Count Thurn approached Vienna, but met with stubborn resistance. At this time, Buqua defeated Mansfeld near ( ), and Turn had to retreat to the rescue. At the end of the year, the Transylvanian prince with a strong army also moved against Vienna, but the Hungarian magnate Druget Gomonai hit him in the rear and forced him to retreat from Vienna. On the territory of Bohemia, protracted battles were fought with varying success.

Meanwhile, the Habsburgs made some diplomatic progress. Mr. Ferdinand was elected emperor. After that, he managed to get military support from Bavaria and Saxony. For this, the Elector of Saxony was promised Silesia and Lusatia, and the Duke of Bavaria - the possessions of the Elector of the Palatinate and his electoral rank. Spain sent a 25,000-strong army to the aid of the emperor under the command of .

Danish period

Another period of the war ended, but the Catholic League sought to return the Catholic possessions lost in the Peace of Augsburg. Under her pressure, the emperor issued the Restitution Edict (). According to it, 2 archbishoprics, 12 bishoprics and hundreds of monasteries were to be returned to the Catholics. Mansfeld and Bethlen Gabor, the first of the Protestant military leaders, died the same year. Only the port of Stralsund, abandoned by all the allies (except Sweden), held out against Wallenstein and the Emperor.

Swedish period

Both Catholic and Protestant princes, as well as very many of the Emperor's entourage, believed that Wallenstein wanted to seize power in Germany himself. In Ferdinand II dismissed Wallenstein. However, when the Swedish offensive began, I had to call him again.

Sweden was the last major state capable of changing the balance of power. , the king of Sweden, like Christian IV, sought to stop the Catholic expansion, as well as to establish his control over the Baltic coast of northern Germany. Like Christian IV, he was generously subsidized by the First Minister of the King of France.

Prior to this, Sweden was kept from the war by the war with Poland in the struggle for the Baltic coast. By the year Sweden ended the war and enlisted the support of Russia ().

The Swedish army was armed with advanced small arms and . It did not have mercenaries, and at first it did not rob the population. This fact has had a positive effect. In the year Sweden sent 6 thousand soldiers under the command of Stralsund to help. At the beginning of the year, Leslie captured the island, as a result, control was established over the Straits of Stralsund. A year, the king of Sweden, landed on the continent, at the mouth of the Oder.

Ferdinand II had been dependent on the Catholic League ever since he disbanded Wallenstein's army. At the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), Gustavus Adolphus defeated the Catholic League under the command of Tilly. A year later, they met again, and again the Swedes won, and General Tilly died (). With the death of Tilly, Ferdinand II turned his attention back to Wallenstein.

Wallenstein and Gustav Adolf clashed at the fierce Battle of Lützen (1632), where the Swedes narrowly won, but Gustav Adolf died. In March, Sweden and the German Protestant principalities formed the Heilbronn League; the entirety of military and political power in Germany passed to an elected council headed by the Swedish Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. But the lack of a single authoritative commander began to affect the Protestant troops, and the previously invincible Swedes suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Nördlingen (1634).

The suspicions of Ferdinand II again prevailed when Wallenstein began to conduct his own negotiations with the Protestant princes, the leaders of the Catholic League and the Swedes (). In addition, he forced his officers to take a personal oath to him. On suspicion of treason, Wallenstein was arrested and killed ( ).

After that, the princes and the emperor began negotiations that ended the Swedish period of the war with the Peace of Prague (). Its terms provided for:

• "Edict of Restitution" and the return of possessions to the framework of the Peace of Augsburg.
• The unification of the army of the emperor and the armies of the German states into one army of the "Holy Roman Empire".
• The ban on the formation of coalitions between princes.
• Legalization.

This peace, however, could not suit France, as the Habsburgs, as a result, became stronger.

Franco-Swedish period

Having exhausted all diplomatic reserves, France entered the war itself (war on Spain was declared). With her intervention, the conflict finally lost its coloring of the religious, since the French were Catholics. France involved in the conflict its allies in Italy - the Duchy of Savoy, the Duchy of Mantua and the Venetian Republic. She managed to prevent a new war between Sweden and, which allowed the Swedes to transfer significant reinforcements from behind the Vistula to Germany. The French attacked Lombardy and the Spanish Netherlands. In response, the Spanish-Bavarian army under the command of Prince Ferdinand of Spain crossed the Somme and entered Compiègne, while the imperial general Matthias Galas tried to capture Burgundy.

Other conflicts at the same time

• War between Spain and France
• Danish-Swedish War (1643-1645)

Peace of Westphalia

Under the terms of the peace, France received South Alsace and the Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, Sweden - the island of Rügen, Western Pomerania and the Duchy of Bremen, plus an indemnity of 5 million. Saxony - Lusatia, Brandenburg - Eastern Pomerania, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and the Bishopric of Minden. Bavaria - Upper Palatinate, Bavarian duke became .

Consequences

The Thirty Years' War was the first war that affected all sections of the population. In Western memory, it has remained one of the most difficult pan-European conflicts in the series of predecessors of the World Wars. The greatest damage was done to Germany, where, according to some estimates, 5 million people died.

The immediate result of the war was that St. 300 petty Germanic states received full sovereignty with nominal membership in the Holy Roman Empire. This situation persisted until the end of the existence of the first empire.

The war did not lead to the automatic collapse of the Habsburgs, but changed the balance of power in Europe. Hegemony passed to France. The decline of Spain became evident. In addition, Sweden became a great power, significantly strengthening its position in the Baltic.

It is customary to count the modern era in international relations from the Peace of Westphalia.

Military tactics and strategy

The study by military theorists of the successes of the Swedish troops under the leadership of Gustavus Adolphus gave its results. The advanced armies of Europe began to make the main bet on increasing the effectiveness of fire. The role of field artillery has increased. The structure of the infantry changed - by the end of the war, the musketeers began to outnumber the pikemen.

During the course of the war, armies were often forced to retreat due to lack of supplies even after victories. Many states, following the example of Gustavus Adolphus, began to create an organized supply of troops with ammunition and provisions. “Shops” (military stores) began to appear. The role of transport communications has increased.

Shops and communications, as well as the troops themselves, began to be seen as objects of attack and defense. A series of skillful maneuvers could interrupt the enemy's communications and force him to retreat without losing a single soldier. The concept of "maneuvering war" appeared.

At the same time, the Thirty Years' War was the height of the era of mercenary armies. Both camps used landskhets, recruited from various social strata and without regard to religion. They served for money and turned the military into a profession. The concept itself was born in the era of war. Its origin is associated with the name of one of two famous commanders who bore the name Merode and took part in the Thirty Years' War: a German, General Count Johann Merode, or a Swede, Colonel Werner von Merode.

Ivonina L. I., Prokopiev A. Yu. Diplomacy of the Thirty Years' War. - Smolensk., 1996.

Causes of the Thirty Years' War

Emperor Matthew (1612-1619) was just as incapable a ruler as his brother Rudolph, especially given the tense state of affairs in Germany, when an inevitable and cruel struggle threatened between Protestants and Catholics. The struggle was accelerated by the fact that the childless Matthew appointed his cousin Ferdinand of Styria as his successor in Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. The steadfast character and Catholic jealousy of Ferdinand were well known; Catholics and Jesuits rejoiced that their time had come; Protestants and Hussites (Utraquists) in Bohemia could not expect anything good for themselves. The Bohemian Protestants built two churches for themselves on the monastic lands. The question arose - do they have the right to do so or not? The government decided that it was not, and one church was locked up, another was ruined. defenders, granted to the Protestants by the “Letter of Majesty”, gathered and sent a complaint to Emperor Matthew in Hungary; the emperor refused and forbade the defenders to gather for further meetings. This terribly annoyed the Protestants; they attributed such a decision to the imperial advisers who ruled Bohemia in the absence of Matthew, they were especially angry with two of them, Martinitz and Slavat, distinguished by Catholic zeal.

In the heat of irritation, the Hussite deputies of the state Bohemian ranks armed themselves and, under the leadership of Count Thurn, went to Prague Castle, where the board met. Entering the hall, they began to speak in large words with the advisers and soon turned from words to deeds: they seized Martinits, Slavata and secretary Fabricius and threw them out of the window “according to the good old Czech custom,” as one of those present put it (1618). By this act, the Czechs broke with the government. The ranks seized the government into their own hands, expelled the Jesuits from the country and put up an army under the leadership of Turn.

Periods of the Thirty Years' War

Czech period (1618–1625)

The war began in 1619 and began happily for the insurgents; Thurn was joined by Ernst von Mansfeld, the daring leader of the mob squads; the Silesian, Lusatian and Moravian ranks raised the same banner with the Czechs and drove the Jesuits away from them; the imperial army was forced to clear Bohemia; Matthew died, and his successor, Ferdinand II, was besieged in Vienna itself by the troops of Thurn, with whom the Austrian Protestants joined.

In this terrible danger, the steadfastness of the new emperor saved the throne of the Habsburgs; Ferdinand held on tight and held on until bad weather, lack of money and provisions forced Thurn to lift the siege of Vienna.

Count Tilly. Van Dyck painter, c. 1630

In Frankfurt, Ferdinand II was proclaimed emperor, and at the same time the ranks of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia broke away from the House of Habsburg and elected the head of the Protestant union, Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate, as king. Frederick accepted the crown and hurried to Prague for the coronation. The nature of the main rivals had an important influence on the outcome of the struggle: against the smart and firm Ferdinand II, the empty, unrestrained Frederick V stood. In addition to the emperor, the Catholics also had Maximilian of Bavaria, strong in personal and material means; on the side of the Protestants, Maximilian corresponded to the Elector John George of Saxony, but the correspondence between them was limited to material means alone, for John George bore the not very honorable title of the beer king; there was a rumor that he said that the animals that inhabited his forests were dearer to him than his subjects; finally, John George, as a Lutheran, did not want to have anything to do with the Calvinist Frederick V and sided with Austria when Ferdinand promised him the land of the puddles (Lusatia). Finally, the Protestants, beside the incapable princes, did not have capable generals, while Maximilian of Bavaria accepted into his service the famous general, the Dutchman Tilly. The fight was uneven.

Frederick V arrived in Prague, but from the very beginning he behaved badly in his affairs, he did not get along with the Czech nobles, not allowing them to participate in the affairs of government, obeying only his Germans; he pushed away the passion for luxury and entertainment from himself, also by Calvin iconoclasm: all the images of saints, paintings and relics were taken out of the Prague Cathedral Church. Meanwhile, Ferdinand II concluded an alliance with Maximilian of Bavaria, with Spain, attracted the Elector of Saxony to his side, and brought Austrian officials into obedience.

The troops of the emperor and the Catholic League, under the command of Tilly, appeared near Prague. In November 1620, a battle took place between them and the troops of Frederick at the White Mountain, Tilly won. Despite this misfortune, the Czechs did not have the means to continue the struggle, but their king Frederick completely lost his spirit and fled from Bohemia. Deprived of a leader, unity and direction of movement, the Czechs could not continue the struggle, and in a few months Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia were again subdued under the power of the House of Habsburg.

Bitter was the fate of the vanquished: 30,000 families had to leave the fatherland; instead of them, a population alien to the Slavs and Czech history appeared. Bohemia was considered to have 30,000 inhabited places; only 11,000 remained after the war; before the war there were over 4 million inhabitants; in 1648 no more than 800,000 remained. A third of the land was confiscated; the Jesuits rushed to the prey: in order to break the closest connection between Bohemia and its past, in order to inflict the heaviest blow on the Czech people, they began to destroy books in the Czech language as heretical; one Jesuit boasted that he had burned over 60,000 volumes. It is clear what fate must have awaited Protestantism in Bohemia; two Lutheran pastors remained in Prague, whom they did not dare to expel, for fear of arousing the indignation of the Saxon elector; but the papal legate of Caraffa insisted that the emperor give the order to expel them. “The matter is going on,” said Caraffa, “not about two pastors, but about freedom of religion; as long as they are tolerated in Prague, not a single Czech will enter the bosom of the Church.” Some Catholics, the king of Spain himself, wanted to moderate the jealousy of the legate, but he did not pay attention to their ideas. “The intolerance of the House of Austria,” said the Protestants, “forced the Czechs to revolt.” “Heresy,” said Caraffa, “ignited a rebellion.” Emperor Ferdinand II expressed himself more strongly. "God himself," he said, "incited the Czechs to rebellion in order to give me the right and the means to destroy the heresy." The Emperor tore up the Letter of Majesty with his own hands.

The means for the destruction of heresy were as follows: Protestants were forbidden to engage in any kind of skill, they were forbidden to marry, make wills, bury their dead, although they had to pay the cost of burial to the Catholic priest; they were not allowed into hospitals; soldiers with sabers in their hands drove them into churches, in the villages the peasants were driven there with dogs and whips; the soldiers were followed by Jesuits and Capuchins, and when a Protestant, in order to save himself from a dog and a whip, announced that he was converting to the Roman Church, he first of all had to declare that this conversion was made voluntarily. The imperial troops allowed themselves terrible cruelties in Bohemia: one officer ordered the killing of 15 women and 24 children; a detachment consisting of Hungarians burned down seven villages, and all living things were exterminated, the soldiers chopped off the hands of babies and pinned them to their hats in the form of trophies.

After the battle of the White Mountain, three Protestant princes continued to fight the league: Duke Christian of Brunswick, Ernst Mansfeld, already known to us, and Margrave Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach. But these defenders of Protestantism acted in exactly the same way as the champions of Catholicism: unfortunate Germany now had to experience what Russia experienced shortly before in Time of Troubles and once tested France in its troubled times under Charles VI and Charles VII; the troops of the Duke of Brunswick and Mansfeld consisted of combined squads, completely similar to our Cossack squads of the Time of Troubles or the French Arminaks; people of different classes, who wanted to live merrily at the expense of others, flocked from everywhere under the banners of these leaders, not receiving salaries from the latter, lived by robbery and, like animals, raged against the peaceful population. German sources, in describing the horrors that Mansfeld's soldiers allowed themselves, almost repeat the news of our chroniclers about the ferocity of the Cossacks.

Danish period (1625–1629)

The Protestant partisans could not stand against Tilly, who triumphed everywhere, and Protestant Germany showed a complete incapacity for self-defence. Ferdinand II declared Frederick V deprived of the electoral dignity, which he transferred to Maximilian of Bavaria. But the strengthening of the emperor, the strengthening of the House of Austria, was to arouse fear in the powers and force them to support the German Protestants against Ferdinand II; at the same time, the Protestant powers, Denmark, Sweden intervened in the war, besides political, and from religious motives, while Catholic France, ruled by the cardinal of the Roman Church, began to support the Protestants from purely political goals in order to prevent the House of Habsburg from gaining dangerously for her.

The first to intervene in the war was Christian IV, the Danish king. Emperor Ferdinand, hitherto dependent on the league, triumphant through Tilly, the general Maximilian of Bavaria, is now against Danish king he put up his army, his commander: it was the famous Wallenstein (Waldstein) Wallenstein was a Czech of humble noble origin; born in Protestantism, he entered the house as an orphan as a minor, to a Catholic uncle, who converted him to Catholicism, gave him up to the Jesuits, and then enrolled him in the service of the Habsburgs. Here he distinguished himself in Ferdinand's war against Venice, then in the Bohemian war; having made a fortune for himself in his youth by a profitable marriage, he became even richer by buying up confiscated estates in Bohemia after the Battle of Belogorsk. He suggested to the emperor that he would recruit 50,000 troops and support him, without demanding anything from the treasury, if he was given unlimited power over this army and rewarded from the conquered lands. The emperor agreed, and Wallenstein fulfilled his promise: 50,000 people actually gathered around him, ready to go wherever there was prey. This huge Wallenstein squad brought Germany to the last stage of disaster: having captured some terrain, Wallenstein's soldiers began by disarming the inhabitants, then indulged in systematic robbery, sparing neither churches nor graves; having plundered everything that was in sight, the soldiers began to torture the inhabitants in order to force out an indication of hidden treasures, they managed to invent tortures, one more terrible than the other; finally, the demon of destruction took possession of them: without any benefit to themselves, out of a single thirst for extermination, they burned houses, burned utensils, agricultural implements; they stripped men and women naked and let hungry dogs on them, which they took with them for this hunt. The Danish War lasted from 1624 to 1629. Christian IV could not resist the forces of Wallenstein and Tilly. Holstein, Schleswig, Jutland were deserted; Wallenstein had already announced to the Danes that they would be treated like slaves if they did not elect Ferdinand II as their king. Wallenstein conquered Silesia, expelled the Dukes of Mecklenburg from their possessions, which he received as a fief from the emperor, the Duke of Pomeranian was also forced to leave his possessions. Christian IV of Denmark, in order to preserve his possessions, was forced to make peace (in Lübeck), pledging not to interfere anymore in German affairs. In March 1629, the emperor issued the so-called Restorative edict, according to which Catholic Church all her possessions, captured by the Protestants after the Treaty of Passava, were returned; apart from the Lutherans of the Augsburg Confession, Calvinists and all other Protestant sects were excluded from religious world. The Restorative Edict was issued to please the Catholic League; but soon this league, i.e., its leader Maximilian of Bavaria, demanded something else from Ferdinand: when the emperor expressed a desire that the league withdraw its troops from there to facilitate Franconia and Swabia, Maximilian, in the name of the league, demanded that the emperor himself dismiss Wallenstein and dissolve him an army that, with its robberies and cruelties, seeks to completely devastate the empire.

Portrait of Albrecht von Wallenstein

The imperial princes hated Wallenstein, an upstart who, from a simple nobleman and leader of a huge band of robbers, became a prince, insulted them with his proud address and did not hide his intention to place the imperial princes in the same relation to the emperor, in which the French nobility was to their king; Maximilian of Bavaria called Wallenstein "dictator of Germany". The Catholic clergy hated Wallenstein because he did not care at all about the interests of Catholicism, about spreading it in the areas occupied by his army; Wallenstein allowed himself to say: “One hundred years have already passed since Rome was in last time plundered; now he must be much richer than in the time of Charles V. Ferdinand II had to give in to the general hatred against Wallenstein and took away his command over the army. Wallenstein retired to his Bohemian estates, waiting for a more favorable time; he did not wait long.

Swedish period (1630–1635)

Portrait of Gustav II Adolf

France, ruled by Cardinal Richelieu, could not indifferently see the strengthening of the House of Habsburg. Cardinal Richelieu first tried to oppose Ferdinand II with the strongest Catholic prince of the empire, the head of the league. He presented to Maximilian of Bavaria that the interests of all German princes required resistance to the growing power of the emperor, that the best remedy to maintain German freedom consists in taking the imperial crown from the House of Austria; the cardinal urged Maximilian to take the place of Ferdinand II, to become emperor, vouching for the help of France and its allies. When the head of the Catholic League did not succumb to the seductions of the cardinal, the latter turned to the Protestant sovereign, who alone was willing and able to fight against the Habsburgs. It was the Swedish king Gustavus Adolf, son and successor of Charles IX.

Energetic, gifted, and highly educated, Gustavus Adolphus, from the very beginning of his reign, waged successful wars with his neighbors, and these wars, by developing his military abilities, strengthened his desire for a role greater than the modest role played in Europe by his predecessors. He ended the war with Russia with the Peace of Stolbov, beneficial to Sweden, and considered himself entitled to announce to the Swedish Senate that the dangerous Muscovites were driven away from the Baltic Sea for a long time. On the Polish throne sat his cousin and mortal enemy Sigismund III, from whom he took Livonia. But Sigismund, as a zealous Catholic, was an ally of Ferdinand II, therefore, the power of the latter strengthened the Polish king and threatened Sweden with great danger; relatives of Gustav-Adolf, the dukes of Mecklenburg, were deprived of their possessions, and thanks to Wallenstein, Austria was established on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Gustavus Adolphus understood the basic laws of European political life and wrote to his Chancellor Oxenstierna: “All European wars are one huge war. It is more profitable to transfer the war to Germany than to be forced to defend oneself in Sweden later. Finally, religious convictions imposed on the Swedish king the obligation to prevent the destruction of Protestantism in Germany. That is why Gustav-Adolf willingly accepted Richelieu's proposal to act against the House of Austria in alliance with France, which meanwhile tried to settle peace between Sweden and Poland and thus untied Gustav-Adolf's hands.

In June 1630, Gustavus Adolphus landed on the shores of Pomerania and soon cleared this country of imperial troops. The religiosity and discipline of the Swedish army were in striking contrast to the predatory character of the army of the league and the emperor, so the people in Protestant Germany received the Swedes very cordially; from the princes of Protestant Germany, the dukes of Lüneburg, Weimar, Lauenburg and the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel took the side of the Swedes; but the electors of Brandenburg and Saxony were very reluctant to see the entry of the Swedes into Germany and remained inactive to the last extreme, despite the exhortations of Richelieu. The cardinal advised all German princes, Catholics and Protestants, to take advantage of the Swedish war, to unite and force peace from the emperor, which would ensure their rights; if they now split up, some will become for the Swedes, others for the emperor, then this will lead to the final destruction of their fatherland; having one interest, they must act together against a common enemy.

Tilly, who now commanded the troops of the league and the emperor together, spoke out against the Swedes. In the autumn of 1631, he met with Gustav-Adolf at Leipzig, was defeated, lost 7000 of his the best troops and retreated, giving the victor an open road to the south. In the spring of 1632, the second meeting of Gustav-Adolf with Tilly took place, which was strengthened at the confluence of the Lech into the Danube. Tilly could not defend the Lech crossings and received a wound from which he soon died. Gustavus Adolphus occupied Munich, while the Saxon troops entered Bohemia and captured Prague. In such an extreme case, Emperor Ferdinand II turned to Wallenstein. He forced himself to beg for a long time, finally agreed to again create an army and save Austria on the condition of unlimited disposal and rich land rewards. As soon as the news spread that the Duke of Friedland (the title of Wallenstein) had resumed his activities, seekers of prey rushed to him from all sides. Having ousted the Saxons from Bohemia, Wallenstein moved to the borders of Bavaria, fortified not far from Nuremberg, repulsed the attack of the Swedes on his camp and rushed into Saxony, still devastating everything in his path like locusts. Gustavus Adolf hurried after him to save Saxony. On November 6, 1632, the Battle of Lützen took place: the Swedes won, but lost their king.

The behavior of Gustavus Adolf in Germany after the Leipzig victory aroused the suspicion that he wanted to establish himself in this country and receive imperial dignity: for example, in some places he ordered the inhabitants to swear allegiance to him, did not return the Palatinate to his former elector Frederick, persuaded the German princes to join the Swedish service; said that he was not a mercenary, that he could not be satisfied with money alone, that Protestant Germany should separate from Catholic Germany under a special head, that the structure of the German Empire was outdated, that the empire was a dilapidated building fit for rats and mice, and not for humans.

The strengthening of the Swedes in Germany particularly alarmed Cardinal Richelieu, who, in the interests of France, did not want Germany to have a strong emperor, either Catholic or Protestant. France wanted to take advantage of the present unrest in Germany to increase her possessions and let Gustavus Adolf know that she wanted to regain the heritage of the Frankish kings; to this the Swedish king replied that he had come to Germany not as an enemy or a traitor, but as a patron, and therefore could not agree that at least one village should be taken away from her; he also didn't want to let french army entered German soil. That is why Richelieu was very happy about the death of Gustavus Adolphe and wrote in his memoirs that this death delivered Christianity from many evils. But by Christianity we must understand here France, which really gained a lot from the death of the Swedish king, having received the opportunity to interfere directly in the affairs of Germany and get more than one village from her.

After the death of Gustavus Adolf, the rule of Sweden for infancy only daughter him and the heiress Christina passed to state council, who decided to continue the war in Germany and entrusted its conduct to the famous state mind Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. The strongest Protestant sovereigns of Germany, the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, shied away from the Swedish alliance; Oxenstierna managed to conclude an alliance in Heilbronn (in April 1633) only with the Protestant ranks of Franconia, Swabia, the Upper and Lower Rhine. The Germans inspired Oxenstierna not a very favorable opinion of themselves. “Instead of going about their business, they only get drunk,” he told a French diplomat. Richelieu in his notes says about the Germans that they are ready to betray their most sacred obligations for money. Oxenstierna was appointed director of the Heilbronn League; command over the army was entrusted to Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and the Swedish General Gorn; France helped with money.

Meanwhile, Wallenstein, after the Battle of Lützen, began to show much less energy and enterprise than before. For a long time he remained inactive in Bohemia, then went to Silesia and Lusatia and after minor battles concluded a truce with enemies and entered into negotiations with the Electors of Saxony, Brandenburg and Oxenscherna; these negotiations were conducted without the knowledge of the Vienna court and aroused strong suspicion here. He freed Count Thurn, the implacable enemy of the House of Habsburg, from captivity, and instead of expelling the Swedes from Bavaria, he again settled in Bohemia, which suffered terribly from his troops. From everything it was clear that he was looking for the death of his implacable enemy, Maximilian of Bavaria, and, knowing the intrigues of his enemies, he wanted to ensure himself from a secondary fall. Numerous opponents of him and envious people spread rumors that he wants to from help the Swedes to become an independent Bohemian king. The emperor believed these suggestions and decided to get rid of Wallenstein.

Three of the most important generals in the army of the Duke of Friedland plotted against their commander in chief, and Wallenstein was killed at the beginning of 1634 in Jaeger. Thus perished the most famous ataman of a rabble gang, which, fortunately for Europe, no longer appeared in it after the Thirty Years' War. The war, especially at the beginning, was of a religious nature; but the soldiers of Tilly and Wallenstein did not rage out of religious fanaticism at all: they exterminated Catholics and Protestants alike, both their own and others. Wallenstein was a complete representative of his soldiers, was indifferent to faith, but believed in the stars, diligently studied astrology.

After the death of Wallenstein, the emperor's son Ferdinand assumed command of the imperial army. In the autumn of 1634, the imperial troops united with the Bavarian troops and utterly defeated the Swedes at Nördlingen, Horn was captured. The elector of Saxony concluded a separate peace with the emperor in Prague, Brandenburg and other German princes followed his example; only Hesse-Kassel, Badei and Wirtemberg remained in the Swedish alliance.

Franco-Swedish period (1635–1648)

France took advantage of the weakening of the Swedes after the Battle of Nördlingen to clearly intervene in the affairs of Germany, restore balance between the fighting parties and receive rich rewards for this. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, after the Nördlingen defeat, turned to France with a request for help; Richelieu concluded an agreement with him, according to which Bernhard's army was to be kept at the expense of France; Oxenstierna went to Paris and received a promise that a strong French corps would act in concert with the Swedes against the emperor; finally, Richelieu made an alliance with Holland against the Spanish, allies of the emperor.

In 1636, military happiness again went over to the side of the Swedes, who were commanded by General Baner. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar also happily fought on the Upper Rhine. He died in 1639, and the French took advantage of his death: they captured Alsace, which they had previously promised to Bernhard, and took his army for themselves as a mercenary. The French army appeared in southern Germany to act here against the Austrians and Bavarians. On the other hand, the French were active in the Spanish Netherlands: the young Prince of Conde began his brilliant career with a victory over the Spaniards at Rocroix.

Peace of Westphalia 1648

Meanwhile, in February 1637, Emperor Ferdinand II died, and under his son, Ferdinand III, peace negotiations began in Westphalia in 1643: in Osnabrück between the emperor and the Catholics on the one hand, and between the Swedes and Protestants on the other; in Munster - between Germany and France. The latter was then more powerful than all the states of Europe, and its claims aroused just fears. The French government did not hide its plans: according to Richelieu, two works were written (Dupuy and Cassan), which proved the rights of the French kings to various kingdoms, duchies, counties, cities and countries; it appeared that Castile, Arragon, Catalonia, Navarre, Portugal, Naples, Milan, Genoa, the Netherlands, England must belong to France; imperial dignity belongs to the French kings as the heirs of Charlemagne. The writers reached the point of being ridiculous, but Richelieu himself, without demanding Portugal and England, explained to Louis XIII about "natural boundaries" France. “It is not necessary,” he said, “to imitate the Spaniards, who are always trying to spread their possessions; France must think only about how to strengthen itself in itself, it is necessary to establish itself in Maine and reach Strasbourg, but at the same time it is necessary to act slowly and carefully; one can also think of Navarre and Franche-Comte.” Before his death, the cardinal said: “The purpose of my ministry was to return to Gaul its ancient borders assigned to it nature compare the new Gaul in everything with the ancient. It is not surprising, therefore, that during the Westphalian negotiations, the Spanish diplomats began to curry favor with the Dutch, even ventured to tell the latter that the Dutch waged a just war against Spain, for they defended their freedom; but it would be highly imprudent of them to help France to grow stronger in their neighbourhood. Spanish diplomats promised two Dutch commissioners 200,000 thalers; the king of France wrote to his representatives whether it was possible to persuade the Dutch to his side by some gift.

In October 1648, the negotiations ended. France received the Austrian part of Alsace, Sundgau, Breisach, with the preservation for the imperial cities and the owners of their former relations with the empire. Sweden received most of Pomerania, the island of Rügen, the city of Wismar, the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, also with the preservation of their former relations with Germany. Brandenburg received part of Pomerania and several bishoprics; Saxony - the lands of the puddles (Lausitz); Bavaria - Upper Palatinate and retained the electoral dignity for her duke; The Lower Palatinate, with the newly established eighth electoral dignity, was given to the son of the unfortunate Frederick. Switzerland and the Netherlands were recognized as independent states. Regarding Germany, it was decided that the legislative power in the empire, the right to collect taxes, declare war and conclude peace belongs to the diet, consisting of the emperor and members of the empire; the princes received supreme power in their possessions with the right to conclude alliances among themselves and with other states, but not against the emperor and the empire. The imperial court, which decided the disputes of the ranks with each other and with their subjects, was to consist of judges of both confessions; at the Diets, the imperial cities received equal voting rights with the princes. Catholics, Lutherans and Calvinists were granted complete religious and liturgical freedom and equality of political rights.

Results of the Thirty Years' War

The consequences of the Thirty Years' War were important for Germany and for the whole of Europe. In Germany, the imperial power has completely drooped, and the unity of the country has remained only in name. The empire was a motley mixture of heterogeneous possessions, which had the weakest connection with each other. Each prince ruled independently in his domain; but since the empire still existed in name, since there was a general authority in name, which was obliged to take care of the welfare of the empire, and meanwhile there was no force that could compel this general authority to cooperate, the princes considered themselves entitled to postpone any care for the affairs of the common fatherland and have unlearned to take its interests to heart; their glances, their feelings have been reduced; They could not act separately because of their impotence, the insignificance of their means, and they completely lost the habit of any general action, not being very accustomed to it before, as we have seen; consequently they had to bow before every power. Since they lost consciousness of the highest governmental interests, the only goal of their aspirations was to feed at the expense of their possessions and feed as satisfactorily as possible; for this, after the Thirty Years' War, they had every opportunity: during the war they were accustomed to collecting taxes without asking with ranks; they did not abandon this habit even after the war, especially since the terribly devastated country, which required a long rest, could not put up forces that would have to be reckoned with; during the war, the princes arranged for themselves an army, it remained with them after the war, strengthening their power. Thus, the restriction of princely power by ranks that existed before disappeared, and the unlimited power of princes with bureaucracy was established, which could not be useful in small possessions, especially in the above-mentioned character adopted by the princes.

In general, in Germany, material and spiritual development was stopped for known time the terrible devastation carried out by the gangs of Tilly, Wallenstein and the Swedish troops, who, after the death of Gustavus Adolf, also began to be distinguished by robberies and cruelties, which our Cossacks did not invent in the Time of Troubles: pouring the most disgusting impurities into the throat of the unfortunate was known under the name of the Swedish drink. Germany, especially in the south and west, represented the desert. In Augsburg, out of 80,000 inhabitants, only 18,000 remained; in Frankenthal, out of 18,000, only 324; in the Palatinate, only a fiftieth of the total population remained. In Hesse, 17 cities, 47 castles and 400 villages were burned.

With regard to the whole of Europe, the Thirty Years' War, having weakened the House of Habsburg, crushed and completely weakened Germany, thereby raised France, made her the preeminent power in Europe. Another consequence of the Thirty Years' War was that Northern Europe in the person of Sweden, she took an active part in the fate of other states and was an important member European system. Finally, the Thirty Years' War was the last religious war; The Peace of Westphalia, proclaiming the equality of the three confessions, put an end to the religious struggle generated by the Reformation. The dominance of secular interests over spiritual ones is very noticeable during the Peace of Westphalia: spiritual possessions are taken away from the Church in a multitude, secularized, pass to secular Protestant lords; it was said that in Münster and Osnabrück the diplomats played with bishoprics and abbeys, as children play with nuts and dough. The pope protested against peace, but no one paid any attention to his protest.