The Thirty Years' War was the first all-European war between two major factions : Habsburg League(Spanish and Austro-German Habsburgs, Catholic princes of Germany, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and anti-Habsburg coalition(France, Sweden, Denmark, Protestant princes of Germany, etc.).

1. International situation in Europe in the 16th century. Exacerbation of contradictions between European states

International situation in Europe in the 16th century. it was stressful and difficult.

The Spanish and Austro-German branches of the Habsburg dynasty, after a period of rivalry, decided to join forces in the struggle to establish their dominance in Europe.

France, which was strengthened at that time, tried to prevent this and provided support to the Protestants in Germany. In addition, France wanted to assert its dominance in Italy and was dissatisfied with the strengthening of the influence of the Spanish Habsburgs here.

The British government also did not want to stand aside. On the one hand, England did not want to increase the influence of the Catholic Habsburgs in the Netherlands and Germany, on the other hand, the strengthening of France did not correspond to its trade interests. The ambiguity of England's position required it to constantly maneuver between the Habsburgs and their opponents.

Denmark, being connected with Northern Germany by political and economic ties, also did not want the Habsburgs to strengthen in Germany.

King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, like King Christian IV of Denmark, tried to strengthen his country's influence on the northern sea routes. The expansion of Spain interfered with his intentions.

The Muscovite kingdom was then fighting for access to the Baltic Sea. The Habsburgs supported Catholic Poland in order to prevent Moscow's advance to the west.

At the same time, in most European countries there was a decline in the authority of the Catholic Church. In some countries the Reformation took place, in others the Counter-Reformation began. Both sides did not want to come to an agreement and sought to destroy the enemy. The consequence of the aggravation of these contradictions was the Thirty Years' War(1618-1648)

2. Causes of the war

The Habsburg dynasty played a significant role in the life of Europe at that time. In the middle of the 15th century. The Habsburgs were continually elected as Holy Roman Emperors. The collapse of the state of Charles V did not soften the severity of international contradictions in Europe. Both branches of the Habsburg dynasty fought against Protestants, supported Catholics and tried to assert their dominance over the countries of Europe. At the beginning of the 17th century. The Habsburgs came to the conclusion that common action would benefit them. This has caused great concern in many European countries.

The Habsburgs continued, as before, to dream of creating a world Catholic empire under their leadership. Relying on the support of the Catholic Church, the Habsburgs intended to destroy not only the Protestant movement in the lands under their control, but also any movements for liberation from the rule of their dynasty.

The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg launched an active struggle against Protestants. With the support of Rudolf II, the Jesuits began to expand their activities in the Czech Republic and the Protestant principalities of Germany. In response to persecution, the Protestant princes of Germany united in Evangelical Union, Which was headed by Elector Frederick of the Palatinate. But the Catholic princes created their own union in 1609 called Catholic League, Led by Maximilian of Bavaria. Both alliances sought supporters in Europe. The Evangelical League was supported by the Protestant countries of Holland, Denmark, Sweden and England, and also by France, although it was a Catholic country, it did not want the Habsburgs to increase their influence in Europe. The Catholic League was supported by the Austro-German and Spanish Habsburgs.

Relations between the two camps were deteriorating, and all that was needed was a reason for a war to start.

The era of modern times for several hundred years gave Europe more and more new concepts from all sides public life. Great geographical discoveries, philosophical ideas of prominent humanists, scientific achievements, revolutionary economic teachings contributed rapid development socio-political and economic relations on the continent. International relations and military affairs also received their share of modern ideas.

The Thirty Years' War as a new stage of military conflicts

The Reformation, which unfolded in Europe in the first half of the 16th century, lasted more than a hundred years. The final point in religious strife was the Thirty Years' War, as a result of which the Catholic Habsburg dynasty lost its position as hegemon in Europe. And the religious factor has ceased to play a significant role in the system of international relations. In addition to being the last serious religious conflict in Europe, the Thirty Years' War was the first conflict in which almost all states of the continent took part. The Old World has never known such large-scale confrontations.

Causes of the Thirty Years' War and its course

At the beginning of the 16th century, large-scale activities of the Catholic Counter-Reformation unfolded throughout the continent. The fires of the Inquisition flared up everywhere, directed primarily against the new-fangled Protestant movements. However, the latter had gained weight by this time and were not going to give up, which resulted in the Thirty Years' War. Religious reasons, however, were only one of the elements. Political prerequisites include the desire of progressive countries to free themselves from the dictates of religious bosses and pursue a more pragmatic national policy. Actually, the political and religious, as throughout the entire Reformation, are closely intertwined here. The Thirty Years' War began in the spring of 1618 in Bohemia as a confrontation between Czech Protestants and German Habsburg troops. Soon two large-scale coalitions were drawn into the conflict: the Evangelical Union, which included the countries of Scandinavia, France, Russia, Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Zaporozhye Army and a number of others; and the Catholic League, which included many German states, Spain, Portugal, the Papal States, the Crimean Khanate, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The war, which proceeded with varying success, is divided into four periods: Czech (1618-25), Danish (1625-29), Swedish (1629-35) and Franco-Swedish (1635-48). In a decisive battle, the imperial forces were defeated by the Swedes and the French, which led to the formation of new sovereign states and a significant reduction in Habsburg territories.

Results of the conflict

The Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the conflict, was signed in 1648. It was aimed primarily at three areas of public life in Europe:

1) The territory was redistributed between the parties to the conflict. In favor of the winners, of course. The Netherlands gained sovereignty altogether.

2) The German emperor no longer extended his sovereignty to foreign states.

3) The religious factor was softened: Catholics and Protestants had equal rights.

Conclusion

After the end of the conflict, the principle of national sovereignty was adopted for the first time, according to which any ruler could act in the interests of his country without regard to the Vatican and the German emperor. IN international relations For the first time, the concept of binding principles of international law, as well as military parity in Europe and the world, was born. These basic principles still apply today.

Intensification of the struggle between two camps in Germany at the beginning of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 17th century. The offensive of counter-reformation forces in Germany intensified. They achieved the greatest success in the northwestern and southern parts of the country. Catholic Church managed to re-establish itself in several duchies, counties, former episcopal possessions, and in a number of cities. A particularly wide response, which had political consequences, received the events of 1607 in the imperial city of Donauwörth. Here there was an open clash between the Protestant majority of the population, excited by the danger of re-Catholicization, and the Catholic minority, led by the fanatical clergy, who demonstratively organized church processions. The Catholic emperor put the city into disgrace and imposed a fine on it, and one of the leaders of the counter-reformation, Maximilian of Bavaria, under the pretext of ensuring these decisions, occupied Donauwörth with his troops and actually annexed it to the Bavarian possessions.

Indignant Protestants at the Reichstag in 1608 demanded an end to the violations of the Augsburg Religious Peace and full compliance with its agreements. Catholic princes declared the need for the return of church property, secularized since 1555. Compromise was impossible. Some Protestants left the Reichstag. It was disbanded and did not meet for more than thirty years. Both camps were created in 1608-1609. military-political alliances - Evangelical Union And Catholic League. Already the prehistory of the brewing war clearly showed what a big role material interests, political calculations, and class ambitions played in the struggle that took place under religious banners. In 1609, after the death of the childless Duke of the Rhine regions, a fierce dispute broke out over the possession of these lands, not very large, but rich, also important for the strategic goals of both camps. In 1614, the “inheritance” was divided, and through the mediation of France and England, a considerable share went to the Elector of Brandenburg. Having strengthened his position, he soon doubled his possessions, adding to them the Polish fief - the Duchy of Prussia. Having become one of the most important princes, the elector laid a solid foundation for the further rise of the Brandenburg-Prussian state.

International contradictions in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. The tension in the religious and political situation in Germany was due not only to internal reasons: it played an important role in its aggravation in the early 17th century. complex relationships and contradictions played a role in the system of European states that had formed by this time, as well as the impact of international relations.

The main conflict in political life Western Europe There was renewed confrontation between the coalition of Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs, on the one hand, and France, on the other. England took a contradictory position on the eve of and during the Thirty Years' War. It both cooperated and competed in trade and politics with the countries of the anti-Habsburg coalition. Russia, Poland and the Ottoman Empire were not directly involved in the Thirty Years' War, but had important indirect influences on it. By permanently stopping the fight with Sweden for the Baltic states, but continuing to fetter the forces of Poland, Sweden’s enemy and ally of the Habsburgs, Russia contributed to the success of the Protestants. The Ottoman state, while remaining an enemy of the Habsburgs and collaborating with France, was involved in long wars with Iran and did not fight on two fronts. But one of the most active fighters against the Habsburgs was the Principality of Transylvania, which was a vassal of Turkey. In general, there were major contradictions and rivalries between the participants in the anti-Habsburg coalition, but they receded into the background before the threat posed by a common enemy. In preparation for the war, the ability of the Counter-Reformation camp to consolidate its efforts played a major role, ensuring coordination of actions between the two branches of the House of Habsburg - Spanish and Austrian. In 1617, they concluded a secret agreement, according to which the Spanish Habsburgs received a promise of lands that would form a “bridge” between their possessions in Northern Italy and the Netherlands, and in return they agreed to support the candidacy of the Jesuit pupil Ferdinand of Styria for the thrones of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and the empire. Further, more specific plans of action, like agreements between Emperor Ferdinand II (1619-1637) and the head of the Catholic League, Maximilian of Bavaria, date back to the initial phase of the war. The immediate reason it was prompted by the events of May 1618 in Prague. Openly trampling on the religious and political rights of the Czechs, guaranteed in the 16th century. and confirmed at the beginning of the 17th century. With a special imperial “Charter of Majesty”, the Habsburg authorities persecuted Protestants and supporters of the country’s national independence. An armed mob broke into the old royal palace of Prague Castle and threw two members of the Habsburg-appointed government and their secretary out of a window. All three miraculously survived after falling from an 18-meter height into the fortress moat. This act of "defenestration" was perceived in the Czech Republic as a sign of its political break with Austria. The uprising of "subjects" against the power of Ferdinand became the impetus for the war.

First (Czech) period of the war (1618-1623). The new government, elected by the Czech Sejm, strengthened the country's military forces, expelled the Jesuits from it, and negotiated with Moravia and other nearby lands on the creation of a general federation similar to the United Netherlands Provinces. Czech troops, on the one hand, and their allies from the Principality of Transylvania, on the other, moved towards Vienna and inflicted a number of defeats on the Habsburg army. Having announced their refusal to recognize Ferdinand's rights to the Czech crown, the Sejm elected the head of the Evangelical Union, the Calvinist Elector Frederick of the Palatinate, as king. A stream of money from the pope and the Catholic League poured into the emperor's treasury for similar purposes, Spanish troops were recruited to help Austria, and the Polish king promised assistance to Ferdinand. In this situation, the Catholic League managed to force Frederick of the Palatinate to agree that hostilities would not affect German territory proper and would be limited to the Czech Republic. As a result, the mercenaries recruited by Protestants in Germany and the Czech forces became separated. Catholics, on the contrary, achieved unity of action.

On November 8, 1620, approaching Prague, the combined forces of the imperial army and the Catholic League in the Battle of White Mountain defeated the Czech army, which was significantly inferior to them. The Czech Republic, Moravia, and other areas of the kingdom were occupied by the victors. Terror of unprecedented proportions began. In 1627, the so-called Funeral Diet in Prague consolidated the loss of national independence by the Czech Republic: the “Charter of Majesty” was canceled, the Czech Republic was deprived of all previous privileges.

The consequences of the Battle of Belogorsk affected the change in the political and military situation not only in the Czech Republic, but throughout Central Europe in favor of the Habsburgs and their allies. The first stage of the war was over, its expansion was brewing.

Second (Danish) war period (1625-1629) . The Danish king Christian IV became a new participant in the war. Fearing for the fate of his possessions, which included secularized church lands, but hoping to increase them in case of victories, he secured large monetary subsidies from England and Holland, recruited an army and sent it against Tilly in the area between the Elbe and Weser rivers. The troops of the North German princes, who shared the sentiments of Christian IV, joined the Danes. To fight new opponents, Emperor Ferdinand II needed large military forces and large financial resources, but he had neither one nor the other. The emperor could not rely only on the troops of the Catholic League: Maximilian of Bavaria, to whom they obeyed, understood well what kind of real power they provided, and was increasingly inclined to pursue an independent policy. He was secretly pushed towards this by the energetic, flexible diplomacy of Cardinal Richelieu, who headed French foreign policy and set as his goal, first of all, to cause discord in the Habsburg coalition. The situation was saved by Albrecht Wallenstein, an experienced military leader who commanded large detachments of mercenaries in the imperial service. The richest magnate, a Germanized Czech Catholic nobleman, he bought up so many estates, mines and forests during the time of land confiscations after the Battle of Belogorsk that almost the entire north-eastern part of the Czech Republic belonged to him. Wallenstein proposed to Ferdinand II a simple and cynical system for creating and maintaining a huge army: it should live off high, but strictly established indemnities from the population. The larger the army, the less will be the ability to resist its demands. Wallenstein intended to turn the robbery of the population into law. The emperor accepted his offer. In a short time, he created a 30,000-strong army of mercenaries, which by 1630 had grown to 100,000 people. Soldiers and officers of any nationality were recruited into the army, including Protestants. They were paid a lot and, most importantly, regularly, which was rare, but they were kept under strict discipline and paid great attention to professional military training. In his possessions, Wallenstein established the manufacturing production of weapons, including artillery, and various equipment for the army. Wallenstein's army, which advanced north, together with Tilly's army, inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Danes and the troops of the Protestant princes. Wallenstein occupied Pomerania and Mecklenburg, became master in Northern Germany and failed only in the siege of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, which was helped by the Swedes. Invading Jutland with Tilly and threatening Copenhagen, he forced the Danish king, who fled to the islands, to sue for peace. Peace was concluded in 1629 in Lübeck on terms quite favorable for Christian IV due to the intervention of Wallenstein, who was already making new, far-reaching plans. Without losing anything territorially, Denmark pledged not to interfere in German affairs. Everything seemed to return to the situation in 1625, but in fact the difference was great; the emperor dealt another powerful blow to the Protestants, now had strong army, Wallenstein gained a foothold in the north and received an entire principality as a reward - the Duchy of Mecklenburg. Wallenstein also acquired a new title - “General of the Baltic and Oceanic Seas.” There was a whole program behind it: Wallenstein began feverishly building his own fleet, apparently deciding to intervene in the struggle for dominance over the Baltic and the northern sea routes. This caused a sharp reaction in all northern countries. Wallenstein's successes were also accompanied by outbursts of jealousy in the Habsburg camp. During the passage of his army through the princely lands, he did not consider whether they were Catholics or Protestants. He was credited with wanting to become something like a German Richelieu, intent on stripping the princes of their liberties in favor of the central authority of the emperor. Under pressure from Maximilian of Bavaria and other leaders of the Catholic League, dissatisfied with the rise of Wallenstein and not trusting him, the emperor agreed to dismiss him and disband the army subordinate to him. Wallenstein was forced to return to private life on his estates. One of the biggest consequences of the defeat of the Protestants in the second stage of the war was the adoption by the emperor in 1629, shortly before the Peace of Lübeck, of the Edict of Restitution. It provided for the restoration (restitution) of the rights of the Catholic Church to all secularized property seized by Protestants since 1552, when Emperor Charles V was defeated in a war with the princes. Growing deep dissatisfaction with the results of the war and imperial policy among Protestants, discord in the Habsburg camp, and finally, serious concerns of a number of European powers in connection with a sharp disruption of the political balance in Germany in favor of the Habsburgs.

Third (Swedish) period of the war (1630-1635). In the summer of 1630, having imposed a truce on Poland, having secured large subsidies from France for the war in Germany and a promise of diplomatic support, an ambitious and courageous commander, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, landed in Pomerania with his army. His army was unusual for Germany, where both belligerents used mercenary troops and both had already mastered Wallenstein's methods of maintaining them. Army of Gustav Adolf It was small, but homogeneously national in its core and distinguished by high fighting and moral qualities. Its core consisted of personally free peasant countrymen, holders of state lands, obliged military service. Seasoned in battles with Poland, this army used the innovations of Gustavus Adolphus, not yet known in Germany: the wider use of firearms, light field artillery from rapid-firing cannons, unwieldy, flexible infantry battle formations. Gustav Adolf attached great importance to its maneuverability, not forgetting about the cavalry, the organization of which he also improved. The Swedes came to Germany under the slogans of getting rid of tyranny, protecting the freedoms of German Protestants, and fighting attempts to implement the Edict of Restitution; their army, which had not yet expanded with mercenaries, did not plunder at first, which caused the joyful amazement of the population, who gave it the warmest welcome everywhere. All this ensured at first major successes Gustav Adolf, whose entry into the war meant its further expansion, the final escalation of regional conflicts into a European war on German territory.

Tilly, at the head of the league's troops, besieged the city of Magdeburg, which had sided with the Swedes, took it by storm and subjected it to wild looting and destruction. The brutal soldiers killed almost 30 thousand townspeople, not sparing women and children. Having forced both electors to join him, Gustavus Adolphus moved his army against Tilly and in September 1631 inflicted a crushing defeat on him at the village of Breitenfeld near Leipzig. This became a turning point in the war - the way to Central and Southern Germany was opened for the Swedes. Making rapid transitions, Gustav Adolf moved to the Rhine, spent the winter period, when hostilities ceased, in Mainz, and in the spring of 1632 he was already near Augsburg, where he defeated the emperor’s troops on the Lech River. In this battle Tilly was mortally wounded. In May 1632, Gustav Adolf entered Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the emperor's main ally. The frightened Ferdinand II turned to Wallenstein. By this time, Germany was already so devastated by the war that Wallenstein, who tried to use the military innovations of the Swedes in his army, and Gustav Adolf began to increasingly resort to tactics of maneuvering and waiting, which led to the loss of combat effectiveness and even the death of part of the enemy troops from lack supplies. The character of the Swedish army changed: having lost part of its original composition in battles, it grew greatly due to professional mercenaries, of whom there were many in the country at that time and who often moved from one army to another, no longer paying attention to their religious banners. The Swedes now robbed and pillaged just like all the other troops. In November 1632, the second major battle took place near the city of Lützen, again near Leipzig: the Swedes won and forced Wallenstein to retreat to the Czech Republic, but Gustav Adolf died in the battle. His army was now subject to the policies of the Swedish Chancellor Oxenstierna, who was strongly influenced by Richelieu. Wallenstein exploited these sentiments. In 1633, he negotiated with Sweden, France, and Saxony, not always informing the emperor about their progress and his diplomatic plans. Suspecting him of treason, Ferdinand II, set up against Wallenstein by a fanatical court camarilla, removed him from command at the beginning of 1634, and in February in the fortress of Eger Wallenstein was killed by conspiratorial officers loyal to the imperial power, who considered him a state traitor.

In the fall of 1634, the Swedish army, having lost its former discipline, suffered a severe defeat from the imperial troops at Nördlingen. In Prague in the spring of 1635, the Emperor, having made concessions, refused to carry out the Edict of Restitution in Saxony for 40 years, until further negotiations, and this principle was supposed to extend to other principalities if they joined the Prague Peace. The Habsburgs' new tactics, designed to split their opponents, bore fruit - North German Protestants joined the peace. The general political situation again turned out to be favorable for the Habsburgs, and since all other reserves in the fight against them had been exhausted, France decided to enter the war itself.

Fourth (French-Swedish) period of the war (1635-1648). Having renewed the alliance with Sweden, France made diplomatic efforts to intensify the struggle on all fronts where it was possible to confront both the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs. The Republic of the United Provinces continued its war of liberation with Spain and achieved a number of successes in major naval battles. Mantua, Savoy, Venice, and the Principality of Transylvania supported the Franco-Swedish alliance. Poland took a neutral but friendly position to France. Russia supplied Sweden with rye and saltpeter (for making gunpowder), hemp and ship timber on preferential terms. The last, longest period of the war was fought in conditions when the exhaustion of the warring parties was increasingly felt as a result of the enormous long-term strain of human and financial resources. As a result, maneuver warfare and small battles predominated, with larger battles occurring only a few times. The battles went on with varying degrees of success, but in the early 40s, the growing superiority of the French and Swedes was determined. The Swedes defeated the imperial army in the fall of 1642 again at Breitenfeld, after which they occupied all of Saxony and penetrated into Moravia, the French captured Alsace, acting in concert with the forces of the Republic of the United Provinces, won a number of victories over the Spaniards in the Southern Netherlands, and dealt them a heavy blow in the Battle of Rocroi in 1643. Events were complicated by the intensified rivalry between Sweden and Denmark, which led them to war in 1643-1645. Mazarin, who replaced the deceased Richelieu, made a lot of efforts to achieve an end to this conflict. Having significantly strengthened its position in the Baltic under the terms of peace, Sweden again intensified the actions of its army in Germany and in the spring of 1646 defeated the imperial and Bavarian troops at Jankov in Southern Bohemia, and then launched an offensive in the Czech and Austrian lands, threatening both Prague and Vienna . It became increasingly clear to Emperor Ferdinand III (1637-1657) that the war was lost. Both sides were pushed to peace negotiations not only by the results of military operations and the growing difficulties of financing the war, but also by the wide scope of the partisan movement in Germany against the violence and looting of “friends” and enemy armies. Soldiers, officers, and generals on both sides have lost their taste for the fanatical defense of religious slogans; many of them changed the color of the flag more than once; Desertion became a widespread phenomenon. As early as 1638, the pope and the Danish king called for an end to the war. Two years later, the idea of ​​peace negotiations was supported by the German Reichstag in Regensburg, which met for the first time after a long break. Concrete diplomatic preparations for peace began, however, later. Only in 1644 did the peace congress begin in Münster, where negotiations were held between the emperor and France; in 1645, in another, also Westphalian city - Osnabrkze - negotiations opened, at which Swedish-German relations were clarified. At the same time, the war continued, becoming increasingly meaningless.

Peace of Westphalia. The terms of peace concluded in the above-mentioned cities of Westphalia in 1648 summed up the political outcome not only of this thirty years, but also of an entire era of confrontation between reformation forces and their opponents. The peace was the result of an imposed or forced compromise, which made significant adjustments to the system of European states and to the situation in Germany.

According to the Peace of Westphalia, Sweden - Western Pomerania with the port of Stettin and a small part of Eastern Pomerania, the islands of Rügen and Wolin, as well as the right to the Pomeranian Gulf with all coastal cities. The secularized archbishoprics of Bremen and Ferden (on the Weser River) and the Mecklenburg city of Wismar also went to Sweden as imperial fiefs. She received a huge cash payout. The mouths of the largest rivers in Northern Germany - the Weser, Elbe and Oder - came under Swedish control. Sweden became a great European power and realized its goal of dominating the Baltic.

France, which was in a hurry to complete negotiations in connection with the outbreak of the parliamentary front and was ready, having achieved the necessary general political result of the war, to be content with relatively little, made all acquisitions at the expense of imperial possessions. It received Alsace (except for Strasbourg, which was not legally part of it), Sundgau and Haguenau, and confirmed its century-old rights to three Lorraine bishoprics - Metz, Toul and Verdun. 10 imperial cities came under French tutelage.

The Republic of the United Provinces received international recognition its independence. According to the Treaty of Munster - part of the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia - issues of its sovereignty, territory, status of Antwerp and the Scheldt estuary were resolved, problems that still remained controversial were identified. The Swiss Union received direct recognition of its sovereignty. Some large German principalities significantly increased their territories at the expense of smaller rulers. The Elector of Brandenburg, whom France supported in order to create a certain counterbalance to the emperor in the north, but also - for future times - to Sweden, received under the treaty Eastern Pomerania the archbishopric of Magdeburg, the bishoprics of Halberstadt and Minden. The influence of this principality in Germany increased sharply. Saxony secured the Lusatian lands. Bavaria received the Upper Palatinate, and its duke became the eighth Elector, since the previous electoral rights of the Count Palatine of the Rhine were restored.

The Peace of Westphalia consolidated the political fragmentation of Germany. The German princes gained the right to conclude alliances among themselves and treaties with foreign states, which actually ensured their sovereignty, although with the caveat that all these political ties should not be directed against the empire and the emperor. The empire itself, while formally remaining a union of states headed by an elected monarch and permanent Reichstags, after the Peace of Westphalia, in reality turned not into a confederation, but into a barely connected conglomerate of “imperial officials.” Along with Lutheranism and Catholicism, Calvinism also received the status of an officially recognized religion in the empire.

For Spain, the Peace of Westphalia meant the end of only part of its wars: it continued hostilities with France. Peace between them was concluded only in 1659. He gave France new territorial acquisitions: in the south - at the expense of Roussillon; in the northeast - due to the province of Artois in the Spanish Netherlands; in the east, part of Lorraine passed to France.

The Thirty Years' War brought unprecedented devastation to Germany and the countries that were part of the Habsburg Empire. The population of many areas of North-East and South-West Germany has decreased by half, in some places by 10 times. In the Czech Republic, out of a population of 2.5 million in 1618, only 700 thousand remained by the middle of the century. Many cities suffered, hundreds of villages disappeared, and huge areas of arable land were overgrown with forest. Many Saxon and Czech mines were put out of action for a long time. Trade, industry, and culture suffered heavy damage. The war that swept through Germany slowed down its development for a long time. This left its mark on the entire system of relations between European states in the period after the Peace of Westphalia. Having consolidated a new balance of power in Europe, it became the boundary of two major periods in its history.

Causes of the Thirty Years' War

Emperor Matthew (1612–1619) was as incapable of a ruler as his brother Rudolf, especially given the tense state of affairs in Germany, when an inevitable and cruel struggle between Protestants and Catholics threatened. The struggle was accelerated by the fact that the childless Matthew appointed his successor in Austria, Hungary and Bohemia cousin Ferdinand of Styria. Ferdinand's steadfast character and Catholic zeal 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. Bohemian Protestants built themselves two churches on the monastic lands. The question arose: do they have the right to do this or not? The government decided that it was not, and one church was locked up and the other was destroyed. Defenders, granted to the Protestants with the “Charter 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 irritated the Protestants terribly; they attributed such a decision to the imperial advisers who ruled Bohemia in the absence of Matthew, and were especially angry with two of them, Martinitz and Slavata, who were distinguished by their Catholic zeal.

In the heat of irritation, the Hussite deputies of the state Bohemian officials armed themselves and, under the leadership of Count Thurn, went to Prague Castle, where the board met. Entering the hall, they began to talk loudly with the advisers and soon moved from words to action: they grabbed Martinitz, Slavata and the secretary Fabricius and threw them out the window “according to the good old Czech custom,” as one of those present put it (1618). With this act, the Czechs broke with the government. The officials seized the government into their own hands, expelled the Jesuits from the country and fielded an army under the leadership of Turnus.

Periods of the Thirty Years' War

Czech period (1618–1625)

The war began in 1619 and began happily for the insurgents; Ernst von Mansfeld, the daring leader of the ragtag squads, joined Thurn; 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 cleanse Bohemia; Matthew died, and his successor, Ferdinand II, was besieged in Vienna itself by the troops of Thurn, with whom the Austrian Protestants allied.

In this terrible danger, the steadfastness of the new emperor saved the Habsburg throne; Ferdinand held on tightly and held out until bad weather, lack of money and food supplies forced Turnus to lift the siege of Vienna.

Count Tilly. Artist Van Dyck, 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 chose as their king the head of the Protestant union, Elector Frederick V of the Palatinate. Frederick accepted the crown and hurried to Prague for the coronation. The character of the main rivals had an important influence on the outcome of the struggle: against the smart and firm Ferdinand II stood the empty, uncontrollable Frederick V. In addition to the emperor, the Catholics also had Maximilian of Bavaria, strong in personal and material means; on the Protestant side, Maximilian was matched by Elector John George of Saxony, but the correspondence between them was limited to material means alone, for John George bore the not very honorable name of the beer king; there was a rumor that he said that the animals that inhabited his forests were dearer to his subjects; finally, John George, as a Lutheran, did not want to have anything to do with the Calvinist Frederick V and leaned towards Austria when Ferdinand promised him the land of the Lusatians (Lusation). Finally, the Protestants had no capable commanders alongside their incapable princes, while Maximilian of Bavaria accepted into his service the famous general, the Dutchman Tilly. The fight was unequal.

Frederick V came to Prague, but from the very beginning he mismanaged 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; alienated the people with his passion for luxury and amusements, as well as with Calvin’s iconoclasm: all the images of saints, paintings and relics were removed from 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 the Austrian ranks 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 at White Mountain between them and Frederick’s troops; Tilly won. Despite this misfortune, the Czechs did not have the means to continue the fight, but their king Frederick lost his spirit completely 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.

The fate of the vanquished was bitter: 30,000 families had to leave their fatherland; instead of them, a population alien to the Slavs and Czech history appeared. Bohemia was thought to have 30,000 inhabited places; after the war only 11,000 remained; before the war there were more than 4 million inhabitants; in 1648 no more than 800,000 remained. A third of the lands were confiscated; the Jesuits rushed to prey: in order to break the closest connection between Bohemia and its past, in order to deal the heaviest blow to the Czech people, they began to destroy books in the Czech language as heretical; one Jesuit boasted that he had burned more than 60,000 volumes. It is clear what fate was to await Protestantism in Bohemia; two Lutheran pastors remained in Prague, whom they did not dare expel, fearing to arouse the indignation of the Saxon Elector; but the papal legate Caraffa insisted that the emperor give the order to expel them. “The issue,” said Caraffa, “is 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 and the Spanish king himself wanted to moderate the legate’s jealousy, but he did not pay attention to their ideas. “The intolerance of the House of Austria,” said the Protestants, “forced the Czechs to be indignant.” “Heresy,” said Caraffa, “ignited rebellion.” Emperor Ferdinand II expressed himself more strongly. “God himself,” he said, “prompted the Czechs to indignation in order to give me the right and means to destroy heresy.” The Emperor tore up the “Charter of Majesty” with his own hands.

The means to destroy heresy were the following: Protestants were forbidden to engage in any kind of craftsmanship, it was forbidden to marry, make wills, bury their dead, although they had to pay the Catholic priest the costs of burial; they were not allowed into hospitals; soldiers with sabers in their hands drove them into churches; in the villages, 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 the dog and the whip, announced that he was turning 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 seven villages, and all living things were exterminated; the soldiers cut off the hands of babies and pinned them to their hats in the form of trophies.

After the battle of 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 had experienced shortly before in the Time of Troubles and France had once experienced in its time of troubles 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 Arminacs; people of different classes, who wanted to live cheerfully at the expense of others, flocked from everywhere under the banners of these leaders, without receiving salaries from the latter, lived by robbery and, like animals, raged against the peaceful population. German sources, when 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 resist Tilly, who was triumphant everywhere, and Protestant Germany showed a complete inability to defend itself. Ferdinand II declared Frederick V deprived of the electorate, which he transferred to Maximilian of Bavaria. But the strengthening of the emperor, the strengthening of the House of Austria should have aroused fear in the powers and forced them to support the German Protestants against Ferdinand II; at the same time, the Protestant powers, Denmark, Sweden, intervened in the war, in addition to political ones, and for religious reasons, while Catholic France, ruled by the cardinal of the Roman Church, began to support the Protestants for purely political purposes, in order to prevent the House of Habsburg from becoming dangerously strong.

The first to intervene in the war was Christian IV, the Danish king. Emperor Ferdinand, who until now was dependent on the league, triumphed through Tilly, the commander of Maximilian of Bavaria, now put up his army, his commander, against the Danish king: it was the famous Wallenstein (Waldstein) Wallenstein was a Czech of humble noble origin; Having been born a Protestant, he, as a young orphan, entered the house of his Catholic uncle, who converted him to Catholicism, gave him upbringing 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 through a profitable marriage, he became even richer by buying up confiscated estates in Bohemia after the Battle of Belogorsk. He proposed to the emperor that he would recruit 50,000 troops and support them, 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 booty. This huge Wallenstein squad brought Germany to the last degree of disaster: having captured some area, 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 an indication of the hidden treasures, they managed to come up with tortures, one more terrible than the other; Finally, the demon of destruction took possession of them: without any benefit to themselves, out of one thirst for destruction, they burned houses, burned dishes, and agricultural tools; they stripped men and women naked and set hungry dogs, which they took with them for this hunt, at them. The Danish War lasted from 1624 to 1629. Christian IV could not resist the forces of Wallenstein and Tilly. Holstein, Schleswig, Jutland were desolate; 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 fief from the emperor, and the Duke of Pomerania 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 Edict of Restitution, according to which the Catholic Church returned all its possessions seized by Protestants after the Treaty of Passau; except for the Lutherans of the Augsburg Confession, the Calvinists and all other Protestant sects were excluded from the religious world. The Edict of Restitution was issued to please the Catholic League; but soon this league, that is, its leader Maximilian of Bavaria, demanded something else from Ferdinand: when the emperor expressed a desire for the league to withdraw its troops from there to relieve 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 the leader of a huge band of robbers became a prince, insulted them with his proud address and did not hide his intention to put the imperial princes in the same relation to the emperor as the French nobility was to their king; Maximilian of Bavaria called Wallenstein "the dictator of Germany." The Catholic clergy hated Wallenstein because he did not care at all about the interests of Catholicism, about its spread in the areas occupied by his army; Wallenstein allowed himself to say: “A hundred years have already passed since Rome was last sacked; he must now 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 of the army. Wallenstein retired to his Bohemian estates, waiting for a more favorable time; he didn't 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 to the strongest Catholic prince of the empire, the head of the league. He represented 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 and become emperor, vouching for the help of France and its allies. When the head of the Catholic League did not succumb to the cardinal’s seductions, the latter turned to the Protestant sovereign, who alone wanted and could enter into the fight against the Habsburgs. It was the Swedish king Gustav Adolf, son and successor of Charles IX.

Energetic, gifted and well-educated, Gustavus Adolphus from the very beginning of his reign waged successful wars with his neighbors, and these wars, developing his military abilities, strengthened his desire for a role greater than the modest role played in Europe by his predecessors. With the Peace of Stolbovo beneficial to Sweden, he ended the war with Russia and considered himself entitled to announce to the Swedish Senate that the dangerous Muscovites had been pushed 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; Gustav Adolf's relatives, the Dukes of Mecklenburg, were deprived of their possessions, and Austria, thanks to Wallenstein, established itself on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Gustav Adolf understood the basic laws of European political life and wrote to his chancellor Oxenstierna: “All European wars constitute one huge war. It is more profitable to transfer the war to Germany than to later be forced to defend yourself in Sweden.” 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 freed 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 represented a striking contrast to the predatory nature of the army of the league and the emperor, therefore the people in Protestant Germany received the Swedes very cordially; of the princes of Protestant Germany, the Dukes of Luneburg, 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 Swedes enter Germany and remained inactive to the last extreme, despite the admonitions of Richelieu. The cardinal advised all German princes, Catholics and Protestants, to take advantage of the Swedish war, unite and force a peace from the emperor that would ensure their rights; if they now divide, some will stand for the Swedes, others for the emperor, then this will lead to the final destruction of their fatherland; having the same 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 fall of 1631, he met with Gustav Adolf at Leipzig, was defeated, lost 7,000 of his best troops and retreated, giving the winner open road South. In the spring of 1632, there was a second meeting between Gustavus Adolphus and Tilly, who fortified himself at the confluence of the Lech and the Danube. Tilly could not protect the crossings across the Lech and received a wound from which he soon died. Gustav Adolf occupied Munich, while Saxon troops entered Bohemia and captured Prague. In such extremity, Emperor Ferdinand II turned to Wallenstein. He forced himself to beg for a long time, finally agreed to create an army again and save Austria on the condition of unlimited disposal and rich land rewards. As soon as the news spread that the Duke of Friedland (Wallenstein's title) had begun his activities again, seekers of prey rushed towards him from all sides. Having driven the Saxons out of Bohemia, Wallenstein moved to the borders of Bavaria, fortified himself near Nuremberg, repulsed a Swede attack on his camp and rushed into Saxony, still like locusts devastating everything in its path. Gustav 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 Gustav Adolf in Germany after the Leipzig victory aroused suspicion that he wanted to establish himself in this country and receive imperial dignity: for example, in some areas he ordered residents to swear allegiance to him, did not return the Palatinate to its former Elector Frederick, and persuaded the German princes to join Swedish service; He said that he was not a mercenary, he could not be satisfied with money alone, that Protestant Germany must separate from the Catholic one 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 especially alarmed Cardinal Richelieu, who, in the interests of France, did not want Germany to have a strong emperor, Catholic or Protestant. France wanted to take advantage of the current turmoil in Germany to increase its possessions and let Gustav Adolph know that it wanted to regain the heritage of the Frankish kings; to this the Swedish king replied that he came to Germany not as an enemy or a traitor, but as a patron, and therefore could not agree that even one village should be taken from her; he also did not want to allow the French army to enter German soil. That is why Richelieu was very happy about the death of Gustav Adolphus and wrote in his memoirs that this death saved Christianity from many evils. But by Christianity we must here mean France, which really benefited a lot from the death of the Swedish king, having gained the opportunity to more directly intervene in the affairs of Germany and get more than one village from it.

After the death of Gustav Adolf, the rule of Sweden, due to the infancy of his only daughter and heir Christina, passed to the State Council, which decided to continue the war in Germany and entrusted its conduct to the famous statesman Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. The strongest Protestant sovereigns of Germany, the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, shied away from the Swedish union; Oxenstierna managed to conclude an alliance in Heilbronn (in April 1633) only with the Protestant ranks of Franconia, Swabia, Upper and Lower Rhine. The Germans instilled in Oxenstierna a not very favorable opinion of themselves. “Instead of minding their own business, they just get drunk,” he told one 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 of the army was entrusted to Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar and the Swedish General Horn; 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 he went to Silesia and Lusatia and, after minor battles, concluded a truce with the enemies and entered into negotiations with the Electors of Saxony, Brandenburg and Oxenstierna; These negotiations were conducted without the knowledge of the Viennese court and aroused strong suspicion here. He freed Count Thurn, an 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 army. It was clear from everything that he was looking for the death of his irreconcilable enemy, Maximilian of Bavaria, and, knowing the machinations of his enemies, he wanted to protect himself from a second fall. Numerous opponents and envious people spread rumors that he wanted With with the help of the Swedes to become an independent king of Bohemia. The emperor believed these suggestions and decided to free himself from Wallenstein.

Three of the most significant generals in the army of the Duke of Friedland conspired against their commander-in-chief, and Wallenstein was killed at the beginning of 1634 in Jäger. This is how the famous chieftain of a rabble gang died, 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, he was indifferent to faith, but he believed in the stars and diligently studied astrology.

After Wallenstein's death, the emperor's son Ferdinand took over the main command of the imperial army. In the fall of 1634, the imperial troops united with the Bavarian troops and completely 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 union.

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 defeat of Nördlingen, turned to France with a request for help; Richelieu concluded an agreement with him, according to which Bernhard’s army was to be maintained 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 entered into an alliance with Holland against the Spaniards, allies of the emperor.

In 1636, military fortune again passed to the side of the Swedes, who were commanded by General Baner. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar also fought happily 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 as a hired army. The French army arrived in southern Germany to act here against the Austrians and Bavarians. On the other hand, the French operated in the Spanish Netherlands: the young Prince of Condé began his brilliant career with a victory over the Spaniards at Rocroi.

Peace of Westphalia 1648

Meanwhile, Emperor Ferdinand II died in February 1637, and under his son, Ferdinand III, peace negotiations began in Westphalia in 1643: in Osnabrück between the emperor and 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 fair fears. The French government did not hide its plans: according to Richelieu’s thoughts, two essays were written (by Dupuis and Cassan), which proved the rights of the French kings to various kingdoms, duchies, counties, cities and countries; it turned out that Castile, Arragonia, Catalonia, Navarre, Portugal, Naples, Milan, Genoa, the Netherlands, England should 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, interpreted to Louis XIII about "natural boundaries" France. “There is no need,” he said, “to imitate the Spaniards, who always try to expand their possessions; France must think only about how to strengthen itself, it must establish itself in Mena and reach Strasbourg, but at the same time it must act slowly and carefully; one can also think about Navarre and Franche-Comté.” Before his death, the cardinal said: “The goal of my ministry was to return to Gaul its ancient borders assigned to it.” nature, to equalize the new Gaul in everything with the ancient one.” It is not surprising, therefore, that during the Westphalian negotiations, Spanish diplomats began to curry favor with the Dutch, even deciding to tell the latter that the Dutch waged a just war against Spain, because they defended their freedom; but it would be extremely unwise on their part to help France strengthen itself in their neighborhood. The Spanish diplomats promised the two Dutch commissioners 200,000 thalers; The French king wrote to his representatives asking whether it was possible to win the Dutch over to his side with some gift.

In October 1648, negotiations ended. France received the Austrian part of Alsace, Sundgau, Breisach, preserving for the imperial cities and owners their previous relations to the empire. Sweden received most of Pomerania, the island of Rügen, the city of Wismar, the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, also preserving their previous relations with Germany. Brandenburg received part of Pomerania and several bishoprics; Saxony - lands of the Lusatians (Lausitz); Bavaria - Upper Palatinate and retained the electorate for its duke; The Lower Palatinate, with the newly established eighth electorate, was given to the son of the unfortunate Frederick. Switzerland and the Netherlands were recognized as independent states. Regarding Germany, it was decided that legislative power in the empire, the right to collect taxes, declare war and make 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 enter into alliances with each other and with other states, but not against the emperor and the empire. The imperial court, which resolved disputes between officials and 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 given complete religious and liturgical freedom and equal 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, imperial power completely declined, and the unity of the country remained only in name. The empire was a motley mixture of heterogeneous possessions that 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 power in name, which was obliged to take care of the good of the empire, and meanwhile there was no force that could force the assistance of this general power, the princes considered themselves entitled to postpone any care for the affairs of the common fatherland and have learned to take its interests to heart; their views, their feelings became shallow; They could not act separately due to powerlessness, the insignificance of their means, and they completely lost the habit of any general action, not being very accustomed to it before, as we saw; as a result, they had to bow before all power. Since they had lost consciousness of the highest government interests, the only goal of their aspirations was to feed themselves at the expense of their possessions and to feed themselves as satisfyingly as possible; for this, after the Thirty Years' War, they had every opportunity: during the war they were accustomed to collecting taxes without asking the 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 with which it was necessary to reckon; During the war, the princes organized an army for themselves, and it remained with them after the war, strengthening their power. Thus, the limitation of princely power by ranks that existed before disappeared, and the unlimited power of the princes with the bureaucracy was established, which could not be useful in small estates, especially according to the above-mentioned character adopted by the princes.

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

Regarding the whole of Europe, the Thirty Years' War, having weakened the House of Habsburg, fragmented and completely weakened Germany, thereby raised France and made it the leading power in Europe. A consequence of the Thirty Years' War was also that Northern Europe, represented by Sweden, took an active part in the fate of other states and became an important member of the European system. Finally, the Thirty Years' War was the last religious war; The Peace of Westphalia, by 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 large numbers, are secularized, pass to secular Protestant rulers; It was said that in Münster and Osnabrück diplomats played with bishoprics and abbeys, like children play with nuts and dough. The Pope protested against the world, but no one paid attention to his protest.

Thirty Years' War 1618-1648

The reasons that caused this war were both religious and political. The Catholic reaction, which established itself in Europe from the second half of the 16th century, set as its task the eradication of Protestantism and, together with the latter, the entire modern individualistic culture and the restoration of Catholicism and Romanism. The Jesuit Order, the Council of Trent and the Inquisition were three powerful weapons through which reaction took hold in Germany. The Augsburg religious peace of 1555 was only a truce and contained a number of decrees that constrained the individual freedom of Protestants. Misunderstandings between Catholics and Protestants soon resumed, leading to major conflicts in the Reichstag. The reaction goes on the offensive. From the beginning of the 17th century, the idea of ​​Habsburg universalism was combined with a purely ultramontane tendency. Rome remains the ecclesiastical center of Catholic propaganda, Madrid and Vienna its political centers. The Catholic Church has to fight Protestantism, the German emperors have to fight the territorial autonomy of the princes. By the beginning of the 17th century, relations had worsened to the point that two unions were formed, Catholic and Protestant. Each of them had its own adherents outside Germany: the first was patronized by Rome and Spain, the second by France and partly the Netherlands and England. The Protestant League, or Union, was formed in 1608 in Agausen, the Catholic League in 1609 in Munich; the first was headed by the Palatinate, the second by Bavaria. Reign of the Emperor Rudolf II passed through everything in turmoil and movements caused by religious persecution. In 1608, he was forced to limit himself to Bohemia alone, losing to his brother Matthias Hungary, Moravia and Austria. Events in the duchies of Cleve, Berg and Jülich and in Donauwerth (q.v.) strained relations between Protestants and Catholics to the extreme. With the death of Henry IV (1610), the Protestants had no one to rely on, and the slightest spark was enough to cause a fierce war. It broke out in Bohemia. In July 1609, Rudolf granted religious freedom to the evangelical Czech Republic and guaranteed the rights of Protestants (the so-called charter of majesty). He died in 1612; Matthias became emperor. The Protestants had some hopes for him, since he once spoke out against the Spanish course of action in the Netherlands. At the Imperial Diet of Regensburg in 1613, heated debates took place between Protestants and Catholics, with Matthias doing nothing for the Protestants. The situation worsened when the childless Matthias had to appoint his cousin, the fanatic Ferdinand of Styria, as his heir in Bohemia and Hungary (see. ). Based on the charter of 1609, Protestants gathered in Prague in 1618 and decided to resort to force. On May 23, the famous “defenestration” of Slavata, Martinitz and Fabricius took place (these advisers to the emperor were thrown out of the window of the Prague castle into the fortress moat). Relations between Bohemia and the House of Habsburg were severed; A provisional government was established, consisting of 30 directors, and an army was formed, the commanders of which were appointed Count Thurn and Count Ernst Mansfeld, a Catholic but an opponent of the Habsburgs. The Czechs also entered into relations with the Transylvanian prince Bethlen Gabor. Matthias died during negotiations with the directors, in March 1619. The throne passed to Ferdinand II. The Czechs refused to recognize him and elected the twenty-three-year-old Elector of the Palatinate, Frederick, as their king. The Czech uprising was the reason for the 30-year war, the theater of which became Central Germany.

The first period of the war - the Bohemian-Palatinate - lasted from 1618 to 1623. From the Czech Republic, hostilities spread to Silesia and Moravia. Under the command of Turnus, part of the Czech army moved to Vienna. Frederick hoped for help from his co-religionists in Germany and from his father-in-law, James of England, but in vain: he had to fight alone. At White Mountain, November 8, 1620, the Czechs were completely defeated; Frederick fled. The reprisal against the vanquished was brutal: the Czechs were deprived of religious freedom, Protestantism was eradicated, and the kingdom was closely connected with the hereditary lands of the Habsburgs. Now the Protestant troops were led by Ernst Mansfeld, Duke Christian of Brunswick and Margrave Georg Friedrich of Baden-Durlach. At Wiesloch, Mansfeld inflicted a significant defeat on the Ligists (April 27, 1622), while the other two commanders were defeated: Georg Friedrich at Wimpfen, May 6, Christian at Hoechst, June 20, and at Stadtlohn (1623). In all these battles the Catholic troops were commanded by Tilly and Cordoba. However, the conquest of the entire Palatinate was still a long way off. Only by clever deception did Ferdinand II achieve his goal: he convinced Frederick to release the troops of Mansfeld and Christian (both retired to the Netherlands) and promised to begin negotiations to end the war, but in fact he ordered the Ligists and Spaniards to invade Frederick’s possessions from all sides; in March 1623, the last Palatinate fortress, Frankenthal, fell. At a meeting of princes in Regensburg, Frederick was deprived of the title of elector, which was transferred to Maximilian of Bavaria, as a result of which Catholics received a numerical superiority in the college of electors. Although the Upper Palatinate had to swear allegiance to Maximilian from 1621, however, formal annexation took place only in 1629. The second period of the war was Lower Saxon-Danish, from 1625 to 1629. From the very beginning of the war, lively diplomatic relations began between all the Protestant sovereigns of Europe , with the aim of developing some measures against the overwhelming power of the Habsburgs. Constrained by the emperor and the Ligists, the German Protestant princes early entered into relations with the Scandinavian kings. In 1624, negotiations began on an evangelical union, in which, in addition to German Protestants, Sweden, Denmark, England and the Netherlands were to take part. Gustav Adolf, busy at that time with the fight against Poland, could not provide direct assistance to the Protestants; They found the conditions set for them excessive and therefore turned to Christian IV of Denmark. To understand the determination of this king to intervene in the German war, one should bear in mind his claims to dominance in the Baltic Sea and the desire to expand his possessions in the south, concentrating in the hands of his dynasty the bishoprics of Bremen, Verdun, Halberstadt and Osnabrück, i.e. e. lands along the Elbe and Weser. These political motives of Christian IV were also joined by religious ones: the spread of Catholic reaction threatened Schleswig-Holstein as well. On the side of Christian IV were Wolfenbüttel, Weimar, Mecklenburg and Magdeburg. The command of the troops was divided between Christian IV and Mansfeld. The imperial army, under the command of Wallenstein (40,000 people), also joined the Ligist army (Tilly). Mansfeld was defeated on April 25, 1626 at the Dessau Bridge and fled to Bethlen Gabor, and then to Bosnia, where he died; Christian IV was defeated at Lutter on August 27 of that year; Tilly forced the king to retreat beyond the Elbe and, together with Wallenstein, occupied all of Jutland and Mecklenburg, the dukes of which fell into imperial disgrace and were deprived of their possessions. In February 1628, the title of Duke of Mecklenburg was granted to Wallenstein, who in April of the same year was appointed general of the Oceanic and Baltic seas. Ferdinand II had in mind to establish himself on the shores of the Baltic Sea, subjugate the free Hanseatic cities and thus seize dominance at sea, to the detriment of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian kingdoms. The success of Catholic propaganda in the north and east of Europe depended on its establishment in the Baltic Sea. After unsuccessful attempts to peacefully win over the Hanseatic cities to his side, Ferdinand decided to achieve his goal by force and entrusted Wallenstein with the occupation of the most important harbors in the south. coast of the Baltic Sea. Wallenstein began with the siege of Stralsund; it was delayed due to the assistance provided to the city by Gustav Adolf, who was afraid of the establishment of the Habsburgs in northern Germany, mainly because of his relations with Poland. On June 25, 1628, the Treaty of Gustavus Adolphus with Stralsund was concluded; the king was given a protectorate over the city. Ferdinand, in order to further win over the Catholic princes of Germany, issued, in March 1629, an edict of restitution, by virtue of which all the lands taken from them since 1552 were returned to the Catholics. The implementation of the edict began primarily in the imperial cities - Augsburg, Ulm, Regensburg and Kaufbeiern. In 1629, Christian IV, having exhausted all resources, had to conclude a separate peace with the emperor in Lübeck. Wallenstein was also in favor of concluding peace, and not without reason feared the imminent intervention of Sweden. Peace was signed on May 2 (12). All lands occupied by the imperial and Ligist troops were returned to the king. The Danish period of the war was over; the third began - Swedish, from 1630 to 1635. The reasons that led to Sweden's participation in the Thirty Years' War were mainly political - the desire for dominance in the Baltic Sea; the economic well-being of Sweden depended on the latter, according to the king. Protestants at first saw in the Swedish king only a religious fighter; Later, it became clear to them that the struggle was not waged de religione, but de regione. Gustav Adolf landed on the island of Usedom in June 1630. His appearance at the theater of war coincided with a split in the Catholic League. The Catholic princes, true to their principles, willingly supported the emperor against the Protestants; but, noticing in the emperor’s policy a desire for absolute dominance in the empire and fearing for their autonomy, they demanded that the emperor resign Wallenstein. Maximilian of Bavaria became the head of the princely opposition; the demands of the princes were supported by foreign diplomacy, especially. Richelieu. Ferdinand had to give in: in 1630 Wallenstein was dismissed. To please the princes, the emperor restored the Dukes of Mecklenburg to their lands; in gratitude for this, the princes at the Diet of Regensburg agreed to elect the son of the emperor, the future Ferdinand III, as king of Rome. Centrifugal forces again gain predominance in the empire with the resignation of the imperial commander. All this, of course, played into the hands of Gustav Adolf. Due to the reluctance of Saxony and Brandenburg to join Sweden, the king had to move deep into Germany with great caution. He first cleared the Baltic coast and Pomerania of imperial troops, then ascended the Oder to besiege Frankfurt and divert Tilly from Protestant Magdeburg. Frankfurt surrendered to the Swedes almost without resistance. Gustav wanted to immediately go to the aid of Magdeburg, but the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg did not give him passage through their lands. The first to concede was Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg; John George of Saxony persisted. Negotiations dragged on; Magdeburg fell in May 1631, Tilly betrayed it to fire and robbery and moved against the Swedes. In January 1631, Gustav Adolf concluded an agreement with France (in Berwald), which pledged to support Sweden with money in its fight against the Habsburgs. Having learned of Tilly's movement, the king took refuge in Verbena; all Tilly's attempts to take this fortification were in vain. Having lost many men, he invaded Saxony, hoping to persuade John George to join the league. The Elector of Saxony turned for help to Gustavus Adolphus, who marched into Saxony and utterly defeated Tilly at Breitenfeld, September 7, 1631. The army of the league was destroyed; the king became protector of German Protestants. The Elector's troops, joining the Swedish ones, invaded Bohemia and occupied Prague. Gustav Adolf entered Bavaria in the spring of 1632. Tilly was defeated by the Swedes for the second time at Lech and soon died. Bavaria was entirely in the hands of the Swedes. Ferdinand II was forced to turn to Wallenstein for help a second time; Maximilian of Bavaria himself petitioned for this. Wallenstein was tasked with forming a large army; the emperor appointed him a commander with unlimited power. Wallenstein's first task was to expel the Saxons from Bohemia; he then marched on Nuremberg. Gustav Adolf hastened to the aid of this city. Both troops stood near Nuremberg for several weeks. The Swedes' attack on Wallenstein's fortified camp was repulsed. Gustav Adolf, in order to distract Wallenstein from Nuremberg, returned to Bavaria; Wallenstein moved to Saxony. The king, by virtue of the agreement with the elector, had to rush to his aid. He overtook Wallenstein at Lutzen, where he fought with him in November 1632 and died a heroic death; his place was taken by Bernhard of Weimar and Gustav Horn. The Swedes won, Wallenstein retreated. After the death of the king, management of affairs passed to his chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, “the legate of Sweden in Germany.” At the Heilbronn Convention (1633), Oxenstierna achieved the union of the Protestant districts - Franconian, Swabian and Rhine - with Sweden. An evangelical union was formed; Oxenstierna was appointed its director. Wallenstein, after Lutzen, retreated to Bohemia; Here the idea matured for him to break away from the emperor. The Swedes occupied Regensburg and took winter quarters in the Upper Palatinate. In 1634 Wallenstein was killed in Eger. Imperial High Command. troops passed to Archduke Ferdinand Gallas and Piccolomini. Having recaptured Regensburg from the Swedes, they inflicted a decisive defeat on them at Nerdlingen (September 1634). Horn was captured, Bernhard and a small detachment escaped to Alsace, where he continued the war with the help of French subsidies. The Heilbron Union collapsed. Louis XIII, for the cession of Alsace, promised the Protestants 12,000 troops. The Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg concluded a separate peace with the emperor (Prague Peace of 1635). The example of both electors was soon followed by some less significant principalities. In order to prevent Habsburg policy from reaching complete triumph, France has been actively participating in the war since 1635. The war was waged by her both with Spain and with the emperor. The fourth, French-Swedish period of the war lasted from 1635 to 1648. John Banner commanded the Swedish troops. He attacked the Elector of Saxony, who had betrayed the Protestant cause, defeated him at Wittstock (1636), occupied Erfurt and devastated Saxony. Gallas opposed Banner; Banner locked himself in Torgau and withstood the attack of the imperial troops for 4 months (from March to June 1637). ), but was forced to retreat to Pomerania. Ferdinand II died in February 1637; His son Ferdinand III (1637-57) became emperor. In Sweden, the most energetic measures were taken to continue the war. 1637 and 1638 were the most difficult years for the Swedes. The imperial troops also suffered a lot; Gallas was forced to retreat from Northern Germany. Banner pursued him and at Chemnitz (1639) inflicted a strong defeat on him, after which he launched a devastating raid on Bohemia. Bernhard of Weimar commanded the Western army; he crossed the Rhine several times and in 1638 defeated the imperial troops at Rheinfelden. After a long siege, Breizakh was also captured. After Bernhard's death in 1639, his army transferred to French service and came under the command of Gebrian. Together with him, Banner had in mind to attack Regensburg, where at that time the Reichstag was opened by Ferdinand III; but the ensuing thaw prevented the implementation of this plan. Banner moved through Bohemia to Saxony, where he died in 1641. He was replaced by Torstenson. He invaded Moravia and Silesia, and in 1642 in Saxony he defeated Piccolomini at the Battle of Breitenfeld, again invaded Moravia and threatened to march on Vienna, but in September 1643 he was called to the north, where the struggle between Sweden and Denmark resumed. Gallas followed on Thorstenson's heels. Having cleared Jutland of Danish troops, Thorstenson turned south and defeated Gallas at Jüterbock in 1614, after which he appeared for the third time in the hereditary lands of the emperor and defeated Goetz and Hatzfeld at Jankov in Bohemia (1645). Hoping for Rakoczi's help, Thorstenson had in mind a campaign against Vienna, but since he did not receive help on time, he retreated to the north. Due to illness, he had to hand over the leadership to Wrangel. During this time, France focused all its attention on West Germany. Hebrian defeated the imperial troops at Kempen (1642); Condé defeated the Spaniards at Rocroi in 1643. After Hebriand's death, the French were defeated by the Bavarian general Mercy and von Werth, but with the appointment of Turenne as commander-in-chief, things again took a turn favorable for France. The entire Rhine Palatinate was under the control of the French. After the battles of Mergentheim (1645, French defeated) and Allerheim (Imperials defeated), Turenne allied with Wrangel, and together they decided to invade southern Germany. Bavaria was forced to break its alliance with the emperor and conclude a truce in Ulm (1647), but Maximilian changed his word and the united French and Swedish troops, who had just defeated the emperor. commander Melandrus under Zusmarshausen, carried out devastating invasions into Bavaria, and from here into Württemberg. At the same time, another Swedish army, under the command of Königsmarck and Wittenberg, successfully operated in Bohemia. Prague almost became the prey of Königsmarck. From September 1648, Wrangel's place was taken by Carl Gustav, Count Palatine of the Rhine. The siege of Prague he began was lifted with the news of the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia. The war ended under the walls of the city in which it began. Peace negotiations between the warring powers began as early as 1643, in Münster and Osnabrück; in the first there were negotiations with French diplomats, in the second - with Swedish ones. On October 24, 1648, the peace known as the Treaty of Westphalia (q.v.) was concluded. The economic condition of Germany after the war was the most difficult; the enemies remained in it long after 1648, and the old order of things was restored very slowly. The population of Germany has decreased significantly; in Württemberg, for example, the population from 400,000 reached 48,000; in Bavaria it also decreased by 10 times. Literature 30 sheets each. the war is very extensive. Among contemporaries, it should be noted Pufendorf and Chemnitz, from latest research- works of Charvériat (French), Gindely (German), Gardiner (English), Cronholm (Swedish; there is a German translation) and volume II of “The Baltic Question in the 17th century,” Forsten.

G. Forsten.

Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb.: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .

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