When was 30 years war

Initially after the Peace of Prague, the Swedish armies were pushed back by the reinforced imperial army north into Germany. The treaty also provided for the union of the army of the emperor and the armies of the German states into a single army of the Holy Roman Empire. Finally, German princes were forbidden from establishing alliances amongst themselves or with foreign powers, and amnesty was granted to any ruler who had taken up arms against the emperor after the arrival of the Swedes in This treaty failed to satisfy France, however, because of the renewed strength it granted the Habsburgs.

Sweden did not take part in the Peace of Prague, and it joined with France in continuing the war. France aligned its strategy with the allied Swedes in Wismar and Hamburg Early French military efforts were met with disaster, and the Spanish counter-attacked, invading French territory.

Then, the tide began to turn for the French. The Spanish army was repulsed by Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar. Then widespread fighting ensued until , with neither side gaining an advantage. However, the war reached a climax and the tide of the war turned clearly toward France and against Spain in , starting with the siege and capture of the fort at Arras.

The French conquered Arras from the Spanish following a siege that lasted from June 16 to August 9, When Arras fell, the way was opened for the French to take all of Flanders. The ensuing French campaign against the Spanish forces in Flanders culminated with a decisive French victory at Rocroi in May The two army groups moved south in the spring of , re-establishing alliances on the way, including a revitalized one with Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel.

The two Swedish armies combined and confronted the imperialists at the Battle of Wittstock. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the Swedish army won. After the battle of Wittstock, the Swedish army regained the initiative in the German campaign. The imperial army suffered 20, casualties.

In addition, the Swedish army took 5, prisoners and seized forty-six guns, at a cost to themselves of 4, killed or wounded. Over the next four years, fighting continued, but all sides began to prepare for ending the war. However, an imperial army led by Octavio Piccolomini managed to check the Franco-Swedish army in Bavaria, though their position remained fragile. There, they captured many valuable treasures, including the Codex Gigas , which contains the Vulgate Bible as well as many historical documents all written in Latin, and is still today preserved in Stockholm as the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.

However, they failed to conquer the right-bank part of Prague and the old city, which resisted until the end of the war. These results left only the imperial territories of Austria safely in Habsburg hands.

The Swedish siege of Prague in In , the Swedish army entered Prague and captured Prague Castle, where the catalyst of the war, the Defenestration of Prague, had taken place thirty years before. The end of the war was not brought about by one treaty, but instead by a group of treaties, collectively named the Peace of Westphalia.

Along with ending open warfare between the belligerents, the Peace of Westphalia established several important tenets and agreements:. There were also several territorial adjustments brought about by the peace settlements. For example, the independence of Switzerland from the empire was formally recognized.

France came out of the war in a far better position than any of the other participants. Barriers to trade and commerce erected during the war were also abolished, and a degree of free navigation was guaranteed on the Rhine. The Holy Roman Empire in After the Peace of Westphalia, each prince of a given Imperial State would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism.

Fighting continued between France and Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in Nevertheless, it did settle many outstanding European issues of the time. Some of the principles developed at Westphalia, especially those relating to respecting the boundaries of sovereign states and non-interference in their domestic affairs, became central to the world order that developed over the following centuries, and remain in effect today.

Many of the imperial territories established in the Peace of Westphalia later became the sovereign nation-states of modern Europe. The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peaces established by diplomatic congress, and a new system of political order in central Europe, later called Westphalian sovereignty, based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states.

Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order.

Europe in A simplified map of Europe in , showing the new borders established after the Peace of Westphalia. Privacy Policy. The Lutheran Reformation movement was a crucial event in German history.

This theological and religious revolution had a major effect on German politics, language and culture. Today Germany has several religious tendencies in its midst, but protestants remain in the majority.

They both loosely belonged to the same confederation the Union of Kalmar which disintegrated at the time of the Reform movement. Lutheranism soon became the main religion and this favoured the constitution of national Churches which could each retain the use of its own language — they were all under State control.

Today, even if the churches are not full, the influence of Lutheranism can still be deeply felt in the life of these countries. View all related items in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice. Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages.

Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Some claim that it was the first example of a total war, citing its far-reaching, profound and long-lasting effects on contemporary society. Some observers draw political parallels between the 17th-century wars of religion and other present-day conflicts around the world. The view, held in some quarters at least, that Westphalian sovereignty is disintegrating is fuelling creative analogies.

And when a young Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire in , Richard Haas drew parallels with the Defenestration of Prague. Some economists like Michael T. Klare claim that we could well see a return to the instability — and political and military conflict — of the midth century as resources become scarcer, climate change takes its toll and national borders are redrawn.

And strategists hold out hope that a Westphalia-style agreement could bring about lasting peace in some parts of the world. Although this is an appealing political analogy, we live in a different world today. The global order, and the way the world is governed, have changed. It is always dangerous to compare two episodes so far apart in time. Similarity is no guarantee of comparability. Those who look to the past to explain modern-day events are routinely accused of having a hidden political agenda — of making things fit to suit their message.

Documentary sources dating back more than years reveal how far-reaching and long-lasting violence profoundly affected the social and political system of the day. And we cannot help but draw parallels with modern conflicts — in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Somalia. In his treatise On War , Carl von Clausewitz argued for localized, quick, decisive battles to redress the balance of power. And in that sense, it bears many similarities with siege warfare in places such as Iraq and Syria, where both sides attempt to wear down the other but neither has the resources to win a decisive victory — with long-lasting consequences for civilians and their environment.

This process did not happen quickly. But once the violence had become endemic and self-perpetuating, change was irresistible. By contrast, the English Civil War of — did not have an appreciable demographic impact because the violence never reached a level that triggered economic collapse and mass displacement. Distinguishing between concomitance, correlation and causality is an ongoing struggle for conflict theorists. Experts still disagree, for example, whether there is a causal link between malnutrition and the spread of infectious and communicable diseases.

But we know for certain that widespread famine often comes as an indirect — yet no less real — consequence of warfare. A study on the war in Darfur revealed that, beyond its direct effects, armed conflict was driving other phenomena including population displacement and restrictions on movement.

The study also found that these phenomena were harming the economy, making it harder for people to sell their goods, and severely disrupting the supply chain, leaving an already-weakened local system unable to absorb future climate shocks or other major events.

In his book on the — famine in Sudan, Alex de Waal observed how war and violence leave people unable to fight back against worsening economic conditions.

A snowball effect ensues, whereby famine and food shortages cause the social order to collapse and people lose faith in the ability of institutions — both formal and informal — to protect them. In , Louis XIII ordered Vincent de Paul, later canonized, to send a dozen missionaries to the duchies of Bar and Lorraine to help people suffering at the hands of the invading Swedish and occupying French forces. Contemporary records recall, in harrowing detail, what life was like — people were starving in huge numbers and the Church even received reports of cannibalism.