An outline, era by era

Holy Roman Empire

Thirty Years' War (1618 – 1648)

Early Modern Era · ~1500 – ~1800

The Holy Roman Empire was a loose union of German-speaking and neighbouring lands in central Europe, led by an elected emperor. It began with Otto I's coronation in 962 and lasted until 1806. In the early modern period it held hundreds of territories, including large states, small duchies, free cities and church lands. The emperor, usually a Habsburg, had to share power with princes and with an imperial Diet.

The Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648) was the empire's greatest crisis. It began as a revolt in Bohemia and grew into a general European conflict, fought mainly on German soil. Religious rivalry between Catholics and Protestants mixed with disputes over imperial authority and the ambitions of foreign powers, notably Sweden and France. Large parts of Germany were devastated by fighting, disease and famine. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 ended the war, confirmed the princes' wide freedoms, and shaped the German lands for the next century and a half.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Peace of Augsburg

    Event

    What happened

    In 1555 the Diet of Augsburg, under King Ferdinand acting for his brother Emperor Charles V, agrees a settlement after years of war between Catholic and Lutheran forces. Each imperial prince may choose Catholicism or Lutheranism for his own territory. Calvinists are not included.

    The rest is history

    The principle later summed up as 'whose realm, his religion' kept a fragile peace for about sixty years. Its gaps caused later trouble: Calvinism was unrecognised, and disputes over church lands stayed unresolved. As Calvinist princes such as the Elector Palatine gained power, tension grew. These unresolved questions are widely seen as part of the background to the war of 1618.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryReligious Peace of Augsburg. Imperial recess of the Diet of Augsburg, 25 September 1555.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

  2. Confessional alliances: Union and League

    Event

    What happened

    In 1608 Protestant princes led by the Calvinist Elector Palatine form the Protestant Union. In 1609 Duke Maximilian of Bavaria heads a rival Catholic League. This follows a clash in 1607 at Donauwörth, where a Protestant-Catholic riot led to the city being placed under the imperial ban and occupied by Bavaria.

    The rest is history

    The two blocs divided the empire into armed camps. Each looked for foreign support, the Union to England, the Dutch and France, the League to Spain and the pope. Historians see the alliances as making a local quarrel likely to spread. The Diet of 1608 had already broken up in failure.

    Sources

    1. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

  3. Letter of Majesty and the Bohemian crisis

    Event

    What happened

    In 1609 Emperor Rudolf II issues the Letter of Majesty, guaranteeing religious freedom to Protestants in Bohemia. In 1617 the Bohemian Estates accept the Catholic Ferdinand of Styria as their future king. Protestant nobles then dispute his handling of church building at Broumov and Hroby.

    The rest is history

    These disputes set up the open revolt of 1618. Bohemian nobles saw Ferdinand as a threat to their privileges and faith. The crisis turned a legal quarrel into a rebellion that other powers soon joined.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    2. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.

  4. The Defenestration of Prague

    Event

    What happened

    On 23 May 1618 a group of Protestant nobles confront two imperial governors, Jaroslav Martinic and Vilém Slavata, and their secretary at Prague Castle. The three men are thrown from a high window. All survive. The Bohemian Estates then set up their own government and raise an army.

    The rest is history

    This act is usually taken as the start of the Thirty Years' War. In 1619 the Bohemians deposed Ferdinand, who had just become emperor as Ferdinand II, and chose the Calvinist Frederick V of the Palatinate as king. On 8 November 1620 the Catholic forces defeated the Bohemians at the Battle of White Mountain, and Habsburg rule over Bohemia was reasserted.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    2. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.

  5. The Edict of Restitution

    Event

    What happened

    By 1629 imperial armies under Wallenstein and the League's Tilly have defeated Denmark, which had entered the war in 1625. In March 1629 Emperor Ferdinand II issues the Edict of Restitution. It orders Protestants to return church lands taken since 1552 and excludes Calvinists from the Augsburg settlement.

    The rest is history

    The edict alarmed even loyal Lutheran princes and made the emperor look as if he sought to rule the empire absolutely. Wallenstein was dismissed in 1630. Sweden's king Gustavus Adolphus landed in Pomerania that summer, and his victory at Breitenfeld in 1631 reversed Catholic gains. The edict was effectively abandoned in the Peace of Prague of 1635.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    2. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.

  6. The sack of Magdeburg

    Event

    What happened

    On 20 May 1631 imperial and League troops under Tilly and Pappenheim storm the Protestant city of Magdeburg after a long siege. A great fire destroys most of the city. A large part of the population dies, though estimates of the dead vary widely.

    The rest is history

    The disaster shocked Protestant Europe and was widely publicised in pamphlets. It helped Sweden win allies among Protestant states. Magdeburg's ruin became a lasting symbol of the war's cruelty. Historians still debate how far the fire was set deliberately and by whom.

    Sources

    1. BookMedick, Hans, and Peer Schmidt, eds. Experiencing the Thirty Years War: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

  7. France enters the war

    Event

    What happened

    In 1635 Catholic France under Cardinal Richelieu declares war on Spain, after the Peace of Prague had settled matters between the emperor and most German Protestant princes. France had already paid subsidies to Sweden and the Dutch. French armies now fight Habsburg forces in Germany, Flanders and Italy.

    The rest is history

    The step turned the German war into a wider contest between France and the Habsburgs, and religion no longer divided the sides cleanly. The fighting continued for another thirteen years. Armies lived off the land, and Germany suffered badly. Negotiations began in Westphalia in 1643.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    2. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.

  8. The Peace of Westphalia

    Event

    What happened

    On 24 October 1648 envoys sign treaties at Münster and Osnabrück, ending the war in the empire. Calvinists gain recognition alongside Catholics and Lutherans. The princes keep the right to make alliances, so long as they are not aimed at the emperor or the empire. Sweden and France gain territory, and the independence of the Dutch Republic and the Swiss is confirmed.

    The rest is history

    The settlement left the emperor with limited power over the empire's many states and gave the Diet a lasting role. The empire survived as a loose federation until 1806. Population loss in some regions was severe, and recovery took generations. The treaties are often cited as a milestone in the idea of a society of sovereign states, though some historians doubt that they created it.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryInstrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis and Instrumentum Pacis Monasteriensis. Treaties of Westphalia, 24 October 1648.
    2. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

  9. Westphalia created the modern state system

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 invented the modern system of sovereign nation states, each master in its own territory and equal to the others.

    The rest is history

    The idea took hold mainly in the 19th and 20th centuries. The treaties dealt with the rights of imperial estates, religion and territorial exchanges, and did not set out a general doctrine of state sovereignty. The empire stayed a layered structure with the emperor above the princes. Many historians, including Andreas Osiander, argue the 'Westphalian system' is a later construction. The treaties still mattered in making a settled legal order inside the empire.

    Sources

    1. ArticleOsiander, Andreas. "Sovereignty, International Relations, and the Westphalian Myth." International Organization 55, no. 2 (2001): 251-287.
    2. PrimaryInstrumentum Pacis Osnabrugensis. Treaty of Osnabrück, 24 October 1648.

  10. One third of Germans died

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A common claim is that the Thirty Years' War killed around a third of the German population, and that the whole country was left empty and ruined.

    The rest is history

    The figure goes back to 19th-century writers such as Gustav Freytag. Modern research suggests the loss was uneven. Some regions, such as Pomerania, Mecklenburg and parts of Württemberg, lost a half or more, while others lost little. Overall losses are often put at roughly a fifth to a third, with debate over the exact figure. Many deaths came from plague, typhus and hunger rather than battle. Recovery was slower in some areas than others.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.
    2. BookParker, Geoffrey, ed. The Thirty Years' War. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1997.

  11. The Swedish Draught

    Folk tale

    The legend

    In Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a tale says the town was saved in 1631 when its old mayor Georg Nusch drank a huge tankard of wine, about three and a half litres, to win a wager with Tilly. The general had promised to spare the town if someone could do it.

    The rest is history

    The story is told in the town each year in the play Der Meistertrunk, first staged in 1881. The tale appears in later accounts and has no known contemporary source. Rothenburg was in fact occupied by Tilly's troops in October 1631 and suffered heavy billeting. The town was spared destruction partly through negotiation, and its medieval centre survived.

    Sources

    1. BookWilson, Peter H. Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

← Back to the outline