gustavus adolphus thirty years war

A few days later, Ferdinand agreed the Peace of Prague with the German states; he withdrew the Edict while the Heilbronn and Catholic Leagues were replaced by a single Imperial army, although Saxony and Bavaria retained control of their own forces. In the last phase of the Thirty Years’ War, the most dominant player on the Protestant side was Catholic France. Other recent useful works include P. Limm, The Thirty Years' War (London, 1984), a … Gustavus simply had to guarantee the right of Catholics in conquered land to practice their religion. For this religious and economic reason, the Protestant German princes were reluctantly pushed over to the side of Gustavus, the foreigner. “Lion of the North” Gustavus Adolphus and the Thirty Years’ War: Victories and Downfall – Part II This is the recounting of the dramatic life of the “The Golden King” and “The Lion of the North” Gustav Adolf, and the Swedish Empire during stormaktstiden – “the Great Power era”. [57] Von Arnim was forced to lift the siege on 4 August, but three weeks later, Christian suffered another defeat at Wolgast. THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR (1618-1648). The combination destabilised large parts of the Empire. While less than 2% of the total French state budget, it made up over 25% of the Swedish, and allowed Gustavus to support an army of 36,000. Chronic financial weakness meant prior to 1619 the Austrian Habsburgs had no standing army of any size, leaving them dependent on Maximilian and their Spanish relatives for money and men. Up to that point, there had been important religious elements in the war, but one of the major issues was the balance of power between the emperor and the lesser German princes. [86], While he accepted military victory was no longer possible, Ferdinand hoped to restrict peace negotiations to members of the Empire, excluding France and Sweden. His achievements must surely have inspired Peter the Great to do the same for Russia. The political disintegration of the Polish commonwealth led to the 1655 to 1660 Second Northern War with Sweden, which also involved Denmark, Russia and Brandenburg, while two Swedish attempts to impose its control on the port of Bremen failed in 1654 and 1666. During 1629, another 274 suspected witches were killed in the Bishopric of Eichstätt, plus another 50 in the adjacent Duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg. So he wanted to join the war, but he would only do it under certain conditions. [79], Pressure grew on Spanish minister Olivares to make peace, especially after attempts to hire Polish auxiliaries proved unsuccessful. [118], Historians often refer to the 'General Crisis' of the mid-17th century, a period of sustained conflict in states such as China, the British Isles, Tsarist Russia and the Holy Roman Empire. The process, or 'Congress' model, was adopted for negotiations at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, Nijmegen in 1678, and Ryswick in 1697; unlike the 19th century 'Congress' system, these were to end wars, rather than prevent them, so references to the 'balance of power' can be misleading. In Lorraine, the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, occupied by France since 1552, were formally ceded, as were the cities of the Décapole in Alsace, with the exception of Strasbourg and Mulhouse. Christian retained his German possessions of Schleswig and Holstein, in return for relinquishing Bremen and Verden, and abandoning support for the German Protestants. The History of Gustavus Adolphus and of the Thirty Years' War Up to the King's Death: With Some Account of Its Conclusion by the Peace of Westphalia Anno 1648 Benjamin Chapman Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans , 1856 - Sweden - 441 pages Estimates of total military and civilian deaths range from 4.5 to 8 million, mostly from disease or starvation. In 1938, C. V. Wedgwood argued it formed part of a wider European conflict, whose underlying cause was the ongoing contest between Austro-Spanish Habsburgs and French Bourbons. Frederick fled Bohemia and the revolt collapsed. Frederick's son Charles Louis regained the Lower Palatinate and became the eighth Imperial elector, although Bavaria kept the Upper Palatinate and its electoral vote. [53], The Danish campaign plan involved three armies; the main force under Christian IV was to advance down the Weser, while Mansfeld attacked Wallenstein in Magdeburg and Christian of Brunswick linked up with the Calvinist Maurice of Hesse-Kassel. Charles I of England allowed Christian to recruit up to 9,000 Scottish mercenaries, but they took time to arrive, and while able to slow Wallenstein's advance, were insufficient to stop him. Sweden also signed a treaty on favorable terms with Poland on September 25, 1629. The Thirty Years’ War, of which Gustavus Adolphus was the greatest hero, was the result of those religious agitations which the ideas of Luther produced. In all these areas, war, famine and disease inflicted severe losses on local populations. Gustavus Adolphus once wrote that, “All wars in Europe hang together.” If Ferdinand was successful in creating a centralized Catholic Germany, Sweden would be in danger. I am now putting everything aside, which can possibly hinder a swift termination of this wretched Polish business of mine. Previously, many had overlapping, sometimes conflicting political and religious allegiances; they were now understood to be subject first and foremost to the laws and edicts of their respective state authority, not to the claims of any other entity, be it religious or secular. [137], Elsewhere, persecution followed Imperial military success, expanding into Baden and the Palatinate following their reconquest by Tilly, then into the Rhineland. [25], As a result, when the Imperial Diet opened in February 1608, the Protestants demanded formal confirmation of the Augsburg settlement, which was especially significant for Calvinists like Frederick IV, Elector Palatine who had not been included. [129], Although some towns may have over-stated their losses to avoid taxes, individual records confirm serious declines; from 1620 to 1650, the population of Munich fell from 22,000 to 17,000, that of Augsburg from 48,000 to 21,000. After Frederick was deposed in 1623, John George of Saxony and the Calvinist George William of Brandenburg feared Ferdinand intended to reclaim former Catholic bishoprics currently held by Lutherans (see Map). [103], France and Savoy made peace in the April 1629 Treaty of Suza, which allowed French troops passage through Savoy, and recognised their control of Casale and Pinerolo. He was also known for creating a revolutionary military technique that helped his military win several battles and attacks. Gustavus Adolphus saw himself as the protector of Protestantism in Germany and if north Germany was safe then so was Sweden. [116], The settlement failed to achieve its stated intention of achieving a 'universal peace'. [33], Ferdinand reconfirmed Protestant religious freedoms when elected king of Bohemia in May 1617, but his record in Styria led to the suspicion he was only awaiting a chance to overturn them. [122] Well into the 19th century, far more soldiers died of disease than in battle; of an estimated 700,000 to 1,200,000 military casualties between 1618 and 1648, only 25 to 30% were the result of combat, or combat-related injuries. Gustav II Adolf's success in making Sweden one of the great powers of Europe, and perhaps the most important power in the Thirty Years' War after France and Spain, was due not only to his military brilliance, but also to important institutional reforms in Sweden's government. The high mortality rate compared to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in Britain may partly be due to the reliance of all sides on foreign mercenaries, often unpaid and required to live off the land. [55] By the end of 1627, Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Jutland, and began making plans to construct a fleet capable of challenging Danish control of the Baltic. These actions were greeted with approval by his domestic critics, who considered his pro-Spanish policy a betrayal of the Protestant cause. Gustav II Adolf's politics in the conquered territory of Estonia also show pro… Either we must go and find the Emperor [Ferdinand] at Stralsund [a German port of the Baltic,] or he will come and find us at Kalmar [a port city in southern Sweden.]. [41] Many Protestants supported Ferdinand because they objected to deposing the legally elected king of Bohemia, and now opposed Frederick's removal on the same grounds. Dr Bernd Warlich has edited four diaries of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). [138] Mainz and Trier also witnessed the mass killing of suspected witches, as did Cologne, where Ferdinand of Bavaria presided over a particularly infamous series of witchcraft trials, including that of Katharina Henot, who was executed in 1627. Confident of victory, Ferdinand now passed the Edict of Restitution, which sought to reverse Catholic property losses confirmed by Augsburg. In return, Ferdinand made concessions to Spain in Northern Italy and Alsace, and agreed to support their offensive against the Dutch. [21], Managing these issues was complicated by the fragmented nature of the Empire, a patchwork of nearly 1,800 separate entities in Germany, the Low Countries, Northern Italy, and areas like Alsace, now part of modern France. [133] The collapse of local government created landless peasants, who banded together to protect themselves from the soldiers of both sides, and led to widespread rebellions in Upper Austria, Bavaria and Brandenburg. Wholesale Orders By weakening the Habsburgs while increasing the status of France and Sweden, it led to a new balance of power on the continent. In some areas of Germany, it has been suggested that up to 60% of the population died. [69] He won major victories at Breitenfeld in September 1631, then Rain in April 1632, where Tilly was killed. He is often [68] Payments amounted to 400,000 Reichstaler, or one million livres per year, plus an additional 120,000 Reichstalers for 1630. [44] Since Frederick demanded full restitution of his lands and titles, which was incompatible with the Treaty of Munich, hopes of reaching a negotiated peace quickly evaporated. [110], The Peace of Münster was the first to be signed on 30 January 1648; it was part of the Westphalia settlement because the Dutch Republic was still technically part of the Spanish Netherlands and thus Imperial territory. These diaries can be viewed (in German) at: This page was last edited on 23 February 2021, at 06:56. [96] Seeking to release French troops and prevent further Swedish gains by neutralising Bavaria, Mazarin negotiated the Truce of Ulm, signed on 14 March 1647 by Bavaria, Cologne, France, and Sweden. [125] Poor harvests throughout the 1630s and repeated plundering of the same areas led to widespread famine; contemporaries record people eating grass, or too weak to accept alms, while instances of cannibalism were common. The Swedes rejected a proposal that Christian of Denmark act as mediator, with Papal Legate Fabio Chigi and the Venetian Republic appointed instead. He attacked in 1625. "into line with army of Gabriel Bethlen in 1620". He would also need an English fleet to sail into the Baltic to protect him from Denmark, and last he would only fight if he was in command of all the armies raised. This view is widely accepted by modern historians, although debate continues over the extent to which it was a European rather than German conflict, and the accuracy of the title 'Thirty Years'. To recover his costs, Maximilian was allowed to annex Donauwörth, which under the principle of cuius regio, eius religio changed a formerly Lutheran town into a Catholic one. The French now persuaded the Catalan Courts to recognise Louis XIII as Count of Barcelona, and ruler of the Principality of Catalonia. This included ambitious Imperial states like Lutheran Saxony and Catholic Bavaria, as well as France, which faced Habsburg territories on its borders in Flanders, Franche-Comté, and the Pyrenees. In May 1625, the Lower Saxony kreis elected Christian their military commander, although not without resistance; Saxony and Brandenburg viewed Denmark and Sweden as competitors, and wanted to avoid either becoming involved in the Empire. With the exception of Christian of Anhalt, his advisors urged him to reject it, as did the Dutch, the Duke of Savoy, and his father-in-law James. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden arrived too late to save Magdeburg, but at Breitenfeld he changed the course of the Thirty Years' War -- and the state of the military art. Victory, Ferdinand made peace with France and Sweden respectively this seemed confirmed Tilly... 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