The Thirty Years War
The War Begins Religious causes: Protestants vs. Catholics Began in Bohemia, Hapsburg King Ferdinand (Catholic) who was also elected HRE Supported by Spain & Poland (Catholic) who wanted to stop the Reformation
Protestant rebels tossed 2 of Ferdinand’s officials out of a castle window Protestant countries joined the fight and before long the conflict widened into a general European War Politics outweighed religion as a factor as both sides flipped flopped (ex. France & Sweden vs. Hapsburgs)
Estimates of 30% civilian casualties b/c both sides used mercenaries, disease, famine Mercenaries burned villages, destroyed crops and killed without mercy, used torture on both combatants and civilians Eventually in 1648 the Peace of Westphalia was accepted, France gained the most territory, Hapsburgs lost b/c princes received almost total independence in HRE, Germany divided into 360 kingdoms
“For one of the peasants they had taken they thrust into the baking oven and there lit a fire under him, …as for another, they put a cord around his head and twisted it so tight with a piece of wood that the blood gushed from his mouth , nose and ears.” Jacob von Grimmelshausen