The Thirty Years War

Peter H. Wilson is the author of Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire, an Economist and Sunday Times Best Book, and The Thirty Years War: Europe¿s Tragedy, winner of the Distinguished Book Award from the Society of Military History. He has appeared on BBC Radio and has written for Prospect, the Los Angeles Times, and the Financial Times. President of the Society for the History of War and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Wilson is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford. His work has been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, and Spanish.

A deadly continental struggle, the Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.

* List of Illustrations * List of Maps and Battle Plans * List of Tables * Note on Form * The Habsburg Family Tree 1500--1665 * Map of Central Europe, 1618 * Note on Currencies * Preface * Part I: Beginnings *1. Introduction * Three Men and a Window * Interpretations * The Argument *2. Trouble in the Heart of Christendom * The Empire * Confessionalization * Religion and Imperial Law *3. Casa d'Austria * Lands and Dynasty * Estates and Confession * The Catholic Revival *4. The Turkish War and Its Consequences * The Turkish Menace * The Ways of War * The Long Turkish War * The Brothers' Quarrel *5. Pax Hispanica * The Spanish Monarchy * The Dutch Revolt 1568--1609 * The Spanish Road * Spanish Peace-making *6. Dominium Maris Baltici * Denmark * The Divided House of Vasa * Poland-Lithuania *7. From Rudolf to Matthias 1582--1612 * Religion and the German Princes * Confession and Imperial Politics to 1608 * Union and Liga 1608--9 * The Ju¿ lich-Cleves Crisis 1609--10 *8. On the Brink? * Emperor Matthias * The Uskok War and the Habsburg Succession 1615--17 * Palatine Brinkmanship * Part Two: Conflict *9. The Bohemian Revolt 1618--20 * For Liberty and Privilege * A King for a Crown * Ferdinand Gathers His Forces * White Mountain * Accounting for Failure *10. Ferdinand Triumphant 1621--4 * The Palatine Cause * Protestant Paladins * The Catholic Ascendancy 1621--9 *11. Olivares and Richelieu * Olivares * Richelieu * The Valtellina *12. Denmark's War against the Emperor 1625--9 * Trouble in Lower Saxony * Wallenstein * Denmark's Defeat 1626--9 *13. The Threat of European War 1628--30 * The Baltic * The Netherlands * Mantua and La Rochelle * The Edict of Restitution * The Regensburg Electoral Congress 1630 *14. The Lion of the North 1630--2 * Swedish Intervention * Between the Lion and the Eagle * The Swedish Empire * Calls for Assistance * Zenith *15. Without Gustavus 1633--4 * The Heilbronn League * Tension along the Rhine * Spain Intervenes * Wallenstein: the Final Act * The Two Ferdinands *16. For the Liberty of Germany 1635--6 * Richelieu Resolves on War * The War in the West 1635--6 * The Peace of Prague 1635 * Appeals to Patriotism * Renewed Efforts for Peace *17. Habsburg High Tide 1637--40 * Stalemate * Resolution on the Rhine * Peace for North Germany? *18. In the Balance 1641--3 * The Franco-Swedish Alliance 1641 * The War in the Empire 1642--3 * Spain's Growing Crisis 1635--43 * From Breda to Rocroi 1637--43 *19. Pressure to Negotiate 1644--5 * The Westphalian Congress * France in Germany 1644 * The Baltic Becomes Swedish 1643--5 *1645: Annus horribilis et mirabilis *20. War or Peace 1646--8 * A Crisis of Confidence 1646 * Towards Consensus * Spain's Peace with the Dutch * The Final Round 1648 * Part Three: Aftermath *21. The Westphalian Settlement * The International Dimension * A Christian Peace * Demobilization * The Imperial Recovery *22. The Human and Material Cost * An All-destructive Fury? * The Demographic Impact * The Economic Impact * The Crisis of the Territorial State * Cultural Impact *23. Experiencing War * The Nature of Experience * Military--Civil Relations * Perceptions * Commemoration * Abbreviations * Notes * Index