French wars of religion

The Wars of Religion, (1562–98) conflicts in France between Protestants and Roman Catholics. The spread of French Calvinism persuaded the French ruler Catherine de Médicis to show more tolerance for the Huguenots, which angered the powerful Roman Catholic Guise family. Its partisans massacred a Huguenot congregation at Vassy (1562), causing an uprising in the provinces. Many inconclusive skirmishes followed, and compromises were reached in 1563, 1568, and 1570. After the murder of the Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Coligny in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew’s Day (1572), the civil war resumed. A peace compromise in 1576 allowed the Huguenots freedom of worship. An uneasy peace existed until 1584, when the Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre (later Henry IV) became heir to the French throne. This led to the War of the Three Henrys and later brought Spain to the aid the Roman Catholics. The wars ended with Henry’s embrace of Roman Catholicism and the religious toleration of the Huguenots guaranteed by the Edict of Nantes¹ (1598).

The thirty years war of 1618-1648. The last all-european war of religion

The Thirty Years' War has been described as the last major European war of religion and the first all-European struggle for power. It was literally a series of wars, fought mainly on German soil, and was in large part a struggle to alter the European balance of power.

The common people bore the heavy cost of this devastating war. Historians disagree on precise figures; but in Northeastern Germany in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Pomerania, and in Southwestern Germany in the Palatinate, Wurttemberg, and parts of Bavaria, population losses were believed to have been in excess of 50 percent.

The religious wars that had divided Germany and the Holy Roman Empire as a result of the Protestant Reformation ended with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. The compromise produced a peace between the Protestant and Roman Catholic states of the empire that lasted for the next 50 years. However, in the early 17th century tensions between the rival faiths suddenly revived.

The Bohemian War marked the start of hostilities on May 23, 1618. At issue was the advance of royal power through the absolutist and Catholic policies of king Ferdinand of Habsburg, soon to be elected Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II. Both sides were convinced that they were fighting for a holy cause, with the fear of not only political defeat but annihilation if the other won. Both sides searched for allies, and as a result the conflict widened, entangling it with the religious and political struggles of their neighbors.

The Bohemians appealed to the Protestant Prince of Transylvania who was hoping to win the crown of Hungary from the Habsburgs. They also elected Frederick V of the Palatinate as their new king. They hoped that Frederick's father-in-law, James I of England, and his uncle, Maurice of Nassau, virtual ruler of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, would lend support.

Ferdinand called on his allies including Poland, his cousin Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria (leader of the Catholic League of German princes), and on the Habsburg king of Spain, Philip III. In 1620 the Bohemians were defeated at White Mountain near Prague, and Frederick V lost his crown as suddenly as he had won it. He continued to fight, employing various mercenary leaders, relying on English and Dutch assistance. In 1623, however, the Palatinate was overrun by Spanish and Bavarian troops, and Frederick's electoral vote was transferred to Maximilian of Bavaria.

The war had expanded in 1621 as the Dutch and Spanish renewed the struggle that had started two generations previously with the revolt of the Netherlands. Dutch and Spanish money and military expertise fueled much of the fighting in Europe. Spanish troops fought in Germany, Italy, and France. The Dutch, with a much smaller population, preferred to finance military allies. After Frederick's generals these allies included Christian IV of Denmark, who feared the continued victories of neighbor's armies. With Christian IV soon routed by Tilly, and victory apparently in hand, Emperor Ferdinand issued (Mar. 29, 1629) the Edict of Restitution, which restored to the Catholic church all property taken by the Protestants since 1552.

After Denmark's withdrawal from the war in May of 1629 another Scandinavian power joined the fray. Encouraged by France, Sweden concluded a truce with its Baltic rival Poland, and in July 1630 the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf landed in Pomerania to begin a series of victorious campaigns against the imperial armies. The Swedes were victorious in several battles in 1631 and 1632, although Gustav Adolf was killed in defeating Wallenstein in November of 1632.

Throughout these years, the Catholic King Louis XIII of France, the traditional rival of the house of Habsburg for preeminence in Europe, had observed Tilly's and Wallenstein's victories with increasing concern. He had waged several civil wars against his own Protestant subjects, the Huguenots. After defeating the Huguenots, France turned to fight Spain. After Gustav Adolf's death and after the Swedes suffered a severe defeat at Nordlingen on Sept. 6, 1634, France openly declared war in 1635 on Spain, Sweden, and some German Protestant princes.

The ring of alliances was virtually complete; no treaty between any two states, or even group of states, could now end the war. The intervention of France on the "Protestant" side cut across the religious alignments of the warring factions. Religious aims and motivation began to drop into the background. In 1640 Catholic Portugal rebelled against Catholic Spain. In 1643 the Protestant Christian of Denmark, fearing the increasing power of Protestant Sweden, restarted the old Danish-Swedish rivalry for the control of the Sound (Oresund), the northwestern entrance to the Baltic. Once more the Danes were heavily defeated and lost their monopoly control over the Sound.

Peace settlements began in 1643 with the ambassadors of the combatants meeting in peace congresses in Westphalia. The relative position of parties continued to change when there was no immediate truce, with all parties wanting to negotiate from a position of strength. Therefore it took 5 years to conclude peace, beginning in January 1648 between Spain and the United Provinces. October 1648 marked peace between France, Sweden, the Holy Roman emperor, and the German princes (Peace of Westphalia). The war between France and Spain continued until 1659 (Peace of the Pyrenees), despite Britain joining France against Spain in 1656. The wars between Sweden and Poland and between Sweden and Denmark flared up again and were not settled until 1660 (Peace of Oliva and Peace of Copenhagen).

The Peace of Westphalia solved some problems. The Habsburgs had failed to reassert imperial power and the German princes were left with virtual political independence and with the right to choose their religion. Their subjects were given no such choice but were allowed to emigrate. In European power politics, religion no longer determined alliances, nor did it lead countries into war. Sweden had become the dominant power in the Baltic, and France had displaced Spain as the dominant power in western Europe.

The Thirty Years' Wars 1618-1648

The Origins of the Conflict

The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had brought a temporary truce (перемирие) in the religious conflict in the German states. This settlement had recognized only Lutherans and Roman Catholics, but Calvinism had subsequently made gains in a number of states. The Calvinists began to demand recognition of their rights. The Thirty Years' War began, however, as a direct result of a conflict in the Hapsburg-ruled Kingdom of Bohemia.

The Bohemian Period (1618-1625)

In 1617, the Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand of Styria as king of Bohemia. Ferdinand, a member of the Hapsburg family, became Holy Roman emperor two years later, as Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637). He was an ardent (пылкий) supporter of the Catholic cause. Ferdinand's election alarmed Bohemian Calvinists, who feared the loss of their religious rights. In May 1618, the Calvinist revolt began when the rebels threw two Catholic members of the Bohemian royal council from a window some seventy feet above the ground. Both councillors fell into a pile of manure, and suffered only minor injuries. This incident became known as the Defenestration of Prague. Emperor Ferdinand II won the support of Maximilian I (1573-1651) of Bavaria, the leader of Catholic League. Troops of the Holy Roman Empire and Bavari commanded by Baron Tilly (1559-1632), invaded Bohemia. Tilly won a decisive victory over the forces of Fredreick V at the Battle of White Mountain, near Prague. Frederick fled to Holland.

Emperor Ferdinand II regained the Bohemian throne, Maximilian of Bavaria acquired the Palatinate. The Bohemian phase of the Thirty Years' War thus ended with a Hapsburg and Catholic victory.

The Danish Period (1625-1629)

The Danish period of the conflict began when King Christian IV (r. 1588-1648), the Lutheran ruler of Denmark supported the Protestants in 1625 against Ferdinand II. King Christian was also the duke of Holstein and a prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

Ferdinand secured the assistance of Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634), who raised an independent army of 50,000. The combined forces of Wallenstein and Tilly defeated Christian in 1626 and then occupied the duchy of Holstein.

Taking control of Prague, the rebels declared Ferdinand deposed and elected a new king, Frederick V (1596-1632), the elector of the Palatinate in western Germany and a Calvinist. The German Protestant Union, which Frederick headed, provided some aid to the Bohemian rebels.

The Treaty of Lubeck of 1629 restored Holstein to Christian IV, but the Danish king pledged not to intervene further in German affairs. The Danish period of the war, like the Bohemian period, thus ended with a Hapsburg and Catholic victory.