If you ask anyone to name Europe’s top three deadliest wars – in terms of total casualties/deaths – most people will correctly identify World War II at number one and World War I in second place. Then there will be a long pause while they try to guess which one is number three! Estimates are difficult to establish but most historians would put the figure for number three at an astonishing 8 million. The horror increases when you add to the mix… famine, massacres, plague, plunder, rape, cannibalism and witchcraft executions. Have you guessed yet?
Perhaps you’ll get it if I told you the country who at one stage was the military superpower during the war… Sweden!
To put you out of your misery the third most deadly European war was the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648)… and I was not making it up about liberal, peace loving Sweden.
Where did it take place and how did it start?
Mostly within the Holy Roman Empire-central and eastern Europe. It is often termed a war of religion… but was way more complex than that. It was fought between the Catholic Holy Roman Empire and a number of Protestant states of Germany who were supported by foreign powers like Denmark, Sweden and France.
It began amidst growing religious and political tension. One of the Protestant rulers… the Elector Palatine Frederick V of Bohemia and his supporters were outraged at the Catholic monopoly over court and military appointments. They rolled a variety of Protestant princes and states (there was no united Germany at this time) into a military alliance called the Union. In response the Holy Roman Empire formed the Catholic League.
How was a window responsible for the outbreak of war?
The Defenestration of Prague 1618. Around 30 Protestant nobles broke into government offices in Prague castle and threw two councillors out of a window… swiftly followed by a secretary! Amazingly all three survived the fall. Both sides now actively prepared for war and sought external support.
Was the war just Catholic v Protestant?
No! Politics was involved – the Protestant state of Saxony joined the Catholic League and later in the war Denmark and Sweden joined in to gain influence in northern Europe. Lastly France (a Catholic superpower) supported the Protestant side trying to damage the Holy Roman Empire.
The first major battle of the war was the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 where Catholic forces crushed Frederick V’s Protestant forces and then proceeded to sack Prague.
However Protestant supporters from abroad then got involved. First Denmark (1625-29) and then Sweden from 1630. Finally, France joined in after 1635. Britain should really also have got involved as Frederick V’s wife was Elizabeth-the daughter of James I of England – but he refused to help his daughter and son in law; a decision that outraged many in Protestant Britain. Evidence of this outrage can be seen in the 130,000 Britons who joined the Protestant Union’s forces – mainly those of Denmark and Sweden.
So, ok you were joking about Sweden though?
No! Sweden joined the war from 1630 – led by their king Gustavus Adolphus-nicknamed the Lion of the North. He was a brilliant military innovator who is still regarded by most military historians as the founder of modern warfare. His tactics and exploits at the Battle of Breitenfeld 1631, where he inflicted the first major defeat on the Catholic army, turned him into a European Protestant military superstar. Prayers were even said for him in English church services. Tragically he was killed the following year at the Battle of Lutzen.
How bad was the war for civilians and why did it drag on for 30 years?
It was disastrous and terrifying because if your community was visited by soldiers – and it didn’t matter which side – there would be trouble. Both sides could not pay their soldiers, so they had to live off the land. Most commanders were unwilling or unable to stop their troops plundering and worse. Refugees fled everywhere to get away from oncoming troops. Crops and harvests were plundered – famine was rife with accounts of cannibalism in some parts of Germany. Plague was rampant and fear of witchcraft led to thousands of executions.
There were numerous atrocities – the most infamous was the sack of the Protestant city of Magdeburg in 1631. It came after seven months of siege by Catholic forces led by the Count of Tilly. The city had repeatedly refused to surrender so when the Catholic forces finally smashed their way in they took a terrible revenge. About 90% of the city was destroyed and about 80% of the population killed – 25,000.
The war dragged on for so long because neither side was strong enough to win outright victory. However, by 1645 both sides began to negotiate – resulting in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
Huge areas of Europe remained a virtual wasteland for decades and the German states took another 100 years to start recovering. It was that bad!
Sources:
https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/europes-apocalypse-the-thirty-years-war/