50 Fun Facts About Thirty Years' War

In which years was the war fought?

The war's thirty years are usually dated from the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 to the Westphalian treaties signed in October 1648.

Where did most of the fighting take place?

Germany bore the brunt: parts of it reported population declines of more than 50 per cent.

Which 1648 settlement brought the war to an end?

Its terms included greater autonomy for Bavaria and Saxony, Swedish gains in northern Germany and Spain's acceptance of Dutch independence.

Which 1555 settlement split the empire into Catholic and Lutheran states?

Its principle was cuius regio, eius religio: a state's faith followed its ruler's. Calvinism, which it ignored, later undermined it.

Who replaced Ferdinand II as king of Bohemia in 1619, spreading the war to the Rhineland?

Frederick was swiftly deposed, but his involvement dragged the Palatinate, and with it Spain and the Dutch, into the fighting.

Where were two of Ferdinand's officials thrown from a window in May 1618?

Vilem Slavata, Jaroslav Borzita and their secretary Filip Fabricius all survived the fall in what became the Third Defenestration.

Which November 1620 battle destroyed the Bohemian army and sent Frederick fleeing?

After the defeat Frederick lived out his life in Dutch exile, dying in November 1632.

Who led the Imperial-Catholic League army that Maximilian funded against Bohemia in 1620?

Tilly shared command with the Count de Bucquoy; the army pacified Upper and Lower Austria before marching on Prague.

Which Swedish king landed in Pomerania in June 1630 with nearly 18,000 troops?

He had just finished a war with his Catholic cousin Sigismund of Poland, who also claimed the Swedish throne.

At which November 1632 battle was Gustavus killed?

Some Swedish units lost over 60 per cent of their men, yet the Imperial army retreated at dusk and most historians call it a Swedish victory.

Which imperial generalissimo was assassinated by his own officers at Cheb in 1634?

Rumours that he was about to switch sides led Ferdinand II to order his arrest; he was killed on 25 February.

Which French minister agreed to bankroll the Swedes under the 1631 Treaty of Bärwalde?

French money bridged the gap between Sweden and wary German states like Saxony and Brandenburg.

Under the Treaty of Bärwalde, how many Reichstaler a year did France pay Sweden?

That was about one million livres, enough to keep 36,000 Swedish troops in the field.

Which city's sack in May 1631 became a warning of what imperial victory would mean?

The diaries of Peter Hagendorf, a soldier who took part, remain one of the war's most vivid first-hand accounts.

At which September 1631 battle did Gustavus beat Tilly's traditionally organised army?

It is the textbook demonstration of the Swedish line formation with light artillery on each flank.

At which April 1632 battle was Tilly killed?

Rain on the river Lech opened Bavaria to the Swedes, whose supply lines were then cut at Fürth.

Which September 1634 defeat cost Sweden control of southern Germany?

A Spanish army raised in Italy joined 15,000 Imperial troops and beat Horn and Bernard of Saxe-Weimar.

Ferdinand II's 1629 decree demanded the return of church lands taken after which year?

Enforcing it would have redrawn nearly every state boundary in north and central Germany and denied Calvinism existed.

Which 1629 measure did Ferdinand II withdraw under the 1635 Peace of Prague?

In exchange the German leagues dissolved their armies; the war stopped being a mainly inter-German religious fight.

In which year did France formally join the war as Sweden's ally?

France had already opened its own war with Spain in May 1635; Sweden was by then heavily reliant on French money.

Which Spanish commander needed to secure the Spanish Road before the Dutch truce expired?

By 1618 the only stretch not in Spanish hands ran through the Electoral Palatinate, which is why Frederick's revolt mattered so much to Madrid.

What was the 'Spanish Road'?

It let Spain move troops by land rather than by sea, where the Dutch navy was dominant.

Which Dutch admiral beat the Spanish at the Downs in October 1639?

With the Spanish Road cut, Madrid had been forced to resupply Flanders by sea; the Downs ended that hope.

Which French commander crushed the Army of Flanders at Rocroi on 19 May 1643?

Rocroi ended any prospect of reopening the Spanish Road and finally made Madrid accept Dutch independence.

The Torstensson War began in December 1643 when Sweden invaded which Danish territory?

Christian IV had been squeezing Dutch and Swedish trade with Baltic tolls; the Danes sued for peace after Fehmarn in 1644.

Christian IV of Denmark joined the war in 1625 as duke of which territory?

The duchy made him a member of the Lower Saxon Circle, whose estates elected him their military commander.

Under the 1629 Treaty of Lübeck, Christian IV gave up which two bishoprics?

He kept Schleswig and Holstein, which Denmark held until 1864, but its time as a major Baltic power was over.

At which August 1626 battle were the Danes comprehensively beaten?

Mansfeld's army then retreated south towards the Ottoman Empire and dissolved after his death that November.

Which Scot did Gustavus send to hold Stralsund in 1628, also making him its governor?

The imperial deputy von Arnim abandoned the siege on 4 August; it was the only port big enough to build an imperial Baltic fleet.

Frederick V married which daughter of James I of England in 1613?

James later urged his son-in-law to refuse the Bohemian crown; Frederick accepted it anyway.

Where did Frederick V live in exile until his death in November 1632?

The Dutch had backed his Bohemian adventure as a way of diverting Spanish resources from the Netherlands.

How many Prince-electors chose the Holy Roman Emperor before the war?

Three were Protestant and four Catholic, so swapping Ferdinand for Frederick in Bohemia could have flipped the balance.

Which of the 1648 agreements was signed between the Empire and Sweden?

The settlement was three agreements: Spain and the Dutch at Münster, the Empire and France at Münster, the Empire and Sweden at Osnabrück.

Article 5 of the 1648 peace fixed which year as the 'Normaljahr' for a state's religion?

It also guaranteed freedom of worship for religious minorities, though not in the Habsburgs' own hereditary lands.

How large an indemnity did Sweden receive under the 1648 settlement?

Sweden also took Swedish Pomerania and two prince-bishoprics, which gave it a seat in the Imperial Diet.

Which pope denounced the 1648 peace terms?

He held that the bishoprics handed to France and Brandenburg were Church property and his to assign.

The January 1648 Peace of Münster confirmed whose independence from Spain?

The Republic was not officially acknowledged as outside the Empire until 1728, which is why the treaty counts as part of Westphalia.

Which manuscript did Swedish troops loot from Prague in 1648 and carry off to Stockholm?

Königsmarck's force seized the castle and Malá Strana in July but never took the Old Town across the river; the book remains in Sweden's National Library.

Who wrote Simplicius Simplicissimus, the 1668 novel of a soldier's life in the war?

He drew on his own service, and other sources back up the brutal everyday detail he describes.

Which 1939 Bertolt Brecht play uses the war as its backdrop?

Daniel Kehlmann's novel Tyll, also set during the war, was nominated for the 2020 Booker Prize.

Local records attribute the largest share of civilian deaths to what cause?

Only about 3 per cent of civilian deaths came from fighting; starvation took 12 per cent and dysentery 5.

By roughly what share did the German population of the empire fall between 1600 and 1650?

From 18–20 million to 11–13 million; pre-war levels were not regained until about 1750.

Of 230 conscripts from the Swedish village of Bygdeå, how many ended up dead or missing?

Another five came home crippled. Disease multiplied battle losses by a factor of two or three across the war.

Which failed 1632 assault on an Imperial camp near Fürth was Gustavus's worst blunder?

With a combined 70,000 to 85,000 men engaged it was also one of the largest battles of the war.

Which alliance did Sweden and a number of smaller German states form in April 1633?

Brunswick-Lüneburg, Saxony and Brandenburg stayed out; Oxenstierna ran it after Gustavus's death.

What were the Finnish cavalrymen Gustavus used as shock troops called?

Swedish line formations lacked the punch of columns, so the cavalry was ordered to be far more aggressive.

Which mercenary commander led the army Savoy helped fund for the Bohemian rebels?

Ferdinand defeated him at Sablat in 1619; he later fought for Frederick, the Dutch and the Danes.

Where did the Dutch capture the Spanish treasure fleet in 1628?

The loss deepened Madrid's money troubles just as the Dutch began to win the Eighty Years' War.

The witch trials of 1626–31 in which bishopric claimed more than a thousand lives?

Ferdinand, worried the brutality would discredit the Counter-Reformation, had active persecution largely stopped by 1630.

Which animals overran Bavaria in the winter of 1638 after the countryside was emptied?

The following spring packs of wild pigs destroyed the crops; an explosion in rodents worsened the food shortage.