History UsefulNotes / ThirtyYearsWar

* The poetry of Andreas Gryphius (1616-64), a famous German poet of the Baroque period, often reflects the author's first-hand experience of the Thirty Years War. Gryphius' poems are still standard UsefulNotes/SchoolStudyMedia in German schools, making him the oldest German author who is invariably covered in German class.

Indeed, 'sovereignty' is the real meaning of ''cuius regio, eius religio'': while religious affairs were in themselves important, they also served as a stand-in for the more general displeasure of the German princes at the constant interference of the Emperor and of rulers across Europe at the constant interference of UsefulNotes/ThePope (it's no coincidence that the Pope tends to drop out of European history textbooks sometime in the 17th century, reappearing only to crown Napoleon, play the spoiler in Italian unification, and do a deal with Mussolini). The Westphalian system continued unchallenged among Western powers until the 20th century, when a few theoreticians attempted to make modifications in response to the atrocities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the nasty business after the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (particularly UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars). Nevertheless, the modern system of states is more or less Westphalian and several states (particularly [[RedChina China]] and to a lesser extent [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia Russia]]) still insist on it.

These countries were a wonderfully mixed bag of big powers in their decline, rising powers ascending, and people just plain caught up in the melee, some of whom eventually did well, some of whom didn't. Although the Thirty Years' War hasn't accrued so much attention in pop culture as, say, the Napoleonic Wars, it might have concentrated an even bigger pool of political and military talent. The war congregated imperial generals like Albrecht von Wallenstein, Johann Tserclaes and Raimondo Montecuccoli; Spanish luminaries like UsefulNotes/AmbrogioSpinola and UsefulNotes/CardinalInfanteFerdinand; French powerhouses like the Viscount of Turenne; Dutch leaders like Maurice and Frederick Henry of Nassau; newcomers like the Swedish reformer King Gustavus Adolphus; and many others, all playing an often chaotic - and ''deadly'' - XanatosSpeedChess.

These countries were a wonderfully mixed bag of big powers in their decline, rising powers ascending, and people just plain caught up in the melee, some of whom eventually did well, some of whom didn't. Although the Thirty Years' War hasn't accrued so much attention in pop culture as, say, the Napoleonic Wars, it might have concentrated an even bigger pool of political and military talent. The war congregated German generals like Albrecht von Wallenstein and the Count of Tilly, Spanish luminaries like UsefulNotes/AmbrogioSpinola and UsefulNotes/CardinalInfanteFerdinand, French powerhouses like the Viscount of Turenne, Dutch leaders like Maurice and Frederick Henry of Nassau, newcomers like the Swedish reformer Gustavus Adolphus, and many others, all playing an often chaotic - and ''deadly'' - XanatosSpeedChess.

The war itself had ''extremely'' long-lasting effects, the most notable of which was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty Westphalian theory of sovereignty]], which is to say the idea that a state has territory, population, a government, and that foreigners do not (overtly) interfere in its affairs, leading directly to the modern concept of the nation-state.[[note]]Some present-day Mainland Chinese scholars have tried to tout [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing the contemporary Ming Empire's]] model of vassal/client-state relations with the outside world as the 'true precedent of the concept of national sovereignty' instead. While this model did deny the right of any Barbarian power to interfere with Ming domestic affairs, however, it explicitly endorsed the Ming's right to intervene in those of its client-states -- i.e. the exact opposite of the whole point of Westphalia. On the other hand, this is kind of the point about Mainland China's idea of sovereignty and the proper relationship between China and not-China.[[/note]]

Indeed, 'sovereignty' is the real meaning of ''cuius regio, eius religio'': while religious affairs were in themselves important, they also served as a stand-in for the more general displeasure of the German princes at the constant interference of the Emperor and of rulers across Europe at the constant interference of UsefulNotes/ThePope (it's no coincidence that the Pope tends to drop out of European history textbooks sometime in the 17th century, reappearing only to crown Napoleon, play the spoiler in Italian unification, and do a deal with Mussolini). The Westphalian system continued unchallenged among Western powers until the 20th century, when a few theoreticians attempted to make modifications in response to the atrocities of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the nasty business after the end of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar (particularly UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars). Nevertheless, the modern system of states is more or less Westphalian, and several states (particularly [[RedChina China]] and to a lesser extent [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia Russia]]) still insist on it.

Massive European war raging from 1618 to 1648 (although the [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] continued fighting the [[UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} Spanish]] for a bit longer), involving, directly or indirectly, just about every European power in some fashion. It is usually considered to be the longest recorded continuous war (UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar had a couple of interruptions, as did UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar), and in its time was one of the bloodiest wars recorded in history. It was mainly (though not exclusively) fought within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. It was devastating to the Empire: Most estimates suggest one ''third'' of Germans died in the war. In fact, a survey of Germans in the 2010s rated the 30 Years War as worse than World War II.

These countries were a wonderfully mixed bag of big powers in their way down, rising powers in their way up, and people just plain caught in the melee, some of whom eventually did well, some of whim didn't. Although the Thirty Years War hasn't accrued so much attention in pop culture and as, say, the Napoleonic Wars, it might have concentrated an even bigger pool of political and military talent. The war congregated German generals like Albretch von Wallenstein and the Count of Tilly, Spanish luminaries like UsefulNotes/AmbrogioSpinola and UsefulNotes/CardinalInfanteFerdinand, French powerhouses like the Viscount of Turenne, Dutch leaders like Maurice and Frederick Henry of Nassau, newcomers like the Swedish reformer Gustavus Adolphus, and many others, all playing an often chaotic - and ''deadly'' - XanatosSpeedChess.

All of these things flowed together to create a 30-year-long [[SophisticatedAsHell clusterfuck]] in which the sides were not always clearly marked, with certain factions frequently changing sides or essentially blackmailing their "allies" as the situation seemed to shift to their own advantage. The only major Western/Northern European areas this conflict didn't really touch were Britain and Ireland, whose island status let them mostly sit this one out and intervene only when they felt like it--though they eventually became [[UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar too busy killing each other]] to intervene at all. The three decades of war are considered to be very important because of the military, social and economic development that it accelerated: Armies in this period became even larger than they had been during the Habsburg-Valois and Habsburg-Ottoman and Religious Wars of the 16th Century, and new tactics were tried out that would eventually become important.

The war itself is considered to have been exceptionally destructive, killing off as much as 1/3 of the population of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire -- not through fighting, though, so much as causing artificial famines with the giant and marauding standing armies' need to continually steal hundreds of tons of food daily from the surrounding landscape to sustain themselves. Worse, the indecisive and back-and-forth nature of the war meant that ''the same areas'' (given their economic and/or strategic importance) were raided again and again and again (whereas others remained totally untouched), as the page quote attests. The primary causes of death during the war were thus beriberi, measles, tuberculosis, smallpox, and the common cold.

Some historians argue that, even compared to the wars of the twentieth century, it remains the most destructive war in European history in terms of its proportionate death toll and the degree of economic damage and social mayhem relative to the state of society before it. The unprecedented level of destruction stemmed from the way the war was fought continuously and entirely by very large armies operating without supply lines. Mercenaries were used very often because the new, more effective gunpowder weapons (particularly the flintlock musket) in combination with the perfection of the pike-and-shot system[[note]]Pikes and other forms of "pointy stick" warfare were not yet obsolete at this point in time. That only came with the discovery of a way to turn a musket into a pointy stick--the bayonet--which only became widespread in the last quarter of the 17th century, long after the end of this particular war. For details, see [[Analysis/FantasyGunControl the Analysis page]] for FantasyGunControl.[[/note]] had made the old knight-based model of warfare obsolete nearly two hundred years ago by this point, and yet nobody had figured out the modern model of professional armies yet.[[note]]Gunpowder weapons had existed in Europe since at least the 15th century; however, actual gunpowder weapons and tactics had changed dramatically. Technically, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli ''had'' figured out the rough outlines of the model--he advocated for armies composed solely of citizens of the state in question, although he envisioned it as a militia of all able-bodied male citizens in the style of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic rather than a professional force--but [[IgnoredExpert nobody listened to him]].[[/note]] Missing a payment would mean your armies switched over to your enemy. The soldiers themselves were conscripted. An army would come to town and say, "every man here joins us or we hang you". The ones who joined had to loot farms and towns in order to survive since armies march on their stomachs. Often an entire town had to pool their gold, and bribe the invading army to go away (of course, sometimes they'd just take the money and loot anyway).

It didn't matter whose side the army was on; to the common peasant, they were the enemy, as a farmer who found an army spending the winter on his lands would find he didn't have enough to feed his family. There were also large groups of civilians (mostly women and children) that were kidnapped from looted towns, and forced to live as servants and prostitutes for the army. Many children were born in the army and never knew anything else when the war ended decades later. Many mercenaries would just desert the army and strike it out on their own as "Freebooters" which more often than not was just a nicer way of saying bandits and highwaymen, thus furthering the plight of the common peasant just trying to live their lives.

In a grim {{Foreshadowing}} of the modern military-industrial complex, the latter half of the war became infamous for largely degrading into the various participants continuing to fight because they could not afford to stop: it was simply cheaper to keep paying your armies by looting the enemy's lands than paying the severance package. This was eventually solved by having TheEmperor pay.

Some historians argue that, even compared to the wars of the twentieth century, it remains the most destructive war in European history in terms of its proportionate death toll and the degree of economic damage and social mayhem relative to the state of society before it. The unprecedented level of destruction stemmed from the way the war was fought continuously and entirely by very large mercenary armies operating without supply lines. Mercenaries were used so exclusively because the new, more effective gunpowder weapons (particularly the flintlock musket) in combination with the perfection of the pike-and-shot system[[note]]Pikes and other forms of "pointy stick" warfare were not yet obsolete at this point in time. That only came with the discovery of a way to turn a musket into a pointy stick--the bayonet--which only became widespread in the last quarter of the 17th century, long after the end of this particular war. For details, see [[Analysis/FantasyGunControl the Analysis page]] for FantasyGunControl.[[/note]] had made the old knight-based model of warfare obsolete nearly two hundred years ago by this point, and yet nobody had figured out the modern model of professional armies yet.[[note]]Gunpowder weapons had existed in Europe since at least the 15th century; however, actual gunpowder weapons and tactics had changed dramatically. Technically, Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli ''had'' figured out the rough outlines of the model--he advocated for armies composed solely of citizens of the state in question, although he envisioned it as a militia of all able-bodied male citizens in the style of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic rather than a professional force--but [[IgnoredExpert nobody listened to him]].[[/note]] Missing a payment would mean your armies switched over to your enemy. The soldiers themselves were conscripted. An army would come to town and say, "every man here joins us or we hang you". The ones who joined had to loot farms and towns in order to survive since armies march on their stomachs. Often an entire town had to pool their gold, and bribe the invading army to go away (of course, sometimes they'd just take the money and loot anyway).

The war itself had ''extremely'' long-lasting effects, the most notable of which was the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westphalian_sovereignty Westphalian theory of sovereignty]], which is to say the idea that a state has territory, population, a government, and that foreigners do not (overtly) interfere in its affairs, leading directly to the modern concept of the nation-state. Some present-day Mainland Chinese scholars have tried to tout [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing the contemporary Ming Empire's]] model of vassal/client-state relations with the outside world as the 'true precedent of the concept of national sovereignty' instead. While this model did deny the right of any Barbarian power to interfere with Ming domestic affairs, however, it explicitly endorsed the Ming's right to intervene in those of its client-states -- i.e. the exact opposite of the whole point of Westphalia.[[note]]On the other hand, this is kind of the point about Mainland China's idea of sovereignty and the proper relationship between China and not-China.[[/note]]

The war once and for all broke any pretense of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire being a unified state, permanently knocked Spain off of the top spot of Europe's greatest power, cemented France as the dominant power in Europe (at least on land),[[note]]The English and the Dutch fought a series of wars around this time for dominance over the seas. The English ultimately won, and kept their dominance for an impressive 300 years, when UsefulNotes/WorldWarII transferred naval supremacy to the United States.[[/note]] and propelled Sweden to the status of short-lived great power. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking It also made boots fashionable.]] It concluded with the Peace of Westphalia, two treaties (in Münster and Osnabrück) that involved the Spanish accepting Dutch independence, a blanket pardon for any crimes committed in the war, and some territorial changes; it's sometimes called the "Peace of Exhaustion". The key point, though, was the acceptance that a ruler could choose the religion of his state (the so-called ''cuius regio, eius religio''--"whose realm, his religion" principle), but those who followed other Christian denominations (Calvinism was covered in this for the first time) could also do that with some restrictions. This pretty much wrapped up the religious wars of Europe.

One of the things that makes the war so maddeningly complicated is that participants have a tendency to go off and fight separate wars whenever they get tired of the main conflict, such as the Danish-Swedish war of 1643–1645, and back end of the war is largely concurrent with the beginning of the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, which had similarly wide-ranging long-term effects (for entirely unrelated reasons). Since the mid-20th century, some historians have lumped the Thirty Years War and other major crises that occurred, such as the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and Russia's Time of Troubles, into a broader period of global disaster known as the "General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century."

One of the things that makes the war so maddeningly complicated is that participants have a tendency to go off and fight separate wars whenever they get tired of the main conflict, such as the Danish-Swedish war of 1643–1645.

The back end of the war is largely concurrent with the beginning of the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, which had similarly wide-ranging long-term effects (for entirely unrelated reasons).

Massive European war raging from 1618 to 1648 (although the [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} French]] continued fighting the [[UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} Spanish]] for a bit longer), involving, directly or indirectly, just about every European power in some fashion. It is usually considered to be the longest recorded continuous war (UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar had a couple of interruptions, as did UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar), and in its time was one of the bloodiest wars recorded in history. It was mainly (though not exclusively) fought within the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire. It was devastating to the Empire: Most estimates suggest one ''third'' of Germans died in the war. In fact a survey of Germans in the 2010s rated the 30 Years War as worse thar World War II.