The Thirty Years Of War

While the Thirty Years War ultimately began in 1618, this was not the beginning of religious tension and conflict within Europe. In 1555 the Peace of Augsburg was signed stating “Cuius Regno, Eius Religio” meaning whoever is in ruling gets to dictate the religion of their territory. This became an issue when a Catholic leader began ruling over a primarily Protestant population. So if the Thirty Years War was simply a religious war, then why was so much of the political system affected by the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants? In this essay, I hope to explore other factors that influenced the Thirty Years War.

The Thirty Years War was an incredibly important event that took place during the 17th century. It caused phenomenally high destruction rates throughout Europe, especially Germany. These battles that make up the Thirty Years Wars were extremely influential towards the European people and governments. The Thirty Years War seemed to have many political factors that fueled its beginning and continuation but the religious factors were more prominent and important to the progression and completion of the war.

The four stages of the Thirty Years' War, which was fought mostly in the Holy Roman Empire (modern Germany), involved nearly all of the major powers of Europe, and was a war that used religion as a cover-up for politics. The war caused the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, and the rise of France as the new power in Europe. During the war new technologies also were used. The Thirty Year's War was ended by the peace of Westphalia in 1648.

The Seven Years’ War, also known as the French and Indian War in the colonies, was the beginning of outward conflict between the British and French over North American colonies. Most Europeans viewed the Indians as a means to get something they wanted; they were pawns during this struggle in North America. During the 18th century, there were many alliances and discord among the Indians and the Europeans. The demise of many alliances was the lack of trust and suspicions of betrayal. The Europeans were a dominating force in the French and Indian War affecting aspects of territory, trade, and government in North America.

While reading history, we typically see that wars were typically fought with soldiers in close- order formations with a musket that would be fired in unison on command. Everything changed after the American Civil War, a conflict to determine the fate of slaves in the Union, erupted. Today many historians consider the Civil War as the first modern war because it depended on: heavy industry, fast communication and transportation. But this time all of these new technologies were used to its full potential. As a result new weapon technology was mass produced which inflicted heavy losses on both the Union and the Confederate sides and resulted in

The Great War, or World War I as it came to be known, dealt a devastating blow to the optimism and self-confidence of Western civilization (Foner 733). In fact, when war occurred in the year 1914, President Wilson proclaimed American neutrality. However, as in the years leading up to the War of 1812, naval warfare which was in Europe made its way into the United States (Foner 734). In addition to this, Britain declared a naval blockade of Germany and started to stop American merchant vessels (Foner 734). Moreover, Germany made the decision to commence submarine warfare on ships seen entering and leaving British ports. What is more, is that in May of 1915, the British liner Lusitania (which was transporting an excessive amount of weapons such as firearms) was sank by a German submarine off of the coast of Ireland, this resulted in the death of 1,198 passengers, 124 of which were Americans (Foner 734).

With the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War) complete, the British thought they would be at peace. The common thought was to prosper from the colonies by making them pay certain taxes based on products they imported or even exported. The American colonists and British policymakers were having major disagreements in the period of 1763-1776. The taxed colonists were resenting the British Parliament and started small protests in the area. The common disagreements were over the levied taxes, which started with the sugar, currency and stamp act, followed by the Townshend Duties and then the Tea Act which tipped the scales making most despise the British Parliament’s actions. This turned some of the colonists against the British which then

The Bohemian Phase, the first part of the war lasted from 1618 to 1625.  Prior to the war the king of Bohemia, Ferdinand of Styria who was the Holy Roman Emperor, he had ordered a decree which would have centralized the kingdom in an attempt of having the Protestant churches be closed or only give Catholic services as a result it uproars within the estates one of the uproars led to the Defenestration of Prague. The Defenestration of Prague was one of the revolts of the Bohemian Estates against the King. The main act of rebellion that took place in the Defenestration of Prague was when the people of the estates threw two of the King’s governors out a window. Due to the actions of Ferdinand the empire had elected the Elector of Palatinate Frederick V as the next king. Since Frederick was a student of the Protestant Prince Anhalt, there was a better chance of him as the next king. In the war Frederick’s adversary in both religious and political rule was Maximilian I of Bavaria. Maximilian was the leader of the League of Catholic Princes. On June 1, 1620 by the League, Frederick was told to leave Bohemia it was not long after that Frederick was unable to settle the most simple of

During the Great War, soldiers were plunged into a previously unexplored style of combat. Due to unwavering enemy and allied frontlines, soldiers dug into the landscape in order to better defend their positions. This is essentially how the four remaining years of the war were fought. Due to these stationary holdout positions and the use of new technology, such as long-range artillery, soldiers were subject to unceasing bombardment. As a result of these bombardments, military offensives, horrific scenes of death and other trench related experiences, soldiers and officers alike were psychologically traumatized. Soldiers who did not succumb to a mental breakdown had employed various coping mechanisms. This enabled them to effectively operate under extreme conditions for extended periods of time as well as to lessen the realities of war. These coping mechanisms include, but are not limited to, gallows humor, superstition, preoccupying activities such as drills and trench repair, and above all, adapting to trench warfare; learning new methods of both surviving and fighting in the trenches.

The United States had only been free from Great Britain’s rule for a little more than a decade, so the anti-federalists feared our government was going to follow the form similar to that under the King of Great Britain. The Federalist papers were written in the late 1780’s with the attempt to gain supporters on pursuing the ratification of the US Constitution. In the 85 essays authors Hamilton, Madison, and John Jay voiced their objections, they the new plan would impinge upon the liberty and rights of American citizens by having too much power lie in the central government. In the Papers Hamilton effectively stated what powers the president should and should not have and his argument was very persuasive. Hamilton took a very poignant pose

Both President St. Michael and General Grayston were ecstatic over the entry of Texas into the war. They now believed the war to be over within months as the United States Forces began to engage Texan Forces. Then word came from the field that the 3rd Army Division was being thrashed by the II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune North Carolina. It was disturbing news, the 3rd Army was an integral part of the attack against the 82nd Airborne and 3rd Infantry Division and now it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. This would leave the 2nd Army Division to take on two United States Army Divisions and one of those Divisions had Armor and Artillery, than there was still the fact they had air cover, how much they didn’t know.

Thirty Year's War= The last “religious” war in Europe. This war was fought between 1618-1648 and started in Bohemia as a Protestant revolution. When the war ended it established France as the most powerful country in Europe and left Germany in fragments.

Indeed, as people is the second pillar of the Clausewitzian trinity, the Thirty Years war can also be analysed through the prism of its massive social and demographic consequences. Considered as a civil war and still cited as an example of barbarism, this war represents a revolution in the sense that populations have undergone the violence of combats at an unprecedented scale. Albrecht von Wallenstein, commanding general of the Holy Roman imperial armies, besides emphasised the idea that “war should finance war”, meaning that populations were then the impotent victims of armies’

The Thirty Years War was an enormous conflict the likes of which Europe had never seen before. It was a war that destroyed millions of lives. It would be almost 300 years before another European war would be so destructive to the populace. The war started much simpler than it ended. Long before the end of the war both sides were exhausted. Despite this, it would take three major treaties to end this international conflict. These were: the Peace of Augsburg, the Peace of Prague, and the Peace of Westphalia. These three treaties addressed pressing issues in the Holy Roman Empire and Europe such as religious tolerance, Catholic Church property, the sovereignty of states, and the loyalties Protestant Princes owed to the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor. The only successful treaty: the Peace of Westphalia had a great deal of influence on European and eventually global politics and peace deals. This great treaty was a nail in the coffin of the Holy Roman Empire. The conditions created a weak Emperor and more autonomous German leaders. The end of the Holy Roman Empire would bring on a new, modern, unified German Empire in the 1800s;

Weapons have always been a critical factor in warfare, but in the 20th century, they became even more important and destructive, such that the world started to create new and unimaginable weapons, like war tanks.