The battles were mainly fought in Germany. The struggle was initially based on the religious conflicts among Germans by the Protestant Reformation, but it was later influenced by other issues, including dynastic rivalries. There were four periods in the war, which include the Bavarian Period, Danish Period, Swedish Period, and the French Period. Conflict began when, on May 23, 1618.

The Protestants in Prague threw two of Bohemian King Ferdinand II's ministers out a window. This act was known as the Defenestration of Prague. Ferdinand II was a good-natured man, not a great man, but he possessed more virtues than most kings did. He was both a devoted husband and father, and a conscientious ruler interested in the welfare of his people. It was said (with exaggeration no doubt) that when he was Duke of Styria, he knew the names of all his subjects and that he provided free legal service for the poorer ones. Above all else, however, he was a Habsburg: he was dedicated to re- storing the authority of the emperor in the Empire and of re-establishing Catholicism in central Europe.

The spark that set off the Thirty Years War came in 1618, when the

The Thirty Years War was ended with the Peace of Westphalia, signed at Munster on October 24, 1648, fundamentally influenced the subsequent history of Europe. In addition to establishing Switzerland and the Dutch Republic (the Netherlands) as independent states, the treaty gravely weakened the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburgs, ensured the emergence of France as the chief power on the Continent, and disastrously retarded the political unification of Germany.

In its final phase, the French Period, the war became an imperialist conflict for hegemony in western Europe between the Habsburgs and France, which was still under the leadership of Richelieu. Religious issues were not significant in the final phase, which opened in May 1635, with France declaring war against Spain, the chief Habsburg dominion aside from Austria. France, which was allied with Sweden and various German Protestant leaders, including Duke Bernhard, was able to quickly overcome serious difficulties that developed during the first stage of the fighting. The Swedish general Johan Baner defeated a combined force of Saxons and Austrians at Wittstock, Germany, on October 4, 1636, materially damaging the Habsburg position in Germany. In 1636, Spanish invasions of French territory were repelled. The Habsburg position in Germany was further damaged by a defeat inflicted by Duke Bernhard at Rheinfelden, Germany, on March 2, 1638. After these setbacks the imperial armies were forced to surrender their European strongholds one after another. Between 1642 and 1645 the Swedish general Lennart Torstensson scored numerous triumphs, overrunning Denmark, which had become allied with the empire, and ravaging large sections of western Germany and Austria. In the west, the French, under generals Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, and Louis II, prince de Conde, were also generally successful. Conde routed a Spanish army at Rocroi, France, on May 18, 1643. During the following November the French suffered a severe defeat at Tuttlingen, Germany, but thereafter the Habsburgs were not successful in the war, except in some minor battles. The combined armies of Conde and Turenne badly mauled a Bavarian army at Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, in August 1644. On August 3, 1645, the French commanders defeated an Austro-Bavarian army near Nordlingen. Representatives of the empire and the anti-Habsburg coalition began peace discussions at Munster, Germany and Osnabruck in 1645, but the negotiations, primarily a concession to the war-weary peoples of western Europe, remained fruitless for a protracted period. After central Bavaria was invaded, however, Maximilian I of Bavaria concluded, on March 14, 1647, the Truce of Ulm, with Sweden and France.

The economic, social, and cultural consequences of the war were vast, with Germany the principal victim. Modern estimates suggest that the total population of the Holy Roman Empire fell by between 15 and 20 percent. Villages, as opposed to fortified towns, suffered the most. Except in port cities such as Hamburg and Bremen, economic activity went into decline all across Germany. Uncertainty, fear, disruption, and brutality marked everyday life and remained a memory in German consciousness for centuries.

Archbishop of Prague ordered a Protestant church destroyed. The Protestants rose up in revolt, but within two years the rebellion was stamped out by the Habsburg general, Count of Tilly. Thus began the first period of the thirty years war, the Bavarian period.

The Swedish Period began when Ferdinand's successes in the second phase of the war sharpened the anti-Habsburg orientation of the French cardinal and statesman Richelieu, chief minister of King Louis XIII. Because of recurring internal crises, Richelieu was unable to intervene directly in Germany, but he made overtures to Gustav Adolph II of Sweden. A zealous Lutheran, Gustav had already received appeals from the hard-pressed North German Protestants. Because of this c

Some common words found in the essay are:
Westphalia Christian, Lutzen Germany, Cordoba Tilly, Christian Brunswick, Belgium Cordoba, Roman Empire, Thirty War, Prague Mansfeld, Germany Faced, Catholic League, thirty war, christian brunswick, ernst von, holy roman, count ernst, count ernst von, protestant forces, imperial armies, holy roman empire, ferdinand ii, spanish army, roman empire, ernst von mansfeld, various german protestant, bergen op zoom,
Approximate Word count = 3146
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)