The Thirty Years' War

189 Pages·3.375 MB·English

by  Theodore K. Rabb

The Thirty
Years’ War
PROBLEMS IN
EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
Under the editorial direction of
John Ratté
Amherst College
The Thirty
Years’ War
Second Edition
Edited and with an Introduction by
Theodore K. Rabb
Princeton University
D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY
Lexington, Massachusetts Toronto London
Copyright © 1972 by D. C. Heath and Company.
Also copyright 1964 by D. C. Heath and Company.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or re­
trieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
Printed in the United States of America.
International Standard Book Number: 0-669-82503-4
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-4464
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ix
CHRONOLOGY xix
CONFLICT OF OPINION xxvii
I GENERAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE
CAUSES, NATURE, AND EFFECTS OF
THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR
Gustav Frey tag
THE GERMAN CATASTROPHE 3
Anton Gindely
RELIGION AND POLITICS 7
Franz Mehring
THE MARXIST VIEW: ECONOMIC CAUSATION 9
C. V. Wedgwood
THE FUTILE AND MEANINGLESS WAR 15
Georges Pagès
THE WAR AS A DIVIDING POINT BETWEEN MEDIEVAL AND
MODERN TIMES 32
S. H. Steinberg
THE NOT SO DESTRUCTIVE, NOT SO RELIGIOUS, AND
NOT PRIMARILY GERMAN WAR 41
Carl J. Friedrich
THE RELIGIOUS MOTIVE REAFFIRMED 53
J. V. Polisenskÿ
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE AND THE EUROPEAN­
WIDE WAR 57
vi Contents
Theodore K. Rabb
THE ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE WAR REVIEWED 69
Josef Pekaf
THE TURNING-POINT IN CZECH HISTORY 80
II INTERPRETATIONS OF LEADING
PARTICIPANTS
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus and Axel Oxenstierna
STATEMENTS OF INTENT 87
Gustav Droysen
THE STATESMAN OF "REALPOLITIK” 89
C. R. L. Fletcher
THE CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN 92
Nils Ahnlund
THE CAUSE OF PROTESTANTISM AND FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE 95
Michael Roberts
THE PRACTICAL STATESMAN 100
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Albrecht von Wallenstein
MOTIVATION AND AIMS 107
Leopold von Ranke
THE EGOISTIC BUT IDEALISTIC SEEKER OF PEACE 110
Josef Pekar
THE COWARDLY AND MEGALOMANIC TRAITOR 116
Heinrich Ritter von Srbik
THE TORTURED IDEALIST 122
Cardinal Richelieu
Cardinal Richelieu
POLITICAL TESTAMENT 129
Aldous Huxley
THE LUST FOR POWER AND MONEY 136
Louis Batiffol
A POLICY OF JUSTICE, NECESSITY, AND TRADITION 143
Contents vii
V. L Tapié
THE OVERBURDENED STATESMAN DRIVEN BY EVENTS 147
SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READING 152

INTRODUCTION
When, in May 1618, a group of Bohemian leaders launched a rebel­
lion against the authority of the Hapsburgs, they precipitated a crisis
which was to destroy the last vestiges of the medieval Holy Roman
Empire. For the revolt was followed by a bitter war of reprisal which
spread rapidly to involve all of Germany, and then at various times
Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Italy,
Russia, and England. Peace within the Empire was achieved only after
thirty years of fighting, and some of the combatants remained at war
until 1660. In the course of the warfare the Emperor’s power over the
myriad independent princelings and cities of Germany was destroyed
once and for all. He had been unable to exert this power effectively
for centuries, and during the previous decades he had only just man­
aged to weather crisis after crisis as the growth of Protestantism and
the revival of Catholicism multiplied the differences and tensions in
the Empire. Now, however, he was forced to face the onslaught of
almost all of western and northern Europe, and it proved impossible
to reassert or even retain his authority.
Such, in its simplest outlines, has long been considered the most
obvious significance of the series of wars that raged throughout much
of Europe during the early seventeenth century. It has become tradi­
tional to see the fighting from the outbreak of the Bohemian revolt to
the Peace of Westphalia, from 1618 to 1648, as an entity called the
Thirty Years’ War, during which this transformation in the Empire
took place. In recent years, however, serious doubts have been cast
on the adequacy of such a German-centered view of the international
conflicts of the period. It has been noted, for instance, that the Dutch
speak of an eighty-year war of independence, lasting from 1568 to
ix
X Introduction
1648; that for the French the important time span is the twenty-four-
year war with Spain from 1635 to 1659; and that in fact there are al­
most as many chronological schemes as countries in Europe. Other
long-held assumptions about the wars have been called into ques­
tion in recent years, and for an understanding of the extent of revi­
sionist opinions it might be well to indicate briefly the main elements
of the traditional approach.
Above all, the wars of the early seventeenth century have been re­
garded, ever since their own day, as one of the worst catastrophes in
history. The Germans in particular have come to see the period as a
great national tragedy—with some justification, since nearly all the
fighting took place in what is now Germany. It has also been custo­
mary to call the Thirty Years’ War the last of the religious wars and to
stress that its basic cause was the conflict sparked by the Reforma­
tion and Counter Reformation. Although it is admitted that other in­
terests were at stake, and that as the war progressed idealism was
overcome by political, dynastic, and other motives, nonetheless the
fundamental issue is held to have been religion. Great emphasis is
laid on the resurgence of Catholicism in the late sixteenth century
and its clash with undaunted Protestantism. The formation of a Union
of Protestant princes in the Empire in 1608, followed by the establish­
ment of a League of Catholic princes in 1609, is seen as the crystal­
lization of the two sides which were to fight as soon as the pretext of
the Bohemian revolt presented itself. Only later, when foreigners en­
tered the fray to plunder helpless Germany, did material aims triumph
over spiritual. In the end, the war’s main effects were to be the deci­
mation of Germany and the final destruction of the Hapsburg Em­
peror’s power in the Empire.
This interpretation obviously depends on seeing events through
German eyes, and it achieved full expression during the era of rising
nationalism in the mid-nineteenth century. In particular, the work of a
best-selling novelist, Gustav Freytag, who wrote a popular history of
Germany which portrayed the Thirty Years’ War in the most lurid
colors, reached a very wide public. In reaction to Freytag’s emotional
account, historians began to wonder whether this simple picture was
sufficient Some of them continued to uphold, in many essentials, the
traditional interpretation, but others have challenged almost all of its