30 Years War
Sweden, France, And The Post War. 1630-1648
Summary Of the War
This is when the war turned into a huge series of battles, rather than a feud between two smaller areas. Sweden was a majority Lutheran country, and decided they needed to help end the HRE. They were egged on by a french cardinal to take area from the Catholics. Eventually France got involved physically as well as financially. France and Sweden did well against the HRE, and they even beat back the Spanish forces. Eventually however everyone got really tired of all the fighting, and demanded that there be peace. A lot of territory was traded back and forth, and there was no clear winner. However overtime it became clear that France was the big winner, as The Holy Roman Empire began it's decline.
Cause Of Swedish and French Involvement in the Thirty Years War.
How and Why
The war began as a skirmish between the Protestants and Catholics as the HRE, Ferdinand, declared that all in his territory had to be Roman Catholic. This caused a few small battles that turned into a massive fight. In the year 1630 The Swedish were a majority Lutheran country, and up to that point in Europe The Protestants had been getting beat down by the large group of Catholics. The Swedish leader Gustav Adolph didn't like that very much. So in 1630, motivated by religious conquest and wanting more land for his empire, Sweden invaded. He was not only backed by one of the best armies Europe had ever seen but also by a cardinal in France. France had a majority of Catholics. But the cardinal Richelieu backed a Lutheran. He did this because he recognized that unless something was done about the Hapsburgs and The Holy Roman Empire, they would become too powerful and threaten France. So this cardinal used his power to convince the French to fund Gustav's conquest. Eventually after the King and the cardinal died there was a bit of a power struggle. However the French soon overcame this and did very well in the long term.
Gustavus Adolphus: King of Sweden
He was the ruler of Sweden when Sweden invaded the catholic States. He was crowned as king of Sweden in 1611, and is held in regard as one of the greatest military officers of all time. He formed a strong Swedish government, and an incredible military force. He felt that he had to get involved in the 30 years war because the HRE was doing all it could to prevent the spread of protestants. He gathered and trained a huge fighting force, and in 1630 he invaded. He was very successful until 1632, when he was struck down by the enemy. But even then his forces led on and cut out a huge chunk of Europe for the Swedish empire, which would last for 100 years, but eventually fall to several different invading armies.
Cardinal Richelieu: Cheif Minister Of France
This guy had an insane amount of power, and made one of the best military decisions of all time. he recognized the danger that a united Holy Roman Empire could cause, and even though he was a member of the catholic church, he backed the protestants, The Swedish. Eventually when the Swedish felt that they had had enough he got France involved in the conflict. Overall he made several great decisions that at the end of the war made France an extremely powerful nation.
Ferdinand II: The Holy Roman Emperor
He rose to power in 1619. His main role in the war was forcing the citizens of the HRE to be roman Catholics even though the peace of Augsberg established religious freedom for all. This led from the fighting of a few provinces, into a full blown war. He tried to squash the rebels quick, but ended up only making people more angry. He died in 1637 before the war was over.
How the War Ended And why it's important
This is pretty simple actually. The people got tired of murdering each other and demanded peace. So the countries that were involved in the war signed something called the peace of Westpahlia. The war had an impact on several different nations. For one it weakened the Church's hold on Europe, and another it strengthened the french. The Holy Roman Emperor began it's decline, and the Hapsburgs became less of a factor. So there really was no winners right away, but after a while it became very clear what the best outcome was. After it was over most people were allowed to practice religion freely.
Important Events
Start of France's involvement. This was a turning point in the war, and started the downfall of The Holy Roman Empire.
The Peace of Prague: Protected Territory of protestant rulers in northern Germany but not Austria or the Czech Republic. There was still a lot of fighting in this area so tensions were still high.
The Peace of Westpahlia: The decree that said the war was over. The final treaty that said the fighting would stop and ended most of the religious wars.Primary source Document
Peace of Westpahlia. These were a group of treaties signed that ended the war. They basically said you are free to practice whatever religion you want(as long as it was Christian). This largely ended the religious wars in Europe. This document led to a decline in power of The Church and an increase in free thinking.