30 Years War: Pre-War
Bohemian and Danish Phase (1618-1648)
Summary:
So... what happened?
Bohemian Phase: Lots of protestants lived in modern day Czech Republic and the leader was Catholic. Hapsburg decided to publish a Letter of Magesty. This gave the protestants religious toleration. Ferdinand II decided to revoke this Letter of Magesty because he was very Catholic. This made the protestants mad and led to the defenestration of Prague. Led to the Battle of White Mountain. Key Catholic Victory.
Danish Phase: The protestant King of Denmark ruled some places in the Holy Roman Empire and decided to invade the HRE. When he got there, he got utterly and completely OWNED. Wallenstein, a Catholic war leader sent the Danish right back into Denmark. End in another Catholic victory.
Causes:
What led to this event?
So, the Protestant Reformation did happen. And it had worked so successfully that many denominations had sprouted. The protestants were thrilled, but the leaders that were Catholic on the other hand, were not so fond of this. After this, the Peace of Augsburg was established. It said that the leader of any certain nation was the figure who determined the relgion of that land. The protestants went from being happy about the success of the Reformation, to being mad again because they had to follow Catholicicm once again. With anger in the protestants again, The Hapsburgs decided to sign a Letter of Magesty to grant religious tolerance. The protestants were happy, once again. When Emperor Ferdinand II took control of the Holy Roman Empire, conflict began to arise because of his decision to revoke this Letter of Magesty. This, again, made the protestants mad and ended up leading to the start of the 30 Year's War.