The Periods Of War
The Peace of Westphalia that
ended the war in Europe
(ImageQuest)
As the Catholics fought for the restoration of the empire and their previous nationalistic rule, Protestant armies massed and clashed with Catholics for their beliefs during the first period of the 30 years war. Bohemia initiated the fighting between Protestants and Catholics. At the start it was Protestants fighting for constitutional liberties. When the Bohemians removed the current Catholic king, Ferdinand. They didn't know he would become the Holy Roman Emperor and later would be the one who conquered the country. The second period of war was dedicated to the Danes and other small European countries. Those who feared the same fate of Bohemia (conquering and loss of rights) gathered armies with other European countries and fought Ferdinand in Saxony, but lost many times. Afterward the Danes signed treaty of Lubeck and pulled out of Saxony. In the final periods of war the French and the Swedes had the spotlight. During this period the first major political aspect joined the fray, that of land ownership and greed. Gustavus Adolphus fought for the sake of Protestants and Sweden, which ran the risk of being conquered. The Swedes defeated Wallenstein, but Adolphus, their leader was later killed in the battle of Lutzen. Afterwards King Ferdinad suspected Wallenstein of being a traitor and arranged for his assassination. At this point in the war it lost almost all of its religious aspects and became mostly political. This period of the war was mostly fighting between the Royal Bourbon family and the Austrian Hasburgs. Later, the Swedish and French armies joined in Germany to fight the Hasburgs, giving new hope to the Protestants. As the final part of the war was reached a treaty was also signed, known as The Peace of Westphalia. In 1644 European countries involved in the war sent representatives to a peace conference when in 1648 an agreement was finally reached. In the Peace Of Wesphalia the Protestant countries, Sweden and France, were awarded land. Sweden acquired regions while France acquired the mouths of rivers