Peers, Chris Ending the Thirty Years War

Diplomacy, Mediation and the Westphalian Peace

Everyone knows about the Defenestration of Prague, the coup d'état by Bohemian nobles against the ruling officials of the Habsburg Empire, which triggered the Thirty Years' War a local conflict that led to a European and global conflict between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs the Habsburg Empire the greatest power in Europe and the world linked by the Spanish Road stretching from Spain and Portugal to Austria, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and with vast American, Asian and African empires, supported by the Holy Roman Empire. But the Golden Age was coming to an end, threatened by monopolies, economic downturn, uprisings such as above in Bohemia and rivalry from emerging powers in Europe, particularly the Dutch Republic, as a global colonial and economic power, especially in international finance. This study shows that the Empire's victory at Nördlingen (1634) was merely the prologue to the Habsburgs' catastrophe and to a decisive change in global power politics, with the rise of France to great power status under Richelieu and Louis XIII, the French victory in Spain, the continuing power and rivalry of Sweden and the Protestant powers in Germany, and the financial power and imperial challenge of the Dutch Republic. The result was the greatest war of attrition of modern times and a precursor to the wars of the 20th century. It is a truly tragic but also magnificent story of great men and women who played an important role, including the titanic imperial general Wallenstein, but above all the triumphant, little-noticed but extremely successful commander Torstenson on the Protestant side, who is a worthy successor to the legendary Gustav Adolf of Sweden. The final victory in Prague ended the conflict where it had begun, with the defeat of the Empire and the destruction of the Habsburg Empire. The Peace of Westphalia followed the defeat of the Habsburgs and the spiralling political and economic collapse and great human suffering after a war that changed the global balance of power for the entire modern era.