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Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine, or disease, while parts of Germany reported population declines of over 50%. Related conflicts include the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Franco-Spanish War, the Torstenson War, the Dutch-Portuguese War, and the Portuguese Restoration War. The war had its origins in the 16th-century Reformation, which led to religious conflict within the Holy Roman Empire. The 1555 Peace of Augsburg attempted to resolve this by dividing the Empire into Catholic and Lutheran states, but the settlement was destabilised by the subsequent expansion of Protestantism beyond these boundaries. Combined with differences over the limits of imperial authority, religion was thus an important factor in starting the war. However, its scope and extent wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Wars Of Religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe during the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. Fought after the Protestant Reformation began in 1517, the wars disrupted the religious and political order in the Catholic Church, Catholic countries of Europe, or Christendom. Other motives during the wars involved revolt, territorial ambitions and European balance of power, great power conflicts. By the end of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), Catholic France had allied with the Protestant forces against the Catholic Habsburg monarchy. The wars were largely ended by the Peace of Westphalia (1648), which established a new political order that is now known as Westphalian sovereignty. The conflicts began with the minor Knights' War (1522–1523), followed by the larger German Peasants' War (1524–1525) in the Holy Roman Empire. Warfare intensified after the Catholic Church began the Counter-Reformation against the growth of Protestantism in 1545. The confl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principality Of Transylvania (1570–1711)
The Principality of Transylvania (; ; ; ; ) was a semi-independent state ruled primarily by Hungarian princes. It existed as an Ottoman vassal state for the majority of the 16th and 17th centuries, overseen by Ottoman Turkish sultans. At various points during this period, the Habsburgs also exerted a degree of suzerainty in the region.Dennis P. Hupchick''Conflict and Chaos in Eastern Europe'' Palgrave Macmillan, 1995, p. 62 Its territory, in addition to the traditional Transylvanian lands, also included the other major component called Partium, which was in some periods comparable in size with Transylvania proper. The establishment of the principality was connected to the Treaty of Speyer. However, Stephen Báthory's status as king of Poland also helped to phase in the name ''Principality of Transylvania''.Katalin Péter''Beloved Children: History of Aristocratic Childhood in Hungary in the Early Modern Age'' Central European University Press, 2001, p. 27 The principality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Of Saxe-Weimar
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War. Biography Born in Weimar in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johann, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and Dorothea Maria of Anhalt. Bernard received an unusually good education and studied briefly at the University of Jena, but soon went to the court of Duke John Casimir of Saxe-Coburg to engage in knightly exercises. At the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War he took the field on the Protestant side, and served under Mansfeld at Wiesloch (1622), under the Margrave of Baden at Wimpfen (1622), and with his brother William at Stadtlohn (1623). Undismayed by these defeats, he took part in the campaigns of King Christian IV of Denmark. After a severe defeat in Holstein in 1627, Bernhard left Danish service and went to the Dutch Republic. There he was present at the famous Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629. When King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden land ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Leslie
Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven (4 April 1661) was a Scottish army officer. Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child, he subsequently advanced to the rank of field marshal in Swedish Army, and in Scotland became Lord General in command of the Army of the Covenanters, a privy councillor, captain of Edinburgh Castle, Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven. In England he commanded the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant and was senior commander of the Army of Both Kingdoms (1642–1647). Leslie served in the Thirty Years' War, the Bishops' Wars, and most of the English Civil War, fighting primarily in the First English Civil War. Leslie would live a long life, dying roughly at the age of 80 or 81. Early life Alexander Leslie was born circa 1580 as an illegitimate son of George Leslie, a captain of Blair Castle, and a mother sometimes described as "a wench in Rannoch". He was a member of the Clan Leslie. At an early age, Alexander was fostered out to the Campbells of Gleno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Gustaf Wrangel
''Fältmarskalk'' Carl Gustaf Wrangel (also Carl Gustav von Wrangel; 23 December 1613 – 5 July 1676) was a Swedish statesman and military commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years' War, as well as the Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars. A Baltic German, he held the ranks of a Field Marshal, Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish forces in Germany (1646–1648), and Lord High Admiral of Sweden (from 1657). Wrangel was Governor-General of Swedish Pomerania (1648–1652 and 1656–1676) and, from 1664, Lord High Constable of Sweden and a member of the Privy Council. He held the title of a Count of Salmis until 1665, when he became Count of Sölvesborg. By 1673, Wrangel's title was "Count of Sölvesborg, Freiherr of Lindeberg and Ludenhof, Lord of Skokloster, Bremervörde, Wrangelsburg, Spyker, Rappin, Ekebyhov, Gripenberg and Rostorp".Asmus (2003), p.195In 1666, he was still addressed Count of Salmis in the Treaty of Habenhaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lennart Torstensson
Lennart Torstensson (17 August 1603 – 7 April 1651), Swedish Field Marshal and later Governor-General of Pomerania, Västergötland, Dalsland, Värmland and Halland. He adapted the use of artillery on the battlefield, making it a more mobile weapon than previously known. Torstensson achieved important victories in the Thirty Years' War and in Sweden's war against Denmark (1643-45), which is named the Torstenson War after him. The period of his supreme command marks one of the most successful chapters in the military history of the Swedish army. Early career He was born at Forstena manor in Västergötland. His parents were Märta Nilsdotter Posse and Torsten Lennartsson, of the noble house Forstena, who was supporter of King Sigismund and, for a while, the commandant of Älvsborg fortress. Young Lennart's parents fled to exile in the year of his birth because his father had confessed to being loyal to the deposed Sigismund. Lennart was taken care of by relatives - his father ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johan Banér
Johan Banér (23 June 1596 – 10 May 1641) was a Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years' War. Early life Johan Banér was born at Djursholm Castle in Uppland. As a four-year-old he was forced to witness the execution of his father, the Privy Councillour Gustaf Banér, and uncle, Sten Axelsson Banér (also a Privy Councillour), at the Linköping Bloodbath in 1600, due to accusations of high treason by King Charles IX because of their support of King Sigismund. Though it was the father of King Gustavus Adolphus who had Banér's father executed, the two men developed a strong friendship from an early age, mostly due to Gustavus Adolphus reinstating the Banér family shortly after his coronation. Military career Banér joined the Swedish Army in 1615, and distinguished himself during the Swedish Siege of Pskov. He served with distinction in wars against Russia and Poland, and had reached the rank of colonel by the age of 25. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axel Oxenstierna
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (; 1583–1654) was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of King Gustavus Adolphus and then Christina, Queen of Sweden, Queen Christina, for whom he was at first regent. Oxenstierna is widely considered one of the most influential people in Swedish history. He played an important role during the Thirty Years' War and was appointed Governor-General of occupied Prussia; he is also credited for having laid the foundations of the modern central administrative structure of the State, including the creation of counties (). Early life and education Oxenstierna was born on 16 June 1583, at Fånö in Uppland, the son of Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna (1551–1597) and Barbro Axelsdotter Bielke (1556–1624), as the oldest of nine siblings. His parents belonged to the ancient and influential high noble ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as Gustav II Adolf or Gustav II Adolph, was King of Sweden from 1611 to 1632, and is credited with the rise of Swedish Empire, Sweden as a great European power (). During his reign, Sweden became one of the primary military forces in Europe during the Thirty Years' War, helping to determine the political and religious balance of power in Europe. He was formally and posthumously given the name Gustavus Adolphus the Great (; ) by the Riksdag of the Estates in 1634. He is often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders in modern history, with use of an early form of combined arms. His most notable military victory was the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631. With his resources, logistics, and support, Gustavus Adolphus was positioned to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catholic League (German)
The Catholic League (, ) was a coalition of Catholic Church, Catholic List of states in the Holy Roman Empire, states of the Holy Roman Empire formed 10 July 1609. While initially formed as a confederation to act politically to negotiate issues vis-à-vis the Protestant Union (formed 1608), modelled on the more intransigent ultra-Catholic French Catholic League (1576), it was subsequently concluded as a military alliance "for the defence of the Catholic religion and peace within the Empire". Notwithstanding the league's founding, as had the founding of the Protestant Union, it further exacerbated long standing tensions between the Protestant Protestant Reformation, reformers and the adherents of the Catholic Church which thereafter began to get worse with ever more frequent episodes of civil disobedience, Political repression, repression, and retaliation that would eventually ignite into the first phase of the Thirty Years' War roughly a decade later with the act of rebellion and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered in the European Age of Discovery. It achieved a global scale, controlling vast portions of the Americas, Africa, various islands in Asia and Oceania, as well as territory in other parts of Europe. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, becoming known as "the empire on which the sun never sets". At its greatest extent in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Spanish Empire covered , making it one of the List of largest empires, largest empires in history. Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus and continuing for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. In the beginning, Portugal was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peace Of Prague (1635)
The Peace of Prague, dated 30 May 1635 Old Style, was a significant turning point in the Thirty Years' War. Signed by John George I, Elector of Saxony, and Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, the terms ended Saxony's support for the anti-Imperial coalition led by Sweden. Other states within the Holy Roman Empire subsequently joined the treaty, and their exit was a key factor in Catholic France entering the war as an ally of Protestant Sweden. Although fighting continued until 1648, it is generally agreed Prague ended the war as primarily one of religion. Background The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 when the Protestant Frederick V of the Palatinate, accepted the crown of Bohemia. Most members of the Holy Roman Empire viewed it as an internal dynastic dispute. With Bavarian support, Emperor Ferdinand quickly suppressed the Bohemian Revolt. Troops under Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria invaded the Palatinate in 1622 and sent Frederick into exile. However, depriving a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
