Improve your internet security With Nord VPN: nordvpn.com/sandrhoman It's risk free with Nord's 30-day-money-back-guarantee CORRECTION: 17:08 We messed up the Philips. It's Philip III, not Philip II! The image is also wrong, it's portraying Philip IV. Sorry for that!
My personal favourite fact about the second defenestration is that the secretary escaped to vienna and - as a reward - was granted the titel "von Hohenfall", which translated to "of Highfall"
wow such a mundane factoid and it gets hundreds of likes LOLz Peter Wilson's "the 30 years war" is the definitive account of the conflict hard to find books on this subject the boer war is another besides the obvious Thomas Peckingham
It's an urban legend that the 2nd Defenstration of Prague didn't harm the three men who were thrown out of the window just because of a dunghill at the foot of the wall underneath the window. It's much more likely that the heavy clothes, especially the long thick coats, cushioned their fall enough so as to prevent lethal injuries. Moreover, since the building had tapering walls and the window was very narrow, the three men weren't flung out of it and thus didn't fall straight down, but more or less slid the 21 m down until they had reached the foot of the wall. Unlike the poor lot that had been killed in the 1st Defenstration of Prague in 1419, the three men didn't only survive their defenestration, they also managed to escape their pursuers and found refuge in the castle of Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz, who defended them against the raging mob that wanted to see the three men dead.
@@morewi Ideally, we are all hear to learn, and anyone who has good information to impart should be given fair hearing. If we disagree, we can debate them, but we shouldn't abuse people for speaking at all since it is contrary to the goal of expanding our knowledge and understanding to deny voice in a forum. If you don't want to hear others speak, you can always decline to view the comment section of a video.
Please continue videos like this! You done many top down videos covering battles of the war, but going through and detailing the politics and intrigue as in this video would paint a clearer picture, such as could be the case with the 30 years war anyway xD
Fun fact. Diviš Černín z Chudenic - the captain who let the conspirators into the Prague castle was the only catholic executed at the end of the rebellion during the Old Town Square execution. One of the judges in the tribunal sentencing him was his brother Heřman who would also marry the widow left after Kryštof Harant another one of the executed rebells and Heřmans brother in law. Loved the video, looking forward for the White mountain!
@@rickjames18 No, Heřman Černín married the widow of Kryštof Harant, another of the executed. By the way that widow was Harant's third wife. His first wife was... the sister of Heřman Černín.
Entirely agree! I could almost follow all the personal, political, and religious threads that were mentioned. As well as videos about the battles and military history that took place in the war (that I'm sure are forth coming), it would be great to have one that took this big picture view of the entire war and it's resolution from this political angle.
I discovered this channel Christmas Eve. I missed all family events over the past 48 hours learning things like how to conquer medieval Jerusalem and lay seige to star fortresses.
Has man gone insane? A few will remain Who'll find a way To live one more day Through decades of war? It spreads like disease There's no sign of peace Religion and greed Cause millions to bleed Three decades of war... - Sabaton, Lifetime of War
25% of Germany's population was massacred in the 30 year war because of the madness of an inbred RELIGIOUS CATHOLIC AUSTRIAN VON HABSBURG...already the 80 year war in the Netherlands was devestating..the von Habsburgs were a plaque on all humans in Europe and South and Central America, they were about the biggest mass murdererers in Europe's history and all this because they as Catholic Zealouts wanted to stay kings for ever...as soon a Protestantism took over democracies were established and the Royals all over Europe lost their heads..
One of the messiest and thus deadliest wars in history (if it even can be called a single war), and too often vaguely dismissed as "yeah sure, religious war" (it clearly wasn't just that). Plus, the significance for the development of Europe politically but also socially cannot be overstated; loads of ideas we take more or less for granted now were sorta introduced as a reaction to the horrors of this period.
Great video! Though I would suggest making it clear somehow in the title, that it covers developments and situation leading up to the wars themselves, rather than the conflict. The point of view you present here is rarely covered and you do, as always, amazing job of such a niche topic. I am just worried the video might be overlooked as another thirty years war simple summary.
The biggest question that popped up every time I see the Thirty Years' War: Why Sultan Osman II did not join this war but go for the war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth instead?
The Ottomans were more than happy to see their primary European adversary tied down in a war, and did not want to give the Christians any reason to pull a coalition together against them.
Actually there were broken negotiations between Czechs and Ottomans but because reasons mentioned above, internal struggle and complicated logistics. Ottomans gave no support for Czechs.
Thank you for this series! I've always been of the opinion that this is a defining era for the state of Europe and the world ever after, and should be much more well known by everyone.
0:10 A. It's an omen B. The end is nigh! C. The economy, fools! D. I wish we lived in more enlightened times... E. If only we had comet sense... F. Oh Comet, Devil's kith and kin...
Thank you for this video. The Thirty Years War is indeed very complex, multi-level, multi-party conflict. In high school, I read Lynn Montross' opus War Through the Ages from cover to cover three times. I love Montross' style but he does tend to write for people who already know the facts, and reading his chapters didn't really teach me about the Thirty Years War. When I was finally in college after four years of military service (so I was older than most college freshmen), I was in the library supposedly doing research for my term paper for psychology class, when I discovered Dupuy & Dupuy's Encyclopedia of Military History. I started reading it and I was just wowed by the chronology format and presentation. I sat there and started immediately reading the Thirty Years War section of the Encyclopedia because it was something I knew I didn't understand. 👍
Amazing video as always! You guys should try doing a lenghty series detailing the many battles of the thirty years war, like Kings and Generals and HistoryMarche, it would be great!
@@zetectic7968 Yes but every time they had the turks on the run or were close to uniting europe (Carlos V for example) "the most catholic" louis 123 had to intervine
@@mihovilraboteg6160 True. Under the doctrine of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, not that it helped France in the long term with their fight with the English.
@@zetectic7968 TURKS NEVER RUN TURKS MASSACRED EUROPEANS AND OR RULED GOLDEN AGE FOR OTTOMAN EMPİRE İN 15 16 CENTURY OTTOMAN RULED ALL EUROEPANS İN AND GREAT WAR İN THİRD WARS CATHOLİC.VS PROTESTAN.
What I learnt today: the thirty years war is far too complicated to learn casually listening to a podcast on the way to work. Mental summary: important people in and out of the empire were too concerned about what others believed and too afraid that others were going to impose their religion on them
The Habsburgs needed to reconquer the Netherlands as this seven provinces had been the most powerful parts of the Habsburg territories in economic terms. But the Spanish had lost the maritime option in the battles of the Great Armada in 1588 and later in the battle of Dunkirk in 1609. The french king wanted to break the Habsburg encirclement (Habsburgs ruled in Spain, Portugal, Northern Italy, Burgundy, Alsace and in the Spanish Netherlands, nowadays Belgium). So he wanted to jam the so called spanish roads along the River Rhine. The Habsburgs tried to strenghten their strongholds along this roads. When the count palatine intervened in the bohemian struggle he gave the Emperor the opportunity to occupy his country. And the Landgraves of Hesse got into a bitter struggle about the religious terms in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg. The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel violated the contract about the heritage of Hesse so his own cousin, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt accused him at the Reichshoftag. The Emperor supported him but forced him to hand over the fortress Rheinfels located on the left bank of the River Rhine to the Spanish Emperor. Later the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became an ally to the Habsburgs, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel became a swedish ally and both transferred their countries into a major battleground of the Thirty Years War. All this mess and loss of lives only because the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had forced the subjects in Hesse-Marburg to chance from lutherian protestantism to calvinism.
I would advice you to take a look at Siege of Nagykanizsa 1601, as it is probably the most succesfull and perfect siege defense in history, it would be a great content for your amazing channel
The thing is, I don‘t actually think the 30 Years War (or anything else that happened before 1840) has nearly as much of an impact on modern Germany-especially psychologically-as people think. It had a defining impact on the makeup of post-Reformation central Europe, easily up to the Napoleonic Wars (or more accurately, French Revolution Shocks) and is therefore crucial to understanding the history of the polities of the era. But these polities and the social classes that made them up are gone decisively. I actually suspect that it‘s mostly a part of the national mythos that we are directly shaped by specific events in the distant past; in actuality, the consciousness of the masses is shaped predominantly and overwhelmingly by the present, and in fact the practical ways in which we are still involved in the same conflicts of say, the period since 1840 usually go unacknowledged and have little or no place in the national consciousness at all. What‘s actually shaping our lives are the Revolutions of 1848 and 1918 and their material results. But our memory of them is not shaping us, for the most part because it barely exists at all.
Damn i had a hard time with the Thirty Years War book (Peter H. Wilson). The writing is very complicated and often assumes you know what the author is talking about. no idea how you manage to read tru it to make this video. I don't think i've ever tried to read a more confusing book in my life. kudos!
I was looking forward to getting that book. Was it your introduction to the Thirty Years War, or did you already have a fundamental understanding of the war?
Then C. V. Wedgewood’s The Thirty Years War might be the book for you. It’s written in 1920s, sure, but personally I found it much more readable and less hefty than Europe’s Tragedy.
@@wanderingchandelure95 hm wonder why its not on google books. will have to ship it from overseas. thanks for the recomendation btw Eidt: i found his biography of William of Orange and i am having a good time. Double thank you :)
@@DerWeisskunig it's hard to explain. i had read the entire english wikipedia page and knew a lot about the HRE and it's geography. still found the book strange... Like for starters the introduction takes 300 pages and most of it is not used in the book. The war itself is described in a very confusing way. Don't think i disrespect the author, but he makes so little effort to keep you engaged :/
I've found it almost impossible to explain this War to folks who aren't somewhat familiar with the time. "It's really complicated". As a " map nut", I still can't name the various German Statelets of the era!
Imperial Cities in the HRE weren‘t just independent from the powerful aristocrats, they were legally equal to them and essentially had their own feudal property. I.e. and Imperial City had it‘s own fiefdom where the peasants were vassals not to a local nobleman, but to the council of the imperial city and had to pay taxes/levies to the city. This legal framework was a massive driver of urbanization but also proved a major source of conflict with the powerful princes. As these became more and more powerful, the fact that most of the economically valuable cities in the empire were legally independent of them was obviously a problem. That they would seek to annex these cities as well as fight over them was basically inevitable.
First of all: great Video! Well done as Always :-) But I have to correct you on one little Statement: Cologne/köln isn't part of westphalia. It's the Heart of the Rhineland/ des Rheinlandes. Although it's Not that far from westphalia. It takes about 2,5 hours by train from köln to münster.
Very interesting! More new information for me & thanks to you for a very good video explaining the causes clearly. I look forward to more great content from you in 2023. Sadly my funds are limited so I can only support you by renewing my Nord subscription.
It should be noted that movements like the Hussites and the Peasant Wars were massively driven by the economic suffering of the peasantry, while the actual Reformation essentially boiled down to a clash of interests between the Church and the traditional hierarchy on the one hand, and the high nobility as well as the rising urban classes. The question of feudalism and the nobility itself, and the related question of the fate of the peasantry, were not really on the table here.
Thank you so much for a very informative video. It is an excellent treatment of the subject and has taught me a lot about what lead up to this disaster.
I, by chance, happened to witness the reenactment of the second defenistrstion in Prague on it's anniversary while on vacation in Prague. I wasn't aware of the background.
I have a theory and would gladly hear your opinion on it. Spain had gained tremendous riches and thereby power since it conquered parts of America and parts of Asia. Their royals (the Habsburgs) bought many thrones in southern Europe and even seized a major influence in the Catholic Church. The countries in middle and northern Europe did not want to yield to the Spanish / Habsburgs nor to the Catholic church which they saw as a fifth column in service of the Spanish. So therefore the protestants were helped to political power by non Habsburg nobility, who in this way stopped the influence of the Spanish. My theory: protestantism was helped into becoming a major religion to stop Spanish influence in countries, that did not want to fall into the hands of the Spanish / Habsburg nobility.
-- opinion on the top of my head without much further thinking or research -- Depending on how far you want to go with this argument, I think it's a reasonable assumption, especially because you say "helped into becoming", implying that there are many other factors. However, I'm not sure whether all of that is specifically related to the Spanish Habsburgs. I mean, yes, you're probably correct regarding the Dutch and their motivation to oppose the Spanish but for other's it really was the influence of the church itself (and the pope) on everyday life (I think that's especially true for Luther and his time). For the normal soldier, part of the motivation to go to war was salvation. Some of them really thought that if they won't fight for the protestant or catholic cause that they might go to hell. For an important aristocrat however, the motivation might have had more of a basis in power dynamics and politics. But generally speaking, we should not forget that Protestantism had a deep religious root, but overtime it became entangled with politics (as everything does, and that's okay). That doesn't mean it was solely political. It was both at the same time. For a German prince, Protestantism was a good alternative to increase his own position. I think he didn't think of the Spanish Habsburgs but rather about his positions and his opportunities within the HRE. So, I guess, I'm trying to say that yes, opposition to the Spanish Habsburgs was a major factor for some to become a protestant (as was opposition to the monarch in France and elsewhere I'd add) but it's not enough to explain the movement. What about all the states in central and northern Europe (Denmark, England, Sweden etc.)? They didn't really have a connection to the Spanish and in the east the Austrians did their own thing for most of the time.
@@SandRhomanHistory Thank you very much for your response. So opposition against Spanish influence played a role, but it was one of multiple factors; I gladly adopt your view.
@@eidechsentyp1236 If the blatant evidence wasn't everywhere you could always just study their Talmud, which unlike protocols they can't deny is their own. Tells you everything you need to know.
Small point: Ferdinand II was supported by Phillip III of Spain, not Phillip II. Phillip II had died in 1598. Great video. I especially liked the focus on the governance of the HRE, which is generally ignored.
Really great job! The Thirty Years' War is such an instructive conflict with, unfortunately, many parallels with today. While our current rulers could certainly use a refresher course in the hard won lessons of Westphalian sovereignty, the tensions that led to the conflagration and how they could have been better managed, are even more important. I can highly recommend C.V. Wedgwood's classic on the subject. One factor you touched on needs some added context. That is the Spanish superpower was basically bankrupt at this point and NEEDED to retake the Netherlands at the end of the Twelve Years' Truce (1621). Ferdinand II's ambitions may have destabilised a fragile status quo, which have been unsalvageable anyway, as you point out, but any strong Palatinate would have sunk his Spanish cousins. There is nothing more dangerous than a superpower in decline.
The Dutch were pirating along the coast of Brazil and even occupied parts of the country. No Spanish/Portuguese king could accept such a hostile behavior.
In the Western pre-modern era, religious questions became a political struggle (30 years war for example). In the Western post-modern era, political questions became a religious struggle (Aryan, Statism).
Not only is it not a coincidence that all the non-Habsburg electors were Protestants, it‘s a massive understatement given that they were the main drivers of the reformation in the first place. It was literally the northern German Princes that protected Luther when he was being hunted, and then coincidentally ended up converting to protestantism. They didn‘t do that because they happened to be radical theologians, or even because their peasants or burghers were heretics: these guys always had a fundamental conflict of interests with both the Habsburgs and the Church Electors (who were basically their own feudal princes, but picked by the Pope rather than inheriting their fief). In essence, the 30 YW just continues this entire conflict and it‘s definition as a mainly religious war should probably be taken with a massive grain of salt. Yes it‘s a fight of protestant princes against a catholic Emperor and archbishops, but why were some of them protestant in the first place? It‘s because they had beef with the Emperor and Archbishops. It‘s easy to mix up cause and effect when interpreting history.
Okay about the introductory picture showing a hanging using ladders. I’ve seen pictures like this before and I don’t get it. Doesn’t make sense. Did they expect a guy to climb a ladder with hands tied? Or did they somehow force him up the ladder and then tie hands which seems really awkward?
you have good well researched scripts and graphics on your show, I think the audio is the only thing that could use a professional upgrade sounds like you're talking from a box far away.
This is incredible but Halley's Comet is in my story as a main opponent and I know it is known as a harbinger of death and I happen to be looking up this war FIRST for further research and clicked ahead and came upon the Halley Part WOW. - **10,000 BCE**: Around 1-10 million people⁵ - **1 CE**: Approximately 170-400 million people⁵ - **1000 CE**: Around 310-330 million people⁵ - **1500 CE**: Approximately 425-540 million people⁵ - **1804**: Reached 1 billion people² - **1927**: Reached 2 billion people² - **1960**: Reached 3 billion people² - **1974**: Reached 4 billion people² - **1987**: Reached 5 billion people² - **1999**: Reached 6 billion people² - **2011**: Reached 7 billion people² - **2023**: Approximately 8 billion people³ **Top Health Advice:** 1. Night Light orange tint blue light filter/blocking program function on devices saves eyesight: Use a large BROWNTANorDARKorange vinyl plastic see-through panel (see "acrylic sheets") paired with the computer's nightlight blue light software function for eye comfort for protection against harmful blue light. 2. Side Window Deflectors reduce driver-side eye damage and glare while driving, turning your car into a more comfortable space like a living room. 3. Avoid excessive screen time to prevent blindness increased screen time leads to the myopia pandemic. 4. Use Rollens sunglasses when outside; consider the orange-tinted "Gold Rollens." Can put multiple overlapping so can use 2 at same time for more protection. 5. Never stare at the sun to avoid retinal detachment and eye damage. 6. Avoid getting your eyes dilated DILATION LIQUID weakens eye muscles and leads to blindness. An old lady assistant spilled it and said "oops," now light-sensitive, reduction of accommodation, more myopic, never fully recovered. 7. Avoid the chickenpox vaccine to prevent shingles later in life. 8. Cigarette Smoke is responsible for numerous deaths and severe health consequences most die early. 9. Use eclipse glasses for eye protection. 10. Privacy screens can darken screens. 11. Eyejusters self-adjustable glasses come in stainless steel and hybrid materials. 12, SWIFT passes out earplugs to protect her fans anything over 70db = DEAF tinnitus ringing is dying ear cell freq u will never hear ever again. MUFFS!
Awesome that you start a whole series on the Thirty Years War! Better than only the spectacular events, I guess, because of the amount of context one need to know to have a clue what actually happened (and for what reasons). I hope you leave enough room for the last part of the war - it always fascinated me why the fighting never stopped even when peace was already negotiated. This war was so exhausting for all participants, even some authors of history books just seem to stop writing after 1635 and jump straight to Westphalia. But I have great confidence in the dedication and ressources of the channel that you manage to round up this bloody mess!
Yep. This is complicated. I'm sure I'll watch this series more than once and read a book about it. That's what I did to get a full understanding of the 2008 housing market crash which was as complicated as a GF with bi-polar disorder. I sorted 2008 out, I'll sort out the 30 years war too.
Not sure what you mean. We never say Frederick V was margrave of Brandenburg. Joachim Ernst was Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach at the time (he’s never mentioned but represented by his portrait several times)
Chances are that I'll never have to worry about it since I am an American, blue-collar peasant, but remind me to never go to Prague. I don't wanna get tossed out of a window, and that seems to be their national sport.
Interestingly, the brewing threat of religious war and the sighting of Halley's comet is one of the main things that caused many of the English Puritan pilgrims living in Holland to set sail for North America.
iv been reading the ring of fire series by eric flint where a modern american town got isekaied to the 30yrs war. I really got intrested at the period.
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CORRECTION: 17:08 We messed up the Philips. It's Philip III, not Philip II! The image is also wrong, it's portraying Philip IV. Sorry for that!
Just bought your pike and shot canvas, and a Spanish burgundy flag off Amazon lol
@@CommissarCasper that's awesome!! I'm thinking of buying a full size HRE flag and some fake tercio paintings.
@@ArtilleryAffictionado1648 love it, that’s awesome
Another correction: The comet of November 1618 was C/1618 W1, not 1P/Halley. Halley's comet had last been seen in 1607, and reappeared in 1682.
@bastiat4855 the pile of manure is probably protestant propaganda. We talk about it in more detail in the video about the Bohemian Revolution.
My personal favourite fact about the second defenestration is that the secretary escaped to vienna and - as a reward - was granted the titel "von Hohenfall", which translated to "of Highfall"
This was the third defenestration
Defenestration is really big in Russia at the moment.
@@SeanHogan_frijole They aren't even original in their assassinations :)
wow such a mundane factoid and it gets hundreds of likes LOLz
Peter Wilson's "the 30 years war" is the definitive account of the conflict hard to find books on this subject the boer war is another besides the obvious Thomas Peckingham
@@petrpinc7695 We don't talk about the one in 1483, it was lame
It's an urban legend that the 2nd Defenstration of Prague didn't harm the three men who were thrown out of the window just because of a dunghill at the foot of the wall underneath the window. It's much more likely that the heavy clothes, especially the long thick coats, cushioned their fall enough so as to prevent lethal injuries. Moreover, since the building had tapering walls and the window was very narrow, the three men weren't flung out of it and thus didn't fall straight down, but more or less slid the 21 m down until they had reached the foot of the wall. Unlike the poor lot that had been killed in the 1st Defenstration of Prague in 1419, the three men didn't only survive their defenestration, they also managed to escape their pursuers and found refuge in the castle of Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz, who defended them against the raging mob that wanted to see the three men dead.
I'm guessing this was going to be covered in Part 2. Thank goodness you explained what happened next in the story instead.
@@Johnny_Tambourine yep there's always someone that types out a paragraph because he thinks he's smarter than the videomaker and audience
@@morewi Ideally, we are all hear to learn, and anyone who has good information to impart should be given fair hearing. If we disagree, we can debate them, but we shouldn't abuse people for speaking at all since it is contrary to the goal of expanding our knowledge and understanding to deny voice in a forum. If you don't want to hear others speak, you can always decline to view the comment section of a video.
@@genericpersonx333 it's not the place for random anon to try and "um actually". Especially if what was brought up would be discussed later.
Um actually angels carried them down to safety. Idiot
Before the world wars, the Thirty Years War was the most devastating war in European History. It resulted in a death toll of approximately 8 million
AND OTTOMAN GOLDEN AGE CONQUERİNG OTHER EUROPEAN STATES ..
The wars of the coalitions were certainly deadlier
@@lahire4943 meh i don't think so the world wars were like tens of millions a year easy. Like Stalingrad was like 2 million alone
If memory serves me right, this conflict cost the greatest percentage (not the raw number of slain) of the European population in history.
@@lahire4943 thirty years war was far far more bloody in raw numbers and percentile than the napolanic wars although they were devastating conficts
"out the window, as is customary" thats a damn cold line
Russia follows this tradition to this day (and it's true!)
Please continue videos like this! You done many top down videos covering battles of the war, but going through and detailing the politics and intrigue as in this video would paint a clearer picture, such as could be the case with the 30 years war anyway xD
Fun fact. Diviš Černín z Chudenic - the captain who let the conspirators into the Prague castle was the only catholic executed at the end of the rebellion during the Old Town Square execution. One of the judges in the tribunal sentencing him was his brother Heřman who would also marry the widow left after Kryštof Harant another one of the executed rebells and Heřmans brother in law.
Loved the video, looking forward for the White mountain!
That's messed up, he killed him for his wife?
@@rickjames18 No, Heřman Černín married the widow of Kryštof Harant, another of the executed. By the way that widow was Harant's third wife. His first wife was... the sister of Heřman Černín.
Very well done. The Thirty years war is very complicated. You did a great job making it understandable.
Entirely agree! I could almost follow all the personal, political, and religious threads that were mentioned. As well as videos about the battles and military history that took place in the war (that I'm sure are forth coming), it would be great to have one that took this big picture view of the entire war and it's resolution from this political angle.
I discovered this channel Christmas Eve. I missed all family events over the past 48 hours learning things like how to conquer medieval Jerusalem and lay seige to star fortresses.
I honestly wish i could delete all these videos to watch them for the first time again. Such a gem !!
Its astonishing how the quality just keeps increasing!! You guys are great
Love how carefully and explicitly you explain each step.
"Hey, we have this debate about public administration."
"OK, just open the window first."
Really nice video to end 2022 with a bang! Keep up the quality historical contents.
Even with the hindsight of history, the narrative was so rich that I felt my hairs prickle with fear when I heard such a blatant threat uttered
Very excited for this, you are the perfect channel to cover the Thirty Years War!
Hoping this is the start of a long series on this fascinating conflict
Has man gone insane?
A few will remain
Who'll find a way
To live one more day
Through decades of war?
It spreads like disease
There's no sign of peace
Religion and greed
Cause millions to bleed
Three decades of war...
- Sabaton, Lifetime of War
Two ways to view the world, brought Europe down in flames...
Two ways to rule!
Without this war, there will be no freedom of religion, nor liberty later on.
Evil heresies. It's why Cardinal Richelieu is one of Henry Kissinger's personal icons.
As a German, the knowledge about the 30YW begins with the Fenstersturz von Prag. Thank you for enlightening the earlier actions.
25% of Germany's population was massacred in the 30 year war because of the madness of an inbred RELIGIOUS CATHOLIC AUSTRIAN VON HABSBURG...already the 80 year war in the Netherlands was devestating..the von Habsburgs were a plaque on all humans in Europe and South and Central America, they were about the biggest mass murdererers in Europe's history and all this because they as Catholic Zealouts wanted to stay kings for ever...as soon a Protestantism took over democracies were established and the Royals all over Europe lost their heads..
One of the messiest and thus deadliest wars in history (if it even can be called a single war), and too often vaguely dismissed as "yeah sure, religious war" (it clearly wasn't just that). Plus, the significance for the development of Europe politically but also socially cannot be overstated; loads of ideas we take more or less for granted now were sorta introduced as a reaction to the horrors of this period.
well said!
Oooh, really excited to see that you have a series on the 30 years war. Can't wait to dig into this.
This might be the most underrated channel ever
Great video! Though I would suggest making it clear somehow in the title, that it covers developments and situation leading up to the wars themselves, rather than the conflict. The point of view you present here is rarely covered and you do, as always, amazing job of such a niche topic. I am just worried the video might be overlooked as another thirty years war simple summary.
The biggest question that popped up every time I see the Thirty Years' War: Why Sultan Osman II did not join this war but go for the war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth instead?
Perhaps due to the fact that they were also busy dealing with the Persians?
Cause Zaporozhian cossacks started seriously raiding Ottoman's costal towns on Black Sea. One time they even raided suburbs of Constantinopol itself
The Ottomans were more than happy to see their primary European adversary tied down in a war, and did not want to give the Christians any reason to pull a coalition together against them.
Actually there were broken negotiations between Czechs and Ottomans but because reasons mentioned above, internal struggle and complicated logistics. Ottomans gave no support for Czechs.
Thank you for this series! I've always been of the opinion that this is a defining era for the state of Europe and the world ever after, and should be much more well known by everyone.
0:10
A. It's an omen
B. The end is nigh!
C. The economy, fools!
D. I wish we lived in more enlightened times...
E. If only we had comet sense...
F. Oh Comet, Devil's kith and kin...
Anyway, you lose 1 stability!
@@notalecguinness3221 f
@@notalecguinness3221 what if my ruler is a scholar?
@@realhawaii5o Fascinating! That's rather lucky for you, you gain some administrative power (I've had that maybe once :D)
Thank you for this video. The Thirty Years War is indeed very complex, multi-level, multi-party conflict. In high school, I read Lynn Montross' opus War Through the Ages from cover to cover three times. I love Montross' style but he does tend to write for people who already know the facts, and reading his chapters didn't really teach me about the Thirty Years War. When I was finally in college after four years of military service (so I was older than most college freshmen), I was in the library supposedly doing research for my term paper for psychology class, when I discovered Dupuy & Dupuy's Encyclopedia of Military History. I started reading it and I was just wowed by the chronology format and presentation. I sat there and started immediately reading the Thirty Years War section of the Encyclopedia because it was something I knew I didn't understand. 👍
Nice christmas decorations on the tree in the thumbnail! Oh wait...
Won't have time to watch right now but will later, happy holidays guys!
Fortunately I've finished that piece long before setting up the Christmas tree :D
A Major in Late Medieval History, I am a huge fan of your channel. Great no-nonsense summary. I see you are moving from tactics to grand strategy.
Such a interesting period that’s overlooked
Amazing video as always! You guys should try doing a lenghty series detailing the many battles of the thirty years war, like Kings and Generals and HistoryMarche, it would be great!
Fantastic video! Looking forward to more on this subject! Thanks!
Thank you very much. Very informative and instructive.
All this could’ve been solved with with just one phrase “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” -The big JC.
Man learning about this conflict pretty much ruined the Bourbon monarchs and the French Catholic Church for me.
"The most Christian Turks of Europe"
Well the Hapsburg's didn't exactly come out smelling of roses, plus their inbreeding didn't help.
@@zetectic7968 Yes but every time they had the turks on the run or were close to uniting europe (Carlos V for example) "the most catholic" louis 123 had to intervine
@@mihovilraboteg6160 True. Under the doctrine of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, not that it helped France in the long term with their fight with the English.
@@zetectic7968 TURKS NEVER RUN TURKS MASSACRED EUROPEANS AND OR RULED GOLDEN AGE FOR OTTOMAN EMPİRE İN 15 16 CENTURY OTTOMAN RULED ALL EUROEPANS İN AND GREAT WAR İN THİRD WARS CATHOLİC.VS PROTESTAN.
the lead up is honestly almost as cool as the actual war
This fills in a big gap for me, thanks.
You have made this a little less confusing.
Thanks.
What I learnt today: the thirty years war is far too complicated to learn casually listening to a podcast on the way to work.
Mental summary: important people in and out of the empire were too concerned about what others believed and too afraid that others were going to impose their religion on them
The beginnings of an unholy war in the Holy Roman Empire.
Unholy german confederate*
For anyone interested the 1970 film The Last Valley is set during the Thirty Years War, and very good it is too!
The Habsburgs needed to reconquer the Netherlands as this seven provinces had been the most powerful parts of the Habsburg territories in economic terms. But the Spanish had lost the maritime option in the battles of the Great Armada in 1588 and later in the battle of Dunkirk in 1609. The french king wanted to break the Habsburg encirclement (Habsburgs ruled in Spain, Portugal, Northern Italy, Burgundy, Alsace and in the Spanish Netherlands, nowadays Belgium). So he wanted to jam the so called spanish roads along the River Rhine. The Habsburgs tried to strenghten their strongholds along this roads. When the count palatine intervened in the bohemian struggle he gave the Emperor the opportunity to occupy his country. And the Landgraves of Hesse got into a bitter struggle about the religious terms in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Marburg. The Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel violated the contract about the heritage of Hesse so his own cousin, the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt accused him at the Reichshoftag. The Emperor supported him but forced him to hand over the fortress Rheinfels located on the left bank of the River Rhine to the Spanish Emperor. Later the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt became an ally to the Habsburgs, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel became a swedish ally and both transferred their countries into a major battleground of the Thirty Years War. All this mess and loss of lives only because the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel had forced the subjects in Hesse-Marburg to chance from lutherian protestantism to calvinism.
I would advice you to take a look at Siege of Nagykanizsa 1601, as it is probably the most succesfull and perfect siege defense in history, it would be a great content for your amazing channel
The thing is, I don‘t actually think the 30 Years War (or anything else that happened before 1840) has nearly as much of an impact on modern Germany-especially psychologically-as people think. It had a defining impact on the makeup of post-Reformation central Europe, easily up to the Napoleonic Wars (or more accurately, French Revolution Shocks) and is therefore crucial to understanding the history of the polities of the era. But these polities and the social classes that made them up are gone decisively.
I actually suspect that it‘s mostly a part of the national mythos that we are directly shaped by specific events in the distant past; in actuality, the consciousness of the masses is shaped predominantly and overwhelmingly by the present, and in fact the practical ways in which we are still involved in the same conflicts of say, the period since 1840 usually go unacknowledged and have little or no place in the national consciousness at all.
What‘s actually shaping our lives are the Revolutions of 1848 and 1918 and their material results. But our memory of them is not shaping us, for the most part because it barely exists at all.
This page and their videos deserve more subscribers and likes.
One can easily see the politics behind these supposedly religious conflicts. In any case, i wish things like Luther never happened.
Excellent contribution.
This was excellent. Some of the comments are worthy of note, too.
One of the most confusing wars to keep up with 😬
Damn i had a hard time with the Thirty Years War book (Peter H. Wilson). The writing is very complicated and often assumes you know what the author is talking about. no idea how you manage to read tru it to make this video. I don't think i've ever tried to read a more confusing book in my life. kudos!
I was looking forward to getting that book. Was it your introduction to the Thirty Years War, or did you already have a fundamental understanding of the war?
his book if for advanced students
Then C. V. Wedgewood’s The Thirty Years War might be the book for you. It’s written in 1920s, sure, but personally I found it much more readable and less hefty than Europe’s Tragedy.
@@wanderingchandelure95 hm wonder why its not on google books. will have to ship it from overseas. thanks for the recomendation btw
Eidt: i found his biography of William of Orange and i am having a good time. Double thank you :)
@@DerWeisskunig it's hard to explain. i had read the entire english wikipedia page and knew a lot about the HRE and it's geography. still found the book strange... Like for starters the introduction takes 300 pages and most of it is not used in the book. The war itself is described in a very confusing way. Don't think i disrespect the author, but he makes so little effort to keep you engaged :/
Love the content, i hope you keep it up in the new year!
I hope so too!
Another great video, thanks!
I've found it almost impossible to explain this War to folks who aren't somewhat familiar with the time. "It's really complicated".
As a " map nut", I still can't name the various German Statelets of the era!
Imperial Cities in the HRE weren‘t just independent from the powerful aristocrats, they were legally equal to them and essentially had their own feudal property. I.e. and Imperial City had it‘s own fiefdom where the peasants were vassals not to a local nobleman, but to the council of the imperial city and had to pay taxes/levies to the city.
This legal framework was a massive driver of urbanization but also proved a major source of conflict with the powerful princes. As these became more and more powerful, the fact that most of the economically valuable cities in the empire were legally independent of them was obviously a problem. That they would seek to annex these cities as well as fight over them was basically inevitable.
First of all: great Video! Well done as Always :-)
But I have to correct you on one little Statement: Cologne/köln isn't part of westphalia. It's the Heart of the Rhineland/ des Rheinlandes. Although it's Not that far from westphalia. It takes about 2,5 hours by train from köln to münster.
It's a good week when the big 3 of military history content creators makes a video....
Very interesting! More new information for me & thanks to you for a very good video explaining the causes clearly.
I look forward to more great content from you in 2023. Sadly my funds are limited so I can only support you by renewing my Nord subscription.
The Thirty Years War would be a great sequel idea for Kingdom Come Deliverance
Wasn't it set before the Hussite Wars? I think Henry's dad mentioned Jan Hus being burned at the stake.
Great video, thanks a bunch.
Glad you liked it!
It should be noted that movements like the Hussites and the Peasant Wars were massively driven by the economic suffering of the peasantry, while the actual Reformation essentially boiled down to a clash of interests between the Church and the traditional hierarchy on the one hand, and the high nobility as well as the rising urban classes.
The question of feudalism and the nobility itself, and the related question of the fate of the peasantry, were not really on the table here.
Brilliant presentation!
Really cool video, thanks for sharing with us boss.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you so much for a very informative video. It is an excellent treatment of the subject and has taught me a lot about what lead up to this disaster.
I, by chance, happened to witness the reenactment of the second defenistrstion in Prague on it's anniversary while on vacation in Prague. I wasn't aware of the background.
I have a theory and would gladly hear your opinion on it. Spain had gained tremendous riches and thereby power since it conquered parts of America and parts of Asia. Their royals (the Habsburgs) bought many thrones in southern Europe and even seized a major influence in the Catholic Church. The countries in middle and northern Europe did not want to yield to the Spanish / Habsburgs nor to the Catholic church which they saw as a fifth column in service of the Spanish. So therefore the protestants were helped to political power by non Habsburg nobility, who in this way stopped the influence of the Spanish. My theory: protestantism was helped into becoming a major religion to stop Spanish influence in countries, that did not want to fall into the hands of the Spanish / Habsburg nobility.
-- opinion on the top of my head without much further thinking or research --
Depending on how far you want to go with this argument, I think it's a reasonable assumption, especially because you say "helped into becoming", implying that there are many other factors. However, I'm not sure whether all of that is specifically related to the Spanish Habsburgs. I mean, yes, you're probably correct regarding the Dutch and their motivation to oppose the Spanish but for other's it really was the influence of the church itself (and the pope) on everyday life (I think that's especially true for Luther and his time). For the normal soldier, part of the motivation to go to war was salvation. Some of them really thought that if they won't fight for the protestant or catholic cause that they might go to hell. For an important aristocrat however, the motivation might have had more of a basis in power dynamics and politics. But generally speaking, we should not forget that Protestantism had a deep religious root, but overtime it became entangled with politics (as everything does, and that's okay). That doesn't mean it was solely political. It was both at the same time. For a German prince, Protestantism was a good alternative to increase his own position. I think he didn't think of the Spanish Habsburgs but rather about his positions and his opportunities within the HRE.
So, I guess, I'm trying to say that yes, opposition to the Spanish Habsburgs was a major factor for some to become a protestant (as was opposition to the monarch in France and elsewhere I'd add) but it's not enough to explain the movement. What about all the states in central and northern Europe (Denmark, England, Sweden etc.)? They didn't really have a connection to the Spanish and in the east the Austrians did their own thing for most of the time.
@@SandRhomanHistory Thank you very much for your response. So opposition against Spanish influence played a role, but it was one of multiple factors; I gladly adopt your view.
What a great lesson
This has to be the best explanation of why and how 30-years' War begun I've seen on youtube.
doesn't mention semitic finance. it's the kosher explanation.
@@levitatingoctahedron922 The what?
@@levitatingoctahedron922 Ohh the Jewish world conspiracy! Directly from the protocols?
@@eidechsentyp1236 If the blatant evidence wasn't everywhere you could always just study their Talmud, which unlike protocols they can't deny is their own. Tells you everything you need to know.
@@levitatingoctahedron922 where in the Talmud does it say that they started the thirty years war?
Everyone go read "as above so below" by Rudy Rucker. Trust me. Exceptionally written. Utterly captivating. Read it twice in 2 weeks lol.
Awesome please complete this series
Will do over the course of 2023.
''babe, wake up, SandRhoman uploaded.''
amazing video
thanks
The League war for me is probably the most fascinating time in Europe history
I was blessed to have watched Haleys comet in 1986. ❤
Perfect timing, just started listening to hell on earth but was looking for a more concise summation of the prelude and beginnings, and this is it.
Small point: Ferdinand II was supported by Phillip III of Spain, not Phillip II. Phillip II had died in 1598. Great video. I especially liked the focus on the governance of the HRE, which is generally ignored.
Damn! Don't know how that made it into the video but I've added a correction statement to the pinned comment!
Really great job! The Thirty Years' War is such an instructive conflict with, unfortunately, many parallels with today. While our current rulers could certainly use a refresher course in the hard won lessons of Westphalian sovereignty, the tensions that led to the conflagration and how they could have been better managed, are even more important. I can highly recommend C.V. Wedgwood's classic on the subject.
One factor you touched on needs some added context. That is the Spanish superpower was basically bankrupt at this point and NEEDED to retake the Netherlands at the end of the Twelve Years' Truce (1621). Ferdinand II's ambitions may have destabilised a fragile status quo, which have been unsalvageable anyway, as you point out, but any strong Palatinate would have sunk his Spanish cousins. There is nothing more dangerous than a superpower in decline.
The Dutch were pirating along the coast of Brazil and even occupied parts of the country. No Spanish/Portuguese king could accept such a hostile behavior.
@@ekesandras1481 That must have really stung, but the Low Countries themselves were needed for their wealth. At least acoording to CV Wedgwood.
Awesome video, great channel.
In the Western pre-modern era, religious questions became a political struggle (30 years war for example).
In the Western post-modern era, political questions became a religious struggle (Aryan, Statism).
Very well done video
Thank you very much!
Not only is it not a coincidence that all the non-Habsburg electors were Protestants, it‘s a massive understatement given that they were the main drivers of the reformation in the first place. It was literally the northern German Princes that protected Luther when he was being hunted, and then coincidentally ended up converting to protestantism.
They didn‘t do that because they happened to be radical theologians, or even because their peasants or burghers were heretics: these guys always had a fundamental conflict of interests with both the Habsburgs and the Church Electors (who were basically their own feudal princes, but picked by the Pope rather than inheriting their fief).
In essence, the 30 YW just continues this entire conflict and it‘s definition as a mainly religious war should probably be taken with a massive grain of salt. Yes it‘s a fight of protestant princes against a catholic Emperor and archbishops, but why were some of them protestant in the first place? It‘s because they had beef with the Emperor and Archbishops. It‘s easy to mix up cause and effect when interpreting history.
Come on! It's not Philip II but Philip III and you are showing a portrait of Philip IV!
Okay about the introductory picture showing a hanging using ladders. I’ve seen pictures like this before and I don’t get it. Doesn’t make sense. Did they expect a guy to climb a ladder with hands tied? Or did they somehow force him up the ladder and then tie hands which seems really awkward?
incredible video
Watching this video, you wonder if that could have been prevented
you have good well researched scripts and graphics on your show, I think the audio is the only thing that could use a professional upgrade sounds like you're talking from a box far away.
Would suck to start such a long war.
Cool video thanks
So, pro tip: Don't try and enact political change by throwing people out of windows/off roofs.
This is incredible but Halley's Comet is in my story as a main opponent and I know it is known as a harbinger of death and I happen to be looking up this war FIRST for further research and clicked ahead and came upon the Halley Part WOW.
- **10,000 BCE**: Around 1-10 million people⁵
- **1 CE**: Approximately 170-400 million people⁵
- **1000 CE**: Around 310-330 million people⁵
- **1500 CE**: Approximately 425-540 million people⁵
- **1804**: Reached 1 billion people²
- **1927**: Reached 2 billion people²
- **1960**: Reached 3 billion people²
- **1974**: Reached 4 billion people²
- **1987**: Reached 5 billion people²
- **1999**: Reached 6 billion people²
- **2011**: Reached 7 billion people²
- **2023**: Approximately 8 billion people³
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Awesome that you start a whole series on the Thirty Years War! Better than only the spectacular events, I guess, because of the amount of context one need to know to have a clue what actually happened (and for what reasons). I hope you leave enough room for the last part of the war - it always fascinated me why the fighting never stopped even when peace was already negotiated. This war was so exhausting for all participants, even some authors of history books just seem to stop writing after 1635 and jump straight to Westphalia. But I have great confidence in the dedication and ressources of the channel that you manage to round up this bloody mess!
I think there might be an error with your map, the low countries look reeeeally close to England
The English Civil War saw 600 battles and sieges. 50,000 soldiers and 130,000 civilians were killed during nine years of conflict.
Is it just me or does the political structure and polarization of the Holy Roman Empire look suspiciously like that of the contemporary United States?
can you make a video about the siege of cadiz of 1810
Yep. This is complicated. I'm sure I'll watch this series more than once and read a book about it. That's what I did to get a full understanding of the 2008 housing market crash which was as complicated as a GF with bi-polar disorder. I sorted 2008 out, I'll sort out the 30 years war too.
17:40,I checked but I don’t think Fredrick V was margrave of Brandenburg, rather only count palatine of the Rhine (at the time).
Not sure what you mean. We never say Frederick V was margrave of Brandenburg. Joachim Ernst was Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach at the time (he’s never mentioned but represented by his portrait several times)
Ah okay, because at 17:40 in the subtitles it was written Fredrick V Margrave of Brandenburg. Pretty sure the youtube subtitles were wrong.
Back in the days when people settled questions of religion and thought with calm, rational and respectful debate
Sorry for this one Europe but we just can't stop throwing people out of windows
Chances are that I'll never have to worry about it since I am an American, blue-collar peasant, but remind me to never go to Prague. I don't wanna get tossed out of a window, and that seems to be their national sport.
Interestingly, the brewing threat of religious war and the sighting of Halley's comet is one of the main things that caused many of the English Puritan pilgrims living in Holland to set sail for North America.
The founders of the Constitution understood the history and that's why we have religious freedom in this country
iv been reading the ring of fire series by eric flint where a modern american town got isekaied to the 30yrs war. I really got intrested at the period.