1631: The Swedish Victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld
The Thirty Years War
When people talk about the wars that have occurred in Europe, most often they are referring to World War II, sometimes to World War I, and rarely to the Napoleonic Wars. What many forget, however, is that there was another war that saw widespread devastation in Europe. And it started in 1618.
Labeled the 30 Years Wars, on account that it was finally settled in 1648, in many ways this war would set the stage for the emergence of the modern world we live in today. But that is an article for another time. Today I will simply be introducing you to the war itself, that you might understand why one battle, and the King that won it, are so important to history. In reading this article you might perhaps even see why it is worthy of remembrance some 388 years later.
The 30 Years War was a conflict that ravaged the Holy Roman Empire for thirty years, directly contributing to the deaths of some 8 million people, and saw the population of what is now Germany reduced by 20–50% in most areas. Indeed, it was not until World War II in 1945 that a similar level of death and destruction were to occur.
Initially it was a war that resulted from a struggle between the different Protestant and Catholic states that composed the Holy Roman Empire (HRE). The…
