Europe 1618

Europe at the outbreak of the Thirty Years War

In terms of armies, the Europe of this time was dominated by the Spanish Habsburgs. Through a system of New World gold and Italian financing their state had the funding for military ventures far more expensive than those of their neighbors.

The political climate of the time was one of religious tension between Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Church organized the Council of Trent to review Catholic beliefs in light of the challenge from Protestantism. This reaction became known as the Counter-Reformation, leading to the militarization and fanaticization of the Catholic Church.

The Holy Roman Empire had been falling apart since its creation. The ever present tension between the Emperor and the dukes was a relatively normal situation. But the Protestant revolution had changed that. In the course of the revolution the dukes, especially the duke of Saxony, had become the champions of Protestantism. The Emperor in response had become the defender of Catholic Church. The political rifts already apparent now took on spiritual dimensions.

Even outside the HRE in neighboring France, the country was rocked by the wars of religion where various factions used the reformation to vie for political power and influence.

The Empire became even more important as the Spanish Road [link] was too close to France to avoid attack. This road was necessary to the continuation of the war between Catholic Spain and the Protestant Netherlands. The route for Spanish armies had to be rerouted to the east of Switzerland and pass through those sections of the HRE ruled by Protestant dukes and princes.

The war began when on may 23, 1618 in the city of Prague, the Austrian king's Regents were thrown out of the window by Protestant Bohemian nobles who feared that the king would attempt outlaw Protestantism.

-----Europe Series-----
1550 [link]
1618
1648 [link]
1765 [link]
1815 [link]
1914 [link]

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Edit: fixed the Savoy border, defined Wallachia, Transylvania and Hungary

2/19/12 EDIT:
map base source [link]
map base created by Alex [link]