The Thirty Years' War, from 1618 to 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of 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 Battle of White Mountain was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years.
Frederick V was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both roles, and the brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive sobriquet "the Winter King".
Ambrogio Spinola Doria, 1st Marquess of Los Balbases and 1st Duke of Sesto was an Italian condottiero and nobleman of the Republic of Genoa, who served as a Spanish general and won a number of important battles. He is often called "Ambrosio" by Spanish-speaking people and is considered one of the greatest military commanders of his time and in the history of the Spanish army. His military achievements earned him the title of Marquess of Los Balbases in the Spanish peerage, as well as the Order of the Golden Fleece and Order of Santiago.
The Catholic League was a coalition of Catholic 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, 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".
The Battle of Fleurus of August 29, 1622 was fought in the Spanish Netherlands between a Spanish army and the Protestant forces of Ernst von Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick during the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War. The bloody struggle left the Protestants mangled and the Spanish masters of the field. The Spanish victory would ensure Catholic dominance in Germany till the intervention of Denmark–Norway.
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba y Cardona-Anglesola was one of the main Spanish military leaders during the Eighty Years' War, Thirty Years' War, and the War of the Mantuan Succession.
The 1625 to 1630 Anglo-Spanish War was fought by England, in alliance with the Dutch Republic, and Spain. A related conflict of the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch and Spanish, most of the fighting took place at sea, and ended with the Treaty of Madrid re-establishing a partial status quo ante.
The Bohemian Revolt was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. The estates were almost entirely Protestant, mostly Utraquist Hussite but there was also a substantial German population that endorsed Lutheranism. The dispute culminated after several battles in the final Battle of White Mountain, where the estates suffered a decisive defeat. This started re-Catholisation of the Czech lands, but also expanded the scope of the Thirty Years' War by drawing Denmark and Sweden into it. The conflict spread to the rest of Europe and devastated vast areas of Central Europe, including the Czech lands, which were particularly stricken by its violent atrocities.
The War of the Jülich Succession, also known as the Jülich War or the Jülich-Cleves Succession Crises, was a war of succession in the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. The first phase of the war lasted between 10 June 1609 and 24 October 1610, with the second phase starting in May 1614 and finally ending on 13 October 1614. At first, the war pitted Catholic Archduke Leopold V against the combined forces of the Protestant claimants, Johann Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg and Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, ending in the former's military defeat. The representatives of Brandenburg and Neuburg later entered conflict amongst themselves, partly due to religious conversions, which led to the resumption of hostilities.
The siege of Heidelberg or the Imperial-Spanish capture of Heildelberg took place from 23 July to 19 September 1622, at Heidelberg, Electorate of the Palatinate, between the Imperial-Spanish army led by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly and Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba against the Anglo-Protestant forces of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, commanded by Sir Gerard Herbert and Sir Horace Vere during the Palatinate campaign, in the context of the Thirty Years' War. On 16 September the city of Heidelberg was taken by storm, and the Heidelberg Castle surrendered three days later to the Imperial and Spanish forces.
The Capture of Mannheim was achieved on 2 November 1622 by the Imperial-Spanish army commanded by Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly against the Protestant troops under the Englishman Sir Horace Vere during the Thirty Years' War.
The siege of Jülich was a major operation in the second phase of the Eighty Years' War that took place from 5 September 1621 to 3 February 1622. A few months after the Twelve Years' Truce between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Monarchy expired, the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by the Genoese nobleman Ambrogio Spinola, went on the offensive against the Republic and approached the Rhine river to mask its true intentions: laying siege to the town of Jülich, which the Dutch States Army had occupied in 1610 during the War of the Jülich Succession. Although the capture of the town would not allow for a Spanish invasion of the Republic, its location between the Rhine and Meuse rivers rendered it strategically significant for both sides, given that the United Provinces greatly benefited from the river trade with the neighboring neutral states and Spain was pursuing a strategy of blockading the waterways which flowed across the Republic to ruin its economy.
The Palatinate campaign, also known as the Spanish conquest of the Palatinate or the Palatinate phase of the Thirty Years' War was a campaign conducted by the Imperial army of the Holy Roman Empire against the Protestant Union in the Lower Palatinate, during the Thirty Years' War.
The Capture of Oppenheim or the Spanish capture of Oppenheim took place on 14 September 1620, at Oppenheim, Electorate of the Palatinate, between the Spanish army commanded by Don Ambrosio Spinola, Marquis of the Balbases, against the forces of the Electoral Palatinate led by Joachim Ernst, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, during the Palatinate campaign, in the context of the Thirty Years' War. The Spanish troops under Spinola, with a great maneuver of distraction over Worms, deceived the Protestant army of Joachim Ernst, and captured the important town of Oppenheim without too much difficulty, causing a severe blow to the Protestant forces.
The siege of Aachen took place in 24 August 1614, when the Spanish Army of Flanders, led by Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases, marched from Maastricht to Germany to support Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, during the War of the Jülich Succession. Despite its status as a free imperial city, Aachen was under the protection of John Sigismund of Brandenburg, Neuburg's ally, and then rival, in the battle for the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg. In 1611, the Protestant population of Aachen had revolted against the Catholic city council and had seized power. When the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, observing the Peace of Augsburg, had ordered the previous state to be restored, the Protestants had allied themselves with the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The unexpected arrival of a Spanish army at the gates of the city, however, caused the Protestants to lose courage and surrender Aachen to Spinola. A Catholic garrison was installed and a process of re-Catholicization began.
The Capture of Bacharach took place on 1 October 1620 at Bacharach, Electorate of the Palatinate. The conflict was between the Spanish forces commanded by Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and the Protestant forces of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, during the Palatinate campaign in the context of the Thirty Years' War. After a quick start of the invasion of states of Frederick V, proclaimed King of Bohemia, the operations slowed in mid-September, after the Capture of Oppenheim. Don Ambrosio Spinola, the Spanish general in command, assessed at a council of war the choice between undertaking the siege of Heidelberg or, secondarily, the town of Bacharach. The Spanish officers decided to take Bacharach due to the small number of Frederick's scattered forces. On 1 October Córdoba captured Bacharach with a force of 2,500 soldiers, forcing the Anglo-German defenders to surrender.
The Düsseldorf Cow War was a military conflict over the status of church property in the duchies Jülich and Berg. It lasted between June and December 1651, pitting the Catholic Palatinate-Neuburg against the Protestant Margraviate of Brandenburg. It ended in peaceful settlement, confirming the distribution of church property on the basis of the year 1651.
The siege of Frankenthal was a siege of the Palatinate campaign during the Thirty Years' War. A Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba besieged the Palatinate fortified city of Frankenthal and its mostly English garrison commanded by John Burroughs. The siege lasted from 1621 to March 20, 1623, when King James I ordered the city to surrender.
The years 1621–1648 constituted the final phase of the Eighty Years' War between the Spanish Empire and the emerging Dutch Republic. It began when the Twelve Years' Truce (1609–1621) expired, and concluded with the Peace of Münster in 1648.
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