The Thirty Years War is the first military conflict that swept across Europe. Two large groups took part in it: the Habsburg block (Austro-German and Spanish Habsburgs, the Catholic principalities of Germany, Poland) and the anti-Habsburg coalition (Denmark, Sweden, France, the Protestant principalities of Germany, England, Holland, Russia). The development of this conflict was facilitated by both religious and political reasons.
Religious reasons
"War of faith" is the second name for a large-scale military conflict that lasted from 1618 to 1648. Indeed, the Thirty Years War was the most terrible period of confrontation between Catholics and Protestants in the 17th century. Many people took up arms to establish the rule of the “right faith”. The religious character of the war is also evidenced by the names of the warring alliances. In particular, Protestants created the Evangelical Union (1608), and Catholics created the Catholic League (1609).
The tensions between Protestants and Catholics occurred when Ferdinand of Styria, who was also the heir to the entire Holy
Roman Empire, was proclaimed king of the Czech Republic
. He was a Catholic and did not intend to reckon with the interests of the Protestants. This was clearly manifested in his politics. So, he gave Catholics various privileges, and in every way restricted the rights of Protestants. The main government posts were held by Catholics, while Protestants, on the contrary, were persecuted. A ban was imposed on the performance of Protestant
religious rites. Due to violence, part of the Protestants passed to the Catholics. Religious clashes have again become commonplace.
All of the above led the uprising of Prague Protestants on May 23, 1618. Then the "Second Prague Defenestration" took place: the rebellious Protestants threw Habsburg officials from the windows of one of the fortresses in Prague. The latter survived only because they fell into the dung. The Catholic Church later explained their salvation with the help of angels. After the events described, the Catholic army marched on the rebels. And so the Thirty Years War began.
Political reasons
But the reasons for the Thirty Years War are not only related to religion. The political nature of the conflict clearly manifested itself in subsequent periods of the war (Swedish, Danish and Franco-Swedish). It was based on the struggle against the hegemony of the Habsburgs. Thus, Denmark and Sweden, who defended the interests of Protestants, wanted to gain political leadership in Central Europe. In addition, these countries were fed to get rid of competitors on the northern sea routes.
The Thirty Years' War contributed to the fragmentation of the Habsburg Empire, so even Catholic France sided with the Protestants. The latter was afraid of excessive empire strengthening, and also had territorial claims in the Southern Netherlands, Alsace, Lorraine and Northern Italy. England fought the Habsburgs at sea. The Thirty Years' War, whose causes were rooted in religion, quickly turned into one of the largest European political conflicts.