30 Year War Essay, Research Paper
Why Would France, a Catholic power, aid Protestants in the Thirty Years War?
The Thirty Years War was a clip of great spiritual struggle. The Calvinists opposed the Lutherans and the Catholics opposed the Protestants. Each side had no tolerance for the other and felt a deep hate for them.
The war consisted of four phases, or periods. The first of these phases was the Bohemian period. When Ferdinand came to power, in Bohemia, he instantly abolished spiritual freedom. The Protestant aristocracy, who had antecedently gained their rights, responded with a rebellion against the male monarch. As the struggle continued, the contending spread to other lands, taking us into the Danish period.
King Christian V of Denmark was a Lutheran male monarch tidal bore to spread out his imperium and influence. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful and was forced to withdraw to Denmark. Wallenstein was a materialistic hired by Ferdinand II. Wallenstein crushed the Protestants and it became obvious that a Catholic Europe is what Ferdinand sought. The Protestants needed aid and called upon the Swedish male monarch, Gustavus Adolphus.
The Swedish period be
gan with the Protestant leading of the Lutheran Adolphus. During this period is when the Gallic began to demo a great trade of involvement in the war. The Gallic curate, Cardinal Richelieu helped to fund the Swedish forces. At first, this act of the Gallic seems rather unusual because France is a Catholic power. It would do sense that the French would help the Catholic forces instead than those of the Protestants, yet they did non. The Gallic had a strong involvement in maintaining the Habsburg ground forcess occupied and tied down in Germany. This factor was more of import than holding the districts under Catholic influence.
In the last period, the Gallic openly entered the war. The Gallic came in on the side of the Protestants. The Gallic period resulted in mass devastation of Germany and a important loss in their population.
Of the four periods of war, the two most surprising were the 1s of the Swedish and the Gallic. I would hold ne’er imagined that the French would back up the Protestants over their fellow Catholics. These wars were based on spiritual differences, yet the Gallic chose to assist a faith other than their ain, in order to forestall Habsburg domination.
