Epilogue

Abstract

When asked ‘What do you work on?’, a historian whose subject is the Thirty Years War knows that after ‘When was that?’ the almost inevitable follow-up question is going to be ‘Well, what was it about?’ Whether there are simple answers in respect of other wars is debatable, but there certainly is not for the Thirty Years War. As noted in the opening to Chapter 1, even the definition of the war is not firm, as some historians confine the term to the core struggle in and around Germany, regarding hostilities during the same period in territories further afield as possibly related but none the less peripheral, while others view them as part of a single all-embracing conflict. Both concepts are arguable, but even for the simpler case it is hard to pinpoint a common cause or central issue, other than in terms so broad as to be almost meaningless. The problem is well illustrated by considering three commonly accepted components of the wider Thirty Years War, first the revolt and war in Bohemia in 1618 to 1620, a rebellion of Protestant aristocrats against their Catholic king, secondly the war of the Mantuan Succession in Italy from 1628 to 1631, a proxy battle over the inheritance fought mainly by France, Spain and the emperor, all Catholic, and thirdly the war between Denmark and Sweden of 1643 to 1645, a struggle for regional dominance between the two kingdoms, both of which were Protestant. The problem is further compounded by the long duration of the war, as not only the main participants but also the apparent issues changed over time.