Thesis: the Thirty Years' War was caused primarily by religious reasons, but also political purposes played a key role in propagating the war. After the defenestration, the sides were readying themselves for two years and then on November 8, 1620 the battle took place on Bílá hora (White Mountain), outside Prague. About two-thirds of the population was Protestant and just 10% were Catholic. In 1618, the Bohemian Estates deposed the Catholic Ferdinand II as King of Bohemia. The Great Revolt of 1381 may have been caused by attempts to keep wages down. Historical re-enactment of the Battle of White Mountain. The weaknesses of both Ferdinand (now officially on the throne after the death of Emperor Matthias) and of the Bohemians themselves led to the spread of the war to western Germany. 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. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. The king-elect then sent two Catholic councillors (Vilem Slavata of Chlum and Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice) as his representatives to Prague Castle in May 1618. However, Prince of Transylvania Gabriel Bethlen began his conquest of Habsburg Hungary shortly after, defeating the last Habsburg army in the region before moving up to the Danube and meeting up with Thurn to besiege Vienna a second time. After the Defenestration of Prague and the ensuing Bohemian Revolt, the Protestants warred with the Catholic League until the former were firmly defeated at the Battle of Stadtlohn in 1623. Prague fell a day later, and the Bohemian Revolt was crushed. The Roman Catholic forces of the empire defeated the Bohemian Protestants at the Battle of the White Mountain (November 8, 1620), and the emperor Ferdinand II was able to reassert Habsburg authority over Bohemia. The Bohemian Revolt (which is claimed to have caused the Thirty Years War) was sparked by the religious intolerance of the Holy Roman Empire and emperor Matthias. [1] Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared they would be losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II in his Letter of Majesty (1609). It is widely recognised as a period of great change, either as a gradual transition or as a sharper turning point, but always associated with … However while Bohemia was effectively annexed by the Crown, other regions would continue their revolt for several years. During the war, he was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand II during the civil war. TheBohemian Revoltoccurred from 1618 to 1620 when the Protestant nobility of Bohemia rebelled against the CatholicHabsburg dynastyat the start of the Thirty Years' War. The ensuing Battle of White Mountain saw the Protestant army be utterly destroyed, as an unexpected frontal attack overran the center of their line and caused the rest of their army to disintegrate. Ferdinand had wanted them to administer the government in his absence. 1. A revolt of Bohemian Estates against the Habsburgs (1618–1620), "The Defenestration of Prague « Criticality", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bohemian_Revolt&oldid=997689509, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 19:27. Bohemia was to play a pivotal role in the outbreak of the Thirty Years War. Gutmann, ‘The Origins of the Thirty Years War', Journal of Interdisciplinary History, xviii (1988), 749–70. Once Protestant revolt was going, the unity of the Empire was gone. Ferdinand was compelled to call on his cousin, King Philip III of Spain, for assistance. They preferred the Protestant Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate (successor of Frederick IV, the creator of the Protestant Union). Frederick was crowned in 1619 but lost the kingdom to Catholic League troops under General Tilly at the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620. Frederick V. of the Palatinate, the man whom the Bohemian revolt elects as its king is also a Calvinist, not a Lutheran, so Iimagine they were not too happy about that either. Others share this interpretation: P. Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (London, 1988); M.P. The Austrians, who seemed to have intercepted every letter leaving Prague, made these duplicities public. What happened in the Defenestration of Prague? They preferred the Protestant Frederick V, elector of the Palatinate (successor of Frederick IV, t… The war can be divided into four major phases: The Bohemian Revolt, the Danish intervention, the Swedish intervention, and the French intervention. The Bohemians hinted Frederick would become King of Bohemia if he allowed them to join the Union and come under its protection. 19 The improving military situation allowed him to set out for Frankfurt on 10 July where the electors were gathering. Lower Austria revolted soon after, and in 1619, Count Thurn led an army to the walls of Vienna itself. In 1618, in what is known as the Bohemian Revolt, Protestant Bohemians attempted to rid their kingdom of Catholic rule by the Habsburg. and Slavata[?]) Some of the Protestant leaders of Bohemia feared they would be losing the religious rights granted to them by Emperor Rudolf II in his Letter of Majesty (1609). The Duke of Savoy, however, sent 2,000 troops under Ernst von Mansfeld and financial aid to assist the Bohemians, and they captured Pilsen in May 1618, marking the start of military hostilities. As no satisfactory agreement could be reached between the followers of Catholicism and Protestantism, a feeling of bit­terness continued to persist between them which ultimately culminated in the Thirty Years’ War. The effects of the shock caused by Russia's desertion passed away. On 6 June 1617, he ascended to the Bohemian throne to the fury of the Protestant Bohemians, and Habsburg rule over Bohemia and sectarian clashes between Protestants and Catholics led to unrest in Bohemia. On 23 May 1618, a group of Protestant nobles went to the Hradcany royal castle to meet with the imperial governors. January 1918 marked the ebb tide in the movement for Bohemian independence. ADVERTISEMENTS: The war had its origin in the religious disputes between the Catho­lics and the Protests. The Bohemian aristocracy was in ore or less open revolt following the election of Ferdinand ll, a Catholic zealot, to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. Johann Tserclaes of Tilly commanded the They all lived in relative harmony. Regardless of religion, most German princes refused to support him, and by early 1620, the Bohemian Revolt had been suppressed. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. 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 remained cold for another year, as most Bohemians did not wish to overthrow the current dynasty, instead wishing for the Holy Roman Empire to reassure its stance on religious freedom. This marked the opening phases of the Thirty Years’ War and saw the Bohemian Estates rise up against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty. Battle of Pilsen (1618, November 21) Battle of Záblatí (1619, June 10) The Bohemian Revolt occurred from 1618 to 1620 when the Protestant nobility of Bohemia rebelled against the Catholic Habsburg dynasty at the start of the Thirty Years' War. On 28 August 1619, Ferdinand of Bohemia was formally elected Holy Roman Emperor. This event, known as the (Second) Defenestration of Prague, started the Bohemian Revolt. Without heirs, Emperor Matthias sought to assure an orderly transition during his lifetime by having his dynastic heir (the fiercely Catholic Ferdinand of Styria, later Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor) elected to the separate royal thrones of Bohemia and Hungary. Time: 1618–1625. List of battles in the Thirty Years' War . The Bohemian Revolt (which is claimed to have caused the Thirty Years War) was sparked by the religious intolerance of the Holy Roman Empire and emperor Matthias. [2] This unraveled much of the support for the Bohemians, particularly in the court of Saxony. Instead they continued to publish many news reports from the different theatres of the Thirty Years’ War, and soon also concerning other political conflicts around Europe. He had written to the imperial Estates on 12 April 1619, stressing how the rebels had rejected his efforts to resolve matters peacefully. For Ferdinand, the Bohemian Revolt was a distraction from his primary goal of securing the imperial crown. The religious conflict eventually spread across the whole continent of Europe, involving France, Sweden, and a number of other countries. As Mortimer points out, Christian’s motives were not exactly clear, but with the entrance of Denmark into the war, the ‘Bohemian revolt and its aftermath moved from being a series of relatively localized campaigns, centred successively around Bohemia, the Palatinate, and Westphalia, to become the full-scale international conflict known as the Thirty Years War’ (p. 259). Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for The Battle of the White Mountain 1620 and the Bohemian Revolt, 1618-1622 (Century of the Soldier) at Amazon.com. In an editorial article on December 17th, entitled “The Importance of Bohemia”, based on Andre Charadame’s powerful discussion in the Atlantic Monthly, the Post says: “M. Had the Bohemian rebellion remained a local conflict, the war could have been over in fewer than thirty months. His title of elector of the Palatinate was given to his distant cousin, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. Overall, England was criticized for its inaction in the Thirty Years' War. The Protestant cause seemed to wax toward a quick overall victory. The region was a mixture of Calvinists, Lutherans, Catholics and Anabaptists. influenced by successor of Matthias. Moravia was already embroiled in a conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics were allowed to close down Protestant churches, non-Catholics were refused civic office, and petitions to Matthias were ignored and even declared illegal in this matter. The people appealed to Emperor Matthias, who ignored their protests. The Causes of the Thirty Years War 1618-48 The Thirty Years War consistently features on lists of major conflicts in world history. But the most encouraging feature of recent happenings for friends of Bohemia is the ever-growing revolt within Austria. Revolt broke out when the government decided to raise the price of bread. In 1612, Rudolf II died and was replaced by Matthias I, who was a hardline Catholic and began to roll back on religious freedom. Given the relatively great number of Protestants in the kingdom, including some of the nobles, the king's unpopularity soon caused the Bohemian Revolt. Bohemia had been an area known to be religiously tolerant. The election of the Catholic zealot Ferdinand, Archduke of Styria, as King of Bohemia caused the Bohemian Protestants to fear for their religious freedom, and in May 1618, at Hradcany castle, two Catholic councillors (Martinitz[?] Note the monument to the right of the castle tower. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. and Slavata[?]) The Thirty Years' War was fought in phases that can be separate: the Bohemian revolt, the Danish intervention, the Swedish intervention, and the French intervention. Ferdinand II decisively defeated Frederick V at the Battle of White Mountain, near Prague, on 8 November 1620. This would have the effect of bringing in elements of the Protestant Union which had suffered a severe blow to their credibility via their refusal to support the Bohemian revolutionaries. To this end they invested an enormous sum of treasure in the hiring of free companies and mercenaries. He was originally the Prince of Bohemia. Bohemian Revolt Period: 1618-1625. In 1617 Roman Catholic officials in Bohemia closed Protestant chapels that were being constructed by citizens of the towns of Broumov and Hrob, thus Bohemia - which had been at peace since the end of the Hussite Wars - would soon become the flashpoint for the start of the greatest religious war ever fought. The Bohemian Revolt (1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty, in particular Emperor Ferdinand II, which triggered the Thirty Years’ War. The Catholic forces of Maximilian I, duke of Bavaria, commanded by count von Tilly, defeated the Protestant forces of Frederick V, king of Bohemia. In 1614, the zealous Calvinist Frederick V became the new Elector of the Palatinate, and he quickly rose to the leadership of the Protestant Union. It was caused by both religious and power disputes. The War can be divided into four major phases: the Bohemian Revolt, the Danish intervention, the Swedish intervention, and the French intervention. Neu Titschein. As 1620 progressed, a 20,000-strong Spanish army began to march from the Low Countries into the Palatinate under the command of Ambrogio Spinola, while a 30,000-strong Catholic League army under Count Tilly captured Upper Austria and Bucquoy conquered Lower Austria. The Bohemian Phase Although ruled directly by the Catholic Hapsburgs, Bohemian Protestants enjoyed a generous level of religious toleration (by the standards of the time). The Imperials also captured Mansfeld's correspondence, revealing Duke Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy's dealings with the Bohemians, Dutch, Venetians, and English. The party leadership is facing open revolt. Frederick was outlawed from the Holy Roman Empire, and his territories, the Rhenish Palatinate, were given to Catholic nobles. Related posts: What are the four phases of […] Embarrassed and aware that he would not be elected King of Bohemia, Charles Emmanuel ended his support for the rebels. The Habsburg cause in the next few years would seem to suffer unrecoverable reverses. ... 27 members of the Bohemian nobility led the revolt against Ferdinand II. This incident was a signal for the beginning of a Bohemian revolt against the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II. Given the relatively great number of Protestants in the kingdom, including some of the nobles, the king's unpopularity soon caused the Bohemian Revolt. While Spain had to focus on quelling the Dutch Revolt in the Netherlands, they sent 7,000 veteran Spanish Army troops to Bohemia by mid-1619 with the goal of crushing the Protestant uprising there. This paper addresses issues that caused the war solely within the context of the political, religious thand economic structures and events in 16 and early 17th Century Germany and Eastern Europe, and the Holy Roman Empire up to the outbreak of the 1618 Bohemian Revolt. In addition, the changes in territory meant that previously unaligned powers would find a resurgent Empire on their own borders, a circumstance that Kingdoms like Denmark found untenable. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. David Ward | Published in History Today. The Bohemian Revolt ( German: Böhmischer Aufstand; Czech: České stavovské povstání; 1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. Bohemian Revolt (1618-1620) The Bohemian Revolt (German: Böhmischer Aufstand; Czech: České stavovské povstání; 1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. Bohemia Electoral Palatinate Transylvania, Holy Roman Empire Spanish Empire Catholic League Saxony, Jindrich Matyas Thurn Ernst von Mansfeld Frederick V Gabriel Bethlen, Matthias I Ferdinand II Count of Bucquoy Philip III Ambrogio Spinola Count Tilly John George I. 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