Thirty Years' War

Flag of Bohemia Bohemia
Flag of Denmark Denmark-Norway (Until 1643)
Flag of the Netherlands Dutch Republic
Flag of France France
Flag of Scotland Scotland
Flag of England England
Flag of Saxony Saxony

(Catholic League)
Flag of Spain Spain
Flag of Austria Austria
Flag of Bavaria Bavaria

Flag of England Buckingham
Flag of Scotland Leven
Flag of Sweden Gustav II Adolf †
Flag of Sweden Johan Baner
Flag of France Cardinal Richelieu
Flag of France Louis II de Bourbon
Flag of France Turenne
Flag of Denmark Christian IV of Denmark
Flag of Saxony Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar
Flag of Saxony Johann Georg I of Saxony

Flag of Holy Roman Empire Albrecht von Wallenstein †
Flag of Holy Roman Empire Ferdinand II
Flag of Holy Roman Empire Ferdinand III
Flag of Spain Count-Duke Olivares
Flag of Spain Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand
Flag of Bavaria Maximilian I

The Thirty Years' War began as a civil war and was fought between 1618 and 1648, principally on the territory of today's Germany, and involved most of the major European continental powers. Although it was from the outset a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the rivalry between the Habsburg dynasty and other powers was also a central motive, as shown by the fact that Catholic France under the de facto rule of Cardinal Richelieu supported the Protestant side in order to weaken the Habsburgs, thereby furthering France's position as the pre-eminient continental power. This increased the France-Habsburg rivalry which led later to direct war between France and Spain.

The major impact of the Thirty Years' War, which primarily used mercenary armies who had little concern for anyone's rights or property, was to lay waste to entire regions scavenged bare by the foraging armies, causing a much higher than normal death rate among the civilian population, as episodes of widespread famine and disease (a starving body has little resistance to illnesses) devastated the population of The Germanies and The Low Countries, while bankrupting many of the powers involved. The war may have lasted for 30 years, but the conflicts that triggered it continued unresolved for a much longer time. The war ended with the Treaty of Münster, a part of the wider Peace of Westphalia.

Germany's population was reduced by 30 % on average, in the territory of Brandenburg the losses had amounted to half, in some areas to an estimated two thirds of the population. Germany’s male population was reduced by almost half. Population of the Czech lands declined by a third. The Swedish armies alone destroyed 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany, the number represented one-third of all German towns.