The Rise of the German
States
and Russia
The Thirty Years War,
Austria and Prussia, and
Russia
Thirty Years War 1618-1648
Peace of Augsburg of 1555 brought truce
to warring religious factions in the Holy
Roman Empire.
 The agreement only recognized Catholics
and Lutherans (leaving out Calvinists).
 Calvinists began to make gains in a
number or states and began demanding
rights.
 Direct cause of the fighting was a conflict
in Bohemia.

Four Phases of the War
Bohemian
Phase (1618-1625)
Danish Phase (1625-1629)
Swedish Phase (1630-1635)
French Phase (1635-1648)
Bohemian Phase, 1618-1625
 Calvinists
in Bohemia concerned
with the election of a Catholic
King as Emperor Frederick II of
the HRE.
 Construction of Calvinist Churches
is halted.
 HRE is more divided by religion.
The Defenestration of Prague
On May 23, 1618,
an assembly of
Protestants tried
two Imperial
governors for
halting the
construction.
 They were found
guilty, and thrown
out of the high
windows of the
Bohemian
Chancellery.

The Defenestration of Prague
They fell some 50 ft, and they landed on
a large pile of manure. They all survived.
 Roman Catholic Imperial officials claimed
that they survived due to the mercy of
the benevolent angels assisting the
righteousness of the Catholic cause.
 Protestant pamphleteers asserted that
their survival had more to do with the
horse excrement in which they landed
than the benevolent acts of the angels.

Danish Phase, 1625-1629
 King
Albrecht von Wallenstein
Christian IV of
Denmark intervened
on the side of the
Protestants against
Ferdinand II.
 Albrecht von
Wallenstein defeated
the Danes in 1626 with
a independent army of
50,000 men.
Swedish Phase, 1630-1635




Swedish King Gustavus
Adolphus became the new
defender of the Protestant
cause.
In 1630, the Swedes
invaded Germany.
Later that year, Catholic
France signed a alliance
with Protestant Sweden,
entering the war against
the Hapsburgs.
What had begun as a
religious war now took
political overtones.
Gustavus Adolphus
French Phase, 1635-1648
A settlement reached in
the Treaty of Prague was
wrecked by the French
decision to directly
intervene.
 Cardinal Richelieu, Chief
Minister of Louis XIII
wanted to weaken
Hapsburg power and
gain territory.

Cardinal Richelieu
French Phase, 1635-1648
 The
war continued to ravage
Germany, with no side gaining the
upper hand until the French became
more directly involved.
 Ferdinand II died in 1637 and was
succeeded by his son, Ferdinand III (r.
1637-1657).
 Peace negotiations began in 1641, but
made little progress until the death of
Richelieu in 1642 and the French
occupation of Bavaria in 1646.
Peace of Westphalia, 1648
Treaty of Westphalia ended the 30 yrs. War.
 France, Sweden, and Brandenburg (Prussia)
gained territory.
 Settlement formally recognized the
independence of Switzerland and Dutch
Republic.
 Granted German states the right to make
treaties and alliances, further weakening
the HRE. 300+ German states became
sovereign.
 Religious rights guaranteed in Peace of
Augsburg expanded to Calvinists.

Political Changes in Eastern
Europe
 Three
aging empires: gave way to
new empires of Austria Prussia and
Russia
 Holy Roman Empire: religious
divisions and war in 16th and 17th
century
 Ottoman Empire: could not maintain
possessions in E. Europe and Balkans
 Poland: liberum veto – voting in
Polish parliament had to be
unanimous (= weak gov’t)
The Austrian Hapsburgs
 Multinational
empire:
Austrian,
Hungarian, &
Bohemian
kingdoms (later
expansion into
Slavic lands)
The Austrian Hapsburgs

Charles VI
– Pragmatic Sanction (1713) issued by
Charles
VI:
Habsburg
territories
indivisible; only Habsburgs could rule
(daughter Maria Theresa)
– War of Austrian Succession (17401748)
– Prussia, France, Bavaria & Spain vs.
Austria and Russia
– Prussia tool Silesia from Austria; Prussia
now most powerful German state: “Great
Power”
The Austrian Hapsburgs
 Maria
Theresa (r.
1740-1780):
Wars of 1740s
led to internal
consolidation
 Reduced serfdom
Hohenzollerns in Prussia

Frederick William, The
Great Elector (r.16401688)
– Rule consolidated after
30 Years’ War: military
force & taxation
– Junkers: nobility sided
with king for stability;
hereditary serfdom in
1653
– Created most efficient
army in Europe
Hohenzollerns in Prussia
 Frederick
1713)
I (r. 1688-
– (Elector Frederick III)
“The
Ostentatious”
(1688-1713); 1st “King
of Prussia”
– Allied with Habsburgs
in War of League of
Augsburg and War of
Spanish Succession.
Hohenzollerns in Prussia

Frederick William I (r.
1713-1740) “The
Soldiers’ King”
– Established Prussian
absolutism
– “Sparta of the North”:
Largely a military state –
best army in Europe
– Junkers became officers
caste in army in return
for king’s absolutism
Hohenzollerns in Prussia

“Frederick the Great”
(Frederick II: 1740-1786)
of Prussia
– At war for first half of his
reign
– Became
a
reformer
during 2nd half of his
reign – ruler was the
“first servant of the
state”
Peter the Great in Russia
 Romanov
Dynasty (16131917)
– Michael Romanov
(1613-1645)
– Created Russian
empire across Asia
to the Pacific
(largest nation by
1689)
Peter the Great in Russia
 Peter
1725)
the Great (1682-
– 1698, put down revolt by
strelski (Moscow Guards)
– westernization
(modernization): mostly for
military purposes
– state-regulated
monopolies
created; industrial serfdom
– Table of Ranks: educational
training for new civil service
(mostly of nobles)
Peter the Great in Russia
 St.
Petersburg begun in 1703 on
Baltic; largest city in Northern
Europe by his death.
 “Winter Palace” sought to emulate
Versailles.
 Great Northern War (1700-1721)
– Fought Charles XII, 18-yr-old Swedish
king
– Battle of Poltava, 1709: Peter defeated
Sweden
 Treaty
of Nystad (1721): Peter