Thirty Years’ War
By the year 1618, the Holy Roman Empire was still extremely fragmented religiously and politically. Matthias gave up the Bohemian rule to Ferdinand II of Habsburg, a devout Catholic who alienated and suppressed the Protestant majority of his kingdom. The “Bohemian Estates” started an open revolt, widely known as “Bohemian Revolt”, against Habsburgs. In May 1618, the second defenestration of Prague occurred when two Catholic imperial councillors (Slavata and Graf Von Martinicz) and their secretary were thrown out of one of Prague Castle’s windows. “Bohemian Estates” established a temporary government, founded their own army and declared two major aims: the exile of Jesuits and the founding of an election system to the Bohemian throne. This conflict is considered as the first stage of the Thirty Years’ War.
Ferdinand II of Habsburg was dismissed from the throne and a Calvinist king Frederick V (also known as Frederick of the Palatinate, Frederick Faltz or “the Winter King”) was elected to take his place. However, his reign was exremely abridged. In November 1620 the “Bohemian Estates” army was defeated by imperial forces lead by Albrecht von Wallenstein at the Battle of White Mountain. Frederick V was dismissed and his territories were transfered to the Catholic nobles.
In June 21 1621, 27 the “Bohemian Revolt” leaders (some of them Catholics) were beheaded at the old town square in the order of Habsburgs at the Old Town Square. Walking across the square, one can see next to the Astronomical Clock 27 white crosses embedded in the pavement in their memory. The executed leaders’ property was nationalized, and some of their heads were hung in different sites in Prague, including the Old Town bridge tower of the Charles River Bridge. It is believed that every year the ghosts of the beheaded leaders come back at the exact hour and on the exact day of their execution to the execution’s spot.
A Protestant allies—England, Netherlands, Denmark, and some German principalities got involved in the confluct with the encouragement of the exive king Frederick V. In 1626 a Danish army, the leader of Protestant coalition, invaded the Holy Roman Empire but was easily defeated by the imperial forces.
Between the years 1627 – 1628, Bohemia accepted a new constitution that granted Vienna the Czech sovereignty. Protestants were given a choice: to accept Catholicism or leave the Bohemian territory.
In 1630 Sweden accepted the leadership of the Protestant alliance. Saxony and Brandenburg joined the conflict and stood by the Swedes. By, 1631 the Protestant forces invaded Catholic territories and occupied Catholic Bavaria. In the 1632, the Saxon army had occupied Prague. Some of the exile Protestants returned back home, and the heads of the executed leaders of “Bohemian Revolt” were given a proper burial.
Despite of being a Catholic country, in 1635 France joined the Protestant alliance due to its rivalry with Holy Roman Empire and Spain, and due to its resistance to the powerful Habsburg dynasty. In 1645, the Swedes defeated the imperial forces and defeated the Bavarian army. In 1648 the Swedes occupied and plundered the Lesser Quarter and Prague’s Castle, but were defeated by the Czech university students and Jewish Quarter’s residents on Charles River Bridge in the last battle of the Thirty Years’ War.
