CHAPTER XXIX.
END OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR.
(1634—1648.)
- The Battle of Nördlingen.
- —Aid furnished by France.
- —Treachery of Protestant Princes.
- —Offers of Ferdinand II.
- —Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar visits Paris.
- —His Agreement with Louis XIII.
- —His Victories.
- —Death of Ferdinand II.
- —Ferdinand III. succeeds.
- —Duke Bernard's Bravery, Popularity and Death.
- —Banner's Successes.
- —Torstenson's Campaigns.
- —He threatens Vienna.
- —The French victorious in Southern Germany.
- —Movements for Peace.
- —Wrangel's Victories.
- —Capture of Prague by the Swedes.
- —The Peace of Westphalia.
- —Its Provisions.
- —The Religious Settlement.
- —Defeat of the Church of Rome.
- —Desolation of Germany.
- —Sufferings and Demoralization of the People.
- —Practical Overthrow of the Empire.
- —A Multitude of Independent States.
1634. DEFEAT OF THE PROTESTANTS.
The Austrian army, composed chiefly of Wallenstein's troops and commanded nominally by the Emperor's son, the Archduke Ferdinand, but really by General Gallas, marched upon Ratisbon and forced the Swedish garrison to surrender before Duke Bernard, hastening back from Eger, could reach the place. Then, uniting with the Spanish and Bavarian forces, the Archduke took Donauwörth and began the siege of the fortified town of Nördlingen, in Würtemberg. Duke Bernard effected a junction with Marshal Horn, and, with his usual daring, determined to attack the Imperialists at once. Horn endeavored to dissuade him, but in vain: the battle was fought on the 6th of September, 1634, and the Protestants were terribly defeated, losing 12,000 men, beside 6,000 prisoners, and nearly all their artillery and baggage-wagons. Marshal Horn was among the prisoners, and Duke Bernard barely succeeded in escaping with a few followers.
The result of this defeat was that Würtemberg and the Palatinate were again ravaged by Catholic armies. Oxenstierna, who was consulting with the Protestant princes in Frankfort, suddenly found himself nearly deserted: only Hesse-Cassel, Würtemberg and Baden remained on his side. In this crisis he turned to France, which agreed to assist the Swedes against the Emperor, in return for more territory in Lorraine and Alsatia. For the first time, Richelieu found it advisable to give up his policy of aiding the Protestants with money, and now openly supported them with French troops. John George of Saxony, who had driven the Imperialists from his land and invaded Bohemia, cunningly took advantage of the Emperor's new danger, and made a separate treaty with him, at Prague, in May, 1635. The latter gave up the "Edict of Restitution" so far as Saxony was concerned, and made a few other concessions, none of which favored the Protestants in other lands. On the other hand, he positively refused to grant religious freedom to Austria, and excepted Baden, the Palatinate and Würtemberg from the provision which allowed other princes to join Saxony in the treaty.
1635.
Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Brunswick, Anhalt, and many free cities followed the example of Saxony. The most important, and—apparently for the Swedes and South-German Protestants—fatal provision of the treaty was that all the States which accepted it should combine to raise an army to enforce it, the said army to be placed at the Emperor's disposal. The effect of this was to create a union of the Catholics and German Lutherans against the Swedish Lutherans and German Calvinists—a measure which gave Germany many more years of fire and blood. Duke Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel scorned to be parties to such a compact: the Swedes and South-Germans were outraged and indignant: John George was openly denounced as a traitor, as, on the Catholic side, the Emperor was also denounced, because he had agreed to yield anything whatever to the Protestants. France, only, enjoyed the miseries of the situation.
Ferdinand II. was evidently weary of the war, which had now lasted nearly eighteen years, and he made an effort to terminate it by offering to Sweden three and a half millions of florins and to Duke Bernard a principality in Franconia, provided they would accept the treaty of Prague. Both refused: the latter took command of 12,000 French troops and marched into Alsatia, while the Swedish General Banner defeated the Saxons, who had taken the field against him, in three successive battles. The Imperialists, who had meanwhile retaken Alsatia and invaded France, were recalled to Germany by Banner's victories, and Duke Bernard, at the same time, went to Paris to procure additional support. During the years 1636 and 1637 nearly all Germany was wasted by the opposing armies; the struggle had become fiercer and more barbarous than ever, and the last resources of many States were so exhausted that famine and disease carried off nearly all of the population whom the sword had spared.