Thirty Years' War

A series of wars in central Europe beginning in 1618 that stemmed from conflict between Protestants and Catholics and political struggles between the Holy Roman Empire and other powers. It ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Thirty Years' War

(Historical Terms) a major conflict involving principally Austria, Denmark, France, Holland, the German states, Spain, and Sweden, that devastated central Europe, esp large areas of Germany (1618–48). It began as a war between Protestants and Catholics but was gradually transformed into a struggle to determine whether the German emperor could assert more than nominal authority over his princely vassals. The Peace of Westphalia gave the German states their sovereignty and the right of religious toleration and confirmed French ascendancy

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Thirty Years' War

1618–48 A central and western European conflict originally fought on Catholic versus Protestant issues but becoming increasingly secularized. France and Sweden both entered on the Protestant side.

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Noun

Thirty Years' War - a series of conflicts (1618-1648) between Protestants and Catholics starting in Germany and spreading until France and Denmark and Sweden were opposing the Holy Roman Empire and Spain

battle of Lutzen, Lutzen - a battle in the Thirty Years' War (1632); Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeated the Holy Roman Empire under Wallenstein; Gustavus Adolphus was killed

Battle of Rocroi, Rocroi - a battle in the Thirty Years' War (1643); the French defeated the Spanish invaders

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References in classic literature

It was a convent before the Thirty Years' War, and the vaulted chapel, with its brick floor worn by pious peasant knees, is now used as a hall.

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As I live, these covered parts of him were checkered with the same squares as his face; his back, too, was all over the same dark squares; he seemed to have been in a Thirty Years' War, and just escaped from it with a sticking-plaster shirt.

View in context

Mastermind 7.30pm More contestants brave the black chair facing question on specialised subjects including Thirty Years' War, the members and music of Genesis and Shakespeare's Elizabethan tragedies.

August 23

Treaty of Westphalia, signed on 24th October 1648, marked the end of Thirty Years' War. This war is rightly considered one of the most destructive conflicts in the history of Europe.

Past in Perspective

UNITED NATIONS DAY NATIONAL DAY OF ZAMBIA 1648: The Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the Thirty Years' War.

ON THIS DAY

Nostalgia ON THIS DAY UNITED NATIONS DAY 1648: The Treaty of Westphalia was signed, ending the Thirty Years' War.

Nostalgia ON THIS ON THIS [...]

The Hero of Italy: Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, his Soldiers, and his Subjects in the Thirty Years' War. By Gregory Hanlon.

The Hero of Italy: Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma, his Soldiers, and his Subjects in the Thirty Years' War

1648: The Peace of Munster, between Spain and the Dutch Republic, became the first of a series of treaties that ended the central European Thirty Years' War and finally confirmed Dutch independence from Spain after a revolt known as the Eighty Years' War.

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY

A The Thirty Years' War B The English Civil War C The Hundred Years' War D The Crimean War QUESTION 15 - for 15 points: Who in Greek legend was the King of Troy?

The Accumulator Quiz

The Ashgate Research Companion to the Thirty Years' War. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2014.

Olaf Asbach and Peter Schroder, eds.: The Ashgate Research Companion to the Thirty Years' War

"Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History" is a landmark, four-volume encyclopedia that explores in depth and detail how and why that happened, at the same time examining Germany as a military power from the start of the Thirty Years' War in 1618 to the present day.

Germany at War

Imagine the Thirty Years' War has been going on for over fifteen years and you are a territorial sovereign in rebellion against the empire.

The Iron Princess: Amalia Elisabeth and the Thirty Years War