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When Diplomacy fails.

More on that later, but for now, enjoy episode 44 of the 30 Years' War.

Hello and welcome history friends, patrons all, to episode 44 of the Thirty Years' War.

Last time France came under our microscope, Cardinal Richelieu's impressive rise was detailed,

and his role in combating the Huguenots was placed in proper context.

Amidst the redrawing of Europe outside of their borders,

the French were crippled from acting with any consistent foreign policy goals in mind,

thanks to the threat that the Huguenots posed. The constant flare-ups of Huguenot insurrections,

centered upon the city of La Rochelle, prevented King Louis Xirteenth from intervening in the war

as much as he would have liked, while Louis' own mother and her faction further undermined

the unity of French action.

These difficulties we discovered even forced Richelieu to enter down the path of detente

with Spain for a brief period in 1627,

where the English did something they had not done in nearly a century and made war on France.

The conflict was as wrong-headed as it was poorly planned,

and if you remember back to earlier episodes on 17th century warfare,

particularly those ones looking at sieges, you'll

...