The

The Hello and welcome to a history of Europe key battles, part three of seven of the 30 Years' War The Danish Invasion

Last week I described the Bohemian Revolt of 1618, which led to a major confrontation between

Habsburgs and their Catholic allies on the one hand, and the rebels were taken control of Bohemia

and their Protestant allies on the other. Frederick V as a lecturer of the palatinate of the

Ryan and a devout Calvinist was one of the most powerful princes of Europe.

He accepted an invitation from the rebels for the crown of Bohemia and travelled to Prague.

The head of the Habsbergs, Fodenna and the Second, directed as Holy Roman Emperor in 1619,

worked closely with Catholic allies in Europe, notably Spain and Bavaria, and he achieved a crushing victory over Frederick and the rebels, most notably a military victory just outside Prague at the Battle of White Mountain.

In retrospect, without significant support from his allies, Frederick's adventure was doomed to failure.

He failed to get the help from foreign powers that he needed,

an alliance of German Protestant princes called the Protestant Union was completely ineffective during the conflict.

Once the revolt was defeated, he lost not only any chance requiring the crown of the kingdom of Bohemia,

but also his home titles in the Palatinate of the Rhine.

The war may have ended there and been relatively brief.

There are main problems to be resolved,

such as the fate of the exiled Frederick V, but the Bohemian revolt was over, and Ferdinand's

victories had seemed to have achieved some stability. Bavaria and Saxony, the two most

powerful German princes were satisfied with their alliance with the Emperor and France was generally keen to support a peaceful settlement of international affairs.

However, there were various tensions around Europe at the time, which altogether fuelled the conflict further.

In particular, the crashing of the Bohemian Revolt happened to coincide with the end of the 12 years' truce between Spain and United Dutch provinces.

The Dutch had been in revolt against Spanish rule since 1568. Both sides were exhausted by decades of conflict, so a peace was agreed in

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