Synopses & Reviews
Europe in 1618 was divided between Protestants and Catholics, and Bourbon and Hapsburg ? as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless independent states. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with similar abandon and relentless persistence, destroying European powers from Spain to Sweden as they marched on the contested soil of Germany. Fanatics, speculators, and ordinary people found themselves trapped in a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction.
The Thirty Years War was a turning point in the making of modern Europe and the modern world: out of it came the system of nation-states that remains fundamental to international law. C. V. Wedgewood's magisterial book is the only comprehensive account of the war in English, as well as a triumph of scholarship and literature. Includes maps and charts.
Book News Annotation:
Wedgwood's classic narrative (first published in 1938) traces the
battles, famines, atrocities and hard-won triumphs as the conflict
over whether Europe would be Catholic or Protestant raged from 1618
to 1648, running over a sizable number of people, some of whom
eventually wound up ducking and running for the New World. She traces
the motivations and involvement of rising and falling kings, the
nascent but already powerful burgher class, and the pitiable and
often-confused common folk, all of whom became involved in pitched
battles that ranged from Italy to Sweden and reflected a new type of
comprehensive and modern war.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Synopsis:
Europe in 1618 was riven between Protestants and Catholics, Bourbon and Hapsburg--as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless principalities. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with relentless abandon, drawing powers from Spain to Sweden into a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction.
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