Thirty Years' War from Brandenburg-Prussia's Perspective (1618-1648) | History of Prussia #5

Last week we looked at the first of the Hohenzollerns and the complex marriage and inheritance politics that led to a territory that somewhat resembled what would one day be known as Prussia. As these inheritance claims came to fruition the Thirty Years’ War broke out, one of the bloodiest wars in European history. For Brandenburg, without any natural borders and with remote territories, it was a disaster. Demographic records show that during the entire war, about half of its population died, with some territories losing up to 80 percent of its population!
It is an interesting time for Brandenburg-Prussia because during this time we will see the destruction and economic standstill of Brandenburg in part due to its ineffective and weak ruler, Georg Wilhelm, while at the same time the war gave rise to his son, one of the strongest and most important rulers the territories have ever had.

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Time Codes:

1:11 Brandenburg-Prussia in 1618
4:43 Early Years of the War
6:43 Neutrality
8:46 Switching Sides
11:00 The Indecisive Elector
13:08 A New Elector Rises

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Uniting the geographically dispersed territories of Jülich-Cleves, the Duchy of Prussia and Margraviate of Brandenburg under one ruler in personal union skyrocketed the potential of the Hohenzollern clan. As you can see on this map, their territories were not merely a German principality anymore. Whereas Brandenburg was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, the Duchy of Prussia was a fief of the Polish King. Hohenzollern territories now bordered Poland and Russia in the East and the Netherlands in the West. Johann Sigismund could not enjoy this potential for too long, however. He drank and ate himself to an early grave and passed away in December 1619. He was succeeded as Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia by his 25-year-old son, Georg Wilhelm. Now, the new Elector wasn’t a man with a strategic eye, foresight or determination. Poor timing had it that it was just then what would become the Thirty Years’ War broke out. Brandenburg entered this conflict utterly unprepared.

When in May 1618 in Protestant Bohemia 2 Catholic representatives of the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II were thrown out of a window, the so-called Third Defenestration of Prague, it marked the beginning of a conflict that would lead to an incredibly bloody and devastating war. The Catholic Emperor and Protestant forces both within the Holy Roman Empire and external powers such as Denmark, Sweden, Spain, the Dutch Republic and France fought the subsequent war mostly within the territories of the Empire.

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Sources:

Clark, C. M. (2006). Iron kingdom: the rise and downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947. Harvard University Press.
Clark, C. (2009). Kaiser Wilhelm II: a life in power. Penguin UK.
Clark, C. (2016). Fathers and Sons in the History of the Hohenzollern Dynasty. In Sons and Heirs (pp. 19-37). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Haffner, S. (2019). The rise and fall of Prussia. Plunkett Lake Press.
Koch, H. W. (2014). A history of Prussia. Routledge.
Pflanze, O. (2008). Bismarck: Der Reichskanzler (Vol. 2). CH Beck.
Steinberg, J. (2011). Bismarck: a life. OUP Oxford.

Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons

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