the all-destructive fury The Lamentations of Germany (1638)
Friedrich Schiller, 1790s Gustav Freytag, Bilder aus der deutschen
Vergangenheit, 5 vols. (1859-1867) = Pictures from the German Past
1. boundless, chaotic violence 2. Germans as innocent victims of
brutal foreign aggressors 3. hope for a new Germany
Slide 5
the early decline school (vs. the disastrous war school) S. G.
Steinberg, The Thirty Years War and the Conflict for European
Hegemony (1967) claims, but little evidence
Slide 6
The extensive operations and rapid reversals of fortune
fostered a climate of uncertainty (p. 783) shifts in theatres (p.
785) peasant revolts crop failures disease depopulation / shift in
population imprecise statistical data
Slide 7
Steinberg: population increase Gnther Franz: decline by 40%
Even a 15 per cent decline would make the Thirty Years War the most
destructive conflict in European history (p. 787). Depopulation
varied by region. Statistics on p. 788. The post-war demographic
recovery flowed from a rising birth rate and a fall in mortality
(p. 795).
Slide 8
violence: soldiers, not civilians, the main victims Disease
proved more potent than muskets, swords and cannon (p. 790). ratio
for soldiers killed in action to soldiers killed by disease (p.
791) bubonic plague migration, troop movements very likely that
many of the people who died in the Empire between 1618 and 1648
would have had their lives cut short even without the war (p.
793)
Slide 9
trade and industry regional variations overwhelmingly negative
impact of the War drainage project in the Archbishopric of
Salzburg, 1625-1644 agriculture consolidation of farms Increasing
value of labour
Slide 10
economic situation before the War Kipper and Wipper
hyperinflation (1622) coin debasement after 1618 private consortium
(1622) 1 silver mark = 19 fl. (1618), 79 fl., 110 fl. fall of
revenue in real terms, price increases 1623: use of imperial
institutions to end crisis
Slide 11
indebtedness in evidence before 1618 hyperinflation imprudent
investments in conspicuous consumption shrinking tax base (p. 803)
Reichstag Recess, 1654 (p. 804) uneven economic recovery animal
husbandry labour and capital shortages capital- and time-intensive
industries viticulture
Slide 12
decline of Estates centralization of princely power territorial
changes threat to local government change of the ideal of the state
from the guardian of the established order to promoter of the
common good (p. 811)
Slide 13
destruction / removal of cultural treasures demise of some
Protestant universities emigration of artists
Slide 14
artistic developments music: Heinrich Schtz (1585-1672) poetry:
Martin Opitz (1597- 1639) Johann Rist (1607-1667) Johann von
Grimmelshausen (1622- 1676) Simplicissimus (1668)
Slide 15
Slide 16
1. What do the documents tell us about the Thirty Years War and
the way in which contemporaries experienced it? Can we use them to
show that absolute destruction was a myth (Wilson, Europes Tragedy,
p. 779)? 2. Do you think the accounts of contemporaries are
reliable? 3. How do the documents relate to the argument about the
religious nature of the War? 4. Identify two passages that you find
particularly revealing about the violence of the War and / or the
experience of living through the War. Why did you choose these
passages?