Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand provokes rebellion when he attempts to stamp out Protestantism in Bohemia; the Defenestration of Prague.
Grand alliance forms of Emperor Ferdinand II, his cousin, King Philip III of Spain, and Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. Bohemians elect Frederick V, the Elector of the Palatinate, as their king but can find no other Protestant allies.
Habsburg forces crush the Bohemians at the Battle of White Mountain.
Bavaria completes conquest of the Palatinate; Maximilian assumes Frederick’s title as Elector.
War resumes between the Spanish and Dutch.
King Christian IV of Denmark intervenes to defend German Protestants, but the much larger Catholic armies of Wallenstein (Imperial) and Tilly (Bavarian) fight their way to the Baltic coast and crush all Protestant resistance.
Emperor Ferdinand II issues Edict of Restitution, ordering the return to Catholic control of all bishoprics and monasteries secularized since 1552.
King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invades Germany and fights his way to Munich before dying in battle.
Cardinal Richelieu provides Sweden with massive subsidies to keep it in the war, and French troops invade Lorraine.
The Imperial & Bavarian armies inflict a crushing defeat on the Swedes and Saxons at the Battle of Nördlingen, September 6, 1634. (Simplicissimus emerges from his hermit's lair to enter the world.)
The Peace of Prague: Ferdinand II greatly weakens terms of Edict of Restitution to achieve reconciliation with the Protestant Electors of Saxony & Brandenburg. Thereafter the war basically pits Austria and Spain against France and Sweden, but it continues to be fought on German soil.
Collapse of Spanish military power as Catalonia and Portugal revolt.
Louis XIII dies, and the HABSBURG princess Anne of Austria becomes regent (while Cardinal Mazarin succeeds Richelieu), but France’s anti-Habsburg policy remains unchanged; peace talks begin in Westphalian cities of Münster & Osnabrück.
Swedes achieve a knockout punch against Imperial army at Battle of Jankov in Bohemia, March 6, 1645.
Dutch delegation arrives at peace talks, which become truly comprehensive.
In the final Peace of Westphalia, every contender gains something, as all parties agree on the need for a “balance of power.” The Habsburgs drop the Edict of Restitution, while the Swedes drop the issue of toleration for Protestants in Austria and Bohemia. Calvinists gain the same rights granted Lutherans and Catholics in the Peace of Augsburg in 1555: "Whoever rules, his religion."
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