THIRTY
656
TmRTY
proclamation of neutrality. This gave the Swedes
time to place their troops under the command of
Torstenson, who was much superior to Baner in
energy. Moreover, the rising of the French nobiUty
was not as successful as the Habsburgs had hoped.
Guebriant, indeed, was obhged to withdraw from the
empire to aid in it.s suppression, but on his way to
France he defeated at Kempen in January, 1642, the
! imperial and Spanish troops, who were going to the
help of the French nobles. In the meantime the
war had taken a decisive turn in favour of the French,
in an imexpected place. The inhabitants of Barce-
lona, oppressed by the Spanish soldiers quartered
upon them, revolted and were soon joined by the
whole of Catalonia (June, 1640). Richeheu at once
sent aid to the rebels. In December, 1640, Portugal
also shook off the Spanish yoke. For several years
Spain was crippled at the chief seat of war by these
conflicts in the Pyrenean peninsula. On the other
hand the French, under the leadership of young com-
manders, Turenne and Conde, became experts in the
art of war. By June, 1642, Piedmont was again
under control. In 1643 Conde completely destroyed
the finest and most celebrated troops of the Spanish
ai"my at Rocroi in the Netherlands. The Provinces
of Hainault and Luxemburg in the southern Nether-
lands fell into his hands. In 1644, Holland seized
the mouth of the Scheldt and France Grevelingen,
and in 1645 France occupied the greater part of
Flanders and in 1646 Dunkirk. Henceforth, the
Spaniards held only a few of the large cities in the
Spanish Netherlands. The people, excepting the
nobility, remained loyal to them.
VIII. The Results of the Wak. — The German Habsburgs were forced to take the defensive and their cause was in great danger. Allied with Maxi- milian they were compelled to use their main force to prevent the occupation of southern Germany by the French. They bravely fought in this part of Germany under Mercy during the years 1643-45, but were continually obliged to fall back. On 5 May, 1645, they gained a famous victory over Tu- renne at Mergentheim; on 3 August, 1645, the French were victorious at Allersheim and Mercy was kiUed. Still the imperial and Bavarian troops were always at least strong enough to save Bavaria from the incursions of the French. In the meantime, however, the imperial forces had not been able to bring a sufficiently large army against the Swedes. These, it is true, were obliged to encounter (1642) a new en- emy in Denmark. But the Danes accomplished just as little as their imperial allies. The imperial forces were severely defeated by Torstenson at Breitenfeld in November, 1642, and at Jiiterbogk and Magde- burg in October, 1644. After these two victories, Torstenson formed an alliance with George R;ik6czy, the successor to Bethlen Gabor as Prince of Transyl- vania. Resolved to carry the war directly into the hereditary lands of the emperor, Torstenson advanced at once as far as Briinn, but there saw that he was too weak for such an undertaking. The result of the Swedish victories in this year was the permanent loss by the imperialists of the control of the Weser, and of their position in north-western Germany. Den- mark concluded a treaty of peace in 1645.
During the years 1642-45 the German estates un- ceasingly demanded peace. As early as 1640, at a session of the Electors at Nuremberg, the opinion was expressed, that, a part of Pomrrania should be cedeil to the Swedes if this would content thi-in. In 1641, at the suggestion of the electors the first Diet held since 1613 met at Ratisbon, and its success proved that the effort made in the Peace of Prague to revive the organization of the empire had borne good fruit. The Diet granted the emperor considerable subsidies. The estates, however, showed very plainly that they believed the emperor was over-considerate of Spain.
France and Sweden encouraged this view by express-
ing their readiness to open negotiations. The opinion
gained ground among the estates that if Austria did
not break off it s connexion with Spain the est at es would
once more abandon the emperor, form a union among
themselves, and make a treaty of peace for the em-
pire with France and Sweden. The estates hoped
that these two countries would consent not to inter-
fere in the internal affairs of the empire, especially as
regards rehgion. The economic suffering and misery
of the population of the empire had greatly increased,
largely through the marauding exTJeditions of the
Swedes, and final success in the war was clearly out of
the question. John Philip von Schonborn, Bishop of
Wiirzburg, was especially active in supporting the
proposal that the estates should separate from the
emperor and establish peace in the empire without
him. Maximilian encouraged the bishop, though
reluctantly. One after another, the smaller German
estates brought letters of protection from the Swedes
in order to escape being phmdered by them. In this
way these territories became neutral without any
further formahties. Of the larger principahties
Brandenburg abandoned its neutrahty in 1644 with-
out, however, becoming friendly to the emperor on
this account. On the other hand. Saxony, which was
exhausted and desperate, made a direct treaty of
neutrahty with Sweden in 1 645. Under these circum-
stances the emperor early in 1643 also declared him-
self ready to negotiate. He wished, however, that the
treaty of peace should be general, not limited in geo-
graphical extent as was the case in 1630. The nego-
tiations were to be carried on with France at Miinster,
with Sweden at Osnabriick, where the Swedish em-
bassy had been since the spring of 1643. About the
middle of 1643 the imperial delegates appeared at
both designated places, and the French delegates fol-
lowed in the spring of 1644. At the close of 1644, the
imperial delegates presented their first proposition, to
which the French did not reply until No-i-ember, 1645.
A last dispute had arisen over the question whether
the emperor alone should negotiate for the empire or
whether the estates should also be represented. The
quarrel was practically settled by the invitation to be
present sent to the various estates by France and
Sweden. On 26 August, 1645, the emperor also in-
vited them. In the same year representatives of
Spain and Holland also appeared at Miinster. An
ambassador of Venice and a papal nuncio likewise
took part as mediators between France and the
emperor.
The course of the negotiations was influenced by the results of the last events of the war, and it was decided by the military conditions of 1646. In this year the Swedes under Wrangcl united with Tiirenne and the two armies occupied Bavaria. This led MaximiUan to make a treaty of neutrahty with Sweden in March, 1647. The entire empire was now occupied by the armies of France and Sweden, but the emperor retained undisputed possession of his heredi- tary lands. The outbreaks of the years 1647-4S were directed against him. The French, however, could not aid these revolts, as internal troubles in France claimed their attention and made them desirous of coming to a settlement with the emperor and the empire. \Ahile Turenne marched back to France (1647) Wrangel seized Prague, but was expelled by the emperor and Maximilian, who broke his agree- ment with Sweden. In 164S Turenne appeared again and, allied with the Swedes, defeated the imperial and Bavarian forces at Zusmarliausen and cruelly ravaged B.avaria. The attack on Prague was renewed by the Swedes alone in July, 164S, under Kiinigsmark. They took part of the city, but the .'Vustrians brought to- getlier a larger army and forced them to withdraw in November, 1648.
At the opening of the negotiations for jjcace the
