Peace was concluded with his successor, and in 1572 Maxi milian caused his eldest son Rudolph to be crowned king of Hungary. He was afterwards crowned king of Bohemia, and was also elected king of the Romans. Maximilian died in 1576, and was succeeded by Rudolph on the imperial throne. This monarch was little fitted to rule, and left the manage ment of affairs very much to others. He was entirely under the power of the Jesuits, set at nought the ancient laws of the country, and persecuted the Protestants. The latter, under Bocskay, revolted in 1604, and having se cured the aid of the sultan, gained repeated victories over the imperial troops, compelling Rudolph to give them terms of peace in 1606. During this reign the possessions of the Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol reverted to the two other lines; while in 1608 Rudolph was compelled to cede Hun gary, and in 1611 Bohemia and Austria, to his brother Matthias, who on the death of Rudolph in 1612 was crowned emperor. His reign was full of promise, but unfortunately it was only of short duration. Being an old man and childless, he chose as his successor his cousin Ferdinand, archduke of Styria, whom he caused to be crowned king of Bohemia in 1616, and of Hungary in 1618. He died the following year, when Ferdinand became emperor.
Before the death of Matthias, the memorable struggle War. between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, known as the Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648), had commenced. It originated in an insurrection of the Protestants of Bohemia, who renounced their allegiance to Ferdinand and chose for their king the elector palatine Frederick V. Frederick was supported by all the Protestant princes except the elector of Saxony, while Ferdinand was assisted by the king of Spain and the other Catholic princes. At first success attended the arms of the insurgents, who repeatedly routed the imperial troops, and even laid siege to Vienna. But the Duke Maximilian of Bavaria, coming to the assist ance of the imperialists at the head of a well-appointed army, totally defeated Frederick at the White Hill near Prague (8th November 1620). The following day Prague opened its gates to the conqueror, and in a short time the whole country was reduced to subjection, and the territories of the elector palatine divided among the allies. The war might have ended here had Ferdinand adopted a concilia tory policy, but impelled by revenge and fanatical zeal he adopted an opposite course, and instituted against the Pro testants a severe persecution. They were thus again com pelled to take up arms, and in 1625 Christian IV., king of Denmark, supported by subsidies from England, put him self at their head. He was subsequently joined by Count Mansfeld and Christian of Brunswick, while opposed to him were Wallenstein and Tilly at the head of two power ful armies. In April 1626 Mansfeld was defeated by Wal lenstein at Dessau, and a few months later Tilly vanquished the Danish king at Lutter. The victorious armies after wards marched into Denmark, and the king was compelled to conclude a humiliating peace at Liibeck in 1629. The Protestants were now awed into submission, and Ferdinand was emboldened to carry out to still greater lengths his policy of suppression. Aiming at the total extirpation of Protestant doctrines throughout his dominions, he revoked all the privileges that had formerly been granted, even such as had previously received his approval. By the so-called Edict of Restitution, dated 6th March 1629, he enjoined the restitution of all ecclesiastical property secularised since the peace of Passau, and ordered the Protestants to relin quish to the Catholics all benefices which they had appro priated contrary to the peace of Passau and the Ecclesiastical Reservation. The Catholic princes themselves were now becoming alarmed at the enormous power which they had contributed to place in the hands of the emperor. They therefore demanded a reduction of the army and the dismissal of Wallenstein, and with these demands the emperor felt him self obliged to comply. But a new champion of the Pro testant cause now appeared in the north, in the person of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. This valiant prince, having received promises of aid from France as well as from England and the United Provinces, suddenly landed an army of 15,000 men at Usedom in June 1630. Pomerania and Mecklenburg were soon conquered by him, and a great part of Brandenburg was overrun by his army. He was unable, however, to relieve the town of Magdeburg, which was besieged by Tilly and taken by assault 20th May 1631, when the most barbarous atrocities were perpetrated upon the unfortunate inhabitants. The elector of Brandenburg and afterwards the elector of Saxony joined Gustavus, and the combined army met the imperialists under Tilly at Breitenfeld, near Leipsic, and defeated them with great slaughter (7th September 1631). The victor now rapidly regained all that had been lost. Again Tilly was beaten at the passage of the River Lech on 5th April 1632, and the following day he died of his wounds. Wallenstein was now recalled and placed at the head of the imperial troops. His name inspired fresh ardour among the soldiery, men flocked to his standard, and he speedily found himself at the head of a very large army. He drove the Saxons out of Bohemia, and afterwards marched to Nuremberg, where Gustavus was entrenched in a strong position. The two armies watched each other for eight weeks, when the king directed an attack against the imperialists, but after a fierce struggle was repulsed. A fortnight later Gustavus moved in the direction of Bavaria, but Wallenstein, instead of following him, marched into Saxony, and thus obliged him to suspend his operations in Bavaria and to set out in pursuit of his opponent. The two armies met at Liitzen, where a battle took place on 16th November 1632. The greatest skill and bravery were displayed on both sides, and the issue was long doubtful, but at length victory declared in favour of the Swedes, though dearly purchased with the loss of their brave commander, who fell mortally wounded. The death of Gustavus was an irreparable loss to the Protestants in Germany. Wallenstein, however, made but little use of the advantages he now possessed, and has even been accused of treacherous designs against the em pire. Be this as it may, his enemies at court and in the army were numerous and powerful, and he was at length assassinated by some of his own officers, 25th February 1634. The Protestant cause met with another disaster in the defeat of Bernard of Weimar at Nordlingen on 6th September. On 30th May 1635 Saxony concluded at Prague a treaty of peace with the emperor, in terms of which the Lutherans were freed from the operation of the Edict of Restitution. The other Lutheran princes soon after accepted the like terms ; but the Calvinists, who were disliked by both parties, were left to their fate. Sweden, no longer able to carry on the war as she had done, entered into a treaty with France, resigning the direction of operations to that power, a position of which Richelieu gladly availed himself, as according with his am bitious designs. The war now assumed a new phase, France and Sweden being allied against the empire and the Lutheran states of Germany, aided by Spain. Richelieu s efforts were in great measure directed to humbling the latter power. He sent an army into Spain, and entered into leagues with the dukes of Savoy and Parma and the United Pro vinces for attacking the Spanish power in Italy and the Netherlands. These projects did not meet with success, and the war was for a time carried into the French terri tories. In the meantime the Swedes, under General Baner, gained a brilliant victory over the Saxons and im perialists at Wittstock (4th October 1636). The emperor
