Speaker 1: Hello, and Welcome to Western Sieve Episode three hundred and
Speaker 1: forty one. The War after Adolphus. The death of the
Speaker 1: charismatic Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus in sixteen thirty two left
Speaker 1: a gaping hole in the leadership of the Protestant forces
Speaker 1: during the Thirty Years War. His young daughter, Christina was
Speaker 1: just a child, so the mantle of leadership fell upon
Speaker 1: Axel Austin Tierna, the capable but also cautious Chancellor of
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of Sweden. Austin Tierna faced a daunting task.
Speaker 1: His job was to hold together a fractious coalition of
Speaker 1: German princes while securing the loyalty of a battle hardened
Speaker 1: army that had grown accustomed to Gustavus's bold leadership. Oxenstierna
Speaker 1: recognized the need for a unified Protestant front to counter
Speaker 1: the resurgent Habsburg forces. In sixteen thirty three, he orchestrated
Speaker 1: the formation of the heel Broun League, a coalition of
Speaker 1: German Protestant states that pledged to continue to fight against
Speaker 1: the Catholic Emperor. But the League was beset from challenges
Speaker 1: from the outset. Its members, including powerful states like Saxony
Speaker 1: and Brandenburg were often more concerned with their own interests
Speaker 1: than with the broader Protestant cause. The League's army, a
Speaker 1: formidable force on paper, was heavily reliant on foreign mercenaries,
Speaker 1: and its coffers were perpetually strained by the cost of
Speaker 1: waging war. To make matters worse, the League was dependent
Speaker 1: on subsidies from France, where Cardinal Richelieu saw the conflict
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to weaken the Habsburgs and advance French
Speaker 1: interests in the region. Richelieu was a shrewd manipulator, and
Speaker 1: he was not above using the League as a pawn
Speaker 1: in a larger geopolitical game. The French subsidies, of course,
Speaker 1: came with strings attached and Auctionintierna found himself forced to
Speaker 1: make concessions to the French that were not in the
Speaker 1: best interests of the League or of Sweden. Now on
Speaker 1: the battlefield, the League initially enjoyed some success. Johann Banner,
Speaker 1: a talented but rather hot headed general who had served
Speaker 1: under Gustavus Adolphus, led the League's armies to victory in
Speaker 1: several engagements, but Benaer was a difficult man to control,
Speaker 1: and his leader ship style often clashed with the more
Speaker 1: cautious approach favored by Auction Steerna. Another rising star in
Speaker 1: the Swedish Army, Lenard Tortenson, proved to be a skilled
Speaker 1: artillery commander, but he was relatively inexperienced and lacked certainly
Speaker 1: the political backing of ben Air. The League's fortunes began
Speaker 1: to turn after the disastrous Battle of Nordlingen in sixteen
Speaker 1: thirty four, where a combined Imperial Spanish force inflicted a
Speaker 1: crushing defeat on the Protestant armies. The defeat sent shockwaves
Speaker 1: through the League, and many of its German members began
Speaker 1: to have second thoughts about their commitment to the war.
Speaker 1: The financial strain of maintaining the army was taking its toll.
Speaker 1: Then the French subsidies were not enough to cover the costs.
Speaker 1: Mutinies broke out among the League's troops, who were increasingly
Speaker 1: frustrated by unpaid wages and porkin conditions. In the midst
Speaker 1: of the crisis, Oxygen Chierna found himself caught between competing
Speaker 1: demands of his French allies and the increasingly restive German princes.
Speaker 1: He struggled to maintain a semblance of unity within the League,
Speaker 1: but the cracks were already starting to show. The sources
Speaker 1: paint a picture of a man who was deeply committed
Speaker 1: to the Protestant cause, but who was increasingly disillusioned by
Speaker 1: the realities of war and the machinations of power politics,
Speaker 1: especially those being driven by Cardinal Richelieu. The situation was
Speaker 1: further complicated by the emergence of Bernard of saxey Weimar,
Speaker 1: a German prince who had risen to prominence in the
Speaker 1: Swedish Army during the war. Bernard was a gifted military commander,
Speaker 1: but he was also ambitious and independent minded. He chafed
Speaker 1: under Oxygen Schierna's authority and was not afraid to challenge
Speaker 1: the Chancellor's decisions. Bernard's growing influence than the League further
Speaker 1: undermined Oxygen stereerness authority and contributing to a growing sense
Speaker 1: of disunity. As the war dragged on, the Swedish government
Speaker 1: found itself resorting to increasingly desperate measures to finance its commitments.
Speaker 1: The sources revealed that Oxygen Stererness government was not above
Speaker 1: using captured territories for financial gain. Recently acquired lands, including
Speaker 1: the strategically important city of Koblenz, were just sold to
Speaker 1: the highest bidder, a cynical move that highlighted the financial
Speaker 1: pressures facing the Swedish crown. The Hillburn League ultimately proved
Speaker 1: to be a fragile and short lived experiment in Protestant unity.
Speaker 1: Its internal divisions, its financial woes, and its dependence on
Speaker 1: French support ultimately doomed it to failure. The League's demise
Speaker 1: marked a turning point to the Thirty Years War, signaling
Speaker 1: the decline of Swedish influence in Germany and the rise
Speaker 1: of France as the dominant power in the conflict. Yere
Speaker 1: sixteen thirty two marked a turning point in the Thirty
Speaker 1: Years War. The battlefield death of Gustavus Adolphus the Line
Speaker 1: of the North left a void in the Protestant leadership
Speaker 1: and threw their cause into certainty. There was what came afterwards,
Speaker 1: an intricate web of alliances, betrayals, and military maneuvering in
Speaker 1: the ensuing power vacuum that left the Protestant cause wavering
Speaker 1: and unstable going forward. In the wake of Gustavus's death, France,
Speaker 1: under the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu saw an opportunity. Richelieu,
Speaker 1: a master strategist, aimed to exploit the situation to diminish
Speaker 1: habsburg influence and expand French power all along the Rhine. Now,
Speaker 1: as I talked about before, his number one instrument in
Speaker 1: achieving this was the newly formed Hill Brown League, a
Speaker 1: coalition of German Protestant states desperate for leadership and financial support.
Speaker 1: Richelieu readily provided both, but his generosity massed to shrewd calculation.
Speaker 1: He wasn't simply bankrolling the Protestant cause, he was shaping
Speaker 1: it to serve his interests. And of course all of
Speaker 1: this is terribly hypocritical because at the same time that
Speaker 1: Richelieu was helping Protestants in Germany, who was persecuting them
Speaker 1: viciously in France. We know his efforts to take the
Speaker 1: city of La Rochelle sort of ended this independent notion
Speaker 1: of Huguenot territory and rants once and for all. And
Speaker 1: I both come back to some of those issues later on.
Speaker 1: Just know that while Richelieu is assisting German Protestants, he's
Speaker 1: persecuting the same at home. Now, the sources reveal a
Speaker 1: pattern of French expansion and consolidation. In the years following
Speaker 1: sixteen thirty two, French forces, led by Charles the four
Speaker 1: at the Duke of Laurent, moved to secure key territories.
Speaker 1: Hagneu and Lorraine fell under French control, cementing their presence
Speaker 1: in the region. Meanwhile, Richelieu continued to manipulate the Helbron League,
Speaker 1: often directing their military actions to align with French objectives.
Speaker 1: Now Spain, of course, ever vigilant of its habsburg kin
Speaker 1: and ever mistrustful of France, watched France's growing power with
Speaker 1: increased suspicion. The Spanish, led by Isabella, the Governor of
Speaker 1: the Netherlands, responded by deploying troops to the Rhine, engaging
Speaker 1: in skirmishes with both the French and increasingly fragmented remnants
Speaker 1: of the Swedish army. There were tense standoffs near Mashastritt,
Speaker 1: where Spanish and Swedish forces stood poised for potential conflict. Isabella,
Speaker 1: determined to reclaim lost territories and roll back French advances,
Speaker 1: launched offenses all along the Lower Rhine, adding already another
Speaker 1: complex layer to what was a volatile situation, to say
Speaker 1: the least, the hell Wrong League, despite French backing, was
Speaker 1: a fragile entity plagued by internal divisions and financial instability.
Speaker 1: Reliance on foreign subsidies made the League vulnerable to French dictates,
Speaker 1: while members like Saxony and Brandenburg prioritized their own interests,
Speaker 1: undermining any semblance of a unified Protestant front. There were
Speaker 1: a variety of military engagements post sixteen thirty two that
Speaker 1: illustrate the fluid and unpredictable nature of the conflict. The
Speaker 1: Spanish siege of Maestricht, a strategically important city, ultimately ended
Speaker 1: in failure. Meanwhile, the French, demonstrating what was increasingly improved
Speaker 1: military performance, successfully captured several key rhine crossings. The Battle
Speaker 1: of hesseg Oldendorf in sixteen thirty three provided I guess
Speaker 1: what you could say is a microcosm of the war's complexity.
Speaker 1: Swedish forces, bolstered by various German contingents, clashed with Imperial troops.
Speaker 1: Although the Swedes ultimately secured a victory, their gains were
Speaker 1: limited by the lack of cohesion within their ranks. The
Speaker 1: fragmented nature of the Alliance and the diverging agendas of
Speaker 1: its members hindered any decisive strategic advantage that came from
Speaker 1: the victory. Amidst the turmoil, new leaders emerged within the
Speaker 1: Swedish Army, each with their own ambition. We've talked about
Speaker 1: several of them before. Johann Benaer clashed more and more
Speaker 1: with the more cautious approach favored by the Chancellor auction Strna,
Speaker 1: and then there was Tortensen, the rising star of the artillery,
Speaker 1: who was certainly talented but didn't have the political clout.
Speaker 1: These differing leadership styles and personal ambitions within the Swedish
Speaker 1: command continued to weaken the already fragile heel Brun League,
Speaker 1: making battlefield gains essentially obviated by the inability to take
Speaker 1: advantage of them. Now, I want to talk about a
Speaker 1: third group that I haven't discussed at all, and those
Speaker 1: are the Hessians. Some of you with American history it
Speaker 1: may be familiar with the Hessians as mercenary troops who
Speaker 1: effectively served in the American Revolution against the colonists on
Speaker 1: the part of the British Empire. And they're just as
Speaker 1: opt uanistic now as they're going to be about one
Speaker 1: hundred years from now. Recognizing Swedish weakness in Westphalia. The Hessians,
Speaker 1: ever now a professional military and mercenary force, sought to
Speaker 1: strengthen their position in the region by securing a reliable alliance,
Speaker 1: which actually the Dutch. This pragmatic shift highlighted the prevailing
Speaker 1: self interest that just simply characterized many of the war's participants.
Speaker 1: Groups were constantly moving back and forth, alliances were constantly changing,
Speaker 1: and that made it very difficult for one side to
Speaker 1: ever decisively win the Thirty Years War, which is what
Speaker 1: drags it on for so long. Regardless, the Hessians, sensing
Speaker 1: an opportunity to expand their territory and influence, ultimately chose
Speaker 1: to betray the hell Bron League which they were a
Speaker 1: part of, aligning themselves then with the Emperor and further
Speaker 1: solidifying the fracturing of the Protestant cause. This, of course,
Speaker 1: again only underlines the reality that this was not necessarily
Speaker 1: a war about religion. It was a war about innumerable
Speaker 1: factors in which religion was only one. Now. Meanwhile, Wallenstein,
Speaker 1: who had fallen from favior, was ready to try to
Speaker 1: return to imperial power. Wallenstein went through secret diplomatic efforts
Speaker 1: in an attempt to broker peace agreements with various factions,
Speaker 1: including both the Swedes and the Danes. We're not sure
Speaker 1: even today exactly what motivated this effort at peace. Was
Speaker 1: he genuinely seeking it or was he just maneuvering to
Speaker 1: regain his former position within the Holy Roman Empire. Ultimately
Speaker 1: it didn't matter. His efforts proved futile, collapsing under the
Speaker 1: weight of conflicting interests and of course, a deep seated
Speaker 1: lack of trust. And it was around now in sixteen
Speaker 1: thirty three sixteen forty four, that Spain, witnessing the ongoing turmoil,
Speaker 1: sends an opportunity to escalate its involvement in the conflict
Speaker 1: and hopefully bolster its Habsburg allies. They decided at this
Speaker 1: point to dispatch a formidable force to Germany under the
Speaker 1: command of Faria, the governor of Milan. This intervention marks
Speaker 1: another significant turning point in the war, shifting the balance
Speaker 1: of power back towards the imperial forces and setting the
Speaker 1: stage for a new phase of bloody conflict. Overall, I
Speaker 1: think what we can say is the period after Gustavus
Speaker 1: Adolph's death was much, much, much less stable than the
Speaker 1: one before, it, characterized by shifting alliances, military opportunism, and
Speaker 1: the unraveling of the Protestant cause. This was true not
Speaker 1: only amongst the Protestants, but as we will see in
Speaker 1: a moment, true on the imperial side as well, and
Speaker 1: that will be right after this. The death of goose
Speaker 1: stave Us Adolphus in sixteen thirty two left a void
Speaker 1: in the Thirty Years War, not just in leadership but
Speaker 1: in trust. And this void actually became most apparent in
Speaker 1: the imperial ranks within the Holy Roman Empire, where alliances
Speaker 1: were already shifting back and forth with amazing rapidity. The
Speaker 1: years immediately fought following sixteen thirty three to sixteen thirty
Speaker 1: four are really the most turbulent for the career of
Speaker 1: Albrecht von Wallenstein. Wallenstein, who we've discussed previously, was an
Speaker 1: imperial general really of immense military talent. He's, alongside Gustavus Adolpha,
Speaker 1: certainly the most talented general in the beginning of the
Speaker 1: Thirty Years War. But he's also a man of really
Speaker 1: kind of shrouded motives and questionable, we would say ambitions.
Speaker 1: He was a man who would negotiate with his enemies
Speaker 1: just as often as he fought them, which after Gustavus's death,
Speaker 1: began to raise suspicion among his own ranks. Emperor Ferdinand
Speaker 1: the Second, already wary of Wallenstein's growing power and independent actions,
Speaker 1: found this mistrust deepeningly disappointing. The whispers of trees in
Speaker 1: surrounding the general, multiplied fueled by his continued communication with
Speaker 1: the various factions in the war, including the enemy the Swedes.
Speaker 1: Wallenstein's enemies within the Imperial court, eager to see him fall,
Speaker 1: seized upon this climate of suspicion and spun it to
Speaker 1: their advantage. They painted him as a scheming opportunitist, willing
Speaker 1: to betray the Emperor for personal gain, and unfortunately for Wallenstein,
Speaker 1: Ferdinand was inclined to believe them. The turning point, I
Speaker 1: suppose the nail in Wallenstein's proverbial coffin came in the
Speaker 1: form of a document that has become known in history
Speaker 1: as the Pilsen Reverse. This document, ostensibly a pledge of
Speaker 1: loyalty to Wallenstein from his officers, was signed in January
Speaker 1: sixteen thirty four. However, instead of reassuring the Emperor as
Speaker 1: to his loyalty and had the opposite effect, Ferdinand and
Speaker 1: his advisors interpreted the documents proof of a conspiracy against
Speaker 1: the throne, viewing it as a veiled threat rather than
Speaker 1: declaration of support, the idea being, of course, that the
Speaker 1: officers were swearing allegiance to Wallenstein, primarily not to the Emperor. Now,
Speaker 1: whether the pills in reverse was a genuine act of
Speaker 1: loyalty or a carefully orchestrated trap by Wallenstein's enemies remains
Speaker 1: a subject of debate amongst historians today. Regardless of its
Speaker 1: true intent, the document sealed Wallenstein's fate, convincing Ferdinand that
Speaker 1: the general had become frankly too dangerous to ignore. Wallenstein,
Speaker 1: sensing the tide turning against him, attempted to consolidate his
Speaker 1: remaining loyal troops and secure a route of escape. He
Speaker 1: retreated to Eger in Bohemia, hoping to either rally support
Speaker 1: or possibly even broker a deal with the enemy. However,
Speaker 1: his time had run out. Before he could make any
Speaker 1: further moves, a group of imperial officers loyal to the
Speaker 1: Emperor cornered him in Zier on February the twenty fifth,
Speaker 1: sixteen thirty four. Wallenstein, once probably the most promising imperial commander,
Speaker 1: was assassinated by those whom he once commanded. The assassination
Speaker 1: of Wallenstein sent shockwaves through the Holy Roman Empire. A
Speaker 1: military leader of his caliber simply doesn't come along very often,
Speaker 1: and certainly doesn't vanish without leaving some consequences behind. Some
Speaker 1: Imperial troops were demoralized by the loss of their commander,
Speaker 1: while others remained fiercely loyal to the Emperor, further dividing
Speaker 1: the already fractured imperial forces. There were some executions of
Speaker 1: several officers involved in the assassination, highlighting the links that
Speaker 1: Ferdinand was willing to go to to eradicate any trace
Speaker 1: of Wallenstein's influence now. Wallenstein's death also left a power
Speaker 1: vacuum on the Imperial side, an opportunity the Spanish Habsburgs
Speaker 1: were quick to exploit. The sources mentioned the arrival of
Speaker 1: Spanish troops under the command of the Cardinal Infante Ferdinand,
Speaker 1: signaling a new phase in the war with increased Spanish involvement.
Speaker 1: Wallenstein's dramatic downfall, shrouded in suspicion and intrigue as it was,
Speaker 1: is going to become yet another and I know there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of these, but another turning point of
Speaker 1: the Thirty Years War, further complicating was already a complex conflict.
Speaker 1: His death, as much as his life, serves as a
Speaker 1: stark reminder of the treacherous nature of power and the
Speaker 1: ever shifting sands of loyalty in these dark times of war. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're interested in more Western but you'd like a
Speaker 1: little bit more detailed episodes, feel free to check out
Speaker 1: Western SIV two point zero. The link is in the
Speaker 1: show notes, and that will take you to a seven
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Speaker 1: starting from the beginning, except in a much much more
Speaker 1: detailed pace and especially compared to the earlier episodes, much
Speaker 1: higher audio quality. It's the best way to support the
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