Thirty Years War (1618–48) - events

23 May 1618	Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire	Protestant rebels led by Count Heinrich von Thurn assault King Ferdinand II of Bohemia's councillors Jaroslav Martinic and Vilém Slawata. The councillors flee after being thrown out of a window in Hradcany Castle in Prague. The incident, known as the Defenestration of Prague, marks the beginning of the Thirty Years' War.
August 1619	Transylvania, Hungary, Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire	Gabor Bethlen, the Protestant prince of Transylvania, invades Hungary. He is acting partly in response to pleas from the Bohemian rebels, and partly to further his own ambitions to wrest the Hungarian crown from the Habsburgs.
8 November 1620	Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire	King Frederick V of Bohemia flees Prague after troops of the Catholic League, led by Count Johan Tserclaus von Tilly, defeat the Bohemian army, led by Christian of Anhalt, at the Battle of the White Mountain, near Prague. After the battle, Ferdinand is restored to the Bohemian throne, leading rebels are executed, and Protestant clergymen are expelled.
6 August 1623	Austria, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire, Transylvania, Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy	The army of Christian of Brunswick is annihilated by the forces of Count Johan Tserclaus von Tilly at Stadtlohn, giving the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II complete control of Austria and Bohemia. The plan by Gabor Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, to invade Austrian territory lies in shreds.
August 1628	Holy Roman Empire	Albrecht von Wallenstein, the imperial commander in chief, raises the siege of Stralsund (begun in June), his first reverse on the battlefield.
6 March 1629	Savoy, Italy, Holy Roman Empire, France, Spain, Habsburg Monarchy	Savoyard forces attempting to block a Habsburg attack on Charles, duc de Nevers, the French claimant in possession of the vacant north Italian duchy of Mantua, are defeated at Susa in Savoy. This involvement of Spanish forces in the War of the Mantuan Succession nevertheless diverts vital imperial resources from the struggle against the Dutch and German Protestants.
6 July 1630	Sweden, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden lands at Usedom, Pomerania, and marches his army into Germany. He quickly occupies Pomerania and restores Mecklenburg, awarded to the imperial commander in chief Albrecht von Wallenstein, to its hereditary dukes.
13 August 1630	Holy Roman Empire	The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II dismisses his commander in chief Albrecht von Wallenstein. Count Johan Tserclaus von Tilly assumes command of his army. The emperor is no longer able to dictate to the Catholic League.
August 1631	Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Germany	Count Johan Tserclaus von Tilly, with 20,000 imperialist troops freed from Italy by the ending of the War of the Mantuan Succession, invades Saxony.
17 September 1631	Sweden, Saxony, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden, supported by the Saxons, defeats the imperialist forces of Count Johan Tserclaus von Tilly at the Battle of Breitenfeld, near Leipzig, Sweden. Tilly's forces are shattered, and his defeat means that the Edict of Restitution of March 1629 cannot be enforced.
13 April 1632	Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Germany, Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy	The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II formally reinstates the imperial commander Albrecht von Wallenstein as supreme imperial commander with an army of 50,000 men. Wallenstein is given orders to drive the Saxons from Bohemia.
14 April 1632	Sweden, Holy Roman Empire	King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden defeats the imperialist army of Johan Tserclaes, Graf von Tilly, on the River Lech near the confluence of the rivers Lenz and Danube. Tilly is mortally wounded (he dies on 30 April). The Swedish army moves on to Ingolstadt, Bavaria, but is forced to raise the siege.
6 November 1632	Sweden, Holy Roman Empire	Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar, succeeds King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden as general of the Swedish army when Gustavus is killed in action while defeating the army of the imperial commander Albrecht von Wallenstein at the Battle of Lützen, supported by the Saxon troops of military commander Hans Georg von Arnim.
5 September 1634	Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Sweden	Imperial and Spanish forces, under the command of the two cousins Ferdinand III, King of Hungary, and the cardinal-infante Ferdinand, son of King Philip III of Spain, defeat the Protestant forces of the League of Heilbronn, under Marshal Horn and Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, at the Battle of Nördlingen. The victory causes the loss of all Swedish conquests in southern Germany and ultimately leads to the dissolution of the League of Heilbronn and the entry of France into the Thirty Years' War.
1635	France, Swiss Confederation, Italy, Spain	French forces under the former Huguenot (French Protestant) leader Henri, duc de Rohan, assisted by Swiss Protestants led by Pastor Jürg Jenatsch, successfully invade the Valtelline in the Alps, expelling the Spanish garrison and again disrupting the Habsburg ‘Spanish Road’ military communications route between Italy, Austria, and the Spanish Netherlands.
30 April 1635	France, Sweden	During a visit to Paris, France, by the Swedish regent Count Axel Oxenstjerna, France and Sweden enter into a further treaty of alliance, the Treaty of Compiègne. By its terms, France recognizes Sweden as its main ally, pledges to declare war on Spain, and promises not to make peace without Sweden's consent. Sweden will control Worms, Mainz, and Benfeld while the French gain territory on the left bank of the River Rhine between Breisach and Strasbourg.
19 May 1635	France, Sweden, Spain	In accordance with its treaty obligations to Sweden, France formally declares war on Spain, using a Spanish raid on the southern French town of Trèves as a pretext, and opening a new phase of the Thirty Years' War.
July 1636	Spain, France, Bavaria, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Ferdinand, Cardinal-Infante of Spain, and his troops advance into Picardy, triggering a Spanish invasion of France. On 14 August he seizes Corbie, near Amiens. He is supported by Bavarian troops, under Johann von Werth, who advance to Compiègne. The progress of the allies creates panic in Paris, France, but the French army, commanded by King Louis XIII, successfully checks the invasion, retaking Corbie in November and forcing the Spanish troops to retreat from French soil.
4 October 1636	Sweden, Holy Roman Empire, Saxony, Germany	Swedish forces, under Marshal Johan Banér, defeat a combined imperial and Saxon force at the Battle of Wittstock. His success shatters the military power of the Saxons and marks a revival of Swedish power in the Thirty Years' War.
17 December 1638	Germany, France, Holy Roman Empire	Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and his army, with French support, take Breisach after a four-month siege. The victory is strategically important, securing Alsace for the French and its allies, providing a gateway into Germany along the River Rhine, cutting road links between Milan and the Spanish Netherlands, and breaking the stranglehold which the Spanish and Austrians had secured around France.
19 May 1643	France, Spain, Spanish Netherlands	The French army, under Marshal Enghien, defeats the Spanish at Rocroi on the border of the Spanish Netherlands. The battle marks the end of the superiority enjoyed by the Spanish infantry in Europe after more than a century.
4 August 1644	France, Holy Roman Empire	A three-day battle takes place at Freiburg between French troops under the Duke of Enghien and the Bavarian-imperialist army under Franz von Mercy. Mercy is forced to retreat, leaving the French to occupy a substantial portion of the left bank of the River Rhine.
24 March 1645	Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria, Sweden, Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Germany	A combined imperial and Bavarian army is defeated by the Swedes, under the command of Marshal Lennart Torstensson, at Jankov in Bohemia. The cavalry commander General Goetz is killed and the Bavarian cavalry is destroyed. Prague is laid open to the Swedes, forcing the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III to abandon the city and move his court to Vienna.
17 May 1648	Sweden, France, Bavaria, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Swedish and French forces, under Karl Gustaf Wrangel and Marshal Turenne, defeat a Bavarian-imperial army at the Battle of Zusmarshausen, near Augsburg. Bavaria is overrun once again.
July 1648	Sweden, Bohemia, Habsburg Monarchy, Holy Roman Empire	A Swedish army under the Count von Königsmarck invades Bohemia and calls for Prague to surrender. Despite the spirited defence of the city by its inhabitants, the siege becomes an important factor in the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III's decision to accept the Peace of Westphalia.
20 August 1648	France, Austria, Spain, Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy	French forces prevent an Austro-Spanish invasion of Paris, France, when they defeat the allied armies at Lens, Artois. The failure of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III's plans quickens the pace of the peace negotiations in Münster and Osnabrück.