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Ending the Thirty Years War (Hardback)

Diplomacy, Mediation and the Westphalian Peace

Military

By John Pike
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 400
Illustrations: 8 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526789198
Published: 30th September 2025

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All know about the 'defenestration of Prague', the coup d'etat staged by Bohemian nobles against the ruling officials of the Hapsburg empire, which triggered the Thirty Years War - a local dispute which started European and global conflict between the Spanish and Austrian Hapsburgs - the Hapsburg Imperium - the greatest power in Europe and the world - linked by the 'Spanish Road' stretching from Spain and Portugal to Austria, Italy, Germany, the Low Countries and with vast American, Asian and African empires, and buttressed by the Holy Roman Empire. But the 'Golden Age' was ending with threats to monopoly, economic downturn, revolts - as in Bohemia above - and rivalry from rising powers in Europe, especially the Dutch Republic, as a world colonial, economic power especially in international finance. This study shows that Imperial victory at Nordlingen (1634) was merely the prologue to Hapsburg disaster, and to the decisive change in global power politics with the rise of France as a great power under Richelieu and Louis XIII, French victory in Spain, the continuing power and rivalry of Sweden and the Protestant powers in German, and the financial power and imperial challenge of the Dutch Republic. The result was the greatest war of attrition in modern times and precursor of the wars of the 20th century. It is a truly tragic yet magnificent story of great men and women playing huge roles, including the 'titanic' Imperial general Wallenstein, but above all for the triumph of the under-sung yet most successful commander, Torstenson, on the Protestant side, He is a worthy successor to the legendary Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The final victory at Prague ended the conflict, where it had begun, with Imperial defeat and the destruction the Hapsburg imperium. The Treaty (Treaties) of Westphalia followed Hapsburg defeat and spiralling political and economic collapse, and great human suffering, following a war which changed the global balance of power for the whole modern era.

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About John Pike

John Pike is a military historian, economist and lawyer, as General Legal Counsel for a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He graduated in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Oxford. After a career as an international banker, economist and asset manager, he was called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 2004. As a barrister, he specialised in banking, commercial law, anti-trust law and fraud. Working in Asia, he participated as a special adviser in defence of Pol Pot’s deputy at the UN Khmer Rouge war crimes trials in Phnom Penh. He has also advised the governments in the governments of various countries in Asia and North America on matters in including the law on criminal cartels, fraud, shipping, grand strategy and foreign aid programs. In 2005, he published with Sir Jeremy Lever QC the leading work on the criminal law of price fixing cartels. As a military historian he has a deep knowledge of war in all aspects from grand strategy to battlefield tactics and weaponry, in the context of international relations, law and economics, its social and cultural effects on society and even individuals - war is a personal story. This the second in a series of books on the Thirty Years War period..

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