264 The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Revolt in Bohemia, 1618
belligerents as time progressed, and a stage-by-stage analysis is required
to provide a full interpretation. By 1648 not only were Bohemia and
the Palatinate no longer significant, but almost all the original issues
had been superseded and the principal individuals initially involved
were long dead. Maximilian I of Bavaria and Johann Georg I of Saxony
enjoyed the dubious distinction of being the only leading princes to
hold office throughout the war, in the course of which even Maximilian
tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to desert Emperor Ferdinand II and to make
a separate peace with France and Sweden, while Johann Georg changed
sides twice in the course of the conflict. No over-arching explanation
based on simple underlying causes is ever likely to successfully accom-
modate these and the many other paradoxes and complexities which
arose during the Thirty Years War. That, however, is the nature of
history.