The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) 149
Map 4.2 The Thirty Years’War, 1618-1648 Protestant and Catholic armies
clashed in battles that ranged back and forth across Europe.
an assembly of the Estates of Bohemia, citing rights specified by Rudolf’s
“Letter of Majesty” of 1609. Ferdinand ordered the assembly to disband.
Following the Defenestration of Prague in 1618, Protestant leaders estab
lished a provisional government in Bohemia. “This business of Bohemia is
likely to put all Christendom in combustion,” predicted the English ambas
sador to the Dutch capital of Amsterdam. Indeed it began a destructive war
between Catholic and Protestant forces that would last thirty years, lay
waste to many of the German states, and finally bring a religious and territo
rial settlement that would last for two centuries.
Bohemia rose in full revolt against not only the Church but the Habs
burg dynasty as well. With almost no assistance from the nobles, the rebels
turned to the Protestant Union, promising the Bohemian crown to Freder
ick, the young Calvinist elector of the Palatinate and the most important
