The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) 155

the final time, and then ordered his murder. In February 1634, an Irish
mercenary crept into Wallenstein’s room, and killed him with a spear.
With the aid of the remnants of Wallenstein’s forces, the Spanish army
defeated the combined Swedish and German Protestant army in 1634 in
Swabia. The elector of Saxony abandoned the Protestant struggle, making
peace in 1635 with Ferdinand. One by one, other Protestant princes also
left the war. The Catholic forces now held the upper hand.

The Armies of the Thirty Years’ War

The Thirty Years’ War was certainly one of the crudest episodes in the his­
tory of warfare. A contemporary described the horror of the seemingly end­
less brutalities that afflicted Central Europe:

[The soldiers] stretched out a hired man flat on the ground, stuck a

wooden wedge in his mouth to keep it open, and emptied a milk

bucket full of stinking manure droppings down his throat—they

called it a Swedish cocktail.... Then they used thumb-screws ... to

torture the peasants.... They put one of the captured bumpkins in

the bakeoven and lighted a fire in it. ... I can’t say much about the

captured wives, hired girls, and daughters because the soldiers did not

let me watch their doings. But I do remember hearing pitiful screams

in various dark corners.

Several factors may have contributed to the barbarity of soldiers during

the Thirty Years’ War. Mercenaries and volunteers were usually fighting far

Soldiers pillaging a farmhouse during the Thirty Years’ War, some

torturing the farmer over his hearth while others rape the women

and steal the food.