Description

The Thirty Years War was one of the most horrific conflicts in history and though it is widely viewed as a religious struggle that was only part of the complicated war Calvinists and Lutherans did not get along and both persecuted some of the more radical Anabaptist sects At the same time one major motivation behind the war was Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand IIs determination to rule all of the empire and not be just a figurehead There were struggles between rulers and their estates over power and Catholic France later entered the war on the side of the Protestants in order to counter the Habsburgs power