Catholic League

Its leaders had very different views.

A Catholic League was at once formed under Maximilian.

It was composed of a large number of bishops and abbots who believed that the princes of the Union wished to annex their territories.

Maximilian's ability gave it a unity of action which the Union never possessed.

The Bohemians initially had the support of Protestant states in northern Germany, known as the Protestant Union, and they also had the support of many Protestant nobles in Austria.

Ferdinand was joined by other Catholic states, including Bavaria and Spain, known as the Catholic League, and they saw initial success against the Bohemians.

In the east, the Ottoman Empire, perpetual enemies of the Habsburgs, took the opportunity to support Protestants in Hungary and fought Poland.

In 1625, King Christian IV of Norway and Denmark joined the fight in support of the Protestants.

In 1634, Spanish forces defeated the combined Swedish and German Protestant forces at the Battle of Nördlingen in Bavaria.

This all but removed the Swedes as a player and put southern Germany back into Catholic control.

In 1635, the Peace of Prague was signed, which banned alliances such as the Catholic League and Protestant Union, nullified the Edict of Restitution, and basically returned to the status quo of the Peace of Augsburg from before all this started, and it did so in a way that allowed the emperor to save face by kicking the issue down the road for 40 years.

I've really painted this period of history with a very broad brush, and if you're familiar with the Thirty Years' War, you can probably think of many major events and players that I've overlooked.

Impending Calamity.

protestant union and catholic league thirty years war commenced wallenstein gustavus adolphus his triumph and death richelieu death of wallenstein peace of westphalia division of territory it was the invincible march of protestantism in the land of its birth which brought about this buttressing of the old belief and this adopting of fresh methods for its efficiency when ferdinand died in fifteen sixty four the great majority of the german people had become protestants the empire was honeycombed with the new faith even in austria that everlasting stronghold of papacy the catholics were in a minority true to the traditions of the past bavaria the home of the ancient welfs was the one thoroughly zealous and obedient champion of the pope in all germany it seemed as if the great conflict was almost over it had not even commenced the history of this great movement would have been very different had it been carried on steadily under one leader but it had four those devout souls who believed they had found in the simple gospel truths of protestantism a religion in which all might unite were soon convinced of their mistake lulled by the apparent triumph of the new faith reformers set about the task of defining the belief and correcting the errors of protestant doctrine To the followers of Calvin, the belief in the Lutherans became almost as abhorrent as papacy itself.

while the lutherans were again subdivided into an extreme and a moderate party the one following to the letter the doctrines of luther and the other the more modified views of melancthon not only men but states were divided and in bitter strife over these differences so that the emperor ferdinand had said instead of being of one mind they are so disunited have so many different beliefs the god of truth surely cannot be with them it is apparent now that the issue underlying all this upheaval was deeper than any one then knew the real struggle was not for the supremacy of romanist or protestant not to determine whether this dogma or that was true and should prevail but to establish the right of every human soul to choose its own faith and form of worship the great battle for human liberty had commenced and the romish church had been shaken to its foundations not because its doctrine was false but because it was a despotism from the abdication of charles v to sixteen hundred was a period of political tranquillity in germany the reign of two conciliatory sovereigns ferdinand i and his son maximilian the second tended to produce surface calm which although ruffled was not broken by the stern and despotic reign of rudolph the second who succeeded in fifteen seventy six it was a half century of unfruitful and sullen waiting waiting for a future which no one could divine protestantism was not blossoming but the seed was germinating amid elements good and evil strangely mingled together while the reformation was the leading fact in europe at this period another event had created a new and pervading atmosphere in which all else existed the impulse given to civilization by the taking of constantinople by the turks fourteen fifty two and the consequent disseminating of greek culture throughout europe was a transforming event in the history of civilization literature art music took on new forms and thrilled with a new life the activity of the human mind manifested itself in everything it was an age of great men and great things copernicus followed by tycho brahe galileo and kepler brought order into the heavens the medici in italy who were guiding these new and enriching streams which had set in from the east helped to produce a wonderful art period which swept in successive tides over europe

Hey, it's Bobby Bones.