Was there any sense ever that whol anpi felt, we've had it, where we're about to disintegrate? Did they ever feel seriously threatened? I i wouldn't think so really. There are some pretty dark moments, but they the point is, thatttey, they still have sufficient forces to continue fighting and they're still able to mobilize. So all this disrution didn't affect them fundamentally. The ruling hapsburg family. Of them didn't affect ha o. It was clear that they saw themselves as the elected leaders of this entity, and and or a very powerful side. Las letgofothinghou fundamental. One of the really extraordinary features is
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the war in Europe which begain in 1618 and continued on such a scale and with such devastation that its like was not seen for another three hundred years. It pitched Catholics against Protestants, Lutherans against Calvinists and Catholics against Catholics across the Holy Roman Empire, drawing in their neighbours and it lasted for thirty gruelling years, from the Defenestration of Prague to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. Many more civilians died than soldiers, and famine was so great that even cannibalism was excused. This topic was chosen from several hundred suggested by listeners this autumn.
The image above is a detail from a painting of The Battle of White Mountain on 7-8 November 1620, by Pieter Snayers (1592-1667)
With
Peter Wilson
Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford
Ulinka Rublack
Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John’s College
And
Toby Osborne
Associate Professor in History at Durham University
Producer: Simon Tillotson