The Thirty Years War, book 2

The Thirty Years War, book 2

The Project Gutenberg EBook The Thirty Years War, by Schiller, Book
II. Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****
Title: The Thirty Years War, Book II.

Author: Frederich Schiller
Release Date: Oct, 2004 [EBook #6771] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on January 14, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30 YEARS
WAR, BY SCHILLER, BOOK II. ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger, [email protected]

THE WORKS
OF
FREDERICK SCHILLER

Translated from the German

Illustrated
HISTORY OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR IN GERMANY.

BOOK II.

The resolution which Ferdinand now adopted, gave to the war a new
direction, a new scene, and new actors. From a rebellion in Bohemia,
and the chastisement of rebels, a war extended first to Germany, and
afterwards to Europe. It is, therefore, necessary to take a general survey
of the state of affairs both in Germany and the rest of Europe.
Unequally as the territory of Germany and the privileges of its
members were divided among the Roman Catholics and the Protestants,
neither party could hope to maintain itself against the encroachments of
its adversary otherwise than by a prudent use of its peculiar advantages,

and by a politic union among themselves. If the Roman Catholics were
the more numerous party, and more favoured by the constitution of the
empire, the Protestants, on the other hand, had the advantage of
possessing a more compact and populous line of territories, valiant
princes, a warlike nobility, numerous armies, flourishing free towns,
the command of the sea, and even at the worst, certainty of support
from Roman Catholic states. If the Catholics could arm Spain and Italy
in their favour, the republics of Venice, Holland, and England, opened
their treasures to the Protestants, while the states of the North and the
formidable power of Turkey, stood ready to afford them prompt
assistance. Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Palatinate, opposed three
Protestant to three Ecclesiastical votes in the Electoral College; while
to the Elector of Bohemia, as to the Archduke of Austria, the
possession of the Imperial dignity was an important check, if the
Protestants properly availed themselves of it. The sword of the Union
might keep within its sheath the sword of the League; or if matters
actually came to a war, might make the issue of it doubtful. But,
unfortunately, private interests dissolved the band of union which
should have held together the Protestant members of the empire. This
critical conjuncture found none but second-rate actors on the political
stage, and the decisive moment was neglected because the courageous
were deficient in power, and the powerful in sagacity, courage, and
resolution.
The Elector of Saxony was placed at the head of the German
Protestants, by the services of his ancestor Maurice, by the extent of his
territories, and by the influence of his electoral vote. Upon the
resolution he might adopt, the fate of the contending parties seemed to
depend; and John George was not insensible to the advantages which
this important situation procured him. Equally valuable as an ally, both
to the Emperor and to the Protestant Union, he cautiously avoided
committing himself to either party; neither trusting himself by any
irrevocable declaration entirely to the gratitude of the Emperor, nor
renouncing the advantages which were to be gained from his fears.
Uninfected by the contagion of religious and romantic enthusiasm
which hurried sovereign after sovereign to risk both crown and life on
the hazard of war, John George aspired to the more solid renown of
improving and advancing the interests of his territories. His

cotemporaries accused him of forsaking the Protestant cause in the very
midst of the storm; of preferring the aggrandizement of his house to the
emancipation of his country; of exposing the whole Evangelical or
Lutheran church of Germany to ruin, rather than raise an arm