H 4000/7772: T Y

HISTORY 4000/7772: THE THIRTY YEARS WAR
The University of Manitoba, Winter 2014
Erik Thomson
Fletcher Argue 452.
Course: Thursdays: 8:30-11:30.
[email protected]
Office hours: Thursdays after 11:30, or by
appointment.
Historians have embraced the term “the Thirty Years War” for the series of interlinked and
protracted conflicts, centered in the Holy Roman Empire, which engaged many European powers
during the first half of the seventeenth century, from 1618 until 1648. The war, or perhaps wars,
was complex and protracted. This course examines the Thirty Years War as a means of
investigating facets of early modern history, particularly the intersection of state building, military
technology, social change, and religious difference. Studying the particular dynamics of the Thirty
Years War might also suggest more general reasons why some wars are difficult to end.
This course will combine readings of primary sources with an effort to gain appreciation of
recent historiographical developments. Serious research into the Thirty Years War requires
knowledge of several European languages, but this course will limit itself to English language
material. Those students with knowledge of other relevant languages will have an opportunity to
use them.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Available in the bookstore; additional texts will be at the library, or in electronic form.
Peter H. Wilson, Europe’s Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War. (Penguin UK, 2010), 9780141006147
Tryntje Helfferich, The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History. (Hackett Publishing, 2009), 9780872209398
David Parrott, The Business of War: Military Enterprise and Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), ISBN. 978-0-521-73558-2
ASSIGNMENTS
Participation: 20 %: This course is a discussion course. This format places much of the burden of
learning on you and your fellow students; if you do not prepare, they, and you, will suffer. I do not plan to
lecture, but to direct discussion, pose questions, and emphasize general themes. I expect you to read, to
think, to question, and to discuss. Naturally, you can not discuss if you are not present, so attendance is
expected. Naturally, also, you should read the assigned readings, but it might be more useful to think of
needing “to prepare to discuss” the assigned readings than merely planning “to read” them. Reading
primary sources is a tricky business; understanding them always demands careful and often laborious
reading, questioning, research, and rereading. I recommend taking notes on passages you find particularly
difficult, as the process of taking notes demands active thinking. Secondary sources, too, require reading
attentively not only to the historical matter, but also to the craft of historical writing. Make sure you are
1 attentive not only to the author’s argument, but to their sources, use of theory, and relation to the broader
historiography.
Analysis Papers: Two six page papers—eight pages for graduate students. 15 % each.
Based on the readings for the course, but also other suitable material, answer two of the following questions
with an argumentative essay.
1. Was the Thirty Years War an inevitable consequence of the religious divisions caused by the
Reformation? (Answer due in week 5, 6 February.)
2. Did innovations in the Swedish state lead to its victories, and thus explain the Swedish state’s rise
to great power status? (Answer due in week 7, 27 February.)
3. Do changes in military technology and organization explain the length of the Thirty Years War?
(Answer due in week 10, 20 March)
4. How did the nature of the early modern state shape the war’s effects on civilian populations?
Research Dossier: Due Week 10: 20 March: 30 %
Research a topic of interest about the Thirty Years War. Prepare a research dossier, which will include four
different elements:
1. Bibliography: Prepare a bibliography of works relevant to your topic. The bibliography should divide
primary sources and secondary sources, and include works that have been read and those which have not
been read. For works that have been read, provide a brief summary of the book’s contribution to your
knowledge. Note that some topics will require strategies that involve the recovery of fragments of
information from large numbers of works about related topics; other topics will have larger numbers of
monographic or dedicated articles in the treatments. Given this, there can be no specified number of texts,
but your bibliography should include everything directly on the topic, and the most useful material related
to it.
2. Short “Encyclopedia Article” summary. In three pages, provide an entry on your subject suitable for an
Encyclopedia of the Thirty Years War that sums up all the essential materials on your topic. Make sure to
explain its relevance for the broader themes of the Thirty Years War.
3. Short “Historiographical” summary. In four pages, discuss how historians have discussed your subject. If
there are major works in a language available to you, discuss their significance and relation to broader
patterns of interpretation.
4. Perspectives for future research. In two pages, explain what you believe would be the most useful
contribution to English language research on your topic and why.
Suggested Topics:
Bavaria
Albrecht von Wallenstein
The War and Economic Development
Ferdinand II, HRE
Saxony
Scotland
2 Peter Paul Rubens and Diplomacy
The Ottoman Empire
Ferdinand III, HRE
Cardinal Richelieu
Axel Oxenstierna
Cannon Making
Christian IV of Denmark
Grain Trade
Fredrick V of the Palatinate
Post System
Women and Armies
Andreas Gryphius
News of the War in England
Johannes Rist
Gustavus Adolphus
Jacques Callot
Hamburg
Lorraine and the War
The Papacy in the War
French Diplomats at the Peace of Westphalia
Please feel free to explore other topics in consultation with me.
Final Exam: 20 % During the regular examination period.
A note on academic honesty: Education and scholarship depends upon a certain sort of basic honesty. I
expect that when you claim to have done work, you will actually have done it. When you use the work or
ideas of another scholar or student, you should respect them by treating their work fairly and accurately,
and give them public credit by citing them openly. Always err on the side of giving too much credit to
others rather than too little. In formal essays, I prefer citations in footnotes using the form known as the
Chicago humanities style; see the quick guide at
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
and follow the examples marked “F” and “B”.
The University cares about academic honesty as well, because it has to maintain a standard of
fairness and equity. You can find its mandate on “Plagiarism and Cheating” and on “Examination
Impersonation” in Section 8.1 of General Academic Regulations of the 2013-2014 University
Undergraduate Calendar (http://crscalprod1.cc.umanitoba.ca/Catalog/ViewCatalog.aspx), but the Faculty
of Arts requires me to repeat it here, as well.
“The common penalty in Arts for plagiarism on a written assignment is a grade of F on the paper and a final grade of
F (DISC) (for disciplinary action) for the course. For the most serious acts of plagiarism, such as purchase of an essay
and repeat violations, this penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five (5) years from registration in
courses taught in a particular department/program in Arts or from all courses taught in this Faculty. The Faculty also
reserves the right to submit student work that is suspected of being plagiarized to Internet sites designed to detect
plagiarism or to other experts for authentication. The common penalty in Arts for academic dishonesty on a test or
3 examination is F for the paper, F (DISC) for the course, and a one-year suspension from courses acceptable for credit
in the Faculty. For more serious acts of academic dishonesty on a test or examination, such as repeat violations, this
penalty can also include suspension for a period of up to five years from registration in courses taught in a particular
department or program in Arts or from all courses taught in or accepted for credit by this Faculty.”
Marking: I will make every effort to return papers within a week, and you will thus have considerable
feedback before the voluntary withdrawal (VW) date of March 19, 2014. I will take into account the
quality and diligence of research, the creativity, strength, and coherence of thought and argument, and the
correct use of grammar, usage, proofreading and citation. Extensions will not be granted except in highly
unusual circumstances, which will usually require documentation. 4 % a day will be deducted for
unexcused lateness.
A +, 90-100 %: Exceptional: Astonishingly excellent work, which demonstrates originality and a singular
command of the subject.
A, 80-89 %. Truly excellent work, free from errors.
B+, 75-79 %. Very good work.
B. 70-75 %. Good.
C+, 65-69 %. Satisfactory.
C. 60-64 %. Adequate
D. 50-59 %. Marginal
F. 0-49 %. Fail
Other things the Faculty thinks you should know: “Students who wish to appeal a grade given for term
work must do so within 10 working days after the grade for the term work has been made available to
them.” If you do not pick up your work for four months after the end of the course, you will not only lose
the incalculable benefits of my comments, but, as the Faculty puts it, the work “will become the property of
the Faculty of Arts and will be subject to confidential destruction.”
4 READING SCHEDULE
Week I: 9 January: Introduction
Week II: 16 January: Dynasty, Religion and Causes of Conflict
Wilson, 1-167.
Thomas A. Brady, Euan Cameron, and Henry Cohn, “Roundtable discussion on The Politics of
Religion: The Peace of Augsburg, 1555,” German History 24,1 (2006): 85-105.
Week III: 23 January: Outbreak of War
Wilson, 168-313.
Helfferich, ix-14, documents 1-8.
Karin J. MacHardy, “The Rise of absolutism and noble rebellion in early modern Habsburg
Austria, 1570 to 1620,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 34, 3 (July, 1992): 407-438.
Myron P. Gutman, “The Origins of the Thirty Years War,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18, 4
(1988): 749-770.
Week IV: 30 January: The Palatinate, Denmark and Wallenstein
Wilson, 314-423.
Helfferich, documents 9-10, 11-13.
Paul Lockhart, “Denmark and the Empire: A Reassessment of Danish Foreign Policy under King
Christian IV,” Scandinavian Studies 62 (1992): 390-416.
Jaroslav Miller, “The Henrician Legend revived: The Palatinate Couple and its Public Image in
Early Stuart England,” European Review of History 11, 3(2004): 305-331.
Week V: 6 February: Swedish War & Wallenstein’s end.
Wilson, 424-553.
Helfferich, documents 18-22.
Nils Erik Villstrand’s chapter in Leon Jespersen, ed. A revolution from above? The power state of 16th
and 17th century Scandinavia. (Odense: Odense University Press, 2000).
5 Carlos Gilly, “The ‘Midnight lion’, the ‘eagle’ and ‘the antichrist’: Political, religious, and chiliastic
propaganda in the pamphlets, illustrated broadsheets, and ballads of the Thirty Years War,” Dutch
Review of Church History 80, 1 (2000): 46-77.
Week VI: 13 February: Richelieu and Olivares
Wilson, 554-670.
Helfferich, 153-179.
Read one of the following:
A: John H. Elliott, Richelieu and Olivares. (Cambridge: CUP. 1989).
Or
B: Joseph Bergin, Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth. (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1985), 41-118, 243-263.
Or
William F. Church, Richelieu and Reason of State. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972),
283-460.
Or
Joseph Bergin and Laurence Brockliss, eds. Richelieu and his Age. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992),
essays by Moote, Weber, Bonney and Parrott.
READING WEEK: NO CLASS
Week VII: 27 February: Military Revolution and Business of War
Michael Roberts, “The Military Revolution,”originally published 1955, as republished in his Essays
in Swedish History, (London:Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1967), 195-225.
David Parrott, The Business of War: Military Enterprise and Military Revolution in Early Modern Europe
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Week VIII: 6 March: Experiences of War
Wilson, 822-851.
Hilfferich, documents 26, 35, 37-38. Read also 274-276.
6 Geoffrey Mortimer, “Individual Experience and Perception of the Thirty Years War in Eyewitness
Personal Accounts,” German History 20,2 (June, 2002): 141-160.
Hans Medick, “Historical Event and Contemporary Experience: the capture and destruction of
Magdeburg in 1631” History Workshop Journal 52 (October, 2001): 23-48.
David Lederer, “The Myth of the All-Destructive War: After Thoughts on German Suffering,
1618-1648”, German History. 29,3 (2011): 380-403.
Week IX: 13 March: Social Consequences of War
Wilson, 779-821.
William W. Hagen, “Seventeenth-Century Crisis in Brandenburg: The Thirty Years’ War, the
Destabilization of Serfdom, and the Rise of Absolutism,” American Historical Review 94,2 (April,
1989): 302-337.
John Theibault, “The Demography of the Thirty Years War Re-visited: Günter Franz and his
Critics,” German History 15,1 (Jan., 1997): 1-21.
Ronald G. Asch, “’Wo der soldat hinkömbt, da ist alles sein‘: Military violence and atrocities in
the Thirty Years War Re-examined,“ German Histories, 18,3 (Oct, 2000): 291-309.
Quentin Outram, “The Socio-Economic Relations of Warfare and the Military Mortality Crises of
the Thirty Years War,” Medical History 45 (2001): 151-184.
Week X: 20 March: Seventeenth Century Crisis?
Eric Hobsbawm, “The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,” Past & Present. 6 (1954): 44-65.
Hugh Trevor-Roper, “The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,” Past & Present 16 (1959):
31-64.
Sheilagh C. Ogilvie, “Germany and the Seventeenth Century Crisis,” Historical Journal 35, 2 (June,
1992): 417-442.
Jan de Vries, “The Economic Crisis of the Seventeenth Century after Fifty Years,” Journal of
Interdisciplinary History 40,2 (Autumn, 2009): 151-194.
Geoffrey Parker, “Crisis and Catastrophe: The Global Crisis of the Seventeenth Century
Reconsidered,” American Historical Review 113, 4 (October 2008): 1053-1079.
7 Week XI: 27 March: War, Diplomacy and Negotiation
Wilson, 671-747.
Helfferich, docs 30-34.
Derek Croxton, “A Territorial Imperative? The Military Revolution, Strategy, and Peacemaking in
the Thirty Years War,” War and Society 5, 3 (July, 1998): 253-279.
Erik Thomson, “For a comparative history of early modern diplomacy: commerce and French and
Swedish emissarial cultures during the early seventeenth century,” Scandinavian Journal of History.
31, 2 (June, 2006): 151-172.
Paul Sonnino, “From D’Avaux to Dévot: Politics and Religion in the Thirty Years War,” History 87
(2002): 191-203.
Week XII: 3 April: Peace
Wilson, 751-778.
Hilfferich, doc 36.
Derek Croxton, “The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 and the Origins of Sovereignty,” International
History Review (1999) 569-591.
Ronald G. Asch, “Religious Toleration, the Peace of Westphalia, and the German Territorial
Estates,” Parliaments, Estates & Representation 20 (2000): 75-89.
Sebastian Schmidt, “To Order the minds of scholars: The Discourse of the Peace of Westphalia in
International Relations Literature,” 55,3 (2011): 601-23.
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