Prime ideological-political genocide of the modern era

Although I'm not entirely okay on the findings, I take as title this excerpt of a comment that I found brilliant and whose first name of this ideological-political genocide of modern times sums up the full magnitude and the horror the Thirty Years War.

It is often considered the Hundred Years War as the first modern conflict between nations, between France and England. Although after three hundred years, the Thirty Years War is similar in many aspects: looting and massacres, civil wars or trigger popular uprisings in the ravaged country, or even that the length extending and reigns over several generations, and the same denomination of the conflict.

Thus, the Thirty Years War which takes its sources yet in a geographical context and radically different patterns (Central and religious wars) can be considered for his part as the first European inter-nations conflict, as it will rapidly becoming politicized and beyond mere quarrel between supporters of Protestantism and Catholicism in the Holy Roman Empire.

The theater of battle takes place mainly in Germany and Czech Republic (and leave these bloodless country), but not népargnera Italy, French-Spanish border and Belgium (which was still at that time the Spanish Netherlands) . Besides maritime operations: clashes between Spanish and Dutch navy, Swedish landing on the Danish and German coasts.

The outcome of the war in 1648 will redraw a map of Europe deeply shocked that will prevail until the French Revolution and the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Spain lost its status as a dominant European power, and the Thirty Years War, yet more than Hundred Years will be the indirect cause of the Anglo-French rivalry the following centuries. France is indeed becoming the new great power in Europe, England will try to limit the hegemony as she could before with Spain.

Let quune also part of the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe also has its sources of this conflict. While Austria is permanently weakened by the conflict, the Turks will not benefit from this situation and the complex web of alliances: the decline of their influence on the European continent, culminating with the defeat shortly after the siege of Vienna in 1683 looms, so much so that they will be the only major power not invited to conclude the treaty of Westphalia which redraws the map of European states. Finally, if Sweden apparently triumphant out of this conflict with territorial gains and an undeniable prestige, it is itself weakened by decades of conflict, leaving the door open to the then Russian bear to settle in depth on the European Continent.

The book reminds us all these realities, unfortunately far too synthetically. The battles are shipped in a few lines and we do not know what comes under the skirmish or major operation, at a time when the art of war changed dramatically (battle techniques, use of firepower). In return, the author loses us in the camp any changes or principality Free City. If the book has a good mapping, it is incomplete and illegible, the pocket format does not help reading.

Finally, the text is mainly descriptive. If own massacres in the war and who have bled considerably Germany and other devastated countries are discussed, no analysis is given to try to explain this outburst of violence and unprecedented sadism and specific to this conflict.

So this book is a good reference for a quick overview of this extremely complex conflict, but others will demand more studious reading that would like to deepen this European major trauma.