History

r el at i ng to con f essi onal f r eedom s, al l of wh i ch wer e con cl uded on the si de of the Catho l i c Chu r ch . I n M ay 1618, a m eet i ng took p l ace between Pr otestan t nob l es l ed by Coun t T hu r n and two r ep r esen tat i ves send by Fer d i nand I I . T he r esu l t of th i s m eet i ng was the Second D ef enest r at i on (def enest r at i on i s the techn i cal term f or th r ow i ng som ebody ou t of a w i ndow) of Pr ague. Rem ar kab l y, Fer d i nand?s two r ep r esen tat i ves su r v i ved the m u l t i - stor y f al l . T hu r n p r oceeded to cr eate a new gover nm en t and begi n an i nvasi on i n to the Aust r i an cor e p r ov i n ces of Si l esi a, Upper Aust r i a, and L ower Aust r i a. By June, he had successf u l l y f ough t h i s way to Vi enna; however , due to p r essu r e f r om l ar gel y Span i sh f or ces, he had to r et r eat and p r otect Bohem i a i t sel f . T he con f l i ct was escal ated f r om a pu r el y r egi onal con f l i ct to a w i der Germ an con f l i ct when Fr eder i ck V of the El ector al Pal at i nate was of f er ed , and accep ted , the cr own of Bohem i a, desp i te al l bu t one of

h i s per sonal adv i sor s u r gi ng h im not to. T he r eason f or the unpopu l ar i t y of th i s deci si on was the connotat i on s that accom pan i ed i t : he had r em oved a con st i tu t i onal l y el ected k i ng. D ue to th i s, he was abandoned by the Pr otestan t L eague? the or gan i sat i on he h im sel f had hel ped set up . T he war was f u r ther escal ated by the Bavar i an i nvasi on and occupat i on of the Upper Pal at i nate, wh i l st the Span i sh occup i ed the L ower Pal at i nate, as i t bor e st r ategi c im por tan ce i n thei r cam pai gn agai n st the D u t ch , wh i ch had r ecen t been r esum ed af ter a twel ve- year t r uce. T h i s saw the en t r an ce of another f or ei gn non -Germ an power i n to the war , as Fr eder i ck was the stepson of Jam es I of Engl and . Jam es?s i nvo l vem en t was br i ef , and on l y f ocused agai n st the Span i sh , and m ai n l y on behal f of h i s stepson . T he nex t power to en ter the ever - expand i ng con f l i ct was D enm ar k , i n 1625. T he Dan i sh k i ng, Ch r i st i an I V, was al so the duke of H o l stei n , wh i ch m ade

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