T the start of this period Spain was still the hmost powerful state in Europe, despite its failure to defeat the rebellious Dutch provinces and its financial difficulties. The Twelve Years’ Truce (1609-1621) and the policies of “The Archdukes”, Archduchess Isabella, half sister of Phillip III, and her husband Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, restored stability to the Spanish Netherlands, whilst both the Spanish peninsula and their Italian provinces remained quiet.
With the resumption of the war, the Spanish made a major effort to extinguish the Dutch Republic, attacking it both on land and at sea in an attempt to strangle the Dutch economy, which relied heavily on sea trade. This spread to the colonies and trading posts of both sides around the world.
At the same time the Spanish intervened in the growing conflict of the Thirty Years’ War, both to enhance their own position in the Netherlands,
And also to assist their Austrian Habsburg cousins in their struggles with a series of Protestant enemies. Additionally, there were a series of minor wars in Italy to resolve local issues in the favour of their Italian satellite states, which also brought them into conflict with a re-emerging France, a fight that would have serious repercussions for Spain in the longer term.
By 1634, in the aftermath of Breitenfeld, Lutzen and the death of Wallenstein, with the Swedes running rampant across Germany and the Dutch still unconquered, the Spanish decided that they needed to send major reinforcements to the Low Countries, but also with an eye to their use to assist the Emperor. Collecting the best of the Spanish forces in Italy, the Cardinal-Infante, Don Fernando, led them along the “Spanish Road” into Germany where he joined with his cousin, Ferdinand of Hungary (later Emperor). Together they achieved a crushing victory at Nordlingen,
LATER EIGHTY YEARS’ WARDUTCH LATER IMPERIAL SPANISH
EARLY 17TH CENTURY FRENCH
THIRTY YEARS’WAR DANISH
EARLYTHIRTY YEARS’ WAR GERMAN PROTESTANT
EARLYTHIRTY YEARS’ WAR GERMAN CATHOUC
HUNGARIAN-TRANSYLVANIAN EARLY CAROUNE ENGLISH
EARLYTHIRTY YEARS’ WAR SWEDISH LATER THIRTY YEARS’ WAR GERMAN LATER THIRTY YEARS’ WAR SWEDISH AND WEIMARIAN THIRTY YEARS’WAR FRENCH
THIRTY YEARS’WAR PENINSULAR SPANISH
SCOTS COVENANTER SCOTS ROYALIST EARLY RESTORATION PORTUGUESE CONFEDERATE IRISH EARLY ENGUSH CIVIL WAR ROYALIST ENGUSH CIVIL WAR PARLIAMENTARIAN
LATER ENGUSH CIVIL WARROYAUST NEW MODEL ARMY EARLY LOUIS XIV FRENCH
APPENDIX 1-USING THEUSTS
9
Which in a single day reversed all the gains of the Swedes in the preceding years, putting the Catholic forces into the ascendant for a number of years. However, possibly the main effect of this victory was that it drew France into committing its armies into the mainstream of the Thirty Years’ War. The net result was that for the next decade, the Spanish would be fighting the French at the same time as fighting the Dutch.
Despite now fighting a war on at least two, and often three, fronts in France, the Low Countries and Southern Germany, the Spanish were still the dominant military force in the area. Indeed in 1636 the Spanish overran northern France after the capture of Corbie, and were within striking distance of Paris - which might just have knocked France out of the war if the success had been followed up boldly. However, it was not, and thus the war with France continued for over 20 more years.
By the early 1640s the Spanish were very much focused on the wars with the Dutch and France and had more or less withdrawn from the war in Germany. The war with France swung to and fro, with victories and defeats on both sides, although in general the Spanish had the better of these. Often seen as a turning point in the war, the Battle of Rocroi in 1643 was not as decisive as French mythology has made out, although it did see the destruction of the most effective units of the Spanish infantry.
Although both the Eighty and Thirty Years’ Wars were brought to a conclusion in 1648 by the Peace of Westphalia, the war between Spain and France continued until the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659. By this time it was clear that Spain was utterly exhausted, again bankrupt, and now eclipsed as the major power in Europe.
This list covers Spanish armies in the Low Countries from the end of the Twelve Years’Truce in 1621 until the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 confirmed Spanish decline in Europe. It also includes Spanish armies in Italy, or from Italy, such as that the Cardinal-Infante Don Fernando led to the Low Countries via the victory at Nordlingen in 1634.
World History
