The Event was “The Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. The
participants, or opponents, were sixteen countries, Catholics and
Protestants, who fought over the control of the Germanic
territories. Key Players were: “Gustavus Adolphus II, King of
Sweden, a Lutheran, who defeated Count Tilly, representing Ferdinand
II, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Scene on the stein is:
Surrender after the Battle of Breitenfeld about 100 miles south of
Berlin in 1631. This was the first major victory of the
Protestants over the Catholics. The picture on the right shows
the Burgomeister of Breitenfeld presenting the keys of the city to King
Gustav on horseback. By 1648, when the war ended by
the Treaty of Westphalia, one-third (1/3) of the population of central
Europe had been killed and in some areas, the casualties ran as high as
50%. Germany was decimated with the destruction of 2,000 castles,
18,000 villages, and 1,400 towns with 7.6 million dead. Gustavus
Adolfus II (Gustavus the Great) is considered to be the father of
modern warfare. His adult life was largely spent in battle,
succumbing while leading a charge during this campaign.
Today, the effects of the Thirty Years War directly impact those
researchers into genealogy. If you are able to trace your German
ancestors back to 1648, chances are you won’t be able to do much
better. One result of the Thirty Years War was that the Germanic
States started passing laws requiring records to be duplicated and in
later wars they buried them in lead containers.
(This article was submitted to the Die Lustigen Steinjaeger newsletter
editor after our November 2013 meeting.)
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