30YearsWar #42: The Silver Domino

30YearsWar #42: The Silver Domino

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1629 was THE year of the Thirty Years War, when all the tributaries seemed to join the main river, and flow as one. The Swedish and Poles made their peace, under French sponsorship. The French expelled the Huguenots from La Rochelle. The Spanish continued their siege of Casale, in North Italy. The Danes made their peace with Wallenstein and the Emperor, and the Emperor let the ink dry on his Edict of Restitution, before releasing it to the world. But that wasn't all.

Across the Dutch border, something incredible was happening...

It's up for debate when the tide truly turned in the Thirty Years War, and the Habsburgs lost the initiative. However, I would make a strong case for the winds of change blowing in the Spanish Dutch War first, when a daring naval assault by Admiral Piet Hein seized 11 million florins worth of silver just off the Cuban coast. Though he couldn't have known it, Admiral Hein had just knocked over the first in what would be a series of dominoes, that would lead all the way to the peace of Westphalia twenty years later.

Not only did the Dutch seize the money, thus ruining Spain's precarious financial situation - they also spent that money on several armies, and invested the town of S'hertogenbosch, the capital of Catholic propaganda in the Spanish Netherlands. As if to tie it all together, who should stand side by side Frederick Henry, but Frederick V, Elector Palatine. Although his Austrian enemy was supreme, Frederick had ensured that the Habsburgs could not rest.

The Spanish were crumbling, and it remained for the Lion of the North to roar the whole place down in Germany....

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#24: 1912-1914 - Anglo-German Relations III

#24: 1912-1914 - Anglo-German Relations III

By late 1912, it appeared the period of Anglo-German detente was over. The Kaiser assembled a War Council, and apparently planned for a war of domination. In fact, appearances were deceptive, and alth...

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#23: 1911-1912 - Anglo-German Relations II

#23: 1911-1912 - Anglo-German Relations II

By late 1911, Germany had been embarrassed by the Second Moroccan Crisis, and the Anglo-French Entente had once again rallied. We might have expected Germany to double down on its provocative naval ca...

19 Elo 20241h 1min

#22: 1905-1911 - Anglo-German Relations I

#22: 1905-1911 - Anglo-German Relations I

Everyone knows the story of Britain and Germany before 1914. Or at least, they think they do.Anglo-German relations following the Russo-Japanese War seemed bound to enter a period of hostility, enable...

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#21: 23 July 1914 - The First Ultimatum

#21: 23 July 1914 - The First Ultimatum

Austria-Hungary finally delivered its ultimatum to Serbia nearly four weeks after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The journey had been incredibly slow, and the outcome was nothing like the fait ...

14 Elo 202435min

#20: 20-22 July 1914 - France In Russia

#20: 20-22 July 1914 - France In Russia

On 20 July, the French President, Premier, and other statesmen docked at Kronstadt, aboard the fittingly named France.It began a tremendous spectacle of Franco-Russian cooperation, just as rumours wer...

12 Elo 202438min

#19: 19-22 July 1914 - Finalising Fatalism

#19: 19-22 July 1914 - Finalising Fatalism

As the French sailed for St Petersburg, the Austro-Hungarian government gathered in Vienna for a meeting of historic importance. It was here on 19 July 1914 that the infamous ultimatum to Serbia was f...

9 Elo 202433min

#18: 16-20 July 1914 - France at Sea

#18: 16-20 July 1914 - France at Sea

As the French President and Premier made their way to Russia, on board the France, they tried their best to keep up to date with what was happening outsides the confines of their vessel. Troubling rum...

7 Elo 202425min

#17: 15-18 July 1914 - Secrecy and Haste

#17: 15-18 July 1914 - Secrecy and Haste

With the Austro-Hungarian government on the same page at long last, it remained to follow through with the ultimatum. To Berchtold, this meant moving as quickly and as secretly as possible, so that on...

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