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francisdavey t1_ituqbw6 wrote

While religion was certainly a significant element in the war, it was not really a religious war. Consider that the war was ended by an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus (a leading Protestant monarch) and Cardinal Richelieu (whose religious affiliation you can guess from the name).

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Maschinenwaffeleisen t1_itusdwd wrote

This is further shown by the fact that mercenaries and prisoners of war regularly were incorporated into the winning army after a lost battle. Many combatants changed sides multiple times. The devastation of the countrysides and the multiple plunderings of the same regions left no other choice than to join the war for many.

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ShalmaneserIII t1_ituuliy wrote

It's a triumph of the Politiques- people who don't give a damn which side is right or wrong, they just want the squabbling to stop so the basic activities of the country can go on unimpeded.

We could use more of those.

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AgoraiosBum t1_itw0eis wrote

It should be seen as one of the wars of transition from a feudal state to a centralized state, the same as the English Civil War (which took place during the same time period), the French Fronde, the 80 Years War between the Hapsburgs and the Dutch, and in Iberia (Portugese Restoration War and Catalan Revolt - although Philip IV and then Charles II didn't really try to bring the nobles to heel, and Charles I had earlier dealt with the nobility with a compromise after the Revolt of the Comuneros) .

Religion played a part as one element that the center (the Hapsburg Court) was trying to enforce against its feudal nobles used to greater privileges.

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ReferenceGloomy3708 t1_itzo0kb wrote

There is also a very very disturbing dolph lundgren movie where he plays a landsknecht. Little stoned me was more than floored by this movie

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francisdavey t1_iu1vbpx wrote

Intriguing. You don't happen to remember the name of the film do you?

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