Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1519-1555)

“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse.”

Charles V’s own abdications,1555-56

In 1555, as Holy Roman Emperor to his brother Ferdinand I (Holy Roman Emperor 1555-1564)

In 1556, as King of Spain in favour of his son Philip II (King of Spain 1556-1598)

The Division of the Habsburg possessions after the abdications of Charles V

To the Austrian branch governed from Vienna: Austria, Bohemia, the Northern Hungary.

To the Spanish branch governed from Madrid: Castile, Aragon, Sicily, Naples, the Netherlands, Burgundy and the new American colonies.

In the Austrian Habsburg Branch:

Ferdinand I (1555-1564)Maximilian II (1564-1576)

They both enjoyed in their possessions a relative peace except a Turkish campaign in 1566-67.

However;

The Spanish Habsburgs led by Philip II of Spain were less fortunate...

Because, there were two main challenges to the Spanish Habsburgs’ power:

I. The Turkish threat in the Mediterranean

II. The Dutch revolt in the Habsburg-owned Low Countries

I. The Turkish Threat in the Mediterranean

The Turkish corsairs based on the Barbary coast in North Africa were attacking the coasts of Castile and Portugal.Philip II of Spain’s struggle against the Ottoman Turks for the Mediterranean went on through two decades until the truce of 1581:- The Spanish expedition to Djerba in 1560- The defense of Malta in 1565- The Lepanto campaign of 1571- The continuous fight for Tunisia in the 1570s

II. The Dutch Revolt in the Habsburg-owned Low Countries

- The breakdown of the Spanish authority in the Netherlands by the mid-1560s- The dispatch of a Spanish army to the Netherlands and the following Spanish religious intolerance and military despotism.- A full-scale revolt and resistance in the defensible Dutch provinces of Holland and Zeeland against the Spanish Habsburg authority.

ATTENTION:

The military existence of Spanish Habsburgs in the Low Countries caused alarm in France, England and Northern Germany about the Habsburg intentions in the region and the conflict became more complex with the English and French involvements.

A. Elizabeth I of England checked Spanish backed threats and conspiracies to her authority and was lending military support to the Dutch Protestant rebels.The “Invincible Armada” failed miserably in 1588.

B. A religious civil war started in France between the Catholic League supported by Spain and the Huguenots supported by the English crown and the Dutch.

- Henry of Navarre switched from Protestantism to Catholicism, became the king of France under the name of Henry IV and led an increasing majority of the French people against the Spanish invaders.

1598 – Peace of Vervins. The Spanish Habsburgs agreed to abandon all the interference in France.

Attention:

The continued existence of the English, French and Dutch states each with the potential to oppose Habsburg pretensions in the future, confirmed that the Western Europe of 1600 would consist of many states and not one hegemony!

The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in the 17th century

THE THIRTHY YEARS WAR (1618-1648)

A round of ferocious religious struggles between the rival Catholic and Protestant forces in Germany paved the way for the Thirty Years War.

- weakening of the authority of Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor, 1576-1612)- foundation of the Evangelical Union in 1608- creation of the Catholic League in 1609- revolt of the Protestant estates of Bohemia against the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1619-1639)

- The intervention of a Spanish-Habsburg army led by General Spinola.

- The Dutch intervention, ending the 1609 truce with Spain, in the Rhineland to counter Spinola’s army in 1621.

- The Danish invasion of Northern Germany in 1626.

- The military successes of General Wallenstein, a famous commander of the Austrian Habsburgs, in the 1620s almost centralizing the Habsburg authority in Germany.

- The Swedish intervention led by the young and the dynamic king of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus (King of Sweden, 1611-1631), into Northern Germany in 1630, then southwards to the Rhineland and Bavaria.

- The Spaniards led by Philip IV (King of Spain, 1621-1665) and his first minister Count Duke of Olivares “El Condeduque”, decided to aid to the Austrian Habsburgs even more intensively. Battle of Nördlingen (1634), victory of the Spanish army and of tercios of Cardenal-Infante.“Either all is lost, or else Castile will be head of the world.”

Count Duke of Olivares, 1635- The direct French involvement in the Thirthy Years War in 1635.- Revolts in Portugal and in Catalonia in the Iberian peninsula in 1640, the danger of disintegration of the Spanish heartland.

- Spain suddenly made peace with the Dutch, recognizing their full-independence in 1648.- The Peace of Westphalia, later in the same year, between the Austrian Habsburgs and the German Protestants.

ATTENTION:

The Westphalian Settlement acknowledged the religious and political balance within the Holy Roman Empire and confirmed the limitations upon the imperial authority of the Austrian Habsburgs.

THE END of THE THIRTY YEARS WAR (1618-1648)

Europe at the end of the Thirty Years’ War

However,The Franco-Spanish war continued!

- The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 forced Spain to come to terms with France and confirmed that the age of predominance of the Habsburg dynasty was over.- Spain recognized officially the independence of Portugal in 1668.

Attention:

The European continent’s political fragmentation remained in much the same status as had existed at Charles V’s enthronement in 1519.

The Habsburg dynasty paid the price for the strategic overextension of their possessions.

Five Chief Sources of the Habsburg Finances

I. Castile, directly ruled and regularly taxed by the Spanish Habsburgs.

II. The Italian States, one of the two richest trading areas of Europe together with the Low Countries.

III. The Low Countries and their mercantile wealth and mobile capital.

IV. The American Empire of Spain, royal fifth of the silver and gold mined there.

V. The leading financial and mercantile houses of the Southern Germany, Italian cities and of Antwerp under the Habsburg rule.

The availability of the ready cash and the possession of good credit were essential to any state engaged in war. Only by direct payment or by promise of payment, the necessary armaments, ships, naval stores and foodstuffs could be mobilized within the market economy and only by the supply of provisions and by the regular payment of wages the fighting troops could keep on fighting.

The Military Advantage of the Habsburgs

The Spanish-trained infantry of Castile. The introduction of the Spanish combat unit: tercio. Integrated regiments of 3.000 pikemen, swordsmen and arquebusiers reduced even the reputation of the French cavalry and Swiss pike phalanxes.

It is significant to see that the Spanish power declined when their armies consisted mainly of German, Italian and Irish mercenaries by the mid-seventeenth century with a small proportion of Castillan warriors.

However,However,

There were still some important deficiencies of the Habsburg empire to meet the requirements to achieve to defeat all the foes.

These deficiencies were due to the three following facts:

A. The Military Revolution in Europe, the considerable increases in number and quality of the European armies. The rapid increase in the cost of armies and navies. The creation of regular and permanent royal navies.

When Charles V abdicated, he left to his son Philip II an official debt of 20 million ducats.The Armada of 1588 cost 10 million ducats.At the death of Philip II, the debts of the Spanish state totalled 100 million ducats and interest payments of this sum equalled about two-thirds of all Spanish revenues.

B. The Habsburgs had too many states to fight, too many fronts to defend. They could not enjoy certain periods of peace and recovery. The Habsburg armies had to be dispersed to several fronts.

C. The limitations of the Habsburg crown’s fiscal rights in Spain. Remarkable autonomy of different regions of Spain (for instance, the three realms of the Aragonese crown, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, had their own laws and judicial system). The exhaustion of Castillan taxpayers.

Important Notes:

i. At the end of the 16th and at the beginning of the 17th centuries, each belligerent state had to learn how to create a satisfactory administrative structure to meet the requirements of the “military revolution”, and to pay for spiralling costs of war.

ii. France replaced Spain as the greatest military power in the Western Europe.