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The Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 (Essential Histories) by Richard Bonney (2002-08-19) Paperback Bunko

by Richard Bonney (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 96 ratings
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More than three and a half centuries have passed since the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War (1618-48); but this most devastating of wars in the early modern period continues to capture the imagination of readers: this book reveals why. It was one of the first wars where contemporaries stressed the importance of atrocities, the horrors of the fighting and also the sufferings of the civilian population. The Thirty Years' War remains a conflict of key importance in the history of the development of warfare and the 'military revolution'.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Osprey Publishing
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01N5KU1WJ
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 96 ratings

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Richard Bonney

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4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
96 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

D. Heid
5.0 out of 5 stars Eyes opened on 30-Year War
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2016
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Osprey's usual great work of showing the complexities and underpinnings of a conflict, woven in with clear, concise description of many key battles. The war at the beginning in 1618 was an entirely different animal than than what it looked like in 1648, and the personalities of the leaders are made familiar to the reader, as well.
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Perry B. Alers, aka peebee
4.0 out of 5 stars A 'World' War before its time
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2015
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I have always been intrigued by the Thirty Years War without knowing much about it. It is considered pivotal to modern European history, but except for one of my history professors' enthusiasm for Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus many years ago, I have had no individuals to anchor it in my mind. Prof. Bonney has fixed this. For one thing, he has provided a very complete chronology of the war itself as well as the diplomatic events which shaped it. Further, he has provided some short discussion sections on the soldiers who fought it, the impact on the populace caught in its path, eyewitness accounts, and the long-term effects of the Peace of Westphalia, which (more or less) ended it. Among other things it marked the end of the age of wars based on religious confession, and determined the political geography of Europe for nearly two centuries, until the advent of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna. The book is a slog (as was the war) in places, but will ultimately reward the persistent.
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Michael Lapelosa
3.0 out of 5 stars A tough subject
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2015
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The Thirty Years War is a difficult topic to tackle. The politics are obscure, the geographic landscape unfamiliar, and the personalities, with just a couple of exceptions are largely unknown. I was expecting the Ospery book to provide me with an informative and conscise overview which would help me unravel this dense era. I have found several other books in the series VERY enlightening and interesting.
Unfortunately, although I have a somewhat better understanding for this period of history, I was a little disappointed. The author, try as he might, failed to convey the same straightforward understanding that I achieved by reading other books in the series. The politics and the times are still pretty murky to me and although I know more now than I did before I read the book, I didn't get the level of understanding and enjoyment that I was seeking. In addition, alyhough there are excellent maps which depict several important battles, this volume is hurt by the failure to include larger maps of the European landscape. This omission is particularly fateful because so much of the geography, cities, and political entities of the time is unfamilier to the reader,
3 people found this helpful
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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars The Thirty Years' War 1618-1648
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2019
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An excellent historical guide to the Thirty Years War. The maps are accurate and the art is great. The book arrived in excellent condition.
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Motown
5.0 out of 5 stars Concise History of the Wars that Created Modern Europe
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2013
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Item arrived on time and in manner promised. The book is a concise and well illustrated narrative of the series of religious and nationalistic wars that essentially shaped Europe. The illsutrations and narrative to much to simplify a very complex set of critical events. Recommended for history buffs.
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R. Forczyk
4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Summary of a Neglected Conflict
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2002
Now that Osprey's Essential Histories series has covered most of the low-hanging fruit - like more needless summaries of the American Civil War - it is starting to actually use this series as it should: to cover those conflicts in military history that do not receive their fair share of attention. Richard Bonney's volume on the Thirty Years War is well-written, accurate, insightful and fairly detailed for such a short volume. Readers looking for a good short history of this critical conflict in early modern European History should definitely purchase this volume.
The volume begins with a short introduction, chronology a section on the background to the war and alliances. Bonney succeeds in disputing the over-simplified view of the war as a simply religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Instead, Bonney presents a vastly more complicated milieu of contentious issues and factions, with religion being only one albeit large factor. For example, Catholic (more or less) France was more concerned with limiting the power of Austria's Catholic Hapsburg's than with the minor power plays of various German Protestant small-fry duchies. The author's discussion of the Catholic Imperialist alliance with Lutheran Saxony and the Protestant Hungarian alliance with the Ottomans provide ample evidence of the diversity of issues and tangled allegiances involved in the conflict. Although this introductory material is interesting, it does tend to sidestep around some of the religious and economic motivations that kept the war going; the author mentions the refusal of the Lutherans to work with the Calvinists against the Catholic Empire, but fails to mention why these objections were so deep-seated.
The author spends 17 pages in the section "the warring sides," discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Holy Roman Empire (Spanish gold, lots of combat veterans and good commanders), the German Protestants (poor quality troops and leaders), the Swedes (excellent artillery, cavalry and Gustavus Adolphus), the French (who were too distracted by their war with the Spanish to make a major effort in Germany), the Dutch and the Spanish. This section is far more detailed than similar sections in other Osprey Essential History volumes. The only deficiency in this area - and it runs throughout the volume - is a failure to provide any references on 17th Century currency. Several times, the author details cash subsidies by the Dutch, Spanish, British in terms of thalers, guilders and florins. Without any kind of reference about currency, it is difficult to evaluate the relative economic contributions of the various powers.
The actual narrative of the conflict is 29 pages long - a bit short - but quite good. There are seven 2-D maps that support the text (the Rhine fortresses in southwest Germany, the first Battle of Breitenfeld, the battles of Lutzen, Nordligen, Wittstock, 2nd Breitenfeld, and Jankow). Unfortunately the greatest weaknesses in an otherwise fine volume is the lack of any strategic maps of Germany that depict pre or post-war boundaries and many of the peripheral areas. The reader will find it difficult to follow the campaign narrative in places like Swedish Pommerania, the Baltic Coast and Bavaria, which have no supporting maps.
The final sections of the volume cover a look at typical mercenaries, civilian witnesses, the war in context and the conclusion of the war. As usual, these sections are a bit weak and Osprey should re-think what it is asking authors to accomplish in these concluding sections. Nevertheless, author Richard Bonney succeeds in delivering an excellent summary of the war that shaped pre-modern central Europe.
65 people found this helpful
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Patrick Walsh
2.0 out of 5 stars A collection of essays, not an overview
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2018
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This is more a group of short essays than a cohesive whole. Needs an overall map showing where the major players are located and where the significant battles happen. Could easily cut some of the full page potraits for this.

This works as a quick reference work if you already know the history. The timeline is the most useful part.
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Top reviews from other countries

Philip Greenhill
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2020
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These books from this series are uniformally of a high standard. They have enough detail to be interesting but not enough to swamp you. I will continue to buy
2 people found this helpful
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GREG SCOTT
4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent concise history of the war
Reviewed in Australia on September 3, 2022
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A very readable & concise account of the war.
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R. Vienot
4.0 out of 5 stars very good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2019
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interesting
One person found this helpful
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Taggle
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2017
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Excellent
One person found this helpful
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Neil Murphy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 24, 2016
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excellent
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