The Thirty Years' War

In 1618 Protestant nobles in Bohemia revolted against their Catholic Hapsburg ruler, Ferdinand (who became Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand II in 1619). The conflict spread throughout Germany and Europe. Fighting took place in many countries, but Germany was the major battleground. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) brought an end to the war and to the emperor's authority over Germany outside the Hapsburg domain. Germany was left in economic ruin, with the land devastated, commerce wrecked, and thousands of people slaughtered.