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Battle of White Mountain

The Battle of White Mountain (Czech: Bitva na Bílé hoře; German: Schlacht am Weißen Berg) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years.

It was fought on 8 November 1620. An army of 21,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt was defeated by 23,000 men of the combined armies of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, led by Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, and the German Catholic League led by Johann Tserclaes, later Count of Tilly, at Bílá Hora ("White Mountain") near Prague.[3] Bohemian casualties were not severe but their morale collapsed and Imperial forces occupied Prague the next day.

Prelude[edit]

In the early 17th century most of the Bohemian estates, although under the dominion of the predominantly Catholic Holy Roman Empire, had large Protestant populations, and had been granted rights and protections allowing them varying degrees of religious and political freedom.


In 1617, as the health of Emperor Matthias deteriorated, his cousin Ferdinand – a devout Catholic and proponent of the Counter-Reformation – was named his successor as Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia. This led to deep consternation among many Bohemian Protestants, who feared not only the loss of their properties, but also of their traditional semi-autonomy, under which many of the estates had separate, individual constitutions governing their relationship with the Empire, and where the king was elected by the local leaders.[4]


Ferdinand (who would become Emperor Ferdinand II following Matthias' death in 1619) saw Protestantism as inimical to the Empire, and wanted to impose absolutist rule on Bohemia while encouraging conversion to the Catholic faith. He also hoped to reclaim church properties which had been seized by Protestants at the start of the Reformation decades earlier.


Particularly galling to Protestants were perceived violations of Emperor Rudolf II's 1609 Letter of Majesty, which had ensured religious freedom throughout Bohemia.[5] In May 1618, wanting to air their grievances over this and other issues, a group of Bohemian noblemen met representatives of the Emperor at the royal castle in Prague; the meeting ended with two of the representatives and their scribe being thrown out a high window and seriously injured. This incident, known as the Third Defenestration of Prague, triggered the Bohemian Revolt.[6]


In November 1619, Elector Palatine Frederick V, who like many of the rebels was a Calvinist, was chosen as King of Bohemia by the Bohemian Electorate.

Letohrádek Hvězda

by Friedrich Schiller

The History of the Thirty Years War

1618–1648 la guerra dei 30 anni. volume 1 da 1618 al 1632 2007 (ISBN 978-88-903010-1-8)

Luca Cristini

1618–1648 la guerra dei 30 anni. volume 2 da 1632 al 1648 2007 (ISBN 978-88-903010-2-5)

Luca Cristini

. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge UP, 1998. Print.

Bohemia in history

. The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History. Indianapolis: Hackett Company, Inc., 2009. Print.

Helfferich, Tryntje

Thirty Years War, University of California Press (June 1971); La guerra dei trent'anni: da un conflitto locale a una guerra europea nella prima metà del Seicento – Torino: Einaudi, 1982.

Josef V. Polisensky

Giovanni Pietro de Pomis Medal of the Battle of the White Mountain

Tomáš Kleisner

Wilson, Peter H. (2009). Europe's Tragedy: A History of the Thirty Years War. Allen Lane.  978-0-7139-9592-3.

ISBN

Johnson, L. (1996). . Oxford University Press, US. ISBN 9780198026075.

Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends

Guthrie, W.P. (2002). . Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313320286.

Battles of the Thirty Years War: From White Mountain to Nordlingen, 1618–1635

Teich, M. (1998). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521431552.

Bohemia in History

Helfferich, T. (2009). . Hackett Publishing. ISBN 9781603843638.

The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History

Bellum.cz – "Battle of White Mountain 8th November 1620"

Kafkadesk.org - "...in 1620: the Bohemian estates were defeated at the Battle of White Mountain"