title: Volkswagen

text: In September 2006, Volkswagen began offering the City Golf and City Jetta only for the Canadian market. Both models were originally the Mk4 Golf and Jetta but were later replaced with the Brazilian versions of the Golf Mk4 and Bora. Volkswagen's introduction of such models is seen as a test of the market for a subcompact and, if successful, may be the beginnings of a thriving subcompact market for Volkswagen.


title: Volkswagen

text: In May 2011, Volkswagen completed Chattanooga Assembly in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Chattanooga Assembly plant marked VW's first plant since the plant at New Stanton was closed down. The facility has produced Volkswagen cars and SUVs specifically designed for the North American markets, beginning with the Passat B7 in 2011. The company recently announced plans to expand further by investing $900 million to add floor space to the factory.


title: Volkswagen

text: The VW XL1 began a limited production run in 2013. The XL1 is a lightweight and fuel-efficient two-person vehicle (only 795 kg).


title: Volkswagen

text: The Volkswagen Atlas, a large crossover SUV, began production in late 2016, and aimed to help end several years of losses for Volkswagen in the United States, the world's second-largest auto market. On 14 September 2016, Volkswagen announced its partnership with three Israeli cybersecurity experts to create a new company, Cymotive, dedicated to automotive security.


title: Volkswagen

text: In 2017, Volkswagen announced plans to place a considerable focus on electric vehicles (EV), with a goal to, by 2025, launch at least 30 EV models, and have 20 to 25 percent of their total yearly sales volume (2-3 million) consist of EVs. In September, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller stated that the company aimed to have electric versions of all of its vehicle models by 2030, at a cost of 20 billion euro, and 50 billion euro on acquisition of batteries. On 6 March 2017 at the Geneva Motor Show Volkswagen presented its prototype for a fully autonomous car, Sedric.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen returned to motorsport in 2018 by unveiling its all-electric I.D. R. At the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Romain Dumas set an all-time course record of just under eight minutes driving the I.D. R.


title: Volkswagen

text: In September 2018, Volkswagen announced that it would discontinue production of the Beetle (A5) in 2019. Also in September 2018, Volkswagen announced its $100 million investment in Silicon Valley-based solid-state battery startup QuantumScape, becoming the startup's largest automotive investor and gaining representation on its board.


title: Volkswagen

text: In February 2019, Volkswagen announced that it would launch an entry-level Jetta sub-brand in China aimed at young buyers. Three models were announced in July 2019, a sedan and two SUVs, all three of which will be manufactured in China as a part of Volkswagen's joint-venture with FAW.


title: Volkswagen

text: In September 2019 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Volkswagen officially unveiled a refreshed logo (a thinner, two-dimensional version of the previous logo) and new sonic branding, which will accompany the newly launched ID.3 electric vehicle. Volkswagen stated that the ID.3 signified the start of a "new era" of the company.


title: Volkswagen

text: In September 2019, Volkswagen also announced a program to allow old Beetle models to be converted to run on electric power. The electric motor and battery updates will be done in partnership with German company eClassics. The electric components used for retrofitting will be based upon those found in the e-up! model.


title: Volkswagen

text: In November 2020, Volkswagen announced that, trying to remain the world's largest carmaker in the green era, it has increased its investment in electric and self-driving cars to $86 billion over the next five years.


title: Volkswagen

text: In January 2021, Volkswagen announced that its sales in 2020 dropped by 9.9% in China, 23.4% in western Europe and 17.1% in North America.


title: Volkswagen

text: In March 2021, Volkswagen announced that it would stop developing new internal combustion engines, although it would keep tweaking existing engines to comply with stricter emission rules.


title: Volkswagen

text: Also, the company announced it was changing the American division's name to "Voltswagen", with the help of Johannes Leonardo, before revealing the move to be a hoax. In a tweet, the company said, the stunt "got the whole world buzzing." However, some news sources considered the announcement to be real, including the Associated Press, whose headline about being fooled stated, "Volkswagen caught lying again, this time about changing its name."


title: Volkswagen

text: On May 11, 2022, Volkswagen confirmed the relaunch of its Scout off-road vehicle brand, this time as an EV. Production is set to begin in 2026, and this relaunch will be the first time that VW creates a new brand based solely in the U.S. market.


title: Volkswagen

text: In July 2022 Volkswagen noted the development of the first of their own "Gigafactories". The site, based in Salzgitter in Germany, has been termed "Mission SalzGiga". The new business unit is focused on all of Volkswagen's battery activities "from raw materials and the cell right through to recycling", and is part of a €20 billion investment.


title: Volkswagen

text: On Sep 2022 Volkswagen introduces the ID. XTREME1 off-road Electric concept Car, an off-road electric SUV.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen is the founding and namesake member of the Volkswagen Group, a large international corporation in charge of multiple car and truck brands, including Audi, SEAT, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Scania, MAN, and Škoda. Volkswagen Group's global headquarters are located in Volkswagen's historic home of Wolfsburg, Germany.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen Group, as a unit, is Europe's largest motor vehicle manufacturer, with over 74,000 employees and over 7700 dealerships. For a long time, Volkswagen has had a market share over 20 percent.


title: Volkswagen

text: In 2010, Volkswagen posted record sales of 6.29 million vehicles, with its global market share at 11.4%. In 2008, Volkswagen became the third-largest car maker in the world, and, as of 2016, Volkswagen was the second largest manufacturer worldwide. In 2018 the company benefited from trade tariffs and new emission standards, with a record deliveries of 10.8 million vehicles. Volkswagen Group's core markets include Germany and China.


title: Volkswagen

text: In July 2019, Volkswagen invested $2.6 billion in Argo AI, a startup focused on developing self-driving vehicles.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen has factories in many parts of the world, manufacturing or assembling vehicles for local markets. In addition to plants in Germany, Volkswagen has manufacturing or assembly facilities in Mexico, the United States, Slovakia, China, India, Russia, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya and South Africa. In 2011, Volkswagen was named in the top 25 largest companies in the world by the Forbes Global 2000.


title: Volkswagen

text: As of May 2014, Volkswagen was planning to start assembling certain engines in India to increase localisation from 70% to 90%.


title: Volkswagen

text: In January 2016, Volkswagen announced the launch of a new factory in Algeria during a summit between Angela Merkel and Algerian prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal. The factory was launched in Relizane, producing Volkswagen Golf VII, Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen Caddy, SEAT Ibiza and Škoda Octavia cars.


title: Volkswagen

text: In the 2021 review of 's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators VW ranked 6th in the world for its 84 industrial design registrations that were published under the Hague System during 2020. This position is down on their previous 5th-place ranking for 73 industrial design registrations being published in 2019.


title: Volkswagen

text: Since 1985, Volkswagen has also run the Volkswagen AutoMuseum in Wolfsburg, which is dedicated to the history of the company.


title: Volkswagen

text: With 120,000 employees in Germany, VW is one of the most well organized labour represented companies in the world and Germany. The role that Works Councils and IG Metall play is unique even within Germany. VW workers have some of the strongest collective agreements. VW has a strong tradition and practice of social partnership and co-determination.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen agreed in December 2011 to implement a rule passed by the company's Works Council aimed at improving work–life balance and avoiding burnout by restricting company email functionality on the firm's BlackBerry smartphones to working periods and the half-hour before and after working periods. About 1,150 of Volkswagen's more than 190,000 employees in Germany were affected by the email restriction.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen has always had a close relationship with Porsche, the Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the original Volkswagen designer and Volkswagen company co-founder, hired by Adolf Hitler for the project. The first Porsche car, the Porsche 64 of 1938, used many components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The 1948 Porsche 356 continued using many Volkswagen components, including a tuned engine, gearbox and suspension.


title: Volkswagen

text: The two companies continued their collaboration in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and Porsche 914-6. (The 914-6 had a 6-cylinder Porsche engine, and the standard 914 had a Volkswagen engine.) Volkswagen and Porsche would collaborate again in 1976 on the Porsche 912-E (the USA only) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components and was built at Audi's Neckarsulm facilities. The 924 was originally designated for AUDI. Most Porsche 944 models were built there, although they used far fewer VW components.


title: Volkswagen

text: The Porsche Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares its entire chassis with the Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7, and is built at the same Volkswagen factory in Bratislava that the other SUVs are built.


title: Volkswagen

text: In September 2005, Porsche announced it would increase its 5% stake in Volkswagen to 20% at a cost of €3 billion, with the intention that the combined stakes of Porsche and the government of Lower Saxony would ensure that any hostile takeover by foreign investors would be impossible. Speculated suitors included DaimlerChrysler, BMW, and Renault. In July 2006, Porsche increased their ownership again to 25.1%.


title: Volkswagen

text: On 4 March 2005, the European Commission brought an action against the Federal Republic of Germany before the European Court of Justice, claiming that the Volkswagen Law, which prevents any shareholder in Volkswagen from executing more than 20% of the total voting rights in the firm, was illegally restricting the flow of capital in Europe. On 13 February 2007, Advocate General Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer submitted an opinion to the court in support of the action. This again opened the possibility of a hostile takeover of VW and so on 26 March of the same year Porsche took its holding of Volkswagen shares to 30.9%. Porsche formally announced in a press statement that it did not intend to take over Volkswagen, but intended the move to avoid a competitor's taking a large stake and to stop hedge funds from dismantling VW. As expected, on 22 October 2007, the European Court of Justice ruled in agreement with Ruiz-Jarabo and the law was struck down. In October 2007, the European Court of Justice ruled that the VW law was illegal because it was protectionist. At that time, Porsche held 31% of VW shares – although a smaller proportion of voting rights, due to the Volkswagen Law – and there had been speculation that Porsche would be interested in taking over VW if the law did not stand in its way. The court also prevented the government from appointing Volkswagen board members. The German government then rewrote the Volkswagen law, only to be sued again. In October 2013, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that the rewritten Volkswagen law "complied in full" with EU rules.


title: Volkswagen

text: On 26 October 2008, Porsche revealed its plan to assume control of VW. As of that day, it held 42.6% of Volkswagen's ordinary shares and stock options on another 31.5%. Combined with the state of Lower Saxony's 20.1% stake, this left only 5.8% of shares on the market—mostly with index funds that could not legally sell. Hedge funds desperate to cover their short positions forced Volkswagen stock above one thousand euros per share, briefly making it the world's largest company by market capitalisation on 28 October 2008. By January 2009, Porsche had a 50.76% holding in Volkswagen AG, although the "Volkswagen Law" prevented it from taking control of the company.


title: Volkswagen

text: On 13 August, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft's supervisory board signed the agreement to create an integrated automotive group with Porsche led by Volkswagen. The initial decision was for Volkswagen to take a 42.0% stake in Porsche AG by the end of 2009, and it would also see the family shareholders selling the automobile trading business of Porsche Holding Salzburg to Volkswagen. In October 2009 however, Volkswagen announced that its percentage in Porsche would be 49.9% for a cost of €3.9 billion (the 42.0% deal would have cost €3.3 billion). On 1 March 2011, Volkswagen has finalised the purchase of Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS), Austria's leading specialty automobile distributor, for €3.3 billion ($4.55 billion).


title: Volkswagen

text: The Volkswagen brand produces various models which consists of global products and regional products, specifically for large markets including Europe, China and Latin America. Volkswagen AG annual report in 2019 reported that the best-selling model under the Volkswagen brand globally is the Tiguan, followed by the B-segment range of Polo, Virtus, Vento and Ameo, and Golf.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen has been one of the leading manufacturer in terms of hatchback production, which traditionally has been a popular segment in Europe. The brand offered a range of hatchbacks from A-segment, B-segment, and C-segment. The Golf traditionally has been the strongest selling vehicle for the brand in Europe, followed by the smaller Polo which apart from the European market also has a stronghold in emerging markets. Sales for the hatchback category has slowed down due to the rise of the SUV segment.


title: Volkswagen

text: The brand introduced its first crossover SUV in 2002 starting from the Touareg, a full-size luxury SUV. The brand SUV expansion continues with the release of Tiguan, a C-segment mainstream SUV in 2007. In the mid-2010s, the company has decided to an SUV in every class of car that can justify one, which the brand called the "SUV offensive". Between 2017 and 2020, the brand has aggressively expanded its SUV line-up by growing its number of models from 2 to 8 models, excluding its derivatives, ranging from B-segment, C-segment, and D-segment SUVs which include global models and regional models. Volkswagen also started producing derivatives of its SUV models with a rear sloping roof marketed as coupé SUV which had gained popularity in China, the largest single market for the brand.


title: Volkswagen

text: In 2019, every fourth vehicle delivered by the Volkswagen brand today is an SUV, with its top contributor being the Tiguan. The brand plans to have over 30 SUV models on offer worldwide by 2025, contributing 50 percent of its global sales. Volkswagen also expects SUVs to lead the ID. family, its future electric vehicle range of models.


title: Volkswagen

text: The SUV expansion has claimed casualties in the MPV segment, which saw the Sharan mid-size MPV being phased out in 2020.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen is a market leader in China, which is the largest single automotive market in the world. In 2019, 3.16 million Volkswagen-branded vehicles were delivered in the country. The importance of the market has justified a significant amount of China-specific models.


title: Volkswagen

text: Sedans are a favoured segment in China due to their spacious interiors and boot space. In 2019, the brand sold 1.6 million of them in China. In the compact notchback or sedan segment, the brand is represented by several China-only models which include the Sagitar, Lamando, Bora, Santana, Lavida, and its derivatives in other body styles, while the mid-size sedan segment is represented by the Passat and Magotan. The Lavida was the best-selling model in China of all manufacturers in 2019 with 491,000 units sold.


title: Volkswagen

text: The popularity of SUVs also gave birth to several SUV models built or reworked specifically for China, including the Tharu, Tayron, Tayron X, Tiguan X, and reworked versions of the T-Cross and T-Roc. The brand also has a strong presence in the premium or luxury segment including the Phideon and Viloran as the models developed specifically for China.


title: Volkswagen

text: The brand has a notable history in Brazil. Volkswagen's relationship with Brazil dates back to the early 1950s. In 1956, Volkswagen began by building a plant in São Bernardo do Campo, near São Paulo as its first manufacturing plant outside Germany as a response to the Brazil's ban on the import of completely assembled vehicles in 1950. One year later, the plant started to produce the Kombi model – 370 cars at that time, with a 50 percent local content component share. Of 81 million vehicles produced over six decades in Brazil, 23 million of it was built by Volkswagen, which was produced by four passenger car factories in the country. In 2018, Volkswagen accounted for close on 15 percent of the Brazilian car market.


title: Volkswagen

text: The importance of the Brazilian market gave birth to several models developed and manufactured by Volkswagen do Brasil, which include the Fox, Gol, Nivus, Saveiro, Virtus and Voyage. These models are also typically exported throughout Latin America. Historical vehicles built for the market include the Brasília, SP1 & SP2, 1500/Variant/Variant II, Karmann Ghia TC, Parati and Suran. The Gol, first launched in 1980, was the best-selling car in the country for 27 consecutive years, up until 2013.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen do Brasil produced and sold pure ethanol-powered (E100 only) vehicles in Brazil, and production was discontinued only after they were supplanted by more modern Flex Fuel technology. As a response to the 1973 oil crisis, the Brazilian government began promoting bioethanol as a fuel, and the National Alcohol Program -"Pró-Álcool"- () was launched in 1975. Compelled by the 1979 energy crisis, and after development and testing with government fleets by the CTA at São José dos Campos, and further testing of several prototypes developed by the four local carmakers, including Volkswagen do Brasil, pure ethanol vehicles were launched in the Brazilian market. Petrol engines were modified to support hydrous ethanol characteristics and changes included compression ratio, amount of fuel injected, replacement of materials that would get corroded by the contact with ethanol, use of colder spark plugs suitable for dissipating heat due to higher flame temperatures, and an auxiliary cold-start system that injects petrol from a small tank in the engine compartment to help starting when cold. Within six years, around 75% of all Brazilian passenger cars were manufactured with ethanol engines.


title: Volkswagen

text: Production and sales of pure ethanol vehicles tumbled beginning in 1987 owing to several factors, including a sharp decline in petrol prices as a result of the 1980s oil glut, and high sugar prices in the world market, shifting sugarcane ethanol production from fuel to sugar. By mid-1989, a shortage of ethanol fuel supply in the local market left thousands of vehicles in line at petrol stations or out of fuel in their garages, forcing consumers to abandon ethanol vehicles.


title: Volkswagen

text: The 2003 VW Gol 1.6 Total Flex was the first full flexible-fuel vehicle launched in Brazil, capable of running on any blend of petrol and E100. In March of that year, on its fiftieth anniversary, Volkswagen do Brasil launched in the local market the Gol 1.6 Total Flex, the first Brazilian commercial flexible fuel vehicle capable of running on any mix of E20-E25 petrol and up to 100% hydrous ethanol fuel (E100). After the pure ethanol fiasco, consumer confidence in ethanol-powered vehicles was restored, allowing a rapid adoption of the flex technology. This was facilitated by the fuel distribution infrastructure already in place throughout Brazil, with more than 30 thousand fueling stations, a heritage of the "Pró-Álcool" program


title: Volkswagen

text: Owing to the success and rapid consumer acceptance of the flex-fuel versions, by 2005 VW had sold 293,523 flex-fuel cars and light-duty trucks, and only 53,074 petrol-only automobiles, jumping to 525,838 flex-fuel vehicles and only 13,572 petrol-only cars and 248 petrol-only light trucks in 2007, and reaching new car sales of 564,959 flex-fuel vehicles in 2008, representing 96% of all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in that year. VW do Brasil stopped manufacturing gasoline-only vehicles models for the local market in 2006, and all of the remaining petrol-only Volkswagen models sold in Brazil are imported. The flex-fuel models currently produced for the local market are the Gol, Fox, CrossFox, Parati, Polo Hatch, Polo Sedan, Saveiro, Golf, and Kombi. By March 2009, Volkswagen do Brasil had attained the milestone mark of two million flex-fuel vehicles produced since 2003.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen and Sanyo have teamed up to develop a battery system for hybrid cars. Volkswagen head Martin Winterkorn has confirmed the company plans to build compact hybrid electric vehicles. He has stated "There will definitely be compact hybrid models, such as Polo and Golf, and without any great delay", with petrol and diesel power. For example, Golf is the ideal model to go hybrid as the Golf 1.4 TSI was recently awarded the "Auto Environment Certificate" by the Oko-Trend Institute for Environmental Research, and was considered one of the most environmentally friendly vehicles of 2007. Also underway at Volkswagen's Braunschweig R&D facilities in Northern Germany is a hybrid version of the next-generation Touareg.


title: Volkswagen

text: VW intends all future models to have the hybrid option. "Future VW models will fundamentally also be constructed with hybrid concepts," VW head of development Ulrich Hackenberg told "Automobilwoche" in an interview. Hackenberg mentioned that the car based on the Up! concept seen at Frankfurt Motor Show, as well as all future models, could be offered with either full or partial hybrid options. The rear-engine up! will go into production in 2011. Nothing has been said about plug-in hybrid options.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen announced at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show the launch of the 2012 Touareg Hybrid, scheduled for 2011. VW also announced plans to introduce diesel-electric hybrid versions of its most popular models in 2012, beginning with the new Jetta, followed by the Golf Hybrid in 2013 together with hybrid versions of the Passat. In 2012, the Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid set the world record to become the fastest hybrid car at .


title: Volkswagen

text: In November 2009, Volkswagen announced it has hired Karl-Thomas Neumann as its group chief officer for electric traction. VW's Chief of research, Jürgen Leohold, said in 2010 the company has concluded hydrogen fuel-cell cars are not a viable option.


title: Volkswagen

text: , the Volkswagen Group offers for retails customers nine plug-in electric cars, of which, three are all-electric cars: the Volkswagen e-Up!, e-Golf and Audi R8 e-tron, and six are plug-in hybrids: the Volkswagen Golf GTE, Passat GTE, Audi A3 Sportback e-tron, Q7 e-tron quattro, Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid and Cayenne S E-Hybrid. Also two limited production plug-in hybrids were manufactured beginning in 2013, the Volkswagen XL1 (250 units) and the Porsche 918 Spyder (918 units). Total cumulative sales of all Volkswagen brand electrified cars since the start of their respective production is expected to reach about 103,000 by the end of 2016. The Volkswagen ID.4 was launched in the U.S. in September 2020.


title: Volkswagen

text: In order to comply with increasingly strict carbon dioxide emission limits in major markets, the VW Group expects to sell about one million all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles a year worldwide by 2025. The Group plans to expand its plug-in range with 20 new pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars, including two cars to compete with Tesla, Inc., the Porsche Mission E all-electric car and the Audi e-tron quattro, which is expected to become the brand's first mass-production electric vehicle. According to Thomas Ulbrich, VW brand production chief, the carmaker has the capacity to build as many as 75,000 battery-electric and plug-in hybrids a year if demand rises. Volkswagen announced in October 2015 that "it will develop a modular architecture for battery-electric cars, called the MEB. The standardised system will be designed for all body structures and vehicle types and will allow the company to build emotionally appealing EVs with a range of up to ." In June 2016, VW launched a program to develop 30 all-electric cars in 10 years, and sell 2–3 million electric cars per year by 2025. Due to lower manpower requirements for electric motors than for piston engines, VW expects a gradual workforce reduction as numbers of electric cars increase. VW considers battery factory ownership as too expensive.


title: Volkswagen

text: In February 2021, Volkswagen issued a statement that "vertical mobility" could be the next step after self-driving technology. It announced that the company is exploring the feasibility of flying vehicles in China.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen was named the fourth most influential car of the 20th century in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, for its Volkswagen Type 1 "Beetle" model. It trailed only the Ford Model T, BMC Mini, and Citroën DS.


title: Volkswagen

text: Volkswagen has produced five winners of the United States Motor Trend Car of the Year award – the original Car of the Year designation, which began in 1949.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Michael Kenneth Williams (November 22, 1966 – September 6, 2021) was an American actor. He rose to fame in 2002 through his critically acclaimed role as Omar Little on the HBO drama series "The Wire". He has been described as a "singular presence, onscreen and off, who made every role his own.”


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a South Carolinian father and a Bahamian mother, Williams enrolled at the National Black Theater. He left school early to pursue a career as a dancer, which resulted in his working with Kym Sims, George Michael, and Madonna, and found work choreographing music videos. His distinctive voice, prominent facial scar, and charisma helped him attain acting work, initially alongside Tupac Shakur in the 1996 film "Bullet" before being cast in "The Wire" in 2002. His performance as Omar was widely acclaimed, leading to praise from President Barack Obama and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series in 2007.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams also played Albert "Chalky" White on the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" from 2010 to 2014. He earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in the HBO television biopic "Bessie" (2015), the Netflix drama series "When They See Us" (2019), and the HBO series "The Night Of" (2016) and "Lovecraft Country" (2020). He had a recurring role in the NBC sitcom "Community" from 2011 to 2012. He also had supporting roles in a number of films including "Gone Baby Gone" (2006), "The Road" (2009), "Inherent Vice" (2014), and "Motherless Brooklyn" (2019), as well as starring roles in "12 Years a Slave" (2013), "Robocop" (2014), "" (2014), "The Gambler" (2014), "Triple 9" (2016), "Ghostbusters" (2016), and "Assassin's Creed" (2016).


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams acknowledged struggles with fame throughout his life, admitting that he had suffered from drug addictions during the height of his success. He continued to live in Brooklyn until his death in 2021 at age 54, after using heroin laced with a lethal amount of fentanyl. Four men were charged in the aftermath of his death with various crimes, including manslaughter.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams' portrayal of Omar Little has been called one of the best in the history of television. With "The Wire" and other shows such as "The Sopranos", Williams was credited with being part of the late 1990s and early 2000s artistic force changing American television into an art form. In the aftermath of his death, he was subject to tributes and appraisal both in the United States and beyond; the British lecturer and writer Kenan Malik wrote of his "power and nuance, seldom seen on screen".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams was born on November 22, 1966 in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Bahamian born Paula Thompson and Booker T. Williams, an American, from Greeleyville, South Carolina, where his African-American family has deep roots. Williams was raised in the Vanderveer Projects in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. Later, Williams enrolled at the National Black Theatre in New York City.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams worked for Pfizer pharmaceuticals as a temp. However, inspired by "Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814", he left school and quit his job, against the wishes of his family, to pursue a career as a dancer. During a year in which he was intermittently homeless, Williams visited record labels and dance studios looking for work. He got a job as a background dancer with singer Kym Sims, which led to more work appearing as a dancer in music videos and on tours with artists such as George Michael and Madonna, as well as some modeling work. He also choreographed Crystal Waters' 1994 single "100% Pure Love".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams had a large facial scar he received in a bar fight on his 25th birthday, when he was slashed with a razor blade. The scar became his signature feature, and resulted in offers to perform as a thug in music videos, and modeling opportunities with noted photographers like David LaChapelle. One of his first acting roles was alongside Tupac Shakur as High Top, the brother and henchman to Shakur's drug kingpin Tank, in the 1996 film "Bullet". Shakur reportedly decided on Williams for the role after spotting a Polaroid photograph of him in a production studio.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams also served as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador to the Campaign for Smart Justice. Williams' portrayals of openly gay characters was deemed to be revolutionary.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams gained recognition as an actor for his portrayal of Omar Little in "The Wire," which began filming in 2002. The character was based on Donnie Andrews, along with other crime figures in Baltimore. Williams received the part after a single audition, at the encouragement of writer Ed Burns. He was told that the character was slated to appear in just seven episodes and expected him to be killed by the end of the first season. However, creator David Simon stated that they always planned to keep the character as part of the continuing ensemble should the show be renewed beyond one season.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: For his portrayal of Omar, Williams was named by "USA Today" as "one of ten reasons they still love television". The magazine praised Omar for his uniqueness as a character, and Williams for bringing wit and humor to the portrayal. Omar has been named as one of the first season's richest characters, a Robin Hood of Baltimore's west side projects. The "Baltimore City Paper" named the character one of their top ten reasons not to cancel the show and called him "arguably the show's single greatest achievement". In 2007, he was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Omar.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams pursued the role because he was intrigued by Omar's contradictory nature. He felt Omar's popularity stemmed from his honesty, lack of materialism, individuality and his adherence to his strict code. He felt that the role has been a breakthrough in terms of bringing attention to him and getting further roles. Williams received both positive and negative reactions to Omar's homosexuality and felt that he was successful in challenging attitudes and provoking discussion with the role.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: In 2008, then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama cited "The Wire" as his favorite television show, and called Omar his favorite character. About Omar, Obama said, "That's not an endorsement. He's not my favorite person, but he's a fascinating character... he's the toughest, baddest guy on the show."


title: Michael K. Williams

text: During his portrayal of Omar, Williams went by his character's name and developed a habit of smoking cannabis and an addiction to cocaine in 2004. Williams lived part-time in Newark, New Jersey using drugs, but sought help from a ministry in neighboring Irvington, which he credited for helping him during the production.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams had a recurring role on J. J. Abrams' "Alias". He also had a recurring role on the Abrams-produced "Six Degrees". He made brief appearances on "" (playing two different characters on two different seasons), "Boston Legal", "The Sopranos", "Law & Order" (playing three different characters on three different seasons), "" (also playing two different characters on two different seasons), "Human Giant", and "Third Watch".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams appeared in "The Kill Point" as recurring guest star Q, a police sniper, alongside "The Wire" co-stars J. D. Williams, Michael Hyatt and Leo Fitzpatrick. He auditioned for the starring role of Mr. Cat but was forced to take a smaller role due to scheduling conflicts; the part of Mr. Cat went to J. D. Williams instead. Williams played a Boston area detective named Devin Amronklin in the 2007 film "Gone, Baby, Gone". The film is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who has written for "The Wire", and was adapted and directed by Ben Affleck. Amronklin is a recurring character in Lehane's Kenzie-Genarro series of books. Williams said that he enjoyed working with Affleck and characterized him as a passionate and hands-on director.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams played Teddy, the former boyfriend of Nikki Tru (Kerry Washington) in the Chris Rock film "I Think I Love My Wife". He played James, a policeman, in singer R. Kelly's video for "Trapped in the Closet". He also appeared in The Game's "Dreams" and "How We Do" music videos, Tony Yayo's "It's a Stick Up" music video and Cam'ron's film "Killa Season", as well as Trick Daddy's video "Tuck Your Ice In", Freeway's "How We Do", Sheek Louch's "Good Love", and Young Jeezy's "Bury me a G" alongside his "The Wire" co-star Hassan Johnson. Williams played the role of The Thief in the 2009 film "The Road", an adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. In 2010, Williams appeared in the film "Life During Wartime". The character he played, Allen, was portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the film's predecessor, "Happiness".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams also starred in the film "A Day in the Life", which was directed by, produced by, and starred rapper Sticky Fingaz. The entire film is a musical with every line being delivered in rap verse. Williams starred in HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" for its five seasons (2010–2014), appearing as Albert "Chalky" White, the leader of 1920s' Atlantic City's black community.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: On July 23, 2011, "Community" creator Dan Harmon revealed that Williams would star in "at least three episodes" of the sitcom's third season. He played the role of Biology Professor Marshall Kane at Greendale Community College.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: In November 2011, it was announced that Williams would appear in Quentin Tarantino's feature film "Django Unchained". Williams, who had previously confirmed that he was actually in talks with Tarantino to take on the titular role of Django, was to portray a minor character in the film, but scheduling conflicts with "Boardwalk Empire" prevented him from doing so.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: On May 16, 2012, Williams announced that he was an executive producer of the independent film "Snow on tha Bluff", Williams' first film under his company, Freedome Productions. On Power 105.1fm's "The Breakfast Club", Williams revealed the June 19 release date for "Snow on tha Bluff", describing the movie as "real graphic": "everything that is wrong with the 'hood is in this movie". Williams also shared on "The Breakfast Club" that he was starring in an African American western, "They Die by Dawn", with his co-star Snoop from the HBO series "The Wire". Williams also revealed that he was starring in the lead role as rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard (ODB) from the Wu-Tang Clan in the movie "Dirty Whiteboy" in 2014, which is based on the relationship ODB had with his manager during the last two years of his life. Williams mentioned the role was special to him because he grew up listening to Ol' Dirty Bastard and to Wu-Tang and was also a Brooklyn native.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: In 2013, Williams starred in MGMT's music video for "Cool Song No. 2" and had a cameo appearance in Jay-Z's "Picasso Baby" art film. That same year, Williams appeared in ASAP Rocky's video for "Phoenix".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: He was also featured modeling for The Gap's 2014 fall collection. Williams was the voice actor for the character "Kimble “Irish” Graves" in Battlefield 4.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: On March 9, 2015, it was announced that Williams would star in SundanceTV's "Hap and Leonard". Also in 2015, Williams appeared in the music video for "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles" by Marilyn Manson.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: In 2016, Williams began working with Vice News, hosting a VICELAND program titled "Black Market". In this series, he visits various clandestine markets to explore how they operate while investigating the circumstances that generate their clientele. In 2018, Williams again worked with the Vice team. In "Raised in the System," the extended premiere episode of the sixth season of HBO's Emmy-winning weekly news magazine series "Vice", Williams embarked on a personal journey to expose the root of the American mass incarceration crisis: the juvenile justice system.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams was originally cast as Dryden Vos, a crime lord, in "". However, he exited the role after being unable to return for re-shoots due to scheduling conflicts with "The Red Sea Diving Resort". Paul Bettany was cast in his place, with the character being reworked from a motion-capture alien to a human. In 2020, he played Montrose Freeman on the HBO series "Lovecraft Country".


title: Michael K. Williams

text: Williams was found dead in his apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn by his nephew on September 6, 2021, aged 54. On September 24, 2021, the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that Williams died of a combination of fentanyl, p-fluorofentanyl, heroin, and cocaine, and ruled the death by overdose. His private funeral was held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Cathedral in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where his mother lives. In February 2022, police arrested four men in connection with Williams' death.


title: Michael K. Williams

text: The Baltimore Ravens played a tribute to Williams by playing his character Omar Little's whistle of the song "The farmer in the dell" as part of the team intro all throughout the M&T Bank Stadium. In August 2022, Félix Bautista of the Baltimore Orioles began entering the game to Omar's whistle.


title: Capricorn (astrology)

text: Capricorn () is the tenth astrological sign in the zodiac out of twelve total zodiac signs, originating from the constellation of Capricornus, the goat. It spans the 270–300th degree of the zodiac, corresponding to celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this area from about December 22 to January 19. In astrology, Capricorn is considered an earth sign, negative sign, and one of the four cardinal signs. Capricorn is said to be ruled by the planet Saturn.


title: Capricorn (astrology)

text: There appears to be a connection between traditional characterizations of Capricorn as a sea goat and the Sumerian god of wisdom and waters, who also had the head and upper body of a goat and the lower body and tail of a fish. Later known as "Ea" in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology, Enki was the god of intelligence ("gestú", literally "ear"), creation, crafts; magic; water, seawater and lake water ("a, aba, ab").


title: Capricorn (astrology)

text: In India, the zodiac sign of Capricorn is celebrated as the Makara Sankranti festival, also known in Nepal as Maghe Sankranti. The Indian astronomical calendar is not based on the western Gregorian or Julian date keeping system. The Gregorian calendar has fixed days in a year and does not accommodate difference in the actual solar year. Therefore, the festival is celebrated on either of 14 or 15 January every year, when, as per the Indian astronomical calendar, the Sun actually enters the Capricorn sign.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle, famine, and disease, while some areas of what is now modern Germany experienced population declines of over 50%. Related conflicts include the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Franco-Spanish War, and the Portuguese Restoration War.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Until the 20th century, historians generally viewed it as a continuation of the religious struggle initiated by the 16th-century Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire. The 1555 Peace of Augsburg attempted to resolve this by dividing the Empire into Lutheran and Catholic states, but over the next 50 years the expansion of Protestantism beyond these boundaries destabilised the settlement. While most modern commentators accept differences over religion and Imperial authority were important factors in causing the war, they argue its scope and extent were driven by the contest for European dominance between Habsburg-ruled Spain and Austria, and the French House of Bourbon.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Its outbreak is generally traced to 1618 when Emperor Ferdinand II was deposed as king of Bohemia and replaced by the Protestant Frederick V of the Palatinate in 1619. Although Imperial forces quickly suppressed the Bohemian Revolt, his participation expanded the fighting into the Palatinate, whose strategic importance drew in the Dutch Republic and Spain, then engaged in the Eighty Years' War. Since rulers like Christian IV of Denmark and Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden also held territories within the Empire, this gave them and other foreign powers an excuse to intervene, turning an internal dynastic dispute into a European-wide conflict.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The first phase from 1618 until 1635 was primarily a civil war between German members of the Holy Roman Empire, with support from external powers. After 1635, the Empire became one theatre in a wider struggle between France, supported by Sweden, and Emperor Ferdinand III, allied with Spain. This concluded with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, whose provisions included greater autonomy within the Empire for states like Bavaria and Saxony, as well as acceptance of Dutch independence by Spain. By weakening the Habsburgs relative to France, the conflict altered the European balance of power and set the stage for the wars of Louis XIV.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The 1552 Peace of Passau sought to resolve the issues that led to conflict between Protestants and Catholics within the Holy Roman Empire, while the 1555 Peace of Augsburg tried to prevent their recurrence by fixing boundaries between the two faiths. Under the principle of "cuius regio, eius religio", states were categorised as either Lutheran, then the most usual form of Protestantism, or Catholic, based on the religion of their ruler. Other provisions protected substantial religious minorities in cities like Donauwörth and confirmed Lutheran ownership of property taken from the Catholic Church since Passau.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: These agreements were undermined by the post-1555 expansion of Protestantism into areas previously designated as Catholic, as well as the growth of Reformed faiths not recognised by Augsburg, especially Calvinism, a theology viewed with hostility by both Lutherans and Catholics. The Peace of Augsburg also gave individual rulers within the Empire greater political autonomy and control over the religion practised in their domains, while weakening central authority. Conflict over economic and political objectives frequently superseded religion, with Lutheran Saxony, Denmark-Norway and Sweden competing with each other and Calvinist Brandenburg over the Baltic trade.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Reconciling these differences was hampered by the fragmented nature of the Empire and its representative institutions, which included 300 Imperial Estates distributed across Germany, the Low Countries, Northern Italy and modern France. They ranged in size and importance from the seven Prince-electors who voted for the Holy Roman Emperor, down to Prince-bishoprics and Imperial cities like Hamburg. Each also belonged to a regional grouping or "Imperial circle", which primarily focused on defence and operated as autonomous bodies. Above them sat the Imperial Diet, which prior to 1663 assembled on an irregular basis and largely served as a forum for discussion, rather than legislation.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Although Emperors were elected, since 1440 the position had been held by a member of the House of Habsburg, the largest single landowner in the Holy Roman Empire with territories containing over eight million subjects, including Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. They also ruled Spain until 1556 when the two empires were divided, although Spain retained Imperial states such as Milan and Franche-Comté. While the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs often worked together, their objectives did not always align. The Spanish Empire was a global maritime superpower whose possessions included the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, the Philippines, and much of the Americas. In contrast, Austria was a land-based power, focused on ensuring their pre-eminence within Germany and securing their eastern border against the Ottoman Empire.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Before Augsburg, unity of religion compensated for lack of strong central authority; once removed, it presented opportunities for those who sought to further weaken it. These included ambitious Imperial states like Lutheran Saxony and Catholic Bavaria, as well as France, confronted by Habsburg lands on its borders to the North, South, and along the Pyrenees. Since many foreign rulers were also Imperial princes, divisions within the Empire drew in external powers like Christian IV of Denmark, who joined the war in 1625 as Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Disputes occasionally resulted in full-scale conflict like the 1583 to 1588 Cologne War, caused when its ruler converted to Calvinism. More common were events such as the 1606 'Battle of the Flags' in Donauwörth, when riots broke out after the Lutheran majority blocked a Catholic religious procession. Emperor Rudolf approved intervention by the Catholic Maximilian of Bavaria. In return, he was allowed to annex the town and as agreed at Augsburg, the official religion changed from Lutheran to Catholic.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: When the Imperial Diet opened in February 1608, both Lutherans and Calvinists united to demand formal re-confirmation of the Augsburg settlement. However, in return the Habsburg heir Archduke Ferdinand required the immediate restoration of all property taken from the Catholic church since 1555, rather than the previous practice whereby the court ruled case by case. This threatened all Protestants, paralysed the Diet, and removed the perception of Imperial neutrality.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Loss of faith in central authority meant towns and rulers began strengthening their fortifications and armies; outside travellers often commented on the growing militarisation of Germany in this period. This was taken a stage further in 1608 when Frederick IV, Elector Palatine formed the Protestant Union and Maximilian responded by setting up the Catholic League in July 1609. Both structures were primarily designed to support the dynastic ambitions of their leaders, but their creation combined with the 1609 to 1614 War of the Jülich Succession to increase tensions throughout the Empire. Some historians who see the war as primarily a European conflict argue Jülich marks its beginning, with Spain and Austria backing the Catholic candidate, France and the Dutch Republic the Protestant.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: External powers became involved in what was an internal German dispute due to the imminent expiry of the 1609 Twelve Years' Truce, which suspended the Eighty Years War between Spain and the Dutch Republic. Before restarting hostilities, Ambrosio Spinola, commander in the Spanish Netherlands, needed to secure the Spanish Road, an overland route connecting Habsburg possessions in Italy to Flanders. This allowed him to move troops and supplies by road, rather than sea where the Dutch navy was dominant; by 1618, the only part not controlled by Spain ran through the Electoral Palatinate.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Since Emperor Matthias had no surviving children, in July 1617 Philip III of Spain agreed to support Ferdinand's election as king of Bohemia and Hungary. In return, Ferdinand made concessions to Spain in Northern Italy and Alsace, and agreed to support their offensive against the Dutch. Delivering these commitments required his election as Emperor, which was not guaranteed; one alternative was Maximilian of Bavaria, who opposed the increase of Spanish influence in an area he considered his own, and tried to create a coalition with Saxony and the Palatinate to support his candidacy.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: A third candidate was the Calvinist Frederick V, Elector Palatine, who succeeded his father in 1610, then in 1613 married Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. Four of the electors were Catholic, three Protestant; if this could be changed, it might result in a Protestant Emperor. When Ferdinand was elected king of Bohemia in 1617, he gained control of its electoral vote; however, his conservative Catholicism made him unpopular with the largely Protestant nobility, who were also concerned at the erosion of their rights. In May 1618, these factors combined to bring about the Bohemian Revolt.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Jesuit-educated Ferdinand once claimed he would rather see his lands destroyed than tolerate heresy for a single day. Appointed to rule the Duchy of Styria in 1595, within eighteen months he eliminated Protestantism in what was previously a stronghold of the Reformation. Focused on retaking the Netherlands, the Spanish Habsburgs preferred to avoid antagonising Protestants elsewhere, and recognised the dangers associated with Ferdinand's fervent Catholicism, but supported his claim due to the lack of alternatives.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Ferdinand reconfirmed Protestant religious freedoms when elected king of Bohemia in May 1617, but his record in Styria led to the suspicion he was only awaiting a chance to overturn them. These concerns were exacerbated when a series of legal disputes over property were all decided in favour of the Catholic Church. In May 1618, Protestant nobles led by Count Thurn met in Prague Castle with Ferdinand's two Catholic representatives, Vilem Slavata and Jaroslav Borzita. In what became known as the Third Defenestration of Prague, both men were thrown out of the castle windows along with their secretary Filip Fabricius, although all three survived.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Thurn established a Protestant-dominated government in Bohemia, while unrest expanded into Silesia and the Habsburg heartlands of Lower and Upper Austria, where much of the nobility was also Protestant. Losing control of these threatened the entire Habsburg state, while Bohemia was one of the most prosperous areas of the Empire and its electoral vote crucial to ensuring Ferdinand succeeded Matthias as Emperor. The combination meant their recapture was vital for the Austrian Habsburgs but chronic financial weakness left them dependent on Maximilian and Spain for the resources needed to achieve this.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Spanish involvement inevitably drew in the Dutch, and potentially France, although the strongly Catholic Louis XIII of France faced his own Protestant rebels at home and refused to support them elsewhere. The revolt also provided opportunities for external opponents of the Habsburgs, including the Ottoman Empire and Savoy. Funded by Frederick and Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, a mercenary army under Ernst von Mansfeld was sent to support the Bohemian rebels. Attempts by Maximilian and John George of Saxony to broker a negotiated solution ended when Matthias died in March 1619, since many believed the loss of his authority and influence had fatally damaged the Habsburgs.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: By mid-June 1619, the Bohemian army under Thurn was outside Vienna and although Mansfeld's defeat by Imperial forces at Sablat forced him to return to Prague, Ferdinand's position continued to worsen. Gabriel Bethlen, Calvinist Prince of Transylvania, invaded Hungary with Ottoman support, although the Habsburgs persuaded them to avoid direct involvement; this was helped when the Ottomans became involved in the 1620 Polish war, followed by the 1623 to 1639 conflict with Persia.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: On 19 August, the Bohemian Estates rescinded Ferdinand's 1617 election as king; on the 26th, they formally offered the crown to Frederick. Two days later, Ferdinand was elected Emperor, making war inevitable if Frederick accepted the Bohemian crown. With the exception of Christian of Anhalt, Frederick's advisors urged him to reject it, as did the Dutch, the Duke of Savoy, and his father-in-law James I of England. 17th century Europe was a highly structured and socially conservative society, and their lack of enthusiasm was due to the implications of removing a legally elected ruler, regardless of religion.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: As a result, although Frederick accepted the crown and entered Prague in October 1619, his support gradually eroded over the next few months. In July 1620, the Protestant Union proclaimed its neutrality, while John George of Saxony agreed to back Ferdinand in return for the cession of Lusatia, and a promise to safeguard the rights of Lutherans in Bohemia. Maximilian of Bavaria funded a combined Imperial-Catholic League army led by Count Tilly and Charles of Bucquoy, which pacified Upper and Lower Austria and occupied western Bohemia before marching on Prague. The Bohemians, led by Christian of Anhalt, moved to block the Imperial advance, but was defeated by Tilly at the Battle of White Mountain in November 1620. Although far from decisive, the rebels were demoralised by lack of pay, shortages of supplies, and disease, while the countryside had been devastated by Imperial troops. Frederick fled Bohemia and the revolt collapsed.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: By abandoning Frederick, the German princes hoped to restrict the dispute to Bohemia, but Maximilian's dynastic ambitions made this impossible. In the October 1619 Treaty of Munich, Ferdinand agreed to transfer the Palatinate's electoral vote to Bavaria and allow him to annex the Upper Palatinate. Many Protestants supported Ferdinand because they objected to deposing the legally elected king of Bohemia, and now opposed Frederick's removal on the same grounds. Doing so turned the conflict into a contest between Imperial authority and "German liberties", while Catholics saw an opportunity to regain lands lost since 1555. The combination destabilised large parts of the Empire.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The strategic importance of the Palatinate and its proximity to the Spanish Road drew in external powers; in August 1620, the Spanish under Spinola and Córdoba occupied the Lower Palatinate. James I of England responded to this attack on his son-in-law by sending naval forces to threaten Spanish possessions in the Americas and the Mediterranean, and announced he would declare war if Spinola had not withdrawn his troops by spring 1621. These actions were primarily designed to placate his opponents in Parliament, who considered his pro-Spanish policy a betrayal of the Protestant cause. However, Spanish chief minister Olivares correctly interpreted them as an invitation to open negotiations, and in return for an Anglo-Spanish alliance offered to restore Frederick to his Rhineland possessions.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Since Frederick's demand for full restitution of his lands and titles was incompatible with the Treaty of Munich, hopes of reaching a negotiated peace quickly evaporated. Despite defeat in Bohemia, Frederick's allies included Georg Friedrich of Baden and Christian of Brunswick, while the Dutch provided him with military support after the Eighty Years War restarted in April 1621 and his father-in-law James funded an army of mercenaries under Mansfeld. However, their failure to co-ordinate effectively led to a series of defeats by Spanish and Catholic League forces, including Wimpfen in May 1622 and Höchst in June. By November 1622, the Imperialists controlled most of the Palatinate, apart from Frankenthal, which was held by a small English garrison under Sir Horace Vere. The remnants of Mansfeld's army took refuge in the Dutch Republic, as did Frederick, who spent most of his time in The Hague until his death in November 1632.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: At a meeting of the Imperial Diet in February 1623, Ferdinand forced through provisions transferring Frederick's titles, lands, and electoral vote to Maximilian. He did so with support from the Catholic League, despite strong opposition from Protestant members, as well as the Spanish. The Palatinate was clearly lost; in March, James instructed Vere to surrender Frankenthal, while Tilly's victory over Christian of Brunswick at Stadtlohn in August completed military operations. However, Spanish and Dutch involvement in the campaign was a significant step in internationalising the war, while Frederick's removal meant other Protestant princes began discussing armed resistance to preserve their own rights and territories.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: With Saxony dominating the Upper Saxon Circle and Brandenburg the Lower, both "kreis" had remained neutral during the campaigns in Bohemia and the Palatinate. However, Frederick's deposition in 1623 meant John George of Saxony and the Calvinist George William, Elector of Brandenburg became concerned Ferdinand intended to reclaim formerly Catholic bishoprics currently held by Protestants. These fears seemed confirmed when Tilly restored the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halberstadt in early 1625.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: As Duke of Holstein, Christian IV was also a member of the Lower Saxon circle, while the Danish economy relied on the Baltic trade and tolls from traffic through the Øresund. In 1621, Hamburg accepted Danish 'supervision', while his son Frederick became joint-administrator of Lübeck, Bremen, and Verden; possession ensured Danish control of the Elbe and Weser rivers.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Ferdinand had paid Albrecht von Wallenstein for his support against Frederick with estates confiscated from the Bohemian rebels, and now contracted with him to conquer the north on a similar basis. In May 1625, the Lower Saxony "kreis" elected Christian their military commander, although not without resistance; Saxony and Brandenburg viewed Denmark and Sweden as competitors, and wanted to avoid either becoming involved in the Empire. Attempts to negotiate a peaceful solution failed as the conflict in Germany became part of the wider struggle between France and their Habsburg rivals in Spain and Austria.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In the June 1624 Treaty of Compiègne, France had agreed to subsidise the Dutch war against Spain for a minimum of three years, while in the December 1625 Treaty of The Hague, the Dutch and English agreed to finance Danish intervention in the Empire. Hoping to create a wider coalition against Ferdinand, the Dutch invited France, Sweden, Savoy, and the Republic of Venice to join, but it was overtaken by events. In early 1626, Cardinal Richelieu, main architect of the alliance, faced a new Huguenot rebellion at home and in the March Treaty of Monzón, France withdrew from Northern Italy, re-opening the Spanish Road.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Dutch and English subsidies enabled Christian to devise an ambitious three part campaign plan; while he led the main force down the Weser, Mansfeld would attack Wallenstein in Magdeburg, supported by forces led by Christian of Brunswick and Maurice of Hesse-Kassel. The advance quickly fell apart; Mansfeld was defeated at Dessau Bridge in April, and when Maurice refused to support him, Christian of Brunswick fell back on Wolfenbüttel, where he died of disease shortly after. The Danes were comprehensively beaten at Lutter in August, and Mansfeld's army dissolved following his death in November.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Many of Christian's German allies, such as Hesse-Kassel and Saxony, had little interest in replacing Imperial domination for Danish, while few of the subsidies agreed in the Treaty of the Hague were ever paid. Charles I of England allowed Christian to recruit up to 9,000 Scottish mercenaries, but they took time to arrive, and while able to slow Wallenstein's advance were insufficient to stop him. By the end of 1627, Wallenstein occupied Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Jutland, and began making plans to construct a fleet capable of challenging Danish control of the Baltic. He was supported by Spain, for whom it provided an opportunity to open another front against the Dutch.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: On 13 May 1628, his deputy von Arnim besieged Stralsund, the only port with large enough shipbuilding facilities, but this brought Sweden into the war. King Gustavus Adolphus despatched several thousand Scots and Swedish troops to Stralsund, commanded by Alexander Leslie who was also appointed governor. Von Arnim was forced to lift the siege on 4 August, but three weeks later, Christian suffered another defeat at Wolgast. He began negotiations with Wallenstein, who despite his recent victories was concerned by the prospect of Swedish intervention, and thus anxious to make peace.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: With Austrian resources stretched by the outbreak of the War of the Mantuan Succession, Wallenstein persuaded Ferdinand to agree to relatively lenient terms in the June 1629 Treaty of Lübeck. Christian retained his German possessions of Schleswig and Holstein, in return for relinquishing Bremen and Verden, and abandoning support for the German Protestants. While Denmark kept Schleswig and Holstein until 1864, this effectively ended its reign as the predominant Nordic state.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Once again, the methods used to obtain victory explain why the war failed to end. Ferdinand paid Wallenstein by letting him confiscate estates, extort ransoms from towns, and allowing his men to plunder the lands they passed through, regardless of whether they belonged to allies or opponents. Anger at such tactics and his growing power came to a head in early 1628 when Ferdinand deposed the hereditary Duke of Mecklenburg, and appointed Wallenstein in his place. Although opposition to this act united all German princes regardless of religion, Maximilian of Bavaria was compromised by his acquisition of the Palatinate; while Protestants wanted Frederick restored and the position returned to that of 1618, the Catholic League argued only for pre-1627.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Made overconfident by success, in March 1629 Ferdinand passed an Edict of Restitution, which required all lands taken from the Catholic church after 1555 to be returned. While technically legal, politically it was extremely unwise, since doing so would alter nearly every single state boundary in North and Central Germany, deny the existence of Calvinism and restore Catholicism in areas where it had not been a significant presence for nearly a century. Well aware none of the princes involved would agree, Ferdinand used the device of an Imperial edict, once again asserting his right to alter laws without consultation. This new assault on 'German liberties' ensured continuing opposition and undermined his previous success.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Gustavus spent the previous years reorganising and modernising his armies during Sweden's war with Poland–Lithuania, ruled by his Catholic cousin Sigismund who was a claimant to the Swedish throne and supported by Imperial auxiliary troops. Since only a few Protestant states like Hesse-Kassel still openly opposed the consolidation of Imperial power, this made Sweden the most obvious ally for Richelieu, whose stated policy was to "arrest the course of Spanish progress", and "protect her neighbours from Spanish oppression". With French resources tied up in Italy, he helped negotiate the September 1629 Truce of Altmark between Sweden and Poland, freeing Gustavus to enter the war. Partly a genuine desire to support his Protestant co-religionists, like Christian he also wanted to maximise his share of the Baltic trade that provided much of Sweden's income.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Following failed negotiations with the Emperor, Gustavus landed in Pomerania in June 1630 with nearly 18,000 Swedish troops. Using Stralsund as a bridgehead, he marched south along the Oder towards Stettin and coerced Bogislaw XIV, Duke of Pomerania, into agreeing an alliance which secured his interests in Pomerania against his rival Sigismund. As a result, the Poles turned their attention to Russia, initiating the 1632 to 1634 Smolensk War.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: However, Swedish expectations of widespread German support proved unrealistic and by the end of 1630, their only new ally was the Administrator of Magdeburg Christian William whose capital was under siege by Tilly. Despite the devastation inflicted on their territories by Imperial soldiers, both Saxony and Brandenburg had their own ambitions in Pomerania, which clashed with those of Gustavus; previous experience also showed inviting external powers into the Empire was easier than getting them to leave. Gustavus responded by moving his troops moved south into Brandenburg, sacking Küstrin and Frankfurt an der Oder, while the Sack of Magdeburg in May proved a powerful recruiting tool.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Once again Richelieu used French financial power to reconcile the differences between the Swedes and the German princes; the 1631 Treaty of Bärwalde provided funds for the Swedes and their Protestant allies, including Saxony and Brandenburg. These payments amounted to 400,000 Reichstaler, or one million livres, per year, plus an additional 120,000 Reichstalers for 1630. Though less than 2% of the total French state budget, it constituted over 25% of the Swedish budget and allowed Gustavus to support an army of 36,000. He won major victories at Breitenfeld in September 1631, then Rain in April 1632, where Tilly was killed.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: After Tilly's death, Ferdinand turned once again to Wallenstein, who realised Gustavus was overextended and established himself at Fürth, from where he could threaten his supply lines. The largest battle of the war took place in late August, when an assault on the Imperial camp outside the town was bloodily repulsed, arguably the greatest blunder committed by Gustavus during his German campaign. Two months later, the Swedes and Imperials met at Lützen, where both sides suffered heavy casualties; some Swedish units incurred losses of over 60%, while Wallenstein's deputy Pappenheim and Gustavus himself were killed. Fighting continued until dusk when Wallenstein retreated, abandoning his artillery and wounded. Despite their losses, this allowed the Swedes to claim victory, although the result continues to be disputed.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Following the death of Gustavus, Swedish policy was directed by his extremely capable Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna; in April 1633, the Swedes and their German allies formed the Heilbronn League with funding provided by the French and in July their combined forces defeated an Imperial army led by the Bavarian general Bronckhorst-Gronsfeld at Oldendorf. Lützen had severely damaged Wallenstein's prestige, while his domestic opponents claimed he failed to support Bronckhorst-Gronsfeld. Combined with rumours he was preparing to switch sides, Emperor Ferdinand ordered his arrest in February 1634; on 25th, he was assassinated by his own officers in Cheb.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The loss of Wallenstein and his organisation left Emperor Ferdinand reliant on Spain for military support, whose main concern was to re-open the Spanish Road for their campaign against the Dutch. This meant the focus of the war now shifted to the Rhineland and Bavaria. Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, newly appointed Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, raised an army of 18,000 in Italy, which met up with an Imperial force of 15,000 at Donauwörth on 2 September 1634. Three days later, they won a decisive victory at Nördlingen which destroyed Swedish power in Southern Germany and led to the defection of their German allies, who now sought to make peace with the Emperor.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: By triggering direct French intervention, Nördlingen expanded the conflict rather than ending it. Richelieu provided the Swedes with new subsidies, hired mercenaries led by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar for an offensive in the Rhineland and in May 1635 formally declared war on Spain. A few days later, the German states and Ferdinand agreed the Peace of Prague; in return for withdrawing the Edict of Restitution, the Heilbronn and Catholic Leagues were dissolved and replaced by a single Imperial army, although Saxony and Bavaria retained control of their own forces. This is generally seen as the point when the war ceased to be a primarily inter-German religious conflict.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In March 1635, a French force entered the Valtellina, once again cutting the link between Spanish controlled Milan and the Empire. In May, their main army of 35,000 invaded the Spanish Netherlands but was forced to retreat in July after suffering 17,000 casualties from disease and desertion. A Spanish offensive in 1636 reached Corbie in Northern France before lack of supplies forced them to retreat, and while it caused panic in Paris, the effort was not repeated. In the March 1636 Treaty of Wismar, France formally joined the war in support of Sweden, whose loss of most of the territories gained by Gustavus along with their taxes made it increasingly reliant on French financing. Although further weakened by the defection of most of its German allies following the Peace of Prague, in June 1636 a Swedish army under Johan Banér entered Brandenburg and defeated an Imperial force at the Battle of Wittstock on 4 October, re-establishing their predominance in North-East Germany.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Ferdinand II died in February 1637 and was succeeded by his son Ferdinand III, who faced a deteriorating military position. In March 1638, Bernard destroyed an Imperial army at Rheinfelden, while his capture of Breisach in December secured French control of Alsace and severed the Spanish Road. The main Imperial army under Matthias Gallas that had pushed Banér's Swedes back to the Baltic Coast was forced to divert resources against Bernard and to dispatch von Hatzfeldt against a Swedish-Palatine invading force in Westphalia. Though Hatzfeld defeated his opponents in October at Vlotho, the main army under Gallas had to retreat from the Baltic because of lack of supplies, partially dissolving in the process. Banér defeated the Saxons at Chemnitz in April 1639, then entered Bohemia in May. To retrieve the situation, Ferdinand diverted Piccolomini's army from Thionville, ending direct military cooperation between Austria and Spain.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Pressure grew on Spanish minister Olivares to make peace, especially after attempts to hire Polish auxiliaries proved unsuccessful. Cutting the Spanish Road had forced Madrid to resupply their armies in Flanders by sea and in October 1639 a large Spanish convoy was destroyed at the Battle of the Downs by a Dutch fleet, led by Maarten Tromp. Dutch attacks on their possessions in Africa and the Americas caused unrest in Portugal, then part of the Spanish Empire and combined with heavy taxes caused revolts in Portugal and Catalonia. After the French captured Arras in August 1640 and overran Artois, Olivares argued it was time to accept Dutch independence and prevent further losses in Flanders. Spain remained a formidable power but could no longer subsidise Ferdinand, impacting his ability to continue the war.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: After Bernard died in July 1639, his troops joined Banér's Swedish army on an ineffectual campaign along the Weser, the highlight being a surprise attack in January 1641 on the Imperial Diet in Regensburg. Forced to retreat, Banér reached Halberstadt in May where he died; despite beating off an Imperial force at Wolfenbüttel in June, his largely German troops mutinied due to lack of pay. The situation was saved by the arrival of Lennart Torstenson in November with 7,000 Swedish recruits and enough cash to satisfy the mutineers.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: French victory at Kempen in January 1642 was followed by Second Breitenfeld in October 1642, where Torstenson inflicted almost 10,000 casualties on an Imperial army led by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. The capture of Leipzig in December gave the Swedes a significant new base in Germany, and despite their failure to take Freiberg, by 1643 the Saxon army had been reduced to a few isolated garrisons. While Ferdinand accepted a military solution was no longer possible, by fighting on he hoped to prevent the Imperial Estates joining his peace negotiations with France and Sweden, thus preserving his authority by allowing him to represent the Empire as a whole.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: This seemed more achievable with the deaths of Richelieu in December 1642, followed by Louis XIII on 14 May 1643, leaving his five-year-old son Louis XIV as king. However, Richelieu's policies were continued by his successor Cardinal Mazarin, while French gains in Alsace allowed him to re-focus on the war against Spain in the Netherlands. On 19 May, Condé won an emphatic victory over the Spanish at Rocroi. Although his success was less significant than often assumed, since it had no immediate effect on Spanish control of the Southern Netherlands and the Spanish veterans captured at Rocroi were quickly exchanged, it ended all chances of launching another invasion of France from the Low Countries.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Condé's inability to take full advantage of Rocroi was partially due to factors that affected all the combatants. The devastation inflicted by 25 years of warfare meant armies spent more time foraging than fighting, forcing them to become smaller and more mobile with a much greater emphasis on cavalry. It also shortened the campaigning seasons, since the need to gather forage meant they started later, and restricted them to areas that could be easily supplied, usually close to rivers. In addition, the French had to rebuild their army in Germany after it was shattered by an Imperial-Bavarian force led by Franz von Mercy at Tuttlingen in November.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Soon after Rocroi, Ferdinand invited Sweden and France to attend peace talks in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück, but these were delayed when Christian of Denmark blockaded Hamburg and increased toll payments in the Baltic. This severely impacted the Dutch and Swedish economies and in December 1643 the Swedes began the Torstenson War by invading Jutland, with the Dutch providing naval support. Ferdinand pulled together an Imperial army under Gallas to attack the Swedes from the rear, which proved a disastrous decision. Leaving Wrangel to finish the war in Denmark, in May 1644 Torstenson marched into the Empire; Gallas was unable to stop him, while the Danes sued for peace after their defeat at Fehmarn in October 1644.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In August 1644, the French and Bavarian armies met in the three day Battle of Freiburg, in which both sides suffered heavy casualties but is generally viewed as a narrow Bavarian victory. His losses convinced Maximilian the war could no longer be won and he now put pressure on Ferdinand to end the conflict. Shortly after peace talks restarted in November, Gallas' Imperial army disintegrated and the remnants retreated into Bohemia, where they were scattered by Torstenson at Jankau in March 1645. In May, a Bavarian force under von Mercy destroyed a French detachment at Herbsthausen, before he was defeated and killed at Second Nördlingen in August. With Ferdinand unable to help, John George of Saxony signed a six-month truce with Sweden in September, followed by the March 1646 Treaty of Eulenberg in which he agreed to remain neutral until the end of the war.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Under Turenne, French commander in the Rhineland, and Wrangel, who had replaced Torstenson, the French and Swedes separately invaded Bavaria in the summer of 1646. Maximilian was soon desperate to end the war he was largely responsible for starting, at which point the Spanish publicised a secret offer by Mazarin to exchange French-occupied Catalonia for the Spanish Netherlands. Angered by this duplicity, the Dutch agreed a truce with Spain in January 1647 and began to negotiate their own peace terms. Having failed to acquire the Netherlands through diplomacy, Mazarin decided to do so by force and to free up resources, on 14 March 1647 he signed the Truce of Ulm with Bavaria, Cologne and Sweden.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The offensive was to be led by Turenne, but the plan fell apart when his mostly German troops mutinied, while Bavarian general Johann von Werth refused to comply with the truce. Although the mutinies were quickly suppressed, Maximilian felt obliged to follow Werth's example and in September ordered Bronckhorst-Gronsfeld to combine the remnants of the Bavarian army with Imperial troops under von Holzappel. Outnumbered by a Franco-Swedish army led by Wrangel and Turenne, they were defeated at Zusmarshausen in May 1648 and von Holzappel was killed. Although the bulk of the Imperial army escaped thanks to an effective rearguard action by Raimondo Montecuccoli, Bavaria was left defenceless once again.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Swedes sent a second force under von Königsmarck to attack Prague, seizing the castle and Malá Strana district in July. The main objective was to gain as much loot as possible before the war ended; they failed to take the Old Town but captured the Imperial library, along with treasures including the "Codex Gigas", now in Stockholm. When a Spanish offensive in Flanders ended with defeat at Lens in August 1648, Ferdinand finally agreed terms and on 24 October, he signed peace treaties with France and Sweden, ending the war.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Parts of northern Italy, which were part of the Kingdom of Italy, had been contested by France and the Habsburgs since the end of the 15th century, as it was vital for control of south-west France, an area with a long history of opposition to the central authorities. While Spain remained the dominant power in Lombardy and in Southern Italy, its reliance on long exterior lines of communication was a potential weakness. This applied particularly to the Spanish Road, which allowed them to safely move recruits and supplies from the Kingdom of Naples through Lombardy to their army in Flanders. The French sought to disrupt the Road by attacking the Spanish-held Duchy of Milan or blocking the Alpine passes through alliances with the Grisons.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Montferrat and its fortress of Casale Monferrato were subsidiary territories of the Duchy of Mantua and their possession allowed the holder to threaten Milan. This meant when the last duke in the direct line died in December 1627, France and Spain backed rival claimants, resulting in the 1628 to 1631 War of the Mantuan Succession. The French-born Duke of Nevers was backed by France and the Republic of Venice, his rival the Duke of Guastalla by Spain, Ferdinand II, Savoy and Tuscany. While a relatively minor conflict, the struggle had a disproportionate impact on the Thirty Years War, since Pope Urban VIII viewed Habsburg expansion in Italy as a threat to the Papal States. The result was to divide the Catholic church, alienate the Pope from Ferdinand II and make it acceptable for France to employ Protestant allies against him.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In March 1629, the French stormed Savoyard positions in the Pas de Suse, lifted the Spanish siege of Casale and captured Pinerolo. The Treaty of Suza then ceded the two fortresses to France and allowed their troops unrestricted passage through Savoyard territory, giving them control over Piedmont and the Alpine passes into Southern France. However, as soon as the main French army withdrew in late 1629, the Spanish and Savoyards besieged Casale once again, while Ferdinand II provided German mercenaries to support a Spanish offensive which routed the main Venetian field army and forced Nevers to abandon Mantua. By October 1630, the French position seemed so precarious their representatives agreed the Treaty of Ratisbon but since the terms effectively destroyed Richelieu's policy of opposing Habsburg expansion, it was never ratified.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Several factors restored the French position in Northern Italy, notably a devastating outbreak of plague; between 1629 and 1631, over 60,000 died in Milan and 46,000 in Venice, with proportionate losses elsewhere. Richelieu took advantage of the diversion of Imperial resources from Germany to fund a Swedish invasion, whose success forced the Spanish-Savoyard alliance to withdraw from Casale and sign the Treaty of Cherasco in April 1631. Nevers was confirmed as Duke of Mantua and although Richelieu's representative, Cardinal Mazarin, agreed to evacuate Pinerolo, it was later secretly returned under an agreement with Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy. With the exception of the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War, this secured the French position in Northern Italy for the next twenty years.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: After the outbreak of the Franco-Spanish War in 1635, Richelieu supported a renewed offensive by Victor Amadeus against Milan to tie down Spanish resources. These included an unsuccessful attack on Valenza in 1635, plus minor victories at Tornavento and Mombaldone. However, the anti-Habsburg alliance in Northern Italy fell apart when first Charles of Mantua died in September 1637, then Victor Amadeus in October, whose death led to a struggle for control of the Savoyard state between his widow Christine of France and brothers, Thomas and Maurice.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In 1639, their quarrel erupted into open warfare, with France backing Christine and Spain the two brothers, and resulted in the Siege of Turin. One of the most famous military events of the 17th century, at one stage it featured no less than three different armies besieging each other. However, the revolts in Portugal and Catalonia forced the Spanish to cease operations in Italy and the war was settled on terms favourable to Christine and France.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In 1647, a French-backed rebellion succeeded in temporarily overthrowing Spanish rule in Naples. The Spanish quickly crushed the insurrection and restored their rule over all of southern Italy, defeating multiple French expeditionary forces sent to back the rebels. However, it exposed the weakness of Spanish rule in Italy and the alienation of the local elites from Madrid; in 1650, the governor of Milan wrote that as well as widespread dissatisfaction in the south, the only one of the Italian states that could be relied on was the Duchy of Parma.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Throughout the 1630s, tax increases levied to pay for the war led to protests throughout Spanish territories, which in 1640 resulted in simultaneous revolts first in Portugal, then the Principality of Catalonia. Backed by France as part of Richelieu's 'war by diversion', in January 1641 the rebels proclaimed a Catalan Republic. The Madrid government quickly assembled an army of 26,000 men to crush the revolt, which defeated the rebels at Martorell on 23 January 1641. The French now persuaded the Catalan Courts to recognise Louis XIII as Count of Barcelona, and ruler of Catalonia.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: On 26 January, a combined French-Catalan force routed a larger Spanish army at Montjuïc and secured Barcelona. However, the rebels soon found the new French administration differed little from the old, turning the war into a three-sided contest between the Franco-Catalan elite, the rural peasantry, and the Spanish. There was little serious fighting after France took control of Perpignan and Roussillon, establishing the modern Franco-Spanish border in the Pyrenees. The revolt ended in 1651 with the Spanish capture of Barcelona.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In 1580, Philip II of Spain also became ruler of the Portuguese Empire, creating the Iberian Union; long-standing commercial rivals, the 1602 to 1663 Dutch–Portuguese War was an offshoot of the Dutch fight for independence from Spain. The Portuguese dominated the trans-Atlantic economy known as the Triangular trade, in which slaves were transported from West Africa and Portuguese Angola to work on plantations in Portuguese Brazil, which exported sugar and tobacco to Europe. Known by Dutch historians as the 'Great Design", control of this trade would not only be extremely profitable but also deprive the Spanish of funds needed to finance their war in the Netherlands.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Dutch West India Company was formed in 1621 to achieve this purpose and a Dutch fleet captured the Brazilian port of Salvador, Bahia in 1624. After it was retaken by the Portuguese in 1625, a second fleet established Dutch Brazil in 1630, which was not returned until 1654. The second part was seizing slave trading hubs in Africa, chiefly Angola and São Tomé; supported by the Kingdom of Kongo, whose position was threatened by Portuguese expansion, the Dutch successfully occupied both in 1641.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Spain's inability or unwillingness to provide protection against these attacks increased Portuguese resentment and were major factors in the outbreak of the Portuguese Restoration War in 1640. Although ultimately expelled from Brazil, Angola and São Tomé, the Dutch retained the Cape of Good Hope, as well as Portuguese trading posts in Malacca, the Malabar Coast, the Moluccas and Ceylon.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Peace of Westphalia actually consisted of three separate agreements; the Peace of Münster between Spain and the Dutch Republic, the Treaty of Osnabrück between the Empire and Sweden, plus the Treaty of Münster between the Empire and France. Preliminary discussions began in 1642 but only became serious in 1646; a total of 109 delegations attended at one time or other, with talks split between Münster and Osnabrück. After the Swedes rejected Christian of Denmark as mediator, the negotiators finally agreed on Papal Legate Fabio Chigi and the Venetian envoy Alvise Contarini.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Peace of Münster was the first to be signed on 30 January 1648 and is considered to be part of the Westphalia settlement since the Dutch Republic was still technically part of the Spanish Netherlands and thus Imperial territory. The treaty confirmed Dutch independence, although the Imperial Diet did not formally accept that it was no longer part of the Empire until 1728. The Dutch were also given a monopoly over trade conducted through the Scheldt estuary, ensuring the commercial ascendancy of Amsterdam; Antwerp, capital of the Spanish Netherlands and previously the most important port in Northern Europe, would not recover until the late 19th century.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Negotiations with France and Sweden were conducted in conjunction with the Imperial Diet, and were multi-sided discussions involving many of the German states. This resulted in the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, making peace with France and Sweden respectively. Ferdinand resisted signing until the last possible moment, doing so on 24 October only after a crushing French victory over Spain at Lens, and with Swedish troops on the verge of taking Prague. It has been argued they were a "major turning point in German and European...legal history", because they went beyond normal peace settlements and effected major constitutional and religious changes to the Empire itself.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Key elements of the Peace were provisions confirming the autonomy of states within the Empire, including Ferdinand's acceptance of the supremacy of the Imperial Diet, and those seeking to prevent future religious conflict. Article 5 reconfirmed the Augsburg settlement, established 1624 as the basis, or "Normaljahr", for determining the dominant religion of a state and guaranteed freedom of worship for religious minorities. Article 7 recognised Calvinism as a Reformed faith and removed the "ius reformandi", the requirement that if a ruler changed his religion, his subjects had to follow suit. These terms did not apply to the hereditary lands of the Habsburg monarchy, such as Lower and Upper Austria.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In terms of territorial concessions, Brandenburg-Prussia received Farther Pomerania, and the bishoprics of Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Kammin, and Minden. Frederick's son Charles Louis regained the Lower Palatinate and became the eighth Imperial elector, although Bavaria kept the Upper Palatinate and its electoral vote. Externally, the treaties formally acknowledged the independence of the Dutch Republic and the Swiss Confederacy, effectively autonomous since 1499. In Lorraine, the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, occupied by France since 1552, were formally ceded, as were the cities of the Décapole in Alsace, with the exception of Strasbourg and Mulhouse. Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers, the Imperial territories of Swedish Pomerania, and the Prince-bishoprics of Bremen and Verden, which also gave them a seat in the Imperial Diet.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The Peace was later denounced by Pope Innocent X, who regarded the bishoprics ceded to France and Brandenburg as property of the Catholic church, and thus his to assign. It also disappointed many exiles by accepting Catholicism as the dominant religion in Bohemia, Upper and Lower Austria, all of which were Protestant strongholds prior to 1618. Fighting did not end immediately, since demobilising over 200,000 soldiers was a complex business, and the last Swedish garrison did not leave Germany until 1654. In addition, Mazarin insisted on excluding the Burgundian Circle from the treaty of Münster, allowing France to continue its campaign against Spain in the Low Countries, a war that continued until the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. The political disintegration of Poland-Lithuania led to the 1655 to 1660 Second Northern War with Sweden, which also involved Denmark, Russia and Brandenburg, while two Swedish attempts to impose its control on the port of Bremen failed in 1654 and 1666.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: It has been argued the Peace established the principle known as Westphalian sovereignty, the idea of non-interference in domestic affairs by outside powers, although this has since been challenged. The process, or 'Congress' model, was adopted for negotiations at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, Nijmegen in 1678, and Ryswick in 1697; unlike the 19th century 'Congress' system, these were to end wars, rather than prevent them, so references to the 'balance of power' can be misleading.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Historians often refer to the 'General Crisis' of the mid-17th century, a period of sustained conflict in states such as China, the British Isles, Tsarist Russia and the Holy Roman Empire. In all these areas, war, famine and disease inflicted severe losses on local populations. While the Thirty Years War certainly ranks as one of the worst of these events, 19th century nationalists often increased or exaggerated its impact to illustrate the dangers of a divided Germany. Suggestions of up to 12 million deaths from a population of 18 million are no longer accepted, while claims of material losses are either not supported by contemporary evidence or in some cases exceed prewar tax records.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The conflict has been described as one of the greatest medical catastrophes in history but by modern standards the number of soldiers involved was relatively low. Battles generally featured armies of around 13,000 to 20,000 each, the largest being Alte Veste in 1632 with a combined 70,000 to 85,000. Estimates of the total deployed by both sides within Germany range from an average of 80,000 to 100,000 from 1618 to 1626, peaking at 250,000 in 1632 and falling to under 160,000 by 1648. Casualty rates could be extremely high; of 230 men conscripted from the Swedish village of Bygdeå between 1621 and 1639, 215 are recorded as dead or missing, while another five returned home crippled.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Aggregating figures from known battles and sieges, historian Peter Wilson estimates those either killed or wounded in combat totalled around 450,000. Since research shows disease either killed or incapacitated two to three times that number, that would suggest military casualties ranged from 1.3 to 1.8 million dead or otherwise rendered unfit for service. Pitirim Sorokin calculates an upper limit of 2,071,000 military casualties, although his methodology has been disputed. In general, historians agree the war was an unprecedented mortality disaster and the vast majority of casualties, whether civilian or military, took place after Swedish intervention in 1630.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: Based on local records, military action accounted for less than 3% of civilian deaths, with the major causes being starvation (12%), bubonic plague (64%), typhus (4%), and dysentery (5%). Although regular outbreaks of disease were common for decades prior to 1618, the conflict greatly accelerated their spread, due to the influx of soldiers from foreign countries, the shifting locations of battle fronts and displacement of rural populations into already crowded cities. This was not restricted to Germany; disease carried by French and Imperial soldiers allegedly sparked the 1629–1631 Italian plague, the "worst mortality crisis to affect Italy during the Early modern period", leading to some 280,000 deaths, with higher estimates of around 1 million. Poor harvests throughout the 1630s and repeated plundering of the same areas led to widespread famine; contemporaries record people eating grass, or too weak to accept alms, while instances of cannibalism were common.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: The modern consensus is the population of the Holy Roman Empire declined from 18 to 20 million in 1600 to 11 to 13 million in 1650, and did not regain pre-war levels until 1750. Nearly 50% of these losses appear to have been incurred during the first period of Swedish intervention from 1630 to 1635. The high mortality rate compared to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in Britain may partly be due to the reliance of all sides on foreign mercenaries, often unpaid and required to live off the land. Lack of a sense of 'shared community' resulted in atrocities such as the destruction of Magdeburg, in turn creating large numbers of refugees who were extremely susceptible to sickness and hunger. While flight saved lives in the short-term, in the long run it often proved catastrophic.


title: Thirty Years' War

text: In 1940, agrarian historian Günther Franz published a detailed analysis of regional data from across Germany covering the period from 1618 to 1648. Broadly confirmed by more recent work, he concluded "about 40% of the rural population fell victim to the war and epidemics; in the cities...33%". These figures can be misleading, since Franz calculated the "absolute decline" in pre and post-war populations, or 'total demographic loss'. They therefore include factors unrelated to death or disease, such as permanent migration to areas outside the Empire or lower birthrates, a common but less obvious impact of extended warfare. There were also wide regional variations; some areas in Northwest Germany were relatively peaceful after 1630 and experienced almost no population loss, while those of Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Württemberg fell by nearly 50%.