The enormous Thirty-Years War, most intricate of modern Occurrences in
the domain of Dryasdust, divides itself, after some unravelling, into
Three principal Acts or Epochs; in all of which, one after the other,
our Kurfurst had an interest mounting progressively, but continuing to
be a passive interest.
Act FIRST goes from 1620 to 1624; and might be entitled "The Bohemian
King Made and Demolished." Personally the Bohemian King was soon
demolished. His Kingship may be said to have gone off by explosion;
by one Fight, namely, done on the Weissenberg near Prag (Sunday, 8th
November, 1620), while he sat at dinner in the City, the boom of the
cannon coming in with interest upon his high guests and him. He had
to run, in hot haste, that night, leaving many of his important
papers,--and becomes a Winter-King. Winter-King's account was soon
settled. But the extirpating of his Adherents, and capturing of his
Hereditary Lands, Palatinate and Upper-Palatinate, took three years
more. Hard fighting for the Palatinate; Tilly and Company against the
"Evangelical-Union Troops, and the English under Sir Horace Vere."
Evangelical-Union Troops, though marching about there, under an Uncle of
our Kurfurst (Margraf Joachim Ernst, that lucky Anspach Uncle, founder
of "the Line"), who professed some skill in soldiering, were a mere
Picture of an Army; would only "observe," and would not fight at all.
So that the whole fighting fell to Sir Horace and his poor handful of
English; of whose grim posture "in Frankendale" [Frankenthal, a little
Town in the Palatinate, N.W. from Mannheim a short way.] and other
Strongholds, for months long, there is talk enough in the old English
History-Books.
Then there were certain stern War-Captains, who rallied from the
Weissenberg Defeat:--Christian of Brunswick, the chief of them, titular
Bishop of Halberstadt, a high-flown, fiery young fellow, of terrible
fighting gifts; he flamed up considerably, with "the Queen of Bohemia's
glove stuck in his Hat:" "Bright Lady, it shall stick there, till I get
you your own again, or die!" [1621-1623, age not yet twenty-five; died
(by poison), 1626, having again become supremely important just then.
_"Gottes Freund, der Pfaffen Feind_ (God's Friend, Priests' Foe);"
_"Alles fur Ruhm und Ihr (All for Glory and Her,"_--the bright Elizabeth,
become Ex-Queen), were mottoes of his.--Buddaus IN VOCE (i. 649);
Michaelis, i. 110.] Christian of Brunswick, George of Jagerndorf (our
Kurfurst's Uncle), Count Mansfeldt and others, made stormy fight once
and again, hanging upon this central "Frankendale" Business, till they
and it became hopeless. For the Kaiser and his Jesuits were not in
doubt; a Kaiser very proud, unscrupulous; now clearly superior in
force,--and all along of great superiority in fraud.
Christian of Brunswick, Johann George and Mansfeldt were got rid
of: Christian by poison; Johann George and Mansfeldt by other
methods,--chiefly by playing upon poor King James of England, and
leading him by the long nose he was found to have. The Palatinate became
the Kaiser's for the time being; Upper Palatinate (OBER-PFALZ) Duke Max
of Bavaria, lying contiguous to it, had easily taken. "Incorporate
the Ober-Pfalz with your Bavaria," said the Kaiser, "you, illustrious,
thrice-serviceable Max! And let Lammerlein and Hyacinth, with their
Gospel of Ignatius, loose upon it. Nay, as a still richer reward,
be yours the forfeited KUR (Electorship) of this mad Kur-Pfalz,
or Winter-King. I will hold his Rhine-Lands, his UNTER-PFALZ: his
Electorship and OBER-PFALZ, I say, are yours, Duke, henceforth KURFURST
Maximilian!" [Kohler, _Reichs-Historie,_ p. 520.] Which was a hard
saying in the ears of Brandenburg, Saxony and the other Five, and of
the Reich in general; but they had all to comply, after wincing. For the
Kaiser proceeded with a high hand. He had put the Ex-King under Ban of
the Empire (never asking "the Empire" about it); put his Three principal
Adherents, Johann George of Jagerndorf one of them, Prince Christian of
Anhalt (once captain at the Siege of Juliers) another, likewise under
Ban of the Empire; [22d Jan. 1621 (ibid. p. 518).] and in short had
flung about, and was flinging, his thunder-bolts in a very Olympian
manner. Under all which, what could Brandenburg and the others do; but
whimper some trembling protest, "Clear against Law!"--and sit obedient?
The Evangelical Union did not now any more than formerly draw out its
fighting-tools. In fact, the Evangelical Union now fairly dissolved
itself; melted into a deliquium of terror under these thunder-bolts that
were flying, and was no more heard of in the world.--
SECOND ACT, OR EPOCH, 1624-1629. A SECOND UNCLE PUT TO THE BAN, AND
POMMERN SNATCHED AWAY.
Except in the "NETHER-SAXON CIRCLE" (distant Northwest region, with its
Hanover, Mecklenburg, with its rich Hamburgs, Lubecks, Magdeburgs, all
Protestant, and abutting on the Protestant North), trembling Germany lay
ridden over as the Kaiser willed. Foreign League got up by France, King
James, Christian IV. of Denmark (James's Brother-in-law, with whom he
had such "drinking" in Somerset House, long ago, on Christian's visit
hither [Old Histories of James I. (Wilson, &c.)]), went to water, or
worse. Only the "Nether-Saxon Circle" showed some life; was levying an
army; and had appointed Christian of Brunswick its Captain, till he was
got poisoned;--upon which the drinking King of Denmark took the command.
Act SECOND goes from 1624 to 1627 or even 1629; and contains drunken
Christian's Exploits. Which were unfortunate, almost to the ruin of
Denmark itself, as well as of the Nether-Saxon Circle;--till in the
latter of these years he slightly rallied, and got a supportable
Peace granted him (Peace of Lubeck, 1629); after which he sits quiet,
contemplative, with an evil eye upon Sweden now and then. The beatings
he got, in quite regular succession, from Tilly and Consorts, are
not worth mentioning: the only thing one now remembers of him is his
alarming accident on the ramparts of Hameln, just at the opening of
these Campaigns. At Hameln, which was to be a strong post, drunken
Christian rode out once, on a summer afternoon (1624), to see that the
ramparts were all right, or getting all right;--and tumbled, horse and
self (self in liquor, it is thought), in an ominous alarming manner.
Taken up for dead;--nay some of the vague Histories seem to think he was
really dead:--but he lived to be often beaten after that, and had many
moist years more.
Our Kurfurst had another Uncle put to the Ban in this Second
Act,--Christian Wilhelm Archbishop of Magdeburg, "for assisting
the Danish King;" nor was Ban all the ruin that fell on this poor
Archbishop. What could an unfortunate Kurfurst do, but tremble and
obey? There was still a worse smart got by our poor Kurfurst out of Act
Second; the glaring injustice done him in Pommern.
Does the reader remember that scene in the High Church of Stettin a
hundred and fifty years ago? How the Burgermeister threw sword and
helmet into the grave of the last Duke of Pommern-Stettin there; and a
forward Citizen picked them out again in favor of a Collateral Branch?
Never since, any more than then, could Brandenburg get Pommern according
to claim. Collateral Branch, in spite of Friedrich Ironteeth, in spite
even of Albert Achilles and some fighting of his; contrived, by pleading
at the Diets and stirring up noise, to maintain its pretensions: and
Treaties without end ensued, as usual; Treaties refreshed and new-signed
by every Successor of Albert, to a wearisome degree. The sum of which
always was: "Pommern does actual homage to Brandenburg; vassal of
Brandenburg;--and falls home to it, if the now Extant Line go extinct."
Nay there is an ERBVERBRUDERUNG (Heritage-Fraternity) over and above,
established this long time, and wearisomely renewed at every new
Accession. Hundreds of Treaties, oppressive to think of:--and now the
last Duke, old Bogislaus, is here, without hope of children; and the
fruit of all that haggling, actual Pommern to wit, will at last fall
home? Alas, no; far otherwise.
For the Kaiser having so triumphantly swept off the Winter-King, and
Christian IV. in the rear of him, and got Germany ready for converting
to Orthodoxy,--wished now to have some hold of the Seaboard, thereby
to punish Denmark; nay thereby, as is hoped, to extend the blessings of
Orthodoxy into England, Sweden, Holland, and the other Heretic States,
in due time. For our plans go far! This is the Kaiser's fixed wish,
rising to the rank of hope now and then: all Europe shall become Papist
again by the help of God and the Devil. So the Kaiser, on hardly any
pretext, seized Mecklenburg from the Proprietors,--"Traitors, how durst
you join Danish Christian?"--and made Wallenstein Duke of it. Duke of
Mecklenburg, "Admiral of the EAST SEA (Baltic);" and set to
"building ships of war in Rostock,"--his plans going far. [Kohler,
_Reichs-Historie,_ pp, 524, 525.] This done, he seized Pommern, which
also is a fine Sea-country,--stirring up Max of Bavaria to make
some idle pretence to Pommern, that so the Kaiser might seize it "in
sequestration till decided on." Under which hard treatment, George
Wilhelm had to sit sad and silent,--though the Stralsunders would not.
Hence the world-famous Siege of Stralsund (1628); fierce Wallenstein
declaring, "I will have the Town, if it hung by a chain from Heaven;"
but finding he could not get it; owing to the Swedish succor, to the
stubborn temper prevalent among the Townsfolk, and also greatly to the
rains and peat-bogs.
A second Uncle of George Wilhelm's, that unlucky Archbishop of Magdeburg
above mentioned, the Kaiser, once more by his own arbitrary will, put
under Ban of the Empire, in this Second Act: "Traitor, how durst you
join with the Danes?" The result of which was Tilly's Sack of Magdeburg
(10-12th May, 1631), a transaction never forgettable by mankind.--As
for Pommern, Gustav Adolf, on his intervening in these matters, landed
there: Pommern was now seized by Gustav Adolf, as a landing-place and
place-of-arms, indispensable for Sweden in the present emergency; and
was so held thenceforth. Pommern will not fall to George Wilhelm at this
time.
THIRD ACT, AND WHAT THE KURFURST SUFFERED IN IT.
And now we are at Act THIRD:--Landing of Gustav Adolf "in the Isle of
Usedom, 24th June, 1630," and onward for Eighteen Years till the Peace
of Westphalia, in 1648;--on which, as probably better known to the
reader, we will not here go into details. In this Third Act too, George
Wilhelm followed his old scheme, peace at any price;--as shy of Gustav
as he had been of other Champions of the Cause; and except complaining,
petitioning and manifestoing, studiously did nothing.
Poor man, it was his fate to stand in the range of these huge
collisions,--Bridge of Dessau, Siege of Stralsund, Sack of Magdeburg,
Battle of Leipzig,--where the Titans were bowling rocks at one another;
and he hoped, by dexterous skipping, to escape share of the game.
To keep well with his Kaiser,--and such a Kaiser to Germany and to
him,--this, for George Wilhelm, was always the first commandment. If the
Kaiser confiscate your Uncles, against law; seize your Pommern; rob you
on the public highways,--George Wilhelm, even in such case, is full of
dubitations. Nay his Prime-Minister, one Schwartzenberg, a Catholic,
an Austrian Official at one time,--Progenitor of the Austrian
Schwartzenbergs that now are,--was secretly in the Kaiser's interest,
and is even thought to have been in the Kaiser's pay, all along.
Gustav, at his first landing, had seized Pommern, and swept it clear
of Austrians, for himself and for his own wants; not too regardful of
George Wilhelm's claims on it. He cleared out Frankfurt-on-Oder, Custrin
and other Brandenburg Towns, in a similar manner,--by cannon and
storm, when needful;--drove the Imperialists and Tilly forth of these
countries. Advancing, next year, to save Magdeburg, now shrieking under
Tilly's bombardment, Gustav insisted on having, if not some bond of
union from his Brother-in-law of Brandenburg, at least the temporary
cession of two Places of War for himself, Spandau and Custrin,
indispensable in any farther operation. Which cession Kurfurst George
Wilhelm, though giving all his prayers to the Good Cause, could by
no means grant. Gustav had to insist, with more and more emphasis;
advancing at last, with military menace, upon Berlin itself. He was met
by George Wilhelm and his Council, "in the woods of Copenick," short way
to the east of that City: there George Wilhelm and his Council wandered
about, sending messages, hopelessly consulting; saying among each
other, _"Que faire; ils ont des canons,_ what can one do; they have got
cannon?" [_OEvres de Frederic le Grand_ (Berlin, 1846-1856 et seqq.:
_Memoires de Brandebourg_), i. 38. For the rest, Friedrich's Account of
the Transaction is very loose and scanty: see Pauli (iv. 568) and his
minute details.] For many hours so; round the inflexible Gustav,--who
was there like a fixed milestone, and to all questions and comers had
only one answer!--_"Que faire; ils ont des canons?"_ This was the
3d May, 1631. This probably is about the nadir-point of the
Brandenburg-Hohenzollern History. The little Friedrich, who became
Frederick the Great, in writing of it, has a certain grim banter in
his tone; and looks rather with mockery on the perplexities of his poor
Ancestor, so fatally ignorant of the time of day it had now become.
On the whole, George Wilhelm did what is to be called nothing, in the
Thirty-Years War; his function was only that of suffering. He followed
always the bad lead of Johann George, Elector of Saxony; a man of no
strength, devoutness or adequate human worth; who proved, on these
negative grounds, and without flagrancy of positive badness, an
unspeakable curse to Germany. Not till the Kaiser fulminated forth his
Restitution-Edict, and showed he was in earnest about it (1629-1631),
"Restore to our Holy Church what you have taken from her since the
Peace of Passau!"--could this Johann George prevail upon himself to join
Sweden, or even to do other than hate it for reasons he saw. Seized by
the throat in this manner, and ordered to DELIVER, Kur-Sachsen did, and
Brandenburg along with him, make Treaty with the Swede. [8th February,
1631 (Kohler, _Reichs-Historie,_ pp. 526-531.) in consequence of which
they two, some months after, by way of co-operating with Gustav on
his great march Vienna-ward, sent an invading force into Bohemia,
Brandenburg contributing some poor 3,000 to it; who took Prag, and some
other open Towns; but "did almost nothing there," say the Histories,
"except dine and drink." It is clear enough they were instantly
scattered home [October, 1633 (Stenzel, i. 503).) at the first glimpse
of Wallenstein dawning on the horizon again in those parts.
Gustav having vanished (Field of Lutzen, 6th November, 1632 [Pauli,
iv. 576.]), Oxenstiern, with his high attitude, and "Presidency" of the
"Union of Heilbronn," was rather an offence to Kur-Sachsen, who used to
be foremost man on such occasions. Kur-Sachsen broke away again; made
his Peace of Prag, [1635, 20th May (Stenzel, i. 513).] whom Brandenburg
again followed; Brandenburg and gradually all the others, except the
noble Wilhelm of Hessen-Cassel alone. Miserable Peace; bit of Chaos
clouted up, and done over with Official varnish;--which proved to be the
signal for continuing the War beyond visible limits, and rendering peace
impossible.
After this, George Wilhelm retires from the scene; lives in Custrin
mainly; mere miserable days, which shall be invisible to us. He died in
1640; and, except producing an active brave Son very unlike himself, did
nothing considerable in the world. _"Que faire; ils ont des canons!"_
Among the innumerable sanguinary tusslings of this War are counted Three
great Battles, Leipzig, Lutzen, Nordlingen. Under one great Captain,
Swedish Gustav, and the two or three other considerable Captains, who
appeared in it, high passages of furious valor, of fine strategy and
tactic, are on record. But on the whole, the grand weapon in it, and
towards the latter times the exclusive one, was Hunger. The opposing
Armies tried to starve one another; at lowest, tried each not to starve.
Each trying to eat the country, or at any rate to leave nothing eatable
in it: what that will mean for the country, we may consider. As the
Armies too frequently, and the Kaiser's Armies habitually, lived without
commissariat, often enough without pay, all horrors of war and of being
a seat of war, that have been since heard of, are poor to those then
practised. The detail of which is still horrible to read. Germany, in
all eatable quarters of it, had to undergo the process;--tortured, torn
to pieces, wrecked, and brayed as in a mortar under the iron mace of
war. [Curious incidental details of the state it was reduced to, in the
Rhine and Danube Countries, turn up in the Earl of Arundel and Surrey's
TRAVELS ("Arundel of the Marbles") as _Ambassador Extraordinary to the
Emperor Ferdinando II. in 1636_ (a small Volume, or Pamphlet, London,
1637).] Brandenburg saw its towns sieged and sacked, its country
populations driven to despair, by the one party and the other. Three
times,--first in the Wallenstein Mecklenburg period, while fire and
sword were the weapons, and again, twice over, in the ultimate stages of
the struggle, when starvation had become the method--Brandenburg fell to
be the principal theatre of conflict, where all forms of the dismal
were at their height. In 1638, three years after that precious "Peace of
Prag," the Swedes (Banier VERSUS Gallas) starving out the Imperialists
in those Northwestern parts, the ravages of the starving Gallas and his
Imperialists excelled all precedent; and the "famine about Tangermunde
had risen so high that men ate human flesh, nay human creatures ate
their own children." [1638: Pauli, iv. 604.] _"Que faire; ils ont des
canons!_"