May 23, 1618 · Bohemia Theater

Protestant Bohemian nobles, outraged by the Catholic Habsburgs' curtailment of their religious freedoms, marched to Prague Castle and threw three Catholic royal governors out of a third-floor window. The Catholics survived — Catholics claimed angels bore them up; Protestants noted they landed in a pile of refuse — but the act ignited a revolt that would consume Europe for thirty years.

November 8, 1620 · Bohemia Theater

The combined Catholic League and Imperial forces crushed the Bohemian Protestant army in under two hours on a hillside outside Prague. The Bohemian cause collapsed almost instantly. Frederick V, the 'Winter King,' fled into exile before the ink on his Bohemian crown was dry, never to return.

May 20, 1631 · Northern Germany Theater

Imperial and Catholic League forces stormed Magdeburg, the largest Protestant city in Germany. A fire broke out during the assault — whether accident or deliberate is still debated — and the city burned to the ground. Between 20,000 and 25,000 civilians were killed, raped, or burned alive. Of a city of 30,000, fewer than 5,000 survived. It was the greatest atrocity of the war.

September 17, 1631 · Saxony Theater

Gustavus Adolphus led his Swedish-Saxon army against Tilly's Imperial-Catholic League force north of Leipzig. When the Saxon wing collapsed immediately, the Swedish king reorganized the battle line and launched a devastating counter-offensive. Tilly's veterans were routed — the first major Protestant victory of the war — and 20,000 Imperial soldiers were killed or captured.

April 15–16, 1632 · Bavaria Theater

Gustavus Adolphus forced a crossing of the Lech River into Bavaria under artillery cover, an extraordinary feat of military engineering. Count Tilly, attempting to hold the far bank, was struck by a cannonball that shattered his leg. He was carried from the field and died of his wounds twelve days later. The Swedish army poured into Bavaria.

November 16, 1632 · Saxony Theater

In thick fog near the town of Lützen, Gustavus Adolphus led a cavalry charge and rode into the Imperial lines. Separated from his escort, he was shot from his horse and killed. The Swedish army, fighting in grief and rage, drove Wallenstein from the field and won the battle — but lost their king, their inspiration, and arguably the war's most important figure.

September 6, 1634 · Swabia Theater

A combined Spanish-Imperial army encircled a Swedish-Protestant force near Nördlingen and crushed it completely. The Swedish army in Germany was effectively destroyed: 17,000 killed or captured, including the Swedish commander Gustav Horn. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar fled with the remnants. Germany lay open to Catholic reconquest.

May 19, 1643 · Spanish Netherlands Theater

The young French commander, the Duke of Enghien (later the Great Condé), led French cavalry in a brilliant double envelopment of the Spanish army in the forests of the Ardennes. The legendary Spanish tercios — the veteran infantry squares that had dominated European warfare for 150 years — were surrounded and annihilated. Of 18,000 Spanish infantry engaged, fewer than 3,000 escaped.

March 6, 1645 · Bohemia Theater

The Swedish general Lennart Torstenson, so crippled by gout he had to be carried on a litter, nonetheless directed a masterful battle near Jankau in Bohemia. He lured the Imperial army into terrain it could not use, then destroyed it — killing, wounding, or capturing virtually the entire force including its commander. Vienna itself was momentarily threatened.

May 17, 1648 · Bavaria Theater

A Franco-Swedish army under Wrangel and Turenne intercepted an Imperial-Bavarian force retreating through Bavaria. The Imperial commander Melander was killed early in the fighting, and the rear-guard was destroyed. It was the last major land engagement of the Thirty Years' War, fought while peace negotiations at Münster and Osnabrück were nearly complete.

October 24, 1648 · Westphalia Theater

After five years of negotiation in the twin congress cities of Münster and Osnabrück, representatives of nearly every European power signed the Peace of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Years' War. France gained Alsace and confirmation of its bishoprics; Sweden gained territories in northern Germany; the Swiss Confederation and Dutch Republic gained formal independence; German princes gained sovereignty over their own religious affairs.