Ferdinand II of the Holy roman Empire

Ferdinand II of Habsbourg (July 9th 1578 - February 15th 1637) was Archiduc of Austria, king de Bohême (1617 - 1619, 1620 - 1627), king de Hongrie (1618 - 1626) then emperor of the Saint Worsens (1619 - 1637). The totality of its reign is occupied by the Guerre Thirty Year old which it contributed to start.

It was born with Graz in Austria (province of Styrie), wire of the archduke Charles Ier de Styrie (1540 - 1590) - thus grandson of the emperor Ferdinand Ier - and of Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (1503 - 1547) girl of Vladislas II king de Bohême and of Hungary.

Reign

Raised and informed by the Jesuit S, Ferdinand was an enthusiastic and dedicated catholic, savage adversary of the Protestantisme.

Chosen like successor by his cousin without descent, the emperor Matthias I {{er}}, he became king of Bohemia in 1617 (and for this reason one of the seven Voters of the Empire) then king de Hongrie in 1618. Thinking of being able to restore Catholicism in a kingdom where many Protestants were found, it caused a rebellion at the noble ones of Bohemia. Those relieved it and élirent in its place Frederic V of Palatinat. But the August 28th 1619, the Voters had indicated it as emperor of the Saint Worsens Roman Germanic, before the news of its dismissal did not come from to Frankfurt. 41 years, it reached the so much coveted title finally.

It had as a candidate the Elector Palatine, Frederic V, who raised against him the Protestants, and gave by there birth to the beginning of the Guerre Thirty Year old (although gone back as from the second Défenestration to Prague)

To find its throne, Ferdinand created a coalition, the catholic Ligue. This one gathered Spain, the Voter protesting Jean-Georges Ier of Saxony, the king Sigismond III of Poland and Maximilien Ier of Bavaria. Its armies were ordered by Tilly. After a defeat without consequences, it demolishes the army risen with the Bataille of the White Mountain the November 8th 1620.

Consequently, the Bohemia will become personal property of the Habsbourg. The November 13rd, the States of Bohemia recognize Ferdinand as king again. This one, to crush once for all the rebellion, makes decapitate publicly with Prague, the June 21st 1621, 27 of the insurgent main leaders.

Under the Protestant pressure, the king of Denmark Christian IV enters the conflict. But this one is overcome by the Condottiere with the pay of Ferdinand II, Albrecht von Wallenstein and must sign the Paix of Lübeck the June 6th 1629.

Extremely of its victory, Ferdinand II issued the famous Édit of Restitution which ordered with all the Protestants to make the benefit ecclesiastical that they had secularized since the Paix of Augsburg.

Gustave Adolphe, king de Suède, decided to intervene and beat the army of the catholic Ligue, under the command of Tilly, with the Bataille of Breitenfeld, the September 7th 1631. In spite of the military engineering of Wallenstein, Gustave Adolphe beat this one with Lützen, the November 16th 1632. However, it found death during the battle and the Swedes withdrew conflict. Tired, the Emperor signed the Paix of Prague the May 30th 1635. This one earlier brought back Germany to the Paix of Augsburg, signed 80 years.

On the other side of the the Rhine, Richelieu could not support the idea to see reconstituting the empire of Charles Quint, because of the territorial possessions of the Habsbourg. It took the continuation of this conflict. It was relayed by Mazarin. To the diet of Ratisbon, two ambassadors of Richelieu, Brulart of Leon and the Father Joseph, turned over Maximilien of Bavaria and the catholic princes against the House of Austria. The diet was moved, she asked for and obtained the recall of Wallenstein become too powerful and the dismissal of her army. By laying off Wallenstein, Ferdinand II had hoped that the Voters would name his son King of the Romans, thus ensuring the imperial crown to him. The French agents still ruined this strategy.

Ferdinand II had been guided by its obsession to see the house of the Habsbourg reigning in a hereditary way on the Empire and by its support for the Counter-Reformation. Its reign showed the loss for Germany of half of its population and will ruin for the two hundred years to come its political power.

Alliances and posterity

He had married, with Graz, the April 23rd 1600, Marie Anne of Bavaria (1574 - 1616), girl of Guillaume V of Bavaria and Renee of Lorraine. Together, they had 7 children:

The February 4th 1622, it married, in second weddings, Éléonore de Mantoue (1598 - 1655), girl of Vincent I {{er}} duke of Mantoue; this marriage did not have a posterity.

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