Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen County

This article is about the specific polity Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen County and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.

If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics

Was a county, and later a principality, of the Holy Roman Empire located in Thuringia. It emerged from the Division of the the County of Schwarzburg.

Establishment

January 1600: Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 by Count Albert VII of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, as part of a division of Schwarzburg dynasty lands. This division led to the creation of two separate territories, with Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen County being the other territory.

Chronology

Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

1. European wars of religion

Were a series of wars in Europe (and the overseas possessions of European countries) the 16th, 17th and early 18th that started after the Protestant Reformation. Although the immediate causes of the wars were religious, the motives were complex and also included territorial ambitions.

1.1.Thirty Years' War

Was a war that took place mainly in central Europe between 1618 and 1648. The war began as a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestant in the Holy Roman Empire but then escalated into a conflict for the hegemony in Europe between Habsburg Spain and Austria, Sweden and France.

1.1.1.Swedish Period

Was the third main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of Sweden.

September 1631: On September 17, 1631, the Swedish army under Gustav Adolf met the troops of the Catholic League under Tilly in the Battle of Breitenfeld north of Leipzig.

1.1.2.Franco-Swedish Period

Was the fourth main period of the Thirty Years' War. It started with the intervention of the Kingdom of France.

1.1.2.1.North German Front (Sweden)

Was the north German front during the Franco-Swedish period of the Thirty Years' War.

November 1637: After the death of Swedish King Ferdinand II, his son and successor Ferdinand III brought the Swedish troops back to Pomerania, leaving the territories occupied by Sweden in Germany.

August 1640: In 1640, the Swedes led by field marshal Banér moved through Thuringia via Saalfeld into Hesse and further near the town of Fritzlar, which was reached on August 31, 1640.

October 1640: When 14 regiments arrived to reinforce the imperial army at the end of September 1640, the Swedish army left the territories it occupied in Germany (with the exception of Pomerania).

June 1648: In May 1648, there was the last major field battle of the Thirty Years' War between French-Swedish and Imperial-Bavarian armies near Augsburg.

1.1.3.Peace of Westphalia

Were a series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years' War. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal in the territories of the Holy Roman Empire. There were major territorial adjustments. In particular, France, Sweden and Brandenburg had major territorial gains, and several religious territories of the Holy Roman Empire were secularized.

October 1648: With the Peace of Westphalia Sweden received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania), Wismar, and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as hereditary fiefs. Sweden evacuated the remnant territories it had occupied in the Holy Roman Empire.