The Study Of German Cities In The Context Of The Thirty Years War

The early modern period was a turning point in the development of German cities,and all aspects of cities tended to decline from prosperity in the late middle ages.There are many factors contributing to the decline of German cities.When historians talk about this problem,they attribute it to the opening of new sea routes,religious conflicts,centralized states and so on.However,the most devastating of these factors for cities was the thirty years' war,but this factor has received less academic attention.The thirty years war is a very important event in the history of Germany.The outbreak of this war was the result of fierce competition among the various forces in the Holy Roman Empire after the reformation,especially during the period of "religious peace".As an important part of the empire,German cities suffered even more.Nuremberg and Magdeburg were typical representatives of German cities in the Thirty Years War,and this paper focuses on the analysis of Magdeburg and Nuremberg's situation in the Thirty Years War to reflect the general situation of German cities at that time.The introduction introduces the research status of German cities in early modern times.The first chapter gives an overview of the Holy Roman Empire and German cities during the period of "religious peace".The second chapter discusses the countermeasures of German cities in the thirty years' war: taking Magdeburg and Nuremberg as examples,Magdeburg and Nuremberg maintained neutrality at the beginning of the war;During the period of Danish intervention,with the rise of the Catholic camp,Magdeburg and Nuremberg became vassals of the Catholic camp.When the king of Sweden won,many German cities poured into his protection.After the signing of the Prague treaty,these cities made concessions to the emperor until the end of the war.The third chapter analyzes the influential elements of those cities to make a decision,mainly from the change of the relationship between the emperor,the change of situation,the change of strength which based on three aspects: the emperor in the history of the empire shall have the right to determine cities' status and privilege,because those cities need to constantly consider relations with the emperor in the war,this led to most of the time in those cities are attached to the emperor;In the thirty years' war,there were often battles to turn the tide of the war,which made the power of the two camps change,and affected the cities' judgment of the war.In modern times,the decline of those cities' strength and the disappearance of the city alliance weakened those cities' defense capability in the war,and directly announced the tragic experience of those cities.The fourth chapter analyzes the direct losses and the subsequent effects of the thirty years' war on German cities.After the war,with the change of the political environment in the empire,German cities gradually lost their former political status and privileges.The war had a dramatic impact on the political and economic structure of the Holy Roman Empire and further accelerated the decline of the German cities,whose golden age since the late middle ages had passed into history.At present,the academia for the German city of research on time are mainly composed of the late middle ages,the German city of early modern attention is less,so in this paper,the German city in the thirty years' war of research helps to deepen the development trend of domestic for the German city,achievements and limitations of cognition,and further enrich the domestic for the thirty years war and the research of early modern German.