ABSTRACT
Like a great earthquake whose aftershocks continue well after the main event has ended, the Thirty Years War bequeathed a mixed legacy of disturbances, hostilities and opportunities which persisted as a source of division and conflict in Germany for a number of years after 1648. Not surprisingly, many serious problems originated with the foreign participants in the war, who in single-minded pursuit of their own interests remained indifferent to the fervent desire of the Germans to be rid of them. The Dutch, for example, continued to garrison various German towns in East Frisia and along the lower Rhine for years, while Spain, still at war with France, was understandably reluctant to remove its troops from such strategically important fortifications as Frankenthal and did so only in 1652. The marauding forces of Duke Karl of Lorraine – a Spanish ally not included in the general peace – also created mayhem in various areas along the Rhine until his own Spanish paymasters, disgusted, removed him from the scene.
