ABSTRACT
The series of wars initiated by the French invasion of Italy in 1494 caused extraordinary political instability. The most destructive conflict until the twentieth century, the Thirty Years War, was the first European-wide war with large armies brutalizing civilian populations in a foretaste of later 'total wars'. Several times princely quarrels over territorial ownership threatened a German war, but none broke out until revolt erupted in Bohemia against an attempt by the newly elected Habsburg king Ferdinand to subordinate the nobles and reimpose Catholicism in a country with significant Protestant minorities. France preferred at first to wage a secret financial and diplomatic war, then engaged militarily with Spain in northern Italy. Spain had recognized the independence of the Netherlands, but successfully continued the war with France, taking advantage of the French Frondes against the unpopular Mazarin.
