30 Years War Primer

[LongBlade]

OK, so I'm about 60 or 80 pages into Wedgwood's book on the 30 Years War and I came to the conclusion that I was getting completely lost.

This might be one of the most complex pieces of history I've come across in a while. And, as opposed to my normal pace of reading for recreation, I decided I was so lost that letting it go in one eye and out the other was missing most of the fun.

There was only one way I figured I could fix this: learn something.

So I've proceeded to again do something I don't normally do: go back and re-read the book to figure out what I've missed.

With so many moving parts, however, you can't just be content with re-reading and flipping back thirty pages to search for stuff.

So I have decided to start accumulating some cheat sheets of a kind. I can't claim these are particularly anything other than some pictures of the players and a cobbling together of the notes I've managed to distill from Wedgwood herself. (Difficult to believe she wrote this when she was 30, but I digress).

Anyway, I'm working my way through getting the players set up and I'm happy to share my notes with any of you who have been considering tackling the era and might find themselves equally bewildered by the numerous players, their roles, motives, religions, lands, and intrigues.

I'd like to say I'm about half done with maybe two hours of work into it, but more players keep popping up. I'm hoping by the end of the day I'll have enough of these sketched out enough that I can print these out for my own purposes. At that point I'm more than happy to post them here or email them to you for your own use.

Posting this now as it appears to be going well and if any of you is struggling like I am to let you know that I may have a modest help guide on the way.

[Gusington]

I have been interested in the Thirty Years War for a while but haven't studied it at all due to intimidation of the things you describe above. Show me the money LB.

[matt3916]

Have you looked at "The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" by Peter Wilson ?  (Although it is about twice as long as Wedgewood).

[Gusington]

^I have had that in my Amazon shopping cart on and off. It interests and intimidates me just like the history.

[bob48]

The Thirty Years War - Complete [Kindle Edition]
Friedrich Schiller

I just picked this up as a free download off amazon.

[Staggerwing]

Hot damn Bob! Just snagged that puppy for my collection.

Here's the direct link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Thirty-Years-War-ebook/dp/B0084A70JC

(LB, Not sure there's any point in grogifying a link to a free book but what the hel, give it a shot...)

[LongBlade]

Hot damn Bob! Just snagged that puppy for my collection.

Here's the direct link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Thirty-Years-War-ebook/dp/B0084A70JC

(LB, Not sure there's any point in grogifying a link to a free book but what the hel, give it a shot...)

Sure. I can read it next if I'm so enthralled.

[LongBlade]

Have you looked at "The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy" by Peter Wilson ?  (Although it is about twice as long as Wedgewood).

No. Thanks for the tip.

[LongBlade]

I have been interested in the Thirty Years War for a while but haven't studied it at all due to intimidation of the things you describe above. Show me the money LB.

OK, I had to tweak the forum to allow for the upload of a .docx file.

Keep in mind these aren't anything more than a summation of Wedgwood's own descriptions, distilled for my own purposes. I have added color images from the web where I could find them.

My plan is to print these, then scribble notes on them as I read further.

The upper end of attachments is currently set to six. I have more, but most of these are minor players, so I don't think you'll miss much at this point.

[Gusington]

Why the obsession with this all of a sudden? You're kinda reminding me of Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters.

[Staggerwing]

Well, Dreyfuss did get the director's carte blanche to stare at Terri Garr's cleavage during one scene in that movie.

[LongBlade]

Why the obsession with this all of a sudden? You're kinda reminding me of Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters.

I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Dammit! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.

[Staggerwing]

You've moved far beyond the extra helping of mashed potatoes I see.

[Gusington]

Do you have half a sunburn?

[Staggerwing]

I tried to google a pic of Terri showing her sunburn to Dreyfuss but I came up dry (heh...).

Someone with Mo' Fu needs to score the goods this time.