The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe, 1618-48 (European History in Perspective) [Paperback]

Ronald G. Asch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0312165854 | ISBN-13: 978-0312165857

Historians have tried time and again to identify the central issues of the conflict which devastated Europe between 1618 and 1648. The Thirty Years War by Ronald G. Asch puts the religious and constitutional struggle in the Holy Roman Empire squarely back into the centre of events. However, other issues are not neglected. Thus the problems of war finance are shown to be an important key to the interaction between inter-state and domestic conflicts during the war. Equally confessional tensions are analysed as a decisive factor linking international and domestic disputes, and the reader is provided with a succinct narrative account concentrating on the major turning points of the war.

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (July 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312165854
• ISBN-13: 978-0312165857
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,064,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Beginning of the States!, December 25, 2000

By 

Bruce W. Willett (Abilene, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe, 1618-1648 (Hardcover)

The Thirty Years War by Ronald Asch is a very good book on the subject of the political forces and their interaction that came to be called the "Thirty Years War". He looks at not only the policies of the major actors in Europe at that time but also at the area of religion and what factor it played in this conflict. I would recommend this book to individuals with a strong understand of the political factors and major European powers of the 17th century. As for others, this book may be a little hard to follow. A map of the region is provided in the front, but I would have enjoyed additional maps encompassing those specific areas that specific chapters covered to be included in those chapters. I would have also liked to see a little bit more of the military aspects of this conflict to be covered in depth. However, even with these minor request, Robert Asch's book is a great reasource covering a interesting period of sometimes forgotten European history. It should be required read for those interested in state politics and to understand how the European states came into existence.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting but a little boring, August 9, 2002

By 

Charles Poncet (Geneva Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Thirty Years War: The Holy Roman Empire and Europe, 1618-1648 (Hardcover)

Mr. Asch is obviously a thorough and competent specialist of the period. It seems to me that he is writing essentially from a German perspective, which is not a bad thing, but his thorough expositions, chapter by chapter, lack the additional dimension one would expect to find in a book describing such an amazing period of European history. In other words, this is accurate, solid stuff but after a while, it takes some effort to labour through the rest of the book. Historians can't be expected to write page turners, but still !