A brief return to the past

In 1618, a great war broke out in  Central Europe. It origin is complex and no single cause can be describe for the fighting.  Initially a religious conflict burst in Bohemia (Holy Roman Empire), setting Catholics and Protestants against each other. But the policy of alliance developed it into a more general conflict,  involving most of the countries in Europe in a race for power. At extended, war became less specifically religious and evolved into the continuation of the rivalry between the Bourbons (King Louis XIII and his prime minister, the Cardinal Richelieu) and the Habsburgs (the emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III) for the control of Europe.
Ending in 1648 and rightly nicknamed  the Thirty Years War, it was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European modern history. Many regions were divested, provocating the death of millions people (between 3,000,000 and 11,000,000).

Plunderingof a village and fire of a monastery during the Thirty Years War. Print by Jacques Callot (1592-1635)