Ferdinand III

Ferdinand III (1608-1657). From the House of Habsburg. King Vengrni in 1625-1655 he. King of Bohemia in 1627-1656 he. German King in 1636-1657 he. Emperor 'Holy Roman Empire' in the years 1637-1657. Son of Ferdinand II and Maria Anna of Bavaria.
Spouses:

1) 20 Feb.. 1631 g. Maria Anna, daughter of the King of Spain Philip III (born. 1606 g. + 1646);

2), July 2, 1648, Mr.. Maria Leopoldina, daughter of Archduke Leopold of Tyrol V (genus. 1632 g. + 1649);

3) from April 30. 1651 g. Eleanor, daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mantua (genus. 1630 g. + 1686).

Genus. July 13, 1608, Mr.. + April 2. 1657

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Ferdinand succeeded his father in the midst of the Thirty Years War, when the Catholic party has made a decisive superiority over their enemies, and only help the Protestant princes of France saved from total defeat. The new emperor did not have a large public mind, rather indifferent attitude to business management and was not interested in broad political plans of his father. True, he was a sincere Catholic, but was not quite that fanaticism, which differed distributors of Catholic teaching. Ferdinand did not like the Jesuits, . he sincerely regretted his subjects, . suffered during the war and the terrible deprivation, . maybe, . was prepared to grant religious freedom to Protestants, . but it was hard to change his father's management system and get rid of the heavy influence of his ministers.,

. Meanwhile, the first years of the reign of Ferdinand began to take military action, for Catholics less favorable turn
. Huge French army entered in 1637, Mr.. the war on the side of the Protestants, the Swedes are still occupied northern Germany, as leader of the Protestant Duke of Weimar Bernhard scoring important victories on the Rhine. In February 1638, Mr.. He defeated the imperial army at Rheinfelden, in December took BREISACH, but died shortly thereafter. Then the French took possession of the conquered Alsace. The following year they took Arras and captured The argument. Swedes in 1642, Mr.. invaded Silesia, defeated the imperial army, entered in Moravia and threatened Vienna itself. Ferdinand spent on the war all their strength and not knowing where to collect a new army, began to seek peace. The talks, which began in 1643, dragged on slowly, and the war continued to rage between those. In subsequent years, the imperial army was defeated by the Swedes in Leipzig (in 1642) and Yankov (in 1645) and from the French - in battles with Rocroi (in 1643) and under the Freiburg (in 1644). In 1648, Mr.. Swedes already besieged Prague, and only conclude the Peace of Westphalia had saved the city from falling. Conditions of peace have been very hard for the empire. France got Alsace belonged to Austria, Zundgau and important fortress: BREISACH and Filippsburg. For Sweden withdrew Stettin, Rц?gen island, Wismar, Bishopric of Bremen and Verdun. Their Protestant allies also received an increment of their territories. It was agreed that the Protestants will retain for themselves all the land acquired prior to 1624, Mr.. About hated recovery edict of Emperor Ferdinand II is no longer remembered. Imperial power in Germany finally lost all meaning: Peace of Westphalia legitimized the independence of the princes, giving them the right to wage war and conclude alliances, both among themselves and with foreign sovereigns.