A review by nigellicus
The Thirty Years War by C. V. Wedgwood

dark informative sad

5.0

I'm not a hundred percent sure about reviewing this because I'm not a hundred percent sure even one percent ot if went in and stayed in. I could probably take a stab at some of the causes and one or two of the main players - ok, the King of Sweden is pretty unforgettable - but I'm not entirely sure how it actually ended - the Peace Of Westphalia, obviously, but how did they get there? Lots of battles, lots of characters, lots of burning peasants' houses and fields and generating plague and pestilence - syphilis is mentioned as one of the diseases that follows an army around, all of it a monumental waste. The author is not without sympathy for almost anyone involved, except for a few standout creeps. I don't know how anyone can look at this mess and come up with the Great Man theory of history. The Small Army Of Completely Rubbish Men And Some Rubbish Women theory, maybe.