PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War

Extremely well written. Drawbacks first - the book is very long, and the war does not even start until page 269, so if you aren't interested in the detail 17th century politics, move along please (though if you are, then of course these are not drawbacks). The single overview map is pretty dire and inadequate as usual, though the many battle maps are excellent. On the positive side, the book is clear, incisive, comprehensive, well written and extremely readable, with (absolutely critical for such a work) an excellent index. It'll probably stand the test of time as the best single volume reference for the war, though both Parker and Wedgwood give it a run for its money if you don't want to read such a door stopper.

This is a very thorough history of the Thirty Years War. It covers a great deal of the period leading up to the incident in Prague which caused such a devastating conflagration and deals, to some extent, with the aftermath. The cast of characters is very long and can, at times, be quite confusing. For that reason it is not a light read but a very satisfying one. What is often described as a religious war turns out to be much more than that. Strongly recommended if you are prepared to put in the effort.

the most researched book on the period. It is much better than the Parker and the Wedgewood previous histories . It gives a paramount view on the period which descrbes the chaos and as never anything changes in the human nature it coulld be read as an actual situation in which we can plunge very easily.

Excellent overview description of broad political and social factors around the Holy Roman Empire, including debt and finances around Europe. A couple dozen maps illustrate the major battles. The main drawback is the plethora of German place names. As an American, I have no established associations with the likes of Hessen-Darmstadt, and the single regional map in the front is not quite detailed enough to make up for this. Some extra markings of topography would also help when discussing alpine passes.

Bislang hatte ich mich kaum mit dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg beschäftigt. Peter Wilson behandelt dieses Thema sehr detailliert. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich das Buch, obwohl ich es gut finde, nicht zu Ende gelesen habe. Nach rund zwei Dritteln war ich von der Fülle an Fakten völlig erschlagen. Zur Aussage kann ich sagen, dass Wilsons Darstellung eine revisionistische ist. Er ist sehr um Verständnis für die katholische Seite bemüht, die in den meisten Geschichtsbüchern ja eher schlecht wegkommt. Inwieweit das gerechtfertigt ist, vermag ich nicht zu beurteilen, da ich wie gesagt mit der einschlägigen Literatur zu wenig vertraut bin. Alles in allem sicherlich ein sehr gutes Buch für Fortgeschrittene, als Einstieg in die Materie aber kaum geeignet.