The Thirty Years War
C.V. Wedgwood was twenty nine when she published The Thirty Years War in 1938, and it remains one of the most admired narrative histories of the twentieth century. She traces how a local revolt in Bohemia in 1618 escalated into a continent wide war involving Sweden, France, Spain, and the Habsburg Empire and killed something like a third of the population of Central Europe. Wedgwood writes with cool moral clarity and an eye for character, refusing to make the war into either a heroic tale or a purely religious one. She works instead in the tradition of Gibbon and Macaulay, letting readers feel the weight of decisions made in half understood circumstances. The book was decades ahead of its time and remains a favorite of historians and general readers alike.
What you might want to know about The Thirty Years War
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
C.V. Wedgwood's classic history of the seventeenth century European catastrophe that killed a third of Germany and reshaped the continent.
Yes. Coates has named The Thirty Years War among the historical works he has read most closely, citing Wedgwood alongside Judt and McPherson as models of narrative history that inform his own thinking.
No. Wedgwood assumes very little and takes the time to explain the Holy Roman Empire, the confessional divisions, and the key players before the war begins.
The Thirty Years War was written by C.V. Wedgwood, published in 1938 by NYRB Classics.
The Thirty Years War is 544 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Thirty Years War takes most readers 8 to 12 hours to finish.
The Thirty Years War is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
