At the time of the beginning of the Thirty Years War, the German Habsburgs ruled upper and lower Austria, Moravia, Silesia, the lesser part of Hungary,Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Tyrol, and the provinces bordering on Germany. These territories did not really form a whole but instead were a number of loosely connected countries, each having it's own provincial estates, largely composed of nobles. Most of them opposed the dynasty and desired religious freedom.

Lutheranism was given official recognition in the Holy Roman Empire in 1555, under the Peace of Augsburg. However at the time, the German empire was decaying. This was because of lack of power, lack of patriotism, and lack of authority that the empire had. Other countries began to take advantage of this decomposition, trying to gain power or right. A further important cause of the war was violent religious opposition. Some German rulers became Calvinists, while Protestants began to take over properties and instituations. The government was mostly composed of Catholics, and the Protestants came to distrust the government because of that. Thus, the government began to break down.

Both the Catholics and the Protestants formed armed Alliances; the Catholics joined the Catholic League under Maximillian I of Bavaria and the Proestant Union under Frederick V of the Palatinate. Meanwhile in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria, dissension between the Habsburgs had allowed the local elites religious independence from their leaders.

Economic life inGermany had grown stagnant, and so there were many unemployed people happy to be mercenaries. Only a small number of them were attracted to external affairs and so many were present to fight the war. On the other hand, the common folk of Germany were not used to wartime and because discontented. This unease led to the prolonging of the war.

Next: the Bohemian Stage