Fear and Suffering: The Thirty Years War

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Recommended: Cause and effect of Thirty Years War

Historians spend large sums of time discussing and analyzing the causes of any historically significant event or time. With its length and impact on the world, The Thirty Years War and the causes of the war are an important topic to analyze. The emotional and physical suffering that common-people experienced during The Thirty Years War did not come primarily from death, brought on from the conflict of many countries, but from quartered soldier's placing fear into the people through their actions, the soldier's treatment of women, and the aftermath from the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia. The presence of fear is a strong motivator for many people. Fear, and torture, was used by many Catholic imperial troops to force the quartering …show more content…

Twice an hour they gave me the Swedish cocktail, filled with manure drippings....” (Bötzinger 69-70) This horrifying ordeal shows an all too common fate after the invasion of troops during The Thirty Years War. No one felt safe, and each day was filled with constant anxiety of being forced to live through what some may call a living hell. To add to this sense of terror, woman had more to fear from the barbaric soldiers who forced their way into homes. Rape and cruel acts did not only affect the woman but also their families and the community’s sense of security. Christoph Brandis tells a chilling tale of the humiliation of one family when their seventeen year old daughter is attacked by a quartered soldier. “The 7th of April [1636], a shameful deed was done. A [Protestant Hessian] soldier named Mathes was quartered in D.’s house.1… Mathes called down that somebody better bring him a pitcher of milk, or he would tear the whole place apart. D. sent his daughter to the neighbor's house to retrieve some milk. Her father told her to bring it up to the soldier. She hardly got upstairs

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