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Course syllabus Scandinavia and the Thirty Years´ War, 1618-1648

Swedish name: Skandinavien och det trettioåriga kriget, 1618-1648

Course code:

2MH087

Valid from semester:

Autumn Term 2024

Education cycle:

Second cycle

Scope:

7.5 credits

Progression:

A1N

Grading scale:

Three-grade scale

Main field of study:

History with specialisation in Military History

Department:

Department of Military History

Subject:

History with Specialization in Military History

Language of instruction:

The teaching is conducted in English.

Decided by:

Forsknings och utbildningsnämndens kursplaneutskott

Decision date:

2024-01-23

Entry requirements

Courses in the humanities or social sciences of at least 90 credits. In addition, knowledge of English equivalent to English B or English 6 is required.

Course content and structure

The aim of the course is for the student to independently gain insight into and analyse the causes and consequences of Scandinavian participation in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) in both a political and military historical context.

The course combines lectures with independent research in order to analyse the historical perspectives on the main aspects of Scandinavian warfare in the early modern period. The seminars are pedagogically vital, as they enable the student to develop oral presentation of insights and arguments, while strengthening the course themes. Cumulatively the course provides the setting for students to gain a well-rounded understanding of Scandinavian participation in a series of conflicts both within Scandinavia, but also in the Holy Roman Empire and in Eastern Europe. This includes both full military engagements and proxy wars. The course ends with a home exam to create an analytical view on war, culture and society during the Thirty Years´War.

Type of Instruction
Seminars

Lectures

Independent Literature Studies

Objectives

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

demonstrate knowledge of Scandinavian military structures and deployments with a particular emphasis on the relationship between civil and military societies within Scandinavia and overseas during the Thirty Years´ War

Competence and skills

in writing as well as orally discuss military historical research, in a scientific way, particularly concerning Scandinavian warfare and the impact on local societies
apply a holistic approach with regards to the relationship between war, culture, and society in Scandinavia and Europe, during the Thirty Years´ War

Judgement and approach

identify needs for additional knowledge in the field.

Examination formats

Exam
Scope: 7.5

Grading Scale: Fail, Pass, Pass with Distinction

The course is assessed through active and constructive participation in mandatory seminars and through an individual home exam.

The examiner can determine what supplementary work can be completed in order to achieve a Pass mark. The student will have three working daysto complete supplementary work once it has been agreed, in the absence of previously accepted exceptional circumstances. Exams which are submitted after the due date will not be marked unlessthe examiner has previously accepted exceptionalcircumstances.

Grading
The student is graded on a three-point grading scale: Fail (U), Pass(G) and Pass with Distinction (VG). Grading criteria are reported at the latest at the start of the course.

For the grade Pass(G) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass(G) on the seminars, as well as Pass(G) on the home exam. For the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the course, the student must achieve the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on more than half of the seminars, as well asthe grade Pass with Distinction (VG) on the home exam.

Restrictions in Number of Examinations
There is no limit on the total number of examination opportunities.

Transitional provisions

When the course is no longer offered or when the course content has changed substantially, the student has the right to be examined once per semester during a three-term period in accordance with this syllabus.

Other regulations

The course cannot be included in a degree with another course whose content fully or partially corresponds to the content of this course.

If the Swedish Defence University has formally decided that the student is entitled to receive special educational support due to a disability, the examiner may decide on alternative forms of examination for the student.

The course director will conduct an evaluation on the completion of the course, which will form the basis for any changes to the course.

This is an edited version of the syllabus, created to transfer the original to the education database Ladok education planning. For originals, refer to the archive.

Reading list valid from date 2024-09-02

Reading list decided date: 2024-05-08

Primary Source (specific pages are pre-linked in the seminar readings):
Robert Monro, Monro His expedition vvith the vvorthy Scots Regiment (called Mac-Keyes Regiment) (London, 1637). This is free online searchable edition.
Anon, (attributed to Watts, William), The Swedish Discipline: Religious, Civile, Military (London, 1632). This is free online searchable edition.
Course Text Books
Geoffrey Parker (ed.), The Thirty Years’ War (2nd Edition, 1997) – e-book in the library
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, The Thirty Years’ War (1938, 2005 edition)
Additional Secondary Sources
R. C. Anderson, Naval Wars in the Baltic During the Sailing-Ship Epoch, 1522-1850 (London, 1910), pp.47-70.
Olli Bäckström, Snapphanar and Power States: Insurgency and the Transformation of War in Sweden and Denmark 1643-1645 (University of Eastern Finland, 2018), pp.63-81, 97-200, 258-297.
Debate Article: “The Thirty Years War”, German History, vol. 36, Issue 2 (June 2018), pp.252–270 on the 400th anniversary of the Treaty of Westphalia, a number of leading scholars reflected upon the Thirty Years’ War.
Robert von Freideburge, Luther's Legacy: The Thirty Years War and the Modern Notion of 'State' in the Empire, 1530s to 1790s (Cambridge, 2016), pp.168-207
Alexia Grosjean, An Unofficial Alliance (Leiden, 2003), pp.74-98
Gunner Lind, “Interpreting a Lost War: Danish Experiences 1625 to 1629” in Religionskriege im alten Reich und in Alteuropa (Münster: Aschendorff, 2006), pp.487-510
Gunner Lind, “Commissaries, Officers, and Politics in an Early Modern Army: Denmark-Norway (1614-1660)” in Anna Maria Forssberg, Hallenberg, M., Husz, O. & Nordin, J. (eds.), Organizing History: Studies in Honour of Jan Glete (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2011), pp.69-96.
Paul D. Lockhart, Denmark, 1513-1660: The Rise and Decline of a Renaissance Monarchy (Oxford, 2011), pp.148-166. ‘Denmark and Sweden, 1596-1624’
G. Mortimer, ‘Did Contemporaries Recognize a “Thirty Years’ War”?’ English Historical Review, vol.116, no.465 (2001), pp.124-136
Steve Murdoch, Britain, Denmark-Norway and the House of Stuart, 1603-1660: A Diplomatic and Military Analysis (2003). Chapters 3 & 9.
Steve Murdoch ‘Nicrina ad Heroas Anglos. An overview of the British and the Thirty Years' War’ in Serena Jones (ed.) Britain Turned Germany: The Thirty Years’ War And Its Impact On The British Isles 1638-1660 (Helion, 2020), pp.15-36
Steve Murdoch and Alexia Grosjean, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648 (London, 2014)
S. Murdoch and A. Grosjean,’El ejército sueco, 1628-1632’ in Desperta Ferro. Revista de Historia Militar Y Politica, vol.27 (2017), pp.30-36. - This is provided as a course resource in English translation by the authors as “The Composition of the Swedish Army 1628-1633”
Steve Murdoch, Kathrin Zickermann and Adam Marks, 'The Battle of Wittstock 1636: Conflicting Reports on a Swedish Victory in Germany' in Northern Studies, 43 (2012), pp.71-109.
Steve Murdoch and Kathrin Zickermann, ‘Bereft of all Human Help?’: Scottish Widows during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) in Northern Studies, 50 (2019), pp.114-134
Steve Murdoch and Kathrin Zickermann, ‘The Battle of Lemgo, 17 October 1638: An Empirical Re-evaluation' in Militärhistorisk Tidskrift (December 2023)
Geoffrey Parker, ‘Why did the Dutch Revolt Last Eighty Years? In Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 26 (1976), pp. 53-72
David Parrott, Richelieu’s Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624-1642 (Cambridge, 2001) – 30 pages by index search (i.e. no single chapter).
E. L. Petersen, ‘Defence, War and Finance: Christian IV and the Council of the Realm 1596-1629’ in Scandinavian Journal of History, 7 (1982), pp.277-313
E. L. Petersen, ‘The Danish Intermezzo’ in G. Parker, (ed.), The Thirty Years’ War (1997), pp.64-73
Josef Polisensky, ‘The Thirty Years’ War and the Crisis and Revolutions of Seventeenth Century Europe’ in Past & Present (1968), Vol. 39, pp.34-43
Pärtel Piirimäe, ‘Just War in Theory and Practice: The Legitimation of Swedish Intervention in the Thirty Years War’ in The Historical Journal, Vol. 45, No. 3 (Sep., 2002), pp.499-523
Erik Ringmar, Identity, Interest and Action: A Cultural Explanation of Sweden's Intervention in the Thirty Years War (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp.110-186
N.M. Sutherland, ‘The Origins of the Thirty Years War and the Structure of European Politics,’ English Historical Review, vol.107, no.424 (1992), pp.587–625
Michael Wanner, ‘Albrecht of Wallenstein as “General of the Ocean and the Baltic Seas” and the Northern maritime plan’, in Forum Navale, no. 64 (2008), pp.8-33
Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, The Thirty Years’ War (1938, 2005 edition), pp.11-68.
Peter Wilson, ‘The Causes of the Thirty Years' War’ in English Historical Review. 123:502 (2008), pp.554-586 NB
Circa 1600 pages.