At once the Habsburg armies marched into Bohemia. The
young king looked in vain for assistance against this formidable
enemy. The Dutch Republic was willing to help, but,
engaged in a desperate war of its own with the Spanish branch
of the Habsburgs, it could do little. The Stuarts in England
were more interested in strengthening their own absolute power
at home than spending money and men upon a forlorn adventure
in far away Bohemia. After a struggle of a few months,
the Elector of the Palatinate was driven away and his domains
were given to the Catholic house of Bavaria. This was the beginning
of the great war.
Then the Habsburg armies, under Tilly and Wallenstein,
fought their way through the Protestant part of Germany
until they had reached the shores of the Baltic. A Catholic
neighbour meant serious danger to the Protestant king of
Denmark. Christian IV tried to defend himself by attacking
his enemies before they had become too strong for him. The
Danish armies marched into Germany but were defeated.
Wallenstein followed up his victory with such energy and violence
that Denmark was forced to sue for peace. Only one
town of the Baltic then remained in the hands of the Protestants.
That was Stralsund.
There, in the early summer of the year 1630, landed King
Gustavus Adolphus of the house of Vasa, king of Sweden,
and famous as the man who had defended his country against
the Russians.
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