This volume deals with the entanglement of Scotland in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), discussing the diplomatic and military aspects of the conflict that were interwoven with the fate of the Scottish princess, Elizabeth of Bohemia, the famous Winter Queen.

This volume deals with the entanglement of Scotland in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), discussing both the diplomatic and military aspects of the conflict that led to Scottish involvement in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire. To the Scots, the war was linked to the fate of the Scottish princess, Elizabeth of Bohemia, rather than the politics of central Europe per se. In three sections, the 12 authors have illuminated the political processes that led to the participation of as many as 50,000 Scottish troops in the war. The official alliances of the Stuart regime, the independent diplomacy of the Scottish Parliament and the actions of numerous well placed individuals at various European courts are all shown to have had a bearing on this important episode of European history.

Field Marshal Alexander Leslie was the highest ranking commander from the British Isles to serve in the Thirty Years’ War. Though Leslie’s life provides the thread that runs through this work, the authors use his story to explore the impacts of the Thirty Years’ War, the British Civil Wars and the age of Military Revolution.

This volume examines the impact of military activity upon Scotland's national identity as the country underwent a fundamental transition through domestic centralisation at the turn of the seventeenth century, integration into the United Kingdom in 1707, and as a partner in Britain's global empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is divided into three thematic sections that examine the evolution of Scottish military identity over the early modern period, how the Highland region moved from a relationship of hostility to the Lowland political authorities to the central element in eighteenth and ninteenth century Scottish soldiering, and, finally, how aspects of Scotland's civilian society interrelated with her soldiers.

Europe in 1618 was riven between Protestants and Catholics, Bourbon and Hapsburg--as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless principalities. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with relentless abandon, drawing powers from Spain to Sweden into a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1971.