Battle Of White Mountain In Prague, 1620, Czech Republic; Large 17th-century Engraving

The Battle of White Mountain (in Czech: Bílá hora) took place on November 8, 1620, not far from Prague. It was one of the first and most important battles of the Thirty Years' War.

It pitted an army of approximately 21,000 men commanded by Christian I^er of Anhalt-Bernburg, fighting on behalf of Frederick V, the Protestant King of Bohemia, against the forces of the Holy Roman Empire under the command of Charles-Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, combined with the forces of the Catholic League under the command of Jean t’Serclaes de Tilly, bringing the total to 29,000 men who achieved a crushing victory. This battle marked the end of the first phase (the Palatinate phase) of the Thirty Years’ War.

The outcome of the battle brought an end to the independence of the Kingdom of Bohemia for a period of 300 years. Spanish troops, seeking to encircle the rebellious Dutch provinces, occupied the Palatinate on the Rhine. With Protestantism in Germany threatening to be overwhelmed, Denmark entered the conflict, thereby fueling the Thirty Years’ War, which would not end until 1648.

The Battle of White Mountain had lasting consequences for the history of Central Europe: it once again paved the way for Catholicism and the rise of absolutism in the Austrian and Bohemian lands.

The battle also had a dramatic effect on the Czech language. The educated class of Czechs adopted the German language. The Czech language would have to be revitalized as a literary language during the Czech National Renaissance movement of the late 18th – early 19th century, a phenomenon that can still be observed today as diglossia.

Damage and missing sections
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