SJS 4: "The rhetoric of death and destruction in the Thirty Years War"

Source:

Theibault, J. (1993). The Rhetoric of Death and Destruction in the Thirty Years War. Journal of Social History, 27(2), 271-290.

Author Credentials:

John Theibault received his B.A. in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Stevenson College in 1979. He then received a Ph.D. in history in 1987 from Johns Hopkins University then went to the University of Delaware where he received his MBA in 1999. He has taught and given lectures at many colleges including Richard Stockton College, Lehigh University, University of Oregon, Princeton University, and Loyola College. He has mainly taught and lectured about European history which shows that he is well-informed about the subject. He has also written many articles and books about early European history mostly in Germany about the Thirty Years War.

Summary:

In Germany during the Thirty Years War, which took place from 1618 to 1648, there were many descriptions of death and destruction. Since there were so many accounts written, the rest of the world became less interested. There was a debate about whether their accounts were accurate or if they were exaggerating. One writer, named S. H. Steinberg, argued that people were exaggerating the extent of the death and destruction in their villages but he did not give much evidence. He concluded that they were exaggerating in order to get their taxes reduced since they were calculated based on the size of the village. He also concluded that modern historians are very gullible and that they knew this so they used it to their advantage and exaggerated. Another writer named Beneck presumed that all of the accounts were true and the people were being honest. He believed that if there was evidence, the people were being honest while Steinberg believed that if there was no evidence given, the people were lying. This article seeks to understand what the war was like for the villagers of Germany in comparison to how it was transmitted. A man named Ludolf, who’s comment was included in the article, kept a parish register during this time which showed the extent of destruction and the suffering in the village. There were many thousands of accounts sent to attempt to create meaning and share their experiences. Once others began to become uninterested, they changed their vocabulary to get their attention. By 1627, all of the villages were known to be suffering but the Landgrave received so many supplications that they were not able to respond to all of them. In 1639 Amalie Elisabeth ordered a survey to be taken of all the villages in the territory which showed that they really were suffering and that there was a lot of death and destruction. For example, in Tilly, before the invasion in 1623, there were 172 hearths but after the invasion only 72 remained.

Analysis:

The author, John Thiebault, is arguing that the accounts of death and destruction in the villages in Germany are true and not exaggerated. I believe that he provides a significant amount of evidence to say so. He provides many examples of numbers and talks about many different accounts to show that many people were having similar experiences during the Thirty Years War. He talks about multiple different writers who criticize the war horrors including ones who say the people are exaggerating and ones who say the people are telling the truth. I believe that John Theibault is a reliable source due to his qualifications and the supporting evidence that he presents in this article.