By late 1628, the Habsburgs appeared supreme. The Danes were on the ropes, and all of the Empire was firmly in the grip of Wallenstein.

But appearances were deceptive. The Emperor's triumph was assured, but his cousins were having less luck. Spanish problems in North Italy demanded a united Habsburg response. Spain needed all the help it could get in its Dutch War, but it was the North Italian front, specifically in Mantua, that the Spanish seemed most invested.

Wallenstein was even petitioned. He could spare some men, right? Well, actually, keeping the German peace was a difficult enough task, and the Emperor didn't make it any easier! Flush with victory, Emperor Ferdinand issued the Edict of Restitution, a document so ill-timed and contentious, it changed everything.

The Empire had soured on the Emperor and his trusty generalissimo. The Edict was the final straw.

By summer 1630, Wallenstein was dismissed to appease Vienna's court, just as Germany was fracturing internally, and a new threat appeared on the scene. It was the King of Sweden, and Wallenstein had been warning of his arrival for some time. Worse, he was backed by French money, and a France newly freed from its own domestic troubles.

The Thirty Years' War had truly begun.

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