With Denmark exiting the war in Germany, everything seemed to be looking up Ferdinand in spring 1629, but there was a problem. While on the military front, the Emperor still held the edge, on the diplomatic front, forces were conspiring to turn the war on its head. Cardinal Richelieu recognised that if Sweden and Poland could be brought to the peace table, Gustavus Adolphus would be free at long last to intervene in Germany. 

Both the Swedes and the French went deeper than this, though. Each recognised that Russia, far to Poland's east, could play a pivotal role in occupying the attentions of the Commonwealth just long enough for Sweden to make history. But could it be done? Could these tangled diplomatic branches actually bear fruit? In fact, they proved central to ushering in the next phase of the Thirty Years' War...

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