All the classic balance of power dynamics came into play. In this case, the Thirty Years’ War was a classic fight over wealth and power, just a lot longer one. On one side was the Catholic emperor of Habsburg Austria, who was allied with the German Catholic territories (most prominently Bavaria), as well as with Spain and the Papal States. On the other side were the German Protestant nobles, allied at different points in time with Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France. The fighting was about money, religion (Protestants versus Catholics), and geopolitics.
