What you are about to read is an attempt at a new and different account of the Thirty Years War, seen as an example of two civilizations and ideological conflict. The clash of one conception, deriving from the legacy of Humanism, tinged with Protestantism and taking as its model the United Netherlands, with another, Catholic-Humanist one which followed the example of Spain, becomes thus the point of departure for the development of political fronts and coalitions of power. It belongs to the central theme of this book to examine how during the War new and modern prototypes were evolved by France and England, models for experiment both in parliamentary government and absolutism, economic advance and manufactory production, colonial expansion and unbridled repression of minorities at home, scientific progress, religious toleration and witch-hunting. The traditional themes like the 'war for European hegemony', the fate of 'Europe divided', the relationship between Baroque and Classicism, will not be the center of attention here, but this author considers that the present interpretation of the Thirty Years War can throw light on those problems too. - page 9.