Some [Germans] wanted Germany to encompass all Germans, regardless of their faith.
Others wanted to create a purely Protestant Germany. The end result was an uneasy compromise.
The Second German War
January 1622, Backgound
In 1622, half of Europe was at war with the Ottoman Empire. While, for various reasons, not interested in joining the Anti-Ottoman War, the other half of Europe would not sit idly either. With Spain and Sarmatia busy with the Ottomans, France and Germany remembered that they had to take care of an unfinished war, only temporary interrupted.
As compared to the First German War, the power ballance was dramatically altered.
Now the German Empire was a Great Power which controlled almost three quarters of the former Holy German Empire having fought almost all its neighbours to a stalemate. The only parts of Germany still outside the German Empire were the rump states of Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland. The German Empire had since recovered from the losses of the First German War and was waiting for a chance to finish off the remaining pockets of resistance and finally unite all Germany under one banner. The start of the Anti-Ottoman War offered the best opportunity for Germany to fulfill its geopolitical aims.
France had long realized that helping the emergent German Empire in the First German War had probably been a mistake. While the war brought about the almost complete destruction of one of its two Habsburg foes (Austria) and the weakening of the other (Spain), the creation of a strong German State in place of a loose amalgamation of quasi-independent states (the Holy Roman Empire) could be rightfully considered as a rather bad outcome. The acquisition of the Spanish Netherlands, Lorraine, Burgundy, Savoy and other small States, although extremely welcomed, could not completely offset the presence of this very large and potentially unfriendly Germany.
When the Anti-Ottoman War broke out, France had several options:
1. Honor its old, unwritten and by now almost meaningless (because Austria was not a concern anymore) alliance with the Ottomans and attack Spain in the Pyrenees with the goal of capturing Aragon.
2. Officially break the already unfunctional alliance with Germany and invade the Catholic German States captured by the German Empire six years previously, hoping for an enthusiast welcome by the "oppressed" Catholic Germans.
3. Invade the Netherlands, framing the invasion as support for their German allies, and hope to keep the part of the Netherlands South of the Zuiderzee after the final border demarcation with Germany.
The option of attacking Spain was rapidly dismissed mainly because Spain did not pose any significant danger anymore. The only reason Spain had been considered as France's main enemy before the First German War had been the fact that Habsburg territory enveloped France from the South (Spain), North (Spanish Netherlands) and East (Austria). Now the Spanish Habsburgs have given up any interest in Germany whatsoever and were mostly interested in the Colonies, the Mediterranian and North Africa.
After a careful analysis which revealed that a complete defeat of Germany would be extremely difficult and probably not even worth while, France decided to conquer as much of the Netherlands as possible and keep it at the final Peace Settlement. The advantage of holding all the North Sea Coast up to the Zuiderzee could not have been underestimated, of course.
February - April 1622, Preparation
The German Empire and France are preparing for waging wars of aggression against their smaller neighbours.
The German Empire calls to arms almost 1,100,000 soldiers and splits them in four groups:
1. 400,000 are placed in defensive positions on the temporary border with France;
2. 300,000 are sent to invade Austria and drive the last remnants of Habsburg rule out of Germany;
3. 150,000 are sent into central Switzerland to quickly finish off any resistance on the part of the more stubborn Cantons;
4. 150,000 are sent to the border with the Netherlands to wait there for the order to invade, presumably after the hopefully positive conclusion of the negotiations with England.
The rest are scattered all over the German Empire.
France levies around 500,000 soldiers and sends most of them North to the border with the Netherlands.
Austria, the Netherlands and the remaining Catholic Swiss Cantons prepare to fight once again for their survival as independent States.
Austria sells most of its fleet, gold, silver and other treasures in order to hire as many Italian mercenaries as possible.
The Netherlands are negotiating with Engalnd and are still hoping to maintain their independence with English support.
The Swiss Cantons do not have much hope left anymore.
Spain has neither the means nor the desire to interfere anymore in
purely German matters.
Sarmatia has almost all of its armies in Crimea and the Caucasus, more than a thousand miles away from Germany.
Denmark-Norway (Scandinavia) is convinced of its Medium-Size Power status and is unwilling to ever again anger its much more powerful Southern neighbour.
Venice has recently started to entertain some ideas of Italian nationalism and has a vague plan to incorporate more Italians into its borders. The expected demise of Austria might bring some of these ideas to fruition without the need to recourse to war. Already entangled in the Anti-Ottoman War, Venice is unable to directly aid Germany in its looming invasion of Austria but nevertheless it has started negotiations with Germany.
May - September 1622, German Expansion
1-10 May
A Croatian revolt in Agram (Zagreb) is defeated by the Austrian military. Hundreds of Croats are hanged.
8 May
Germany invades Austria advancing deep into Austrian territory.
13 May
Germany invades the remaining free Catholic Swiss Cantons.
20 May
Vienna falls. Ferdinand relocates his Capital to Trieste and starts to ship his remaining fortune to Spain. The mercenaries are very inefficient compared to the German soldiers. This war would be the last to witness a large scale use of mercenaries.
23 May
Without asking Germany for permission, France enters the war by invading the Netherlands from the South.
3 June
Uri, the last Swiss Canton still unoccupied, capitulates to the now unstoppable German onslaught. The Southern Front is now quiet. Some German soldiers are redeployed as quickly as possible against Austria.
5 June
England and Scotland declare war to France and start to send much needed help to the Netherlands.
9 July
The German armies have pushed the Austrians completely out of Tyrol, Upper and Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia.
The front line has finally stabilized but Austria does not control any territory besides Carniola and most of Austrian Croatia.
16 August
Although defeated in the naval battles, the French armies are victorious on land in the Netherlands and reach the Southern shores of the Zuiderzee.
22 August
The impasse in the negotiations between the Germans and the English is finally overcome. Realizing their incapacity to help the Dutch resist the French invasion and seeing a German Netherlands actually preferable to a French one, the English reluctantly allow a German annexation of the Netherlands. An Alliance is signed between the German Empire, England and Scotland.
25 August
The Netherlands, faced with the dreadful possibility of being completely overcome by France, petition the German Empire for joining.
27 August
The German Empire admits the Federal Republic of the Netherlands as a State of the German Empire. Hours later, the German armies roll unopposed into the country.
30 August
Scandinavia joins the Northern Alliance of Germany, England and Scotland.
31 August
Sweden also joins the Northern Alliance.
1 September
The German Army reaches the North Sea. All the Dutch territory is under Allied or French occupation.
7 September
The German and French armies clash in the Netherlands. The French advance into German-held territory.
8 September
The Northern Alliance declares war to France. Massive German armies cross into Burgundy, Lorraine and the French Netherlands.
9-28 September
Germany advances hundreds of miles into Burgundy and Lorraine and even reaches France proper in some areas. France begins to redeploy soldiers to the new battlefields. More armies are levied from all over France.
October 1622 - December 1624, Stalemate in the West
September 1622 - February 1623
The English, Dutch and Danish Fleets sunk the majority of the French warships and proceed to raid the French Coasts with impunity.
November 1622 - July 1623
The French armies are eventually pushed out of the Netherlands but manage to defeat the Germans further South and recover Lorraine, Burgundy and the French Netherlands (renamed Belgium by the French).
October 1623 - December 1624
The war gradually fades out and low intensity warfare dominates the last year of the war on the French battlefields.
20 March 1624
Germany cedes to Venice about 40% of the Three Leagues Canton, the Southern part of Tyrol around Trentino and promises the Venetians parts of Carniola near the border of Venice proper and Istria. All these lands had an Italian majority.
March - April 1624
Venice mobilizes its infantry, takes control of the newly received territories and prepares to invade Austrian Carniola from the South.
25 March 1624
Germany resumes its military opperations against Austria.
27 April 1624
King Ferdinand von Habsburg leaves his country through Venice, disguised as a merchant. After passing through Venice and the Papal States, he would arrive unharmed in Spain one month later.
His cousin King Philip IV of Spain would grant him a generous pension and Ferdinand would retire in a gorgeous castle in Andalusia.
3 May 1624
Croatia invades Austrian Croatia against no meaningful resistance and capture Zagreb two days later.
13 May 1624
The remaining Austrian armies capitulate at Laibach (Ljubliana).
18 May 1624
The Germans reach Trieste. The Kingdom of Austria is disolved into its constituent parts which are annexed to Germany with the exception of the areas ceded to Venice and Croatia.
June - July 1624
Having its Southern and Eastern Flanks secure, Germany relocates most of its troops in the West to be redeployed against the last remaining enemy, France.
October - December 1624
With no major successes in battle, both France and the Northern Alliance turn to diplomacy in an attempt to end the war which has morphed into a gigantic money sink with no obvious benefit for either side.
Although the actual fighting had almost stopped, no armistice was signed, both parties waiting for the Anti-Ottoman War to finish first, probably hoping to find allies among the former anti-Ottoman belligerants.
30 December 1624
With none of the Crusaders willing to engage into another war so soon after the end of the extremely costly and high-casualty Anti-Ottoman War, France and the Northern Alliance sign a two-month Armistice pending a final Peace Treaty.
January 1625, The Hungarian Question
Having an armistice with France in the West, the German Empire found it opportune to muddy the waters in the East as well.
While the fighting in the Anti-Ottoman War had ended, the Alba Iulia Peace Treaty had not yet been signed and Ottoman Hungary between the Sava, the Danube and the Slovak and Austrian borders was still controlled by Ottoman soldiers.
That territory had previously witnessed an abortive Hungarian rebellion viciously crushed by the Ottomans.
The future status of that territory was by no means obvious. The only certain fact was that the Ottomans were going to withdraw and cede it to the Crusaders.
Before the War, the Lisbon Treaty tentatively assigned it to Austria, but there was no such country anymore and the mostly Catholic Crusaders would almost certainly not allow it to become part of Germany.
Thus, there were only two possible outcomes for Western Hungary: to be ceded to Romania or to have a Hungarian State created inside its borders. Either way, its Southern part would probably go to Croatia anyway.
Obviously, the German Empire advocated the Hungarian's cause hoping to establish a puppet Hungarian State.
1-22 January
The German Empire invades Ottoman Hungary from the West while Croatia invades from the South, crossing the Sava and advancing towards the Drava. The Ottoman armies are taken by surprise but offer some resistance nonetheless.
14 January
The Peace of Alba Iulia is finally signed. Most of Ottoman Europe is ceded to the Crusaders to be divided between Romania, Slovakia, Venice, Greece, Croatia and Hungary (Article IX).
Romania refuses to recognize a Hungarian State which would be vassal in all but name to the German Empire.
16-22 January
The Romanian armies cross the Danube and advance into Ottoman Hungary unopposed, the Ottoman armies laying their arms and proceeding to cross the Romanian territory and head towards the Ottoman Empire, as decided in the Peace Treaty.
23-28 January
20,000 Romanian soldiers and 45,000 German soldiers stand face to face in Ottoman Hungary. War is eventually averted.
29-31 January
Romanian and German negotiators meet in Raab (Gyor) and settle down the dispute, agreeing for a demarcation line between German and Romanian Hungary. The interests of the Hungarians are disregarded.
The Hungarian Question would resurface in the following years.
11 February 1625
A Peace Treaty is signed in Brussels between France and the Northern Alliance.
20 April 1625
A pan-european
Great Power Conference is called for the following year.
Its stated purpose is to avoid further unnecessary wars in Europe.
to tell you more than this: the Iberian Empire will get smaller.