Reformation" had, however, during the many years that had elapsed since the battle of Bila Hora made great progress, and the Swedes were not in all parts of Bohemia received as well as they had perhaps expected. Though Banēr in the year 1639 twice encamped before Prague, he did not attack the city. The Swedish troops committed great depredations in Bohemia. They spared only the property of the Bohemian Protestants, already a minority of the population, though many returned to their ancient faith as soon as they were able to do so with impunity. The events of the Thirty Years' War shortly afterwards obliged the Swedes to retire from Bohemia, and the "Catholic Reformation" was now carried out with renewed vigour. A war broke out between Sweden and Denmark in 1644 and obliged the Swedes to devote their attention to lands nearer to their home. In 1645, however, Bohemia was again invaded by a Swedish army under General Torstensohn. Sweden had then concluded an alliance with George Rakoczy, Prince of Transylvania, who was marching on Vienna. Should the Swedish forces join him before that city it would be possible—to use a well-worn expression—"to strike a blow at the heart of the Habsburg empire."[1] Torstensohn decided to march from Saxony on Vienna through Southern Bohemia, and he obtained a great victory over the Imperial forces at Jankov, near Tabor, on March 6, 1645. The few Protestants who still remained in Bohemia again joined the Swedes, but their far-reaching plans at this moment prevented them from intervening in the affairs of Bohemia. Torstensohn succeeded in joining the forces of Rakoczy before Vienna, but Austria was saved by the intervention of the Porte. The Ottoman Empire forced Rakoczy to come to terms with the Emperor by menacing him with an attack on Transylvania should he refuse to do so. In 1648 the last events of the Thirty Years' War took place at Prague—the city where the war had begun. A Swedish army under General Königsmark entered Bohemia, and by treachery obtained possession of the Mala Strana, the part of the town situated on the left bank of the Vltava. The repeated attempts of the
- ↑ These words were first used by Count Usedom, then Prussian minister in Florence, in 1866. He advised the Italian government to carry on the war against Austria as far as the Danube, where their forces could join those of Prussia, and then "frapper au cœur" the Austrian empire.
