--- product_id: 299023558 title: "PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War" price: "$62.19" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 5 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/299023558-penguin-europes-tragedy-a-new-history-of-the-thirty-years store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # Award-winning historical scholarship Comprehensive 800+ pages deep dive Detailed battle maps & military analysis PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War **Price:** $62.19 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > ⚔️ Dive into Europe’s defining war—where power, faith, and fate collide! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War - **How much does it cost?** $62.19 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/299023558-penguin-europes-tragedy-a-new-history-of-the-thirty-years) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Essential Reference:** Ranks top 300 in Military History—your go-to volume for European conflict studies. - • **Award-Winning Insight:** Winner of the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2011—trusted expertise. - • **Epic Historical Scope:** Explore the full 30 Years War saga from political intrigue to battlefield drama. - • **Rich Character Portraits:** Meet key figures like Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus in vivid detail. - • **Unmatched Depth & Detail:** 800+ pages of incisive, well-indexed content for serious history buffs. ## Overview PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy offers a masterful, award-winning new history of the Thirty Years War, blending political, religious, and military perspectives across 800+ pages. This definitive volume features detailed battle maps, rich character studies, and comprehensive analysis, making it an essential resource for understanding one of Europe’s most devastating conflicts. ## Description Winner of the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2011 The horrific series of conflicts known as the Thirty Years War (1618-48) tore the heart out of Europe, killing perhaps a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to whole areas of Central Europe to such a degree that many towns and regions never recovered. All the major European powers apart from Russia were heavily involved and, while each country started out with rational war aims, the fighting rapidly spiralled out of control, with great battles giving way to marauding bands of starving soldiers spreading plague and murder. The war was both a religious and a political one and it was this tangle of motives that made it impossible to stop. Whether motivated by idealism or cynicism, everyone drawn into the conflict was destroyed by it. At its end a recognizably modern Europe had been created but at a terrible price. Peter Wilson's book is a major work, the first new history of the war in a generation, and a fascinating, brilliantly written attempt to explain a compelling series of events. Wilson's great strength is in allowing the reader to understand the tragedy of mixed motives that allowed rulers to gamble their countries' future with such horrifying results. The principal actors in the drama (Wallenstein, Ferdinand II, Gustavus Adolphus, Richelieu) are all here, but so is the experience of the ordinary soldiers and civilians, desperately trying to stay alive under impossible circumstances. Review: Extremely good overview of the period - Extremely well written. Drawbacks first - the book is very long, and the war does not even start until page 269, so if you aren't interested in the detail 17th century politics, move along please (though if you are, then of course these are not drawbacks). The single overview map is pretty dire and inadequate as usual, though the many battle maps are excellent. On the positive side, the book is clear, incisive, comprehensive, well written and extremely readable, with (absolutely critical for such a work) an excellent index. It'll probably stand the test of time as the best single volume reference for the war, though both Parker and Wedgwood give it a run for its money if you don't want to read such a door stopper. Review: Very complicated but very interesting - This is a very thorough history of the Thirty Years War. It covers a great deal of the period leading up to the incident in Prague which caused such a devastating conflagration and deals, to some extent, with the aftermath. The cast of characters is very long and can, at times, be quite confusing. For that reason it is not a light read but a very satisfying one. What is often described as a religious war turns out to be much more than that. Strongly recommended if you are prepared to put in the effort. ## Features - Item Trademark: PENGUIN BOOKS LTD - manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd - Item Weight: grams, pounds, 1.58071441854, 717. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #53,397 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #291 in Military History #421 in History of Europe #519 in World History | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 148 Reviews | ## Images ![PENGUIN Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/910uvO-s4xL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Extremely good overview of the period *by P***E on 28 March 2014* Extremely well written. Drawbacks first - the book is very long, and the war does not even start until page 269, so if you aren't interested in the detail 17th century politics, move along please (though if you are, then of course these are not drawbacks). The single overview map is pretty dire and inadequate as usual, though the many battle maps are excellent. On the positive side, the book is clear, incisive, comprehensive, well written and extremely readable, with (absolutely critical for such a work) an excellent index. It'll probably stand the test of time as the best single volume reference for the war, though both Parker and Wedgwood give it a run for its money if you don't want to read such a door stopper. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very complicated but very interesting *by N***I on 30 June 2019* This is a very thorough history of the Thirty Years War. It covers a great deal of the period leading up to the incident in Prague which caused such a devastating conflagration and deals, to some extent, with the aftermath. The cast of characters is very long and can, at times, be quite confusing. For that reason it is not a light read but a very satisfying one. What is often described as a religious war turns out to be much more than that. Strongly recommended if you are prepared to put in the effort. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Don't mliss it if You are interested in history *by V***A on 24 November 2025* the most researched book on the period. It is much better than the Parker and the Wedgewood previous histories . It gives a paramount view on the period which descrbes the chaos and as never anything changes in the human nature it coulld be read as an actual situation in which we can plunge very easily. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/299023558-penguin-europes-tragedy-a-new-history-of-the-thirty-years](https://www.desertcart.us/products/299023558-penguin-europes-tragedy-a-new-history-of-the-thirty-years) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-07-16*