In Whose Camp Were the Austrians? Historical Tradition and the Austro-Swedish Interrelationship of the Early 1600s

This article examines Austrian Protestants who actively resisted the Habsburg Counterreformation in the early seventeenth century. Since the climax of their activism coincided with the Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War, the analysis includes contemporary Swedish policy and the resulting Austro- Swedish relationship. The essay not only explores the historical conflict itself, however, but also uses it as a case study on societal recollection. Austrian nation- building was anchored in a conservative ideological tradition with strong sympathies for the Habsburg legacy. This ideological perspective also influenced the assessment of the confessional period. The modern representation of early modern conflicts reveals the selectivity of historical memory.