The Thirty Years' War - James Aitken Wylie

never been before, ready to engage in the
worldwide strife, it is not less true that that strife
had reached a stage which left him no alternative
but to take part in it, if ever he would do so with
the chance of success. Victory had carried the
Popish arms to the waters of the Baltic: the
possessions he held on the coast of that sea were in
danger of being wrested from him; but his foes
would not stop there; they would cross the ocean;
they would assail him on his own soil, and
extinguish his sovereignty and the Protestantism of
his realm together. Wallenstein had suggested such
a scheme of conquest to his master, and Ferdinand
would not be at rest till he had extended his sway
to the extreme north of Sweden.[1]
Such was the situation in which the Swedish
monarch now found himself placed. He rightly
interpreted that situation. He knew that he could
not avoid war by sitting still; that if he did not go to
meet his enemies on the plains of Germany, they
would seek him out in his own sea-girt kingdom,
where he should fight at greater disadvantage.
Therefore he chose the bolder and safer course.
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