Why did the catholics call in the spanish during the thirty years war and how did they get there?

by Barbarossa92

I understand that the Swedish were helping later because they were protestant, but why did the Spanish join to begin with? Also i wondered how the Spanish armies got to germany. They obviously must've travelled through France, how was this percieved by France?

jaysalos

They got there by way of " The Spanish Road" Spain/Hapsburgs held large amounts of territory in Italy, Netherlands and areas sprinkled through what's now Germany and France as well as the Hapsburg Austrians. Also at the time Spain had a gigantic navy for it's global empire. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Road . This shows you the actual route.

abt137

You may be interested in Geoffrey Parker's "The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567-1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars"

http://www.amazon.com/Army-Flanders-Spanish-Road-1567-1659/dp/0521543924/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418654581&sr=8-1&keywords=the+army+of+flanders+and+the+spanish+road&pebp=1418654604043