France’s entry into the Thirty Years’ War did not happen in a vacuum; decades of political sparring and power politics led to that point. To fully understand why and how France got into the war, it’s important to see France through the eyes of Louis XIII, or better yet, through the eyes of his most important advisor, Cardinal Richelieu. Born as Armand Jean du Plessis, Richelieu is one of the most influential – and overrated figures in all of history. He’s a priest, a general, a scholar, a diplomat, and a brilliant politician. It will take all of his skills to hold France together, and stand against the combined Habsburg powers of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. SUBSCRIBE TO RELEVANT HISTORY, AND NEVER MISS AN EPISODE! Relevant History Patreon: https://bit.ly/3vLeSpF Subscribe on Apple Music (iTunes): https://apple.co/2SQnw4q Subscribe on Google Music: https://bit.ly/30hUTRD Subscribe on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/38bzOvo RSS feed: https://bit.ly/2R0Iosz Relevant History on Twitter: https://bit.ly/3eRhdtk Relevant History on Facebook: https://bit.ly/2Qk05mm Relevant History SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/relevant-history Official website: https://bit.ly/3btvha4 Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTOX-pLT7cTHQtRNZofjsK9GgNmZgjZccjq89dJxft9OjCUVd0gR9BWn6a3Ajy5_neXXLDWgwZ0718l/pub Music credit: Sergey Cheremisinov - Black Swan