Book excerpt: Excerpt from Schiller's Wallenstein A careful study of the drama presupposes a good general knowledge of the history of the period, and such knowledge has been assumed by the editor in the preparation of this volume. He has felt that a short account of this important epoch, such as might find place within the limits of this volume, would be inadequate and hardly necessary, in view of the easily accessible hand books on the subject, especially Gardiner's excellent short account of the Thirty Years' War, ' which the editor has for several years used with his classes as a general histor ical introduction to the study of the drama As it is of primary importance for the student to know also Schiller's conception of the period and its leaders, the student should be referred constantly to Schiller's history of the Thirty Years' War, which will, in many cases, furnish him with the best elucidation of the historical facts as they were known to Schiller.' Tire Thirty Years' War 1618-48, by Samuel Rawson Gardiner, in the Epochs of History series. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.