written by Franz Mehring (1846-1919)

Biography:

Originally a liberal journalist, Mehring joined the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the early 1890s. He rapidly became acknowledged as an important theoretician. In the course of time he moved to the left and became associated with the current around Rosa Luxemburg. With the outbreak of World War I he was, despite his advanced years, a prominent member of the revolutionary opposition to the war along with Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Clara Zetkin. He was a founder member of the German Communist Party established on New Years Day 1919, but died later in the month shortly after the murder of his comrades Luxemburg and Liebknecht.


here's a link to his works on a webpage: Mehring (http://www.marxists.org/archive/mehring/1910/absrev/index.htm)

you can find some other works of the man on the site. He's a commy but it's a good work about the era.
First section:
about the protestant movements, Calvin, 30 year war, breakdown of Papel states
Second section:
Prussia-Brandenburg wars, diplomacy...
...
I haven't read it all yet, but here goes....

just figured out that posting the whole thing would be way to long..so you'll just have to go to the link..