"The History of the Thirty Years' War" by Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. In this book, he uses his sharp intellect and insight to provide reders with a subjective but historic account of the Thirty Years' War, one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history. He tackles both the Protestants and the Holy Roman Empire in equal measure has he lays out the context, causes, and events of the conflicts.