After military defeats and against a background of declining power, Ferdinand was compelled to abandon the political stances of his Habsburg predecessors in many respects to open the long road towards the much-delayed peace treaty.

He grew up in Carinthia with loving care from his parents and developed great affection for his siblings and his father with whom he always found a consensus in future disagreements.

[2] Ferdinand enhanced his authority and set an important legal and military precedent by issuing a Revised Land Ordinance, which deprived the Bohemian estates of their right to raise soldiers and reserved that power for the monarch.

[7] After Wallenstein's assassination, Ferdinand III personally took command over the Imperial army on 2 May 1634 and was supported by the generals Matthias Gallas and Ottavio Piccolomini, the military adviser Johann Kaspar von Stadion and the political adviser Obersthofmeister (Lord Chamberlain) Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff.

He achieved his first major military successes in July 1634 by regaining the city of Regensburg, which had been captured and occupied by the Swedish Empire in November 1633.

In September 1634, those successes were surpassed by the decisive victory of the Battle of Nördlingen, a joint effort with the help of the Spanish forces under Cardinal Infante Ferdinand.

His influence increased further after the fall of the powerful Imperial minister, Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, who had domineered the politics of Ferdinand II.

In 1635, Ferdinand III worked as Imperial commissioner in the negotiations for the Peace of Prague, as he tried to persuade the prince electors to adopt the idea of concerted warfare.

His political adviser Trauttmansdorff advanced to the position of Prime Minister of Austria and chief diplomat but was replaced by Johann Ludwig von Nassau-Hadamar in 1647 because of health, which had begun to deteriorate.

Trauttmansdorff was succeeded as Obersthofmeister by the later Prime Minister Johann Weikhard of Auersperg, who also taught the royal heir, Ferdinand IV.

The population was completely exhausted and massively diminished; countless people were impoverished, disabled, sick or homeless; and many had lost their families and had abandoned all moral standards.

After initial success and a combined Spanish-Imperial campaign into the heart of France in 1636,[12] the military situation of the emperor sharply deteriorated.

[14] At the same time, Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, a German Protestant in French service, took the Habsburg possessions in Alsace and the stronghold of Breisach after a long siege.

[15] To check the advance of Swedish General Johan Banér, who invaded Bohemia via Saxony in 1639,[16] Ferdinand had to recall Piccolomini's army from the Spanish Netherlands, which largely ended direct military co-operation with Spain.

However, it finally succeeded in making all imperial estates agree with the exception of the Electoral Palatinate, the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Hesse-Kassel to the resolutions of the Diet.

The emperor had to give in to pressure from France and Sweden and to admit all imperial estates to the congress and receive the ius belli ac pacis.

Even though the reports had been produced by officials, the process also proved to be an extremely busy time for the emperor since despite all of his advisers, he had to make the decisions.

The study of the documents suggests that Ferdinand was a monarch with expertise with a sense of responsibility and the willingness to make difficult decisions.

In the 1645 Peace of Linz, the emperor had to guarantee the Hungarian estates the right of imperial representation and freedom of religion for the Protestants, which prevented the Counter-Reformation and future absolutist rule in Hungary.

Without foreign military funds, the Imperial troops were incapable of offensive operations, which weakened Ferdinand's position in negotiations.

[23][24] Despite many losses, the constitutional position of the emperor after the Peace of Westphalia permitted an active imperial policy in co-operation with parts of the estates.

[25][26] At the Nuremberg peace congress of 1649/1650, the final withdrawal of foreign troops and the political settlement of the relationship with Sweden and France were carried out during which hostilities nearly started again.

Empress Eleonora was very pious and donated, among other things, for the Ursuline monastery in Vienna and the Order of the Starry Cross for noble women.

The event was the last traditional imperial diet and was replaced by the future Perpetual Reichstag, with its permanent congress of emissaries.

The fact that some of the nobles who had been raised by his father to the rank of prince gained a seat and a vote in the Reichstag also speaks for his growing strength.

They were parents to six children: On 2 July 1648 in Linz, Ferdinand III married his second wife, Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria (1632–1649).

Froberger lamented the emperor's death and dedicated to him one of his most celebrated works, Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impériale, Ferdinand le troisième; a tombeau for Ferdinand III's death was composed by the violinist Johann Heinrich Schmelzer.

His Drama musicum was praised by Athanasius Kircher, and the extant works, although clearly influenced by Valentini, show a composer with an individual style and a solid technique.

; Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Luxemburg, of the Upper and Lower Silesia, of Württemberg and Teck, Prince of Swabia, Prince of Transylvania, Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Kyburg and Gorizia, Landgrave of Alsace, Marquess of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgovia, the Enns, the Upper and Lower Lusatia, Lord of the Marquisate of Slavonia, of Port Naon and Salines, etc.

"[9] Editing Ferdinand III, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania, Bulgaria, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Luxemburg, of the Higher and Lower Silesia, of Württemberg and Teck, Prince of Swabia, Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Kyburg and Goritia, Marquess of the Holy Roman Empire, Burgovia, the Higher and Lower Lusace, Lord of the Marquisate of Slavonia, of Port Naon and Salines, etc.