Wallenstein (trilogy of plays)

In this drama, Schiller addresses the decline of the famous general Albrecht von Wallenstein, basing it loosely on actual historical events during the Thirty Years' War.

Wallenstein fails at the height of his power as successful commander-in-chief of the imperial army when he begins to rebel against his emperor, Ferdinand II.

The action is set some 16 years after the start of the war, in the winter of 1633/1634, and begins in the Bohemian city of Pilsen, where Wallenstein is based with his troops.

They praise the great freedom he allows them—to plunder, for instance—whenever they are not engaged in fighting, and his efforts on their behalf in negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor, of whom some of the troops are critical.

Unwilling, Wallenstein considers resignation and, to pressure the emperor into making peace, is secretly negotiating with the Swedish enemy.

Spurring him on are his closest comrades, his brother-in-law Terzky and Illo, who scheme to get all the commanders to sign a document pledging their loyalty to Wallenstein.

The situation comes to a head because Octavio's son Max Piccolomini and Wallenstein's daughter Thekla (both fictional creations by Schiller) are in love.

Having learned that the negotiators he has sent to bargain with the Swedes have been intercepted by imperial troops, Wallenstein supposes that the emperor now has damning evidence of his treason.

In the night, Butler's henchmen, Macdonald and Deveroux, murder Illo and Terzky during a banquet, then kill Wallenstein himself in his bedroom.