The War of the Mantuan Succession is a peripheral part of the Thirty Years' War.

Its casus belli is the extinction of the direct male line of the House of Gonzaga in December 1627.

Brothers Francesco IV (1612), Ferdinando (1612-1626), and Vincenzo II (1626-1627), the last three dukes of Gonzaga, had all died leaving no legitimate heirs.

The war, fought among the backers of rival claimants, pits France against the Habsburgs in a contest for control of northern Italy.