The Thirty Years War at first centered in Bohemia and, after the disastrous Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, Protestant partisans were forced to seek refuge in the neighboring states of Saxony, Silesia, Hungary and Poland. As their hope of an early return to their native land waned, they scattered to more distant lands, such as Holland and England. A few of the bolder exiles sailed on Dutch and English ships to America.