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Title: Thirty Years’ War
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-48) started as a bitter conflict between the Protestant and Catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire, grew into a struggle among the princes for political dominance, and eventually led to the creation of the Nation-State System. The religious conflict between the two rival faiths in Europe began with the Protestant Reformation (1517), challenging the religious and political authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic Church’s forceful response triggered wars, leading to the Peace of Augsburg concluded in 1555 between the people of two faiths: Lutheranism and Catholicism. The exclusion of other Protestant sects turned out to be a source of future conflicts such as the War of Cologne (1583-1588) and the Julich Succession War (1609). France remained mired in the war of religion from 1562 to 1598. Religious tensions were exacerbated by an economic decline as trade shifted away from the Hanseatic League CITATION Wil08 \l 1033 (Wilson).
When Ferdinand II became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, religious tensions were further ignited as he forced his subjects to adhere to Catholicism, in contravention to the Peace of Augsburg’s tenet cuius regio, cuius religio (whose realm his religion) CITATION Wil08 \l 1033 (Wilson). The Protestant northern Bohemian states launched the Bohemian Revolt in response to the Emperor’s decree. The Defenestration of Prague in 1618 is considered as the event that commenced the Thirty Years’ War. Religious tensions were exploited for political maneuvering in the war, and eventually, Europe became a theatre of geopolitical power struggle CITATION Mic92 \l 1033 (Hughes).
The Peace Treaty of Westphalia concluded in 1648 marked the end of the Thirty Years’ War. The treaty ushered in a new era in the European politico-religious landscape. Boundaries were fixed and only states were decreed to have sovereignty over their subjects. To reduce religious tensions, state autonomy was increased, which blocked the interference of the Catholic Church in the religious matters of the states.
Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Hughes, Michael. Early Modern Germany, 1477 - 1806. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992.
Wilson, Peter H. "The Causes of the Thirty Years War 1618-48." The English Historical Review, Volume CXXIII (2008): 554-586.
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