Thirty Years War ends - Oct 24, 1648 - HISTORY.com Thirty Years War ends Publisher A+E Networks The Treaty of Westphalia is signed, ending the Thirty Years War and radically shifting the balance of power in Europe. The Thirty Years War, a series of wars fought by European nations for various reasons, ignited in 1618 over an attempt by the king of Bohemia (the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II) to impose Catholicism throughout his domains. Protestant nobles rebelled, and by the 1630s most of continental Europe was at war. As a result of the Treaty of Westphalia, the Netherlands gained independence from Spain, Sweden gained control of the Baltic and France was acknowledged as the preeminent Western power. The power of the Holy Roman Emperor was broken and the German states were again able to determine the religion of their lands. The principle of state sovereignty emerged as a result of the Treaty of Westphalia and serves as the basis for the modern system of nation-states.

Related Videos The Treaty of Westphalia | History Today The Treaty of Westphalia Germany Thirty Years War On October 24th 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years' War. The Westphalia area of north-western Germany gave its name to the treaty that ended the Thirty Years' War, one of the most destructive conflicts in the history of Europe. The war or series of connected wars began in 1618, when the Austrian Habsburgs tried to impose Roman Catholicism on their Protestant subjects in Bohemia. It pitted Protestant against Catholic, the Holy Roman Empire against France, the German princes and princelings against the emperor and each other, and France against the Habsburgs of Spain. The Swedes, the Danes, the Poles, the Russians, the Dutch and the Swiss were all dragged in or dived in. Commercial interests and rivalries played a part, as did religion and power politics. Among famous commanders involved were Marshal Turenne and the Prince de Condé for France, Wallenstein for the Empire and Tilly for the Catholic League, and there was an able Bavarian general curiously named Franz von Mercy.

Others to play a part ranged from the Winter King of Bohemia to the emperors Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III, Bethlen Gabor of Transylvania, Christian IV of Denmark, Gustavus II Adolphus and Queen Christina of Sweden, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, Philip IV of Spain and his brother the Cardinal-Infante, Louis XIII of France, Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin and several popes. Gustavus Adolphus was shot in the head and killed at the battle of Lutzen in 1632. The increasingly crazed Wallenstein, who grew so sensitive to noise that he had all the dogs, cats and cockerels killed in every town he came to, was murdered by an English captain in 1634. Still the fighting went on. The war was largely fought on German soil and reduced the country to desolation as hordes of mercenaries, left unpaid by their masters, lived off the land. Rapine, pillage and famine stalked the countryside as armies marched about, plundering towns, villages and farms as they went. ‘We live like animals, eating bark and grass,’ says a pitiful entry in a family Bible from a Swabian village.

‘No one could have imagined that anything like this would happen to us. Many people say that there is no God...’ Wenceslas Hollar recorded devastation in the war zone in engravings of the 1630s and starvation reached such a point in the Rhineland that there were cases of cannibalism. The horror became a way of life and when the war finally ended, the mercenaries and their womenfolk complained that their livelihood was gone. The peace conference to end the war opened in Münster and Osnabrück in December 1644. It involved no fewer than 194 states, from the biggest to the smallest, represented by 179 plenipotentiaries. There were thousands of ancillary diplomats and support staff, who had to be given housing, fed and watered, and they did themselves well for close to four years, despite famine in the country around. Presiding over the conference were the Papal Nuncio, Fabio Chigi (the future Pope Alexander VII), and the Venetian ambassador. The first six months were spent arguing about who was to sit where and who was to go into a room ahead of whom.

The principal French and Spanish envoys never managed to meet at all because the correct protocol could not be agreed. A special postal system handled reams of letters between the envoys and their principals at a time when it took ten days or more to send a communication from Münster to Paris or Vienna and twenty days or more to Stockholm or Madrid. Slowly deals were hammered out. Even then it took almost three weeks just to organise the signing ceremony, which commenced at two o’clock in the afternoon of Saturday, October 24th, 1648. The treaty gave the Swiss independence of Austria and the Netherlands independence of Spain. The German principalities secured their autonomy. Sweden gained territory and a payment in cash, Brandenburg and Bavaria made gains too, and France acquired most of Alsace-Lorraine. The prospect of a Roman Catholic reconquest of Europe vanished forever. Protestantism was in the world to stay. 30 Years War - aftermath The aftermath of the Thirty Yearsï¿½ War. The peace of Westphalia Earlier efforts had been made to reach a peace settlement.

In 1636 Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini), no friend to the Hapsburgs whose influence in Italy he feared, had tried to convene a peace conference. In 1640 Ferdinand III - without success - suggested a peace plan based on excluding all foreign powers from German affairs. Eventually, the warring parties agreed to hold negotiations at a Congress held in Westphalia. The Imperial negotiators arrived in July 1643, the French in April 1644, and the other nations' delegations trickled in during that year. Even so, no negotiations of substance began until 1645, since the delegates bickered about protocol, precedence, and other formalities. Even when peace negotiations finally commenced in 1645, disputes between the Swedes and the French, plus the Swedes' refusal to meet the papal envoy meant that the conference had to be held in two separate locations in Westphalia (Osnabrï¿½ck and Mï¿½nster). Negotiations finally ended 24 October 1648. In January, Spain had already recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic.

[Full text of the Treaty of Westphalia ]. The dominant military position of France and Sweden ensured that they did well from the peace. (Both might have done better had they not allowed the Emperor to play them off against one another). The final treaty involved a series of land transfers. France succeeded in weakening the Emperor's power within Germany and strengthening that of Bavaria. France also gained land west of the Rhine, which effectively gave it control of Alsace. (Ultimate control of Alsace would be contested long after). French rights in Metz, Toul, and Verdun were confirmed. Sweden acquired a wealthy and strategically important region of Pomerania, including the town of Stettin (at the mouth of the river Oder), as well as control of the prosperous German port of Bremen. Brandenburg Prussia gained the rest of Pomerania, and the bishoprics of Halberstadt, Minden, and Carmin. The independence of Switzerland and the United Provinces was recognized by the Emperor, as were constitutional limitations on his power over the Holy Roman Empire. This effectively made the German states sovereign.

The Palatinate was split: the Lower Palatinate was returned to Karl Ludwig (son of Frederick V ), whilst the Upper Palatinate was retained by Bavaria. (later Pope Alexander VII) the papal delegate to the negotiations Pope Innocent X sent Fabio Chigi to Westphalia to defend papal interests. Chigi tried his best, but the Pope was not happy with the outcome. His Bull, Zelo domus Dei (November 1648), condemned many articles of the Treaty of Westphalia as contrary to the Catholic religion. The Peace of Westphalia granted Calvinists in the Empire a degree of toleration for the first time. A ruler could now legally make Calvinism the established religion of the state. (Lutheran establishment had been permitted since the Peace of Augsburg, 1555). Rulers were to permit private religious exercises of any confession that had been legally allowed in 1624. (After five years, a group not tolerated in 1624 could be expelled, but the property of its adherents was not to be confiscated). The transfers of land made under Catholic occupation during the 1620s and 1630s were largely reversed.

The religious clauses of the Treaty of Westphalia should have guaranteed the right of private worship to Protestants in Hapsburgs' hereditary territories. In practice, this was never fully allowed. The Peace of Westphalia did not involve any major territorial losses or gains. However, it entailed the Spanish conceding that they could never recapture the United Provinces, the Hapsburgs acknowledging that they would never be absolute rulers over a unified Germany, and Catholic admission that Protestantism was here to stay. The recognition of these obvious facts of life was very important to future peace and stability in Europe. Stanislaw Teczynski, c. 1630 The Treaty of Westphalia brought the wars in Germany to an end, but peace did not break out in the North and East of Europe. Sweden and Denmark spent much of the seventeenth century in conflict. Denmark levied heavy tolls on ships passing through the Baltic Sound. Principal shipping routes through the Baltic Sound The Swedish resented attempts to levy these tolls on produce from their territories in Northern Germany. Dutch merchants, whose vessels controlled much of the carrying trade, also begrudged the high tolls.

In 1640, the two powers allied in an attempt to secure free trade in the Baltic. In 1643, soon after the Second Battle of Breitenfeld, Lennart Torstensson marched his troops against the surprised Danish forces in Jutland. Meanwhile the Swedish navy attacked the Danish Fleet and defeated it at Fehmarn (Femern) Belt (October 1644). In the Treaty of Brï¿½msebro (1645), the Danish were forced to concede exemption from tolls to the Swedish and to hand over land in Norway, Germany, and Halland (in the Southern Swedish peninsula). France - annoyed by this Swedish misuse of French money given to fight Imperial forces - moved closer to Denmark, and other states too began to fear Swedish power. Korfits Ulfeld, the son-in-law of Christian IV , skillfully exploited these fears and won the Dutch over to the Danish cause. In 1649 he arranged a defensive alliance with the United Provinces. After the Peace of Westphalia, French subsidies to Sweden ceased, and Sweden found that its interests increasingly lay in friendship with the Austrian Hapsburgs.

Queen Christina soon threw off the tutelage of Axel Oxenstierna, and proceeded to waste money until the Swedish Crown was in dire financial straits. The complaints that this extravagance caused and Christina's decision to convert to Catholicism led to her abdication in 1654. Her successor was Charles X (Karl X Gustav). Before his succession Karl Gustav lived as a country squire on only two meals a day: - each meal had twenty-four courses and was washed down with ten quarts of beer and ten quarts of wine. (He did have the help of six friends) John Casimir , King of Poland, son of Sigismund III (King of Sweden from 1592 until 1599 when he was deposed) disputed Charles X's right to the throne of Sweden. Charles X decided to extend Sweden's Baltic dominions by attacking Poland (already weakened by Cossack revolts and Russian invasion) and overthrowing John Casimir. In July 1655, the Swedish army invaded Poland. It soon captured Warsaw (September 1655) and most of the rest of Poland.

The Protestant troops, however, treated the Catholic population with such brutality that it was soon in revolt. Throughout 1656 the Swedish occupation force was harassed by the Poles, who finally, and with the help of the Crimean Tartars, defeated the Swedes at Prostki (October 1656). Stefan Czarniecki (1599-1665) became a Polish hero by fighting stubbornly - and eventually successfully - against the Swedes, despite suffering a series of disastrous defeats. Charles X reached an arrangement with the Cossacks and with Brandenburg-Prussia that allowed him to withdraw from Poland and fight Denmark, which in June 1657 declared war on Sweden. By dint of a forced march of amazing speed, Charles X was able to move his army to Holstein by July 1657. Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp - ruler of the Duchy of Schleswig Holstein - was the father of Charles' wife, Eleonora, and Holstein and Hamburg (Denmark's long-term enemy) helped the Swedish army regroup.

In January 1658, the Swedish army made a daring march across the frozen Baltic and besieged Copenhagen. Denmark was forced to agree to the Peace of Rï¿½skilde (January 1658) - Scania, Halland, and Bleking became Swedish, as did also Bornholm, the last Danish eastern Baltic territory. Swedish success against Denmark did not solve all the state's problems. Brandenburg-Prussia, Poland, and Austria settled their differences and aligned against Sweden. In February 1660, Charles X contracted a fever and died, aged only thirty-eight. 1660 Treaty of Oliva, Poland abandoned all claims to the Swedish crown; Prussia agreed to move its troops out of Swedish Pomerania. 1660 Treaty of Copenhagen confirmed the Treaty of Roskilde except that Sweden handed back some territory (Trondheim and Bornholm) taken there. Poland remained at war with Russia until 1667, when by the Treaty of Andrusovo (Andruszow) it ceded much of the Ukraine (including Kiev), and Smolensk.

War between France and Spain to 1659 The marriage of Louis XIV of France to Maria Teresa, daughter of Philip IV of Spain June 1660 The Treaty of Westphalia ended fighting between France and the Austrian Hapsburgs, but Spain's war with France went on. In 1640 two areas under the control of the Spanish monarch revolted, Portugal and Catalonia, rebelled. France sent help to both. Spain turned against the Catalans first, which probably saved the Portuguese, who in 1665 won a decisive victory at Villaviciosa. The French also suffered from domestic disruption - the Fronde. Between 1648 and 1652, there were both popular disturbances (occasioned by high levels of taxation), and noble rebellion aimed against increasing royal power. The Spanish government took advantage of the Fronde to suppress the Catalans, finally retaking Barcelona in October 1652. Philip IV promised to respect Catalan privileges. France and Spain also continued to fight in the Italian peninsula. The Spanish finally captured Casale (Montferrato) in 1652.

In 1655 England (then allied with France against Spain) and captured Jamaica from the Spanish (although failing to take Hispaniola). The two powers jointly defeated Spanish troops at the Battle of the Dunes (June 1658) and took the port of Dunkirk, which fell under English control. 1659 Peace of the Pyrenees finally ended the Franco-Spanish wars. France made some small territorial gains (chiefly Roussillon), agreed not to help Portugal, and betrothed Louis XIV to Philip IV's daughter, Maria Teresa. Thirty Years War 1618-1648 The Thirty Years' Wars 1618-1648 & 1733-1763 Most textbooks refer to two different series of events as the "Thirty Years' War. One occurs in the first half of the 17th century and the other in the middle of the 18th century. You must be certain that you do not confuse these two events. Following is a summary of both wars. Use this page to help keep the ideas and events straight.

The Thirty Years' Wars 1618-1648 The Origins of the Conflict The Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had brought a temporary truce in the religious connict in the German states. This settle-ment had recognized only Lutherans and Roman Catholics, but Cal-vinism had subsequently made gains in a number of states. The Calvinists began to demand recognition of their rights. The Thirty Years' War began, however, as a direct result of a conflict in the Hapsburg-ruled Kingdom of Bohemia. The Bohemian Period (1618-1625) In 1617, the Bohemian Diet elected Ferdinand of Styria as king of Bohemia. Ferdinand, a member of the Hapsburg family, became Holy Roman emperor two years later, as Ferdinand II (r. 1619-1637). He was an ardent supporter of the Catholic cause. Ferdinand's election alarmed Bohemian Calvinists, who feared the loss of their religious rights.

In May 1618, the Calvinist revolt began when the rebels threw two Catholic members of the Bohemian royal council from a window some seventy feet above the ground. Both councillors fell into a pile of manure, and suffered only minor injuries. This incident became known as the Defenestration of Prague. Emperor Ferdinand II won the support of Maximilian I (1573-1651) of Bavaria, the leader of Catholic League. Troops of the Holy Roman Empire and Bavari commanded by Baron Tilly (1559-1632), invaded Bohemia. Tilly won a decisive victory over the forces of Fredreick V at the Battle of White Mountain, near Prague. Frederick fled to Holland. Emperor Ferdinand II regained the Bohemian throne, Maximilian of Bavaria acquired the Palatinate. The Bohemian phase of the Thirty Years' War thus ended with a Hapsburg and Catholic victory. The Danish Period (1625-1629) The Danish period of the conflict began when King Christian IV (r.

1588-1648), the Lutheran ruler of Denmark supported the Protestants in 1625 against Ferdinand II. King Christian was also the duke of Holstein and a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Ferdinand secured the assistance of Albrecht von Wallenstein (1583-1634), who raised an independent army of 50,000. The combined forces of Wallenstein and Tilly defeated Christian in 1626 and then occupied the duchy of Holstein. Taking control of Prague, the rebels declared Ferdinand deposed and elected a new king, Frederick V (1596-1632), the elector of the Palatinate in western Germany and a Calvinist. The German Protestant Union, which Frederick headed, provided some aid to the Bohemian rebels. The Treaty of Lubeck of 1629 restored Holstein to Christian IV, but the Danish king pledged not to intervene further in German affairs. The Danish period of the war, like the Bohemian period, thus ended with a Hapsburg and Catholic victory.

The Swedish Period (1630-1635) The Catholic victories alarmed Protestants almost everywhere. The victories of the emperor endangered the independence of the German princes, while the French Bourbons were concerned about the growth of Hapsburg power. The newProtestant leader became King Gustavus Adolphus (r. 1611-1632) of Sweden. In the summer of 1630, the Swedes moved into Germany. Later in the year, France and Sweden signed an alliance, and France entered the war against the Hapsburgs. The Thirty Years' War had begun primarily as a German conflict over religious issues. The conflict now became a wider European war, fought mainly over political issues, as Catholic France and Protestant Sweden joined forces against the Catholic Hapsburgs. During the early stages of the conflict, the Swedes won several notable victories. Tilly, the imperial commander, fell in battle in 1632. Emperor Ferdinand II called on Wallenstein to form a new army. In November 1632, at the Battle of Lutzen, the Swedes defeated Wallenstein, but Gustavus Adolphus was killed in the fighting.

When Wallenstein entered into secret negotiations with Sweden and France, he was assassinated a few days later. The emperor's army decisively defeated the Swedes at Nordlingen in southern Germany. The Treaty of Prague The deaths of both Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein, together with the exhaustion of both the Holy Roman emperor and the German Protestant princes, brought an end to the Swedish period of the war. The Treaty of Prague, 1635 generally strengthened the Hapsburgs and weakened the power of the German princes. The French Period (1635- 1648) The settlement reached in the Treaty of Prague was wrecked by the French decision to intervene directly in the war. Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), the chief minister of King Louis XIII (r. 161~1643) of France wanted to weaken the power of the Hapsburgs and take the province of Alsace from the Holy Roman Empire. In addition, Richelieu was plotting against Spain and its Hapsburg king, Philip IV (r. 1621-1665).

Both in Germany and in the Franco-Spanish conflict, the fortunes of war fluctuated. For a time, the forces of the Holy Roman emperor, aided by King Maximilian of Bavaria and other Catholic princes, more than held their own against the Swedes and German Protestants. France's success against Spain, enabled the French to send larger forces into Germany. This helped tip the balance in favor of the emperor's foes. Emperor Ferdinand II died in 1637 and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand III (r. 1637-1657). Peace negotiations began in 1641, but made little progress until the death of Cardinal Richelieu in 1642 and the French occupation of Bavaria in 1646. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 ended the Thirty Years' War. Sweden acquired western Pomerania, Eastern Pomerania was assigned to Brandenburg. France annexed part of Alsace and some nearby territory.

The settlement formally recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic and Switzerland and granted the German states the right to make treaties and alliances, thereby further weakening the authority of the Holy Roman emperor. In religious affairs, the Peace of Westphalia expanded the Peace of Augsburg to include Calvinists, as well as Catholics and Lutherans. The Peace of Westphalia ended the Holy Roman emperor's hope of restoring both his own power and the Catholic faith throughout the empire. The empire was now fragmented into a number of virtually independent states. The end of the Thirty Years' War left Hapsburg Spain isolated. The French war against Spain continued until 1659, when the Treaty of the Pyrenees awarded France part of the Spanish Netherlands and some territory in northern Spain. King Philip IV of Spain agreed to the marriage of his daughter Maria Theresa to King Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) of France. Together, the Peace of Westphalia and the Treaty of the Pyrenees established France as the predominant power on the European continent. The Thirty Years' Wars 1733-1763 This conflict includes three wars: 1.

The War of Polish Succession 1733-1739 2. The War of Austrian Succession 1740-1748 Known in America as King George's War 3. The Seven Years' War 1756-1763 Known in America as the French and Indian War War of Polish Succession 1733-1739 was fought not in Poland but in Belgium, Lorraine, Lombardy, Naples and Sicily. The conflict began over Polish succession but ended in an attempt to partition Austria and ended with Treaty of Vienna 1736. The terms of this treaty included: 1. Augustus should be king of Poland 2. Austria should give up Naples and Sicily and Spanish Prince Don Carlos should be their king 3. Austria should have Duchy of Tuscany in Italy in return for which they would allow France to have the territory of Lorraine. War of Austrian Succession began in 1740 when Frederick the Great invaded Silesia. The event was precipitated when King Charles VI of Austria died in October 1740 leaving no son to succeed him.

Charles had gove to great lengths to assure that his throne would go to Maria Theresa, his daughter. But Bavaria disagreed. During the internal conflict which followed, Frederick took Silesia. Frederick allied himself with Bavaria and invited France and Spain to take what ever they wanted from Austria. England allied with Austria because they, traditionally, not like France. Peace was finally made in 1745 with the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 1. Maria was recognized as ruler of Austria 2. Austria ceded Silesia to Frederick 3. Parma was ceded to Spain (from Austria) 4. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia 5. all other conquered lands were restored to their pre-1740 condition. The French and Indian War (in the Americas) or The Seven Years' War (in Europe) 1756-1763 On the American continent, the French fort, Duquesne, on the Upper Ohio River near modern Pittsburgh, was attacked by George Washington. Meanwhile in Europe the conflict revolved around an attempt to take as much of Prussia from Frederick as possible.

The conflilct ended with the Peace of Paris 1763 and the Treaty of Hubertsburg 1. Frederick was allowed to keep Silesia This in spite of the fact that he had to fight against Austria, Russia and England 2. although thousands had died not a hamlet had changed hands in terms of territory. 3. This war determined the future of Prussia. Instead of being destroyed as it could have been it was allowed to become one of the great powers of Europe. Peace of Paris allowed: 1. France gave England all territories in New World east of the Mississippi but not New Orleans 2. West Indies islands were also given to England 3. France gave Spain as a compensation for Florida New Orleans and all French territory west of the Mississippi 4. In India the French east India company was permitted to keep 5 trading posts but was to keep out of native politics. Example Essays: Treaty Of Westphalia 1. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) When the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, many aspects of European society were changed dramatically.

Two significant changes were that the Thirty Years War altered the balance of power between countries and also impacted the role and influence of religion across the continent.First of all, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed at the end of the war in 1648 after four years of negotiations. ... This treaty drastically changed the balance of power between these territories. ... The Dutch, when granted independence from Spain as a result of the treaty, were able to create their own overseas trade ... Word Count: 734 2. Dutch DBQ The Dutch Republic in 1650 was independent under the Peace of Westphalia. ... The Treaty of Dover shows that foreign enemies were allying against the Dutch Republic and preparing to overpower it. Under the treaty, France and England joined forces and France fought on the land, while England went to war at sea. ... Word Count: 693 3. Thirty Years War The treaty did not recognize the Calvinists, even though many German states adopted the faith. ... All sides were ready for peace now, and the Peace of Westphalia ended the conflict in 1648. ... The Peace of Westphalia ensured freedom to the German states, and broke up the Holy Roman Empire. ...

Word Count: 445 4. Libreral War In Iraq Last summer at West Point, president Bush gave a speech about how the country will be following the lead of a 354-year old doctrine, the Treaty of Westphalia. Jim Lobe, of the Asia Times, summarizes the treaty saying that it "Codified the principles of sovereignty and non-interferences in the international affairs of other countries." ... Word Count: 377 5. Sovereignty With the Reformation and Counter-reformation and the subsuquent wars of religion "the emerging authority of the secular state appeared to be the most effective remedy for the widespread religious and political disorder that enfulged EuropeaE(2).State sovereignty reached its top point after Westphalia Treaty (1648) and subsequent 300 years world politics was basicly organized on the basis of so-callaed westphalian system. "The treaties of Westphalia formally recognized the existence of seperate sovereignities in one international societyaE(3). The Westphalia state was sovereign and... Word Count: 1850 6.

The Hapsburg Dilema Charles the 5th signed the treaty of Augsburg and the treaty of Cambresis therefore ending all major wars amongst the Europeans. ... They all agreed to the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended all outstanding European conflicts. ... The results of the Treaty of Westphalia were that it allowed Europeans to concentrate more on their economies and on their civil issues. ... Word Count: 1537 7. Strategic Alliances The bloody Thirty Years War was ended by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the conclusion of these religious wars would be determined by the secular ruler and not by an external authority, such as the Pope. However, this principle had already been established through the Treaty of Augsburg (1555). According to this treaty each individual German principality had the right to decide whether its territory would be Lutheran or Catholic (Britannica, p.383). ... This system of the secular state after the Treaty of Westphalia formed the basis of the today"s system (Cobban, p. 1)3. ... Word Count: 2410 10.

Is the Concept of the Sovereign state Relevant in the Contem It was the Peace Treaties of Westphalia of 1648 at the end of the Thirty Years' War which marked the birth of the state system and acknowledged the individual sovereignty of the empire's states (Schreuer, 1999; p1). After the Peace of Westphalia, two legal rules of °immunity from jurisdiction ± and °immunity of state agencies ± were taken to uphold the national sovereignty in international affairs (Held, McGrew, Glodblatt & Perration, 1999; pp38). ... More recently (1999), the U.S. government acted in the context of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and led humanitaria... Word Count: 1818 11. Thirty Years War The book that I chose to read for my book report is called Problems in European Civilization: The Thirty Years' War: Problems of Motive, Extent and Effect. This book is a summary of the history of the Thirty Years war.. In my essay, I will show what lead to war and what happened during the war as ... Word Count: 1037 12.

What are the effects of an expanding EU on the sovereignty Europeans invented national sovereignty with "The Treaty of Westphalia,aE in 1648.2 European colonization and power quickly spread this concept throughout the world creating the modern nation state. ... By March 1957 these six countries signed treaties forming the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Eurotom). ... In February 1992 member states signed the treaty of the European Union initiating this structure. ... This treaty restructured the voting power of the member nations to accommodate the new members. ... The governmental struct... Word Count: 2411 13. Thirty years war The Thirty Years War was a series of European conflicts that lasted from 1618 to 1648. The battles were mainly fought in Germany. The struggle was initially based on the religious conflicts among Germans by the Protestant Reformation, but it was later influenced by other issues and later became domi... Word Count: 2101 14.

Evolution of international state system The State System in this arena was affected by Industrial Revolution, representative governments, political changes, growth of international law, emergence of international organization, economic interdependence, revolution in the means of transport and communication.FROM WESTPHALIA TO UTRECHTAn important concept to the state system was the principle of "dynastic legitimacy." ... Four Major Wars of Louis XIV were the War of Devolution 1667-1668 against Spanish Netherlands, Second Dutch War 1672- 1678 against Dutch, War of the League of Augsburg 1688-1697 and War of the Spanish Succession 1702-... Word Count: 1478 15. European History in the seventeenth century After reforms in France, and his alliance with Charles II (of England), Louis attacked again in 1672 (the Dutch War) which was blocked by the William III of Orange and resolved in the treaty of Nimwegen. ... Although France had rights in the region the terms of the Peace of Westphalia and local law made it possible for claims to "go in contrary directions". ...

The Dutch broke off from Spain and gained legal existence from the Treat of Westphalia. ... Word Count: 1538 16. Religion and Politics The second period will include the Renaissance, the Reformation to the Treaty of Westphalia (1101 to 1648 A.D.). ... The treaty of Westphelia was the agreement which not only settled the war, but gave absolute authority to the sovereign of each individual state. ... Word Count: 1327 17. Napoleon In May 1796, Napoleon rushed across North Italy, making Sardinia sign a peace treaty for its region. ... When Napoleon realized his army was moving too slow and had a chance of being attacked from behind he made a peace treaty between France and Austria which was called the Treaty of Campo Formio. ... The Second Coalition ended when Napoleon made the Treaty of Luneville with Austria (1801) and the Treaty of Amiens with Great Britain (1802). The victory at Marengo and the two treaties made France the highest power in all of Europe. ... Austria was then forced out of the Coalition by the harsh T...

Word Count: 1970 Between 1618 and 1648 Europe was torn apart by a horrific war known as the thirty years war, which finally ended with the peace of Westphalia. This treaty enshrined the inviolability of the Sovereign state. ... Word Count: 1549 21. Endangered and Minority Languages Culture, "the future of the local languages depends not so much on the strength of the national languages as on the relationship of the local language to education, government, and commerce.aE The Peace Treaty of Westphalia, the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna and the League of Nations Minority Treaties during the inter-war period in the first half of the twentieth century all included provisions for specific group-based rights in key areas related to language use, such as cultural institutions, education and communication with public services. ... Word Count: 1941 22. Do we really want an European constitution Do we really want a European Constitution?In science the award comes for the question aE" rather than for a seemingly certainanswer. The same is true for teaching, especially for teaching democracy, andfor education.

It often strikes me how much education and democracy have incommon: both, theories of education as well as theories of democracy, presumethe autonomous individual from the very beginning, capable to question anyauthority and any wisdom by itself. However, at the same time in both theoriesthere seems to exist the certainty that this autonomous individual still has to bedeveloped to... Word Count: 5120 23. love Black death- combination of bubonic and pneumonic plague. 1st swept through Europe in 1347, than returned for 3 yrs. on intervals. It originated in the Gobi desert of Mongolia and spread along the western trade routes and reached ports along the black sea. If received by a flee the person would swel... Word Count: 2695 24. Napoleons Russian Campaign The Kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony and Westphalia each sent 17,000 men and there were many additions from various other nations under Napoleon"s control. ... He received no reply from Alexander who promised his army that he would never go through with any peace treaty with Napoleon, which left Napoleon with three options. ...

Word Count: 2800 Austria - The Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia Austria Table of Contents The Thirty Years' War was finally ended in 1648 by the Peace of Westphalia. The treaty guaranteed the religious and political constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, giving the German princes the sovereign right to settle the religious question in their respective territories. France also achieved its main war aim because the costly war and the concessions to the princes effectively stopped the Habsburgs from transforming the Holy Roman Empire into an absolutist state under their direction. Nonetheless, in their own lands, the Habsburgs enjoyed greater political and religious control than before the war: they had gained loyal new followers from among the nobles by redistributing estates confiscated from rebels, and they were free to enforce religious conformity, which they did based on the model applied earlier in Bohemia. Custom Search Peace of Westphalia | European history | Britannica.com Peace of Westphalia France Peace of Westphalia, European settlements of 1648, which brought to an end the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the Dutch and the German phase of the Thirty Years’ War .

The peace was negotiated, from 1644, in the Westphalian towns of Münster and Osnabrück . The Spanish-Dutch treaty was signed on January 30, 1648. The treaty of October 24, 1648, comprehended the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand III , the other German princes, France , and Sweden . England , Poland , Russia , and the Ottoman Empire were the only European powers that were not represented at the two assemblies. Some scholars of international relations credit the treaties with providing the foundation of the modern state system and articulating the concept of territorial sovereignty . The Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of … Photos.com/Thinkstock The delegates The chief representative of the Holy Roman emperor was Maximilian, Graf (count) von Trauttmansdorff , to whose sagacity the conclusion of peace was largely due. The French envoys were nominally under Henri II d’Orléans, duc de Longueville , but the marquis de Sablé and the comte d’Avaux were the real agents of France.

Sweden was represented by John Oxenstierna, son of the chancellor of that name, and by John Adler Salvius, who had previously acted for Sweden in negotiating the Treaty of Hamburg (1641). The papal nuncio was Fabio Chigi, later Pope Alexander VII . Brandenburg , represented by Johann, Graf von Sayn-Wittgenstein, played the foremost part among the Protestant states of the empire. On June 1, 1645, France and Sweden brought forward propositions of peace, which were discussed by the estates of the empire from October 1645 to April 1646. The settlement of religious matters was effected between February 1646 and March 1648. The war continued during the deliberations. The decisions Under the terms of the peace settlement, a number of countries received territories or were confirmed in their sovereignty over territories. The territorial clauses all favoured Sweden, France, and their allies. Sweden obtained western Pomerania (with the city of Stettin ), the port of Wismar , the archbishopric of Bremen , and the bishopric of Verden.

These gains gave Sweden control of the Baltic Sea and the estuaries of the Oder , Elbe , and Weser rivers. France obtained sovereignty over Alsace and was confirmed in its possession of Metz , Toul , and Verdun , which it had seized a century before; France thus gained a firm frontier west of the Rhine River . Brandenburg obtained eastern Pomerania and several other smaller territories. Bavaria was able to keep the Upper Palatinate , while the Rhenish Palatinate was restored to Charles Louis, the son of the elector palatine Frederick V . Two other important results of the territorial settlement were the confirmation of the United Provinces of the Netherlands and the Swiss Confederation as independent republics, thus formally recognizing a status which those two states had actually held for many decades. Apart from these territorial changes, a universal and unconditional amnesty to all those who had been deprived of their possessions was declared, and it was decreed that all secular lands (with specified exceptions) should be restored to those who had held them in 1618. The Thirty Years’ War. Tashkent Agreement Even more important than the territorial redistribution was the ecclesiastical settlement.

The Peace of Westphalia confirmed the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which had granted Lutherans religious tolerance in the empire and which had been rescinded by the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II in his Edict of Restitution (1629). Moreover, the peace settlement extended the Peace of Augsburg’s provisions for religious toleration to the Reformed ( Calvinist ) church, thus securing toleration for the three great religious communities of the empire— Roman Catholic , Lutheran, and Calvinist. Within these limits the member states of the empire were bound to allow at least private worship, liberty of conscience , and the right of emigration to all religious minorities and dissidents within their domains. These measures of toleration did not extend to non-Catholics in the hereditary lands of the house of Habsburg , however. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent The difficult question of the ownership of spiritual lands was decided by a compromise. The year 1624 was declared the “standard year” according to which territories should be deemed to be in Roman Catholic or Protestant possession.

By the important provision that a prince should forfeit his lands if he changed his religion, an obstacle was placed in the way of a further spread of both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation . The declaration that all protests or vetoes of the Peace of Westphalia by whomsoever pronounced should be null and void dealt a blow at the intervention of the Roman Curia in German affairs. Exploring Italy and France: Fact or Fiction? The constitutional changes made by the treaty had far-reaching effects. For Germany , the settlement ended the century-long struggle between the monarchical tendencies of the Holy Roman emperors and the federalistic aspirations of the empire’s German princes. The Peace of Westphalia recognized the full territorial sovereignty of the member states of the empire. They were empowered to contract treaties with one another and with foreign powers, provided that the emperor and the empire suffered no prejudice . By this and other changes the princes of the empire became absolute sovereigns in their own dominions. The Holy Roman emperor and the Diet were left with a mere shadow of their former power. Not only was the central authority of the empire replaced almost entirely by the sovereignty of about 300 princes, but the power of the empire was materially weakened in other ways.

It lost about 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) of territory and obtained a frontier against France that was incapable of defense. Sweden and France as guarantors of the peace acquired the right of interference in the affairs of the empire, and Sweden also gained a voice in its councils (as a member of the Diet). For many years Germany thus became the principal theatre of European diplomacy and war, and the natural development of German national unity was delayed. But if the Treaty of Westphalia pronounced the dissolution of the old order in the empire, it facilitated the growth of new powers in its component parts, especially Austria , Bavaria, and Brandenburg. The treaty was recognized as a fundamental law of the German constitution and formed the basis of all subsequent treaties until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.

More about Peace of Westphalia 34 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References Treaties and Turning Points: The Thirty Years' War | History Today Treaties and Turning Points: The Thirty Years' War Posted 1st February 2016, 9:55 Historians need to dispel the myths that have grown up around the Peace of Westphalia. The Peace of Westphalia, which brought the brutalities of the Thirty Years’ War to an end in 1648, still looms large as a major turning point in the history of both international law and international politics. Indeed, few historical events can match the prevalence of the Westphalian myth, which holds that the Peace marked the emergence of the sovereign state and the modern international system as we know it. The source of this enduring myth can be traced to an influential article by Leo Gross, described by one critic as ‘the Homer of the Westphalia myth’, which was published in the American Journal of International Law in 1948.

Writing on the tercentenary of the Peace, soon after the founding of the United Nations, the Austrian-born legal scholar described 1648 as ‘the majestic portal which leads from the old into the new world’ and ‘the starting point for the development of international law’. This is still the dominant image of Westphalia: a major turning point between the medieval and the modern, the birth certificate of the international legal order. Political and legal theorists generally adopt wholesale the views promoted by Gross, while historians have done little to dispel this myth. Even today, when scholars regularly invoke the need for a ‘post-Westphalian’ order, or wonder what lies ‘beyond Westphalia’, they implicitly take Westphalian sovereignty as their natural starting point. It is rare to ask ‘why Westphalia?’, though it is a far more useful query if we aim to broaden the scope of the history of international law and politics. For when we consider the content and context of the treaties of Westphalia, it is clear that they did not radically alter the nature of sovereignty, nor did the Peace invent a new international system.

The idea that Westphalia paved the way for an international system of sovereign states relies on the argument that the treaties dismantled the twin supreme authorities of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire. Yet there was nothing particularly new or groundbreaking in the treaties that caused this: Protestantism had been recognised by the Empire as early as 1532 in the Treaty of Nuremberg. Though the Catholic Church’s political authority was certainly declining throughout the early modern period, there is nothing to suggest that Westphalia provided the ultimate turning point. Similarly, the idea that the Holy Roman Empire was replaced by a network of independent states after 1648 is exaggerated. The Peace of Westphalia officially gave imperial princely states the power to sign treaties, but this had already been widely practised for at least a half century before. Brandenburg, for example, had independently formed an alliance with the Netherlands in 1605. The German states still thought of themselves as a single body after the Peace: the Emperor was recognised as their overlord and representatives were still sent to the Imperial Diet, which retained control over legislation, warfare and taxation.

Overlapping sovereignties were as much a fact of life and a source of conflict after 1648 as they had been before. So why does Westphalia still figure so prominently in the history of international law and politics? One answer is perhaps the ahistorical nature of those two disciplines. Westphalia is detached from its context and assigned great importance because it suits the narrative of existing international law and international relations as Whiggish, evolutionary processes. So 1648 marks the first stepping stone on a path that leaps neatly from there to 1815, 1919, 1945 to the present day. By cutting out events before this date and painting Westphalia as the birthplace of the sovereign states system, the historiography of international law and politics is narrowed to make the formation of the existing settlement seem inevitable. Any alternatives outside the realm of sovereign states are discounted. The results of this narrowing are clear. It is as difficult for us to properly envision the Holy Roman Empire, with its confused sovereignties and stubborn refusal to act like a conventional ‘state’, as it is for many international relations scholars to account for the increasing influence of non-state actors in contemporary politics.

The challenge, then, is not to imagine a ‘post-Westphalian’ world order, but instead to apply a historical, non-Westphalian perspective to our study of international law and politics in the past, the present and the future. Cormac Shine is a Scholar in History and Political Science at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Related articles Treaty of Westphalia - Empire History Empire History About Me > The Treaty of Westphalia: 1648 The Treaty of Westphalia was a collective name given to a series of peace agreements that brought about an end to the bloody Thirty Years War (1618-48) in Europe. The peace made at Westphalia would cement the Nation-State as the primary focus of the International Relations discipline. The treaty was devised at the first modern diplomatic congress and placed emphasis on the sovereign state governed by a sovereign ruler. The Peace of Westphalia, 1648. The Treaty recognized the new boundaries of European States, including an independent Portugal and a Unified Netherlands. Create a free website

Question: The Thirty Years' War was finally ended in 1648 with what peace treaty?
Answer: Peace of Westphalia