The Thirty Years War

The Thirty Years War

The war began with the resistance and eventual revolt of Protestant nobles in Bohemia, which was under Hapsburg domination, against the Catholic King Ferdinand. It spread through Europe because of the constitutional frailty of the Holy Roman Empire, the inability of the German states to act in concert, and the ambitions of other European powers. The Catholic Princes were opposed to the Emperor. The Protestant rulers were divided among themselves between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and many of them were at odds for purely political reasons. Any quarrel among any of the Princes, or between one of them and the emperor, was bound to feed upon heated antagonism and involved them all.

A dispute in Bohemia precipitated the conflict. The Catholic King Ferdinand violated the "Letter of Majesty." This resulted in the revolt of the Czechs in Bohemia. Thus began a war that lasted 30 years. The ensuing conflict came to be known as "The Bohemian Period" (1618-1625) or the Thirty Years' War. The Protestants elected Frederic as King of Bohemia. Later with the help of the Emperor, the Protestant forces were defeated. Their properties were snatched and distributed among the Catholics. So Protestantism largely disappeared in Bohemia.

As the war dragged on diplomats from all over Europe assembled in Duchy of Westphalia and engaged in the first general peace conference in European History. The treaty of Westphalia was signed in 1648. Territories were given to Sweden, France and Bavaria. Switzerland was formally declared separated from the Empire. The treaty not only brought an end to the Thirty Years' War but also destroyed Germany. Germany was rendered economically bankrupt and politically dismembered, divided into about 350 big and small states. German princes were made free in internal and external affairs. They arranged and looked after their own army, judiciary and law. The emperor was simply to be an acting officer for distributing ordinary posts. He was confined to Austria only and had nothing to do with Germany in the future.

The general results of the war may be said to have been a tremendous decrease in German population; devastation of German agriculture; ruin of German commerce and industry; the breakup of the Holy Roman Empire, which was a mere shell in the succeeding centuries; and the decline of Hapsburg greatness. The war ended the era of conflicts inspired by religious passion, and the Peace of Westphalia was an important step toward religious toleration. The incredible sufferings of the German peasantry were remembered for centuries. The political settlements of the peace were to the disadvantage of Germany as well as the Hapsburgs. The estrangement of N Germany from Austria, then begun, was to continue for more than two centuries. The Thirty Years War persuaded everybody that neither the Protestants nor the Catholics could be completely victorious and dreams of an empire, united under a Catholic Church had to be abandoned.

On October 24, 1648 in Munster a treaty was signed that ended one of the most bloody wars in European ...