German leaders, whether Protestant or Catholic, became yet more powerful at the expense of the central governing institution, the empire. Protestant leaders gained by receiving lands that formerly belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, although not to as great an extent as, for example, would occur in England. Each prince also became the head of the established church within his territory. The ensuing French campaign against the Spanish forces in Flanders culminated with a decisive French victory at Rocroi in May The two army groups moved south in the spring of , re-establishing alliances on the way, including a revitalized one with Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel.
The two Swedish armies combined and confronted the imperialists at the Battle of Wittstock. Despite the odds being stacked against them, the Swedish army won. After the battle of Wittstock, the Swedish army regained the initiative in the German campaign. The imperial army suffered 20, casualties. In addition, the Swedish army took 5, prisoners and seized forty-six guns, at a cost to themselves of 4, killed or wounded.
Over the next four years, fighting continued, but all sides began to prepare for ending the war. However, an imperial army led by Octavio Piccolomini managed to check the Franco-Swedish army in Bavaria, though their position remained fragile. There, they captured many valuable treasures, including the Codex Gigas , which contains the Vulgate Bible as well as many historical documents all written in Latin, and is still today preserved in Stockholm as the largest extant medieval manuscript in the world.
However, they failed to conquer the right-bank part of Prague and the old city, which resisted until the end of the war. These results left only the imperial territories of Austria safely in Habsburg hands. The Swedish siege of Prague in In , the Swedish army entered Prague and captured Prague Castle, where the catalyst of the war, the Defenestration of Prague, had taken place thirty years before. The end of the war was not brought about by one treaty, but instead by a group of treaties, collectively named the Peace of Westphalia.
Along with ending open warfare between the belligerents, the Peace of Westphalia established several important tenets and agreements:. There were also several territorial adjustments brought about by the peace settlements. For example, the independence of Switzerland from the empire was formally recognized. France came out of the war in a far better position than any of the other participants.
Barriers to trade and commerce erected during the war were also abolished, and a degree of free navigation was guaranteed on the Rhine. The Holy Roman Empire in After the Peace of Westphalia, each prince of a given Imperial State would have the right to determine the religion of his own state, the options being Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism. Fighting continued between France and Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in Nevertheless, it did settle many outstanding European issues of the time.
Some of the principles developed at Westphalia, especially those relating to respecting the boundaries of sovereign states and non-interference in their domestic affairs, became central to the world order that developed over the following centuries, and remain in effect today. Many of the imperial territories established in the Peace of Westphalia later became the sovereign nation-states of modern Europe. The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peaces established by diplomatic congress, and a new system of political order in central Europe, later called Westphalian sovereignty, based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states.
Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order. Europe in A simplified map of Europe in , showing the new borders established after the Peace of Westphalia.
Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Protestant Reformation. Search for:. Key Takeaways Key Points The Holy Roman Empire was a fragmented collection of largely independent states, which, after the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, was divided between Catholic and Protestant rulership. The Peace of Augsburg ended early conflict between German Lutherans and Catholics and established a principle in which princes were guaranteed the right to select either Lutheranism or Catholicism within the domains they controlled.
The war began when the newly elected Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, tried to impose religious uniformity on his domains, forcing Roman Catholicism on its peoples, and the Protestant states banded together to revolt against him. Key Terms Peace of Augsburg : A treaty between Charles V and the forces of Lutheran princes on September 25, , which officially ended the religious struggle between the two groups and allowed princes in the Holy Roman Empire to choose which religion would reign in their principality.
Learning Objectives Describe the events surrounding the Defenestration of Prague. Toward the end his reign, Emperor Matthias, realizing he would die without an heir, arranged for his lands to go to his nearest male relative, the staunchly Catholic Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria. Protestants in Bohemia were wary of Ferdinand reversing the religious tolerance and freedom formerly established by the Peace of Augsburg.
The dispute culminated after several battles in the final Battle of White Mountain, where the Protestants suffered a decisive defeat. Learning Objectives Analyze the reasons for Denmark getting involved in the war. Peace was short lived; the Danish duchy, under the rule of Christian IV, rallied troops to support the Protestants against Ferdinand.
With another military success for the Catholics, Ferdinand II took back several Protestant holdings and declared the Edict of Restitution in an attempt to restore the religious and territorial situations reached in the Peace of Augsburg.
Learning Objectives Discuss why the Swedish were inclined to join in the war. The king of Sweden, Gustav Adolph, had been well informed of the war between the Catholics and Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire for some time, but did not get involved because of an ongoing conflict with Poland.
While Sweden was under a truce with Poland, Gustav reformed the Swedish military, leading to an army that became the model for all of Europe. From to , Swedish-led armies drove the Catholic forces back, regaining much of the lost Protestant territory, especially at the key Battle of Breitenfeld.
By the spring of , the Catholic and the Protestant sides met for negotiations, producing the Peace of Prague , which entailed a delay in the enforcement of the Edict of Restitution for forty years. The tide of the war turned clearly toward France and against Spain in , starting with the siege and capture of the fort at Arras.
After the Peace of Prague, the Swedes reorganized the Royal Army and reentered the war, winning important battles against the imperial army. Learning Objectives Describe the terms of the Peace of Westphalia. The treaties did not restore peace throughout Europe, but they did create a basis for national self-determination. Along with several territorial adjustments, the terms of the Peace of Westphalia included a return to the principles in the Peace of Augsburg of , in which each prince would have the right to determine the religion of his own state.
The treaty also extended that tolerance to allow the minority religion of the territory to practice freely. The Peace of Westphalia established important political precedents for state sovereignty, inter-state diplomacy, and balance of power in Europe. Key Terms letters of marque : A government license authorizing a person known as a privateer to attack and capture enemy vessels and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale.
Nor shall he, in person or through any agent, descend upon any castle, town, manor, fortification, village, estate, hamlet, or against the will of the other seize them wickedly with violence, or damage them by fire or in other ways.
Nor shall any one give such offenders counsel or help, or render them aid and assistance in any other way. Nor shall one knowingly or willingly show them hospitality, house them, give them food or drink, keep or suffer them.
But every one shall love the other with true friendship and Christian love. It is provided also that no estate or member of the Holy Empire shall deprive or cut off any other estate from free access to provisions and food, or interfere with its trade, rents, money, or income; for justice should be administered not irregularly but in suitable and fixed places.
In every way shall His Imperial Majesty, and We, and all the estates, mutually adhere to all the contents of this present religious and general constitution for securing the peace of the land.
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