The Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648)

This conflict dominated the first half of the 17th century. In order to understand how a local quarrel within the Holy Roman Empire rapidly developed into a general European war it is necessary to look back to the period of Emperor Charles V (1519-1556).

The Protestant Reformation spread first to some of the German states of Charles V's empire. He was a devout Catholic with the dream of creating a European empire with one ruler and one Church (Charlemagne had the same dream), and so he went to war against his own subjects in order to crush the Lutheran and Calvinist heresies. By 1555, Charles had to admit defeat and was forced to sign a peace treaty with the Protestants of the Empire. "The Peace of Augsburg", as it came to be known, said that the ruler of each state within the Empire could impose his own religion on all of his subjects. The Catholic princes were content because this meant that Protestantism could not spread any further, whereas the Protestants were pleased because it guaranteed the future of their faith and even gave it official recognition for the first time. It was the Peace of Augsburg that finally convinced Charles that he had failed as the greatest Catholic ruler of Europe, and he abdicated the following year. The Peace of Augsburg, nevertheless, did bring peace to the Holy Roman Empire for over fifty years, a quite remarkable achievement when we think of what was happening in the rest of Europe.

Events: The Thirty Years' War (Opens in new window)

• 17th Century Europe : Homepage
• The Conflict Begins
• Sweden and France
• Germany, Spain and Sweden after 1648
• The United Provinces
• Beginning of the Decline
• Prussia
• Russia
• Social Conditions
• Peter the Great and the Rise of Russia (1682-1725)
• Top of Page

© Shirley Burchill, Nigel Hughes, Richard Gale and Keith Woodall 2009

Footnote : As far as the Open Door team can ascertain the image shown on this page is in the Public Domain.