Thirty Years' War & Peace of Westphalia

Thirty Years' War (1618-1648)

• Began when the Protestant Bohemian challenged Catholic Hapsburg ruler, Ferdinand II.
• German Protestants looked to Sweden's Gustavus Adolphus for help, who drove Hapsburg armies out of northern Germany.
• Gustavus Adolphus died in battle in 1632.
• France, under Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin, joined the German and Swedish Protestants against the Hapsburgs in 1635.
• The population of Germany dropped from 20 million to about 16 million.
• Trade, agriculture, and the German economy were ruined, delaying German unification until the 1800s.

Peace of Westphalia (1648)

• Weakened the Hapsburg states of Spain and Austria.
• Strengthened France by awarding it German territory.
• Made German princes independent of the Holy Roman emperor.
• Ended religious wars in Europe.
• Introduced a new method of peace negotiation where all participants meet to settle the problems of a war and decide the terms of peace.
• Recognized Europe as a group of equal, independent states, marking the beginning of the modern state system.

Central Europe in the Mid-1600s

• Major powers included the kingdom of Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, none of which were strong.
• Landowning aristocracy in central Europe passed laws restricting the ability of serfs to gain freedom and move to cities.
• Polish nobility elected the Polish king and limited his power, preventing the formation of a unified state.
• The Holy Roman Empire was weakened by the Thirty Years’ War and could not command the obedience of the German states.

Austria Grows Stronger

• The Austrian Hapsburgs reconquered Bohemia, wiped out Protestantism, and created a new Czech nobility loyal to them.
• Centralized the government and created a standing army.
• Retook Hungary from the Ottoman Empire by 1699.
• Charles VI had difficulty ruling due to the diverse population within its borders: Czechs, Hungarians, Italians, Croatians, and Germans.
• Charles VI persuaded European leaders to recognize his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as his heir.

Prussia Challenges Austria

• Like Austria, Prussia rose to power in the late 1600s under the ruling family, the Hohenzollerns.
• In 1640, Frederick William, the Great Elector, inherited the title of elector of Brandenburg and built a strong army.
• The Great Elector and his descendants moved toward absolute monarchy by creating a standing army and introducing permanent taxation.
• Prussia’s landowning nobility, the Junkers, cooperated with the king in exchange for the exclusive right to be officers in his army.
• Prussia became a rigidly controlled, highly militarized society under Frederick William I.

Frederick the Great (Frederick II)

• Softened some of his father’s laws, encouraged religious toleration and legal reform.
• Believed that a ruler should be like a father to his people.

Maria Theresa

• Decreased the power of the nobility and limited the amount of labor that nobles could force peasants to do.

War of the Austrian Succession (1740)

• Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia wanted the Austrian land of Silesia, which bordered Prussia.
• Frederick underestimated Maria Theresa’s strength and sent his army to occupy Silesia.
• Maria Theresa asked the Hungarian nobles for aid, gained an army, and allied with Great Britain.
• Maria Theresa lost Silesia in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
• Prussia became a major European power with the acquisition of Silesia.

The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

• Maria Theresa allied with France, leading Frederick to sign a treaty with Britain.
• Austria, France, Russia, and others were allied against Britain and Prussia.
• Frederick attacked Saxony, an Austrian ally, involving every great European power in the war.
• Fought in Europe, India, and North America.
• The war did not change the territorial situation in Europe.
• Britain gained sole economic domination of India, setting the stage for further British expansion in India in the 1800s.