Thirty Years War: Religious/Economic War for Control of Europe

1620-1648

Causes:

Richelieu's ambition to make France more powerful than the Hapsburgs.

Unresolved religious conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants

Desire of the Germanic princes to become independent of the Holy Roman Empire

Economic competition between Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and the Hapsburgs

Events:

Protestants rebelled in Bohemia, a Germanic principality, in 1620 which was suppressed by the HRE

The Protestant German princes and Protestant Danes attacked the HRE who defeated them

Sweden then got involved while France supported Sweden

By 1648 France and her allies claimed Victory

Results:

Treaty of Westphalia which changed and established boundaries that impacted Europe for the next 250 years.

Most of the battles took place in the German principalities. These areas lost 1/3 of their population to casualties, war and famine, and disease.

France gained territory.

The Netherlands and Sweden were recognized as independent countries.

The Germanic princes were free of the Hapsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire consolidated their areas and created a new type of Empire centered further south.

France Germanic Principalities

Sweden Great Britain

Netherlands Spain (Portugal)

Holy Roman Empire Russia

 
 
dispute over colonial territories between Spain and Portugal Treaty of Tordesillas 

Pope Alexander drew a line of demarcation granting Spain the rights to newly discovered lands east while Portugal got the western lands
Thirty Years War 

Religious and Economic wars between France, Sweden, Netherlands, HRE and Germanic Principalities

 Treaty of Westphalia 

Germanic states free of the HRE 
War of the Spanish Succession 

fought between France and other European Nations

 Treaty of Utrecht 

Bourbon's -- Hapsburgs could not unite
defeat of the Spanish Armada 

fought between England and Spain

 England defeats Spain 

and gains control of the seas
War of the Austrian Succession 

Hapsburg dispute of inheritance

 Pragmatic Sanction 

allows Maria Theresa to inherit Hapsburg lands even though she is a female. Her husband actually becomes Emperor
Seven Years War 

Territorial disputes between Austria and Prussia with Great Britain and France on opposing sides

 Treaty of Hubertusberg 

Prussia keeps Silesia and then continues territorial gains in Poland
Diplomatic Revolution aligns Hapsburg Austrian Empire