History 321: State and Society in Early Modern Europe:

The Thirty Years War

Test The test will take place in class on

Tuesday, 7 April. It will have the same format as the previous two tests but will be slightly longer. You will have 45 minutes to complete it. The test will begin at 11:30 and end at 12:15.

After the test, you will complete the course evaluation forms. Bring a pencil to complete the forms. Someone will need to volunteer to collect the forms and return them to the Department of History.

I shall try to have the tests marked by Wednesday, 8 April. You can pick them up from my office between 9:30 and 10:00.

Final Paper Submit your final paper by email to

pabel@sfu.ca by 9:30 am on Thursday, 9 April.

I shall return your papers by email. If you have questions about my

comments or grade, you must see me in person. I shall be available to discuss papers on Thursday, 16 April from 13:30 to 15:00. Please let me know in advance if you wish to meet with me.

Central Question

How did peace come to the Empire after the Thirty Years War?

Interpreting the Westphalian Settlement

“the birth of the modern international order based on sovereign states” (751)

the Thirty Years War “solved no problem. …it is the outstanding example in European history of meaningless conflict” (C. V. Wedgwood)

the end of Germany

Interpreting the Westphalian Settlement

The Thirty Years War was not a “general European” or a global conflict. The Peace of Westphalia did not settle all

European conflicts or colonial conflicts. war between France and Spain: Peace of

the Pyrenees (1659) renewed Baltic wars (1655): Sweden,

Poland, Russia: Treaty of Oliva (1660)

Interpreting the Westphalian Settlement

“Westphalia’s significance lies not in the number of conflicts it tried to resolve, but in the methods and ideals it applied” (753).

“The ‘classic Westphalian state’ rests on indivisible sovereignty. …it possesses well-demarcated, non-porous borders, and a common identity and culture among its inhabitants” (754) an ideal not immediately evident immediately

after 1648 development: “Europe remained a hierarchical,

fragmented international system after 1648, but was clearly moving towards as secular order based on more equal, sovereign states” (754).

Interpreting the Westphalian Settlement

decline of the Empire? Dutch neutrality and Swiss

independence? “the lingering sense of the Empire as

embodying the ideal of a single European political community” (755)

France and Sweden as guarantors of the Westphalian Treaties: limits and limitations Sweden and France as supporters of

the Imperial constitution in the eighteenth century.

A Christian Peace

religious dimensions solution to religious problems with an

“amicable composition” (758) itio in partes

1 January 1624: new normative date acceptance of Calvinism besides

Lutheranism, Catholicism limited right of Reformation

exception for the Habsburgs

A Christian Peace

religious dimensions disparity of rights for religious majorities

and minorities “Toleration was thus not based on

individual equal rights but on membership of a community with corporate rights” (760).

“genuine compromise” among three confessions (760). “three privileged churches with equal

status” (761)

A Christian Peace

religious dimensions “Rather than secularizing politics, the

Thirty Years War discredited the use of force to obtain confessional or political objectives within the Empire” (760) limited confessional conflict

“Centralized states imposed official uniformity through an established church and then widened opportunities for others through limited toleration” (761)

Implementing the Peace Nürnberg Execution Congress (1649)

troop withdrawal disputes over normative year

Reichshofrat (imperial supreme court) bi-confessional deputation of imperial

estates (1649-1651) deputation of 1655 Reichshofrat, Reichskammergericht exceptions: Swedish land distribution,

ignoring minority rights some confessional tensions, pragmatism

too (vs. toleration, secularization)

Implementing the Peace Discrediting violence as a “tool of

oppression” (766) Düsseldorf Cow War

Brandenburg vs. Pfalz-Neuburg in inheritance dispute: invasion, counter-invasion

pressure from Dutch Republic, Sweden, Emperor

“amicable agreements in 1666 and 1672” (767)

Implementing the Peace Discrediting violence as a “tool of

oppression” (766) Palatine controversy, 1685-1705

Catholic elector challenged normative year31 princely conversions to Catholicism: 1648-1769

solution: equal rights for all Christian churches in Palatinate

“The controversy underscores how the Thirty Years War changed imperial political culture. The disputes after 1648 no longer concerned fundamental truth, but the relative weight of Protestant and Catholic territories in imperial institutions” (769).

Implementing the Peace Discrediting violence as a “tool of

oppression” (766) 1/3 of 750 official complaints about

“infringement of religious rights” (768): 1648-1803

political struggles between Brandenburg and Saxony

Implementing the Peace Demobilization

160,000 soldiers “scattered across the Empire” (769)

to be supported financially by areas in which they were stationed until withdrawal

Implementing the Peace Demobilization

Sweden exaggerated actual number of troops:

125,000 withdrew troops from southern to northern

Germany received additional 200,000 taler to

accelerate withdrawal received 90% of 5.2 M taler by June 1650

deadline; 97% when troops withdrew from Vechta (occupied since 1647) in 1654

Implementing the Peace Demobilization

Bavaria all soldiers discharged except for Elector’s

bodyguard Imperial army

reduced from 42,300 to 26,230 standing army

social integration of soldiers marauders watchmen eventual success

Implementing the Peace

Regensburg Reichstag, 1653-1654 Article 6 of Recess

IPO and IPM and Nürnberg Recess, 1650: “permanent fundamental laws” of the Empire

Empire was “a mixed monarchy where power was exercised in unequal shares by the emperor and imperial Estates” (774)

Imperial Recovery

Restoration of Habsburg influence in Empire retention of imperial prerogatives acceptance of limitations to imperial

authority: elevations to princely status cultivation of good relations with leading

Estates retention of imperial title for Habsburgs:

election of Ferdinand IV (d. July 1654) death of Ferdinand III (2 April 1657) Leopold I (1658-1705)

assistance to Spanish Habsburgs

Territorial Sovereignty

Strengthening of territorial rulers (imperial Estates) i.e. electors, princes, free imperial cities territorial Estates (representative bodies)

weakened prohibited from raising militias or making

agreements with foreign powers imperial Estates: equal participants with

Emperor in governing the Empire

Territorial Sovereignty

Strengthening of territorial rulers (imperial Estates) territorial rulers may make alliances with

foreign powers but not for confessional reasons or for

“German liberties” Alliances should be oriented at “sustaining

the constitution” of the Empire (777). Alliances could not be directed against the

Emperor or Empire.

Wilson’s Conclusion

“Far from leaving the Empire an empty shell, the Westphalian settlement thus injected new life into its constitution and strengthened its political culture. Stabilization of the Empire contributed to European peace by removing a source of tension from the heart of the continent. The spectre of Catholic Habsburg hegemony had been banished, not least because Spain had been bled dry by its own prolonged conflicts” (778).