Seventeenth-century Europe found itself in a new configuration where several nations were interested in expanding their powers on the continent through the conquest of new markets and territories. However, the awakening of competition between the various centralized monarchies, established between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, caused several conflicts and wars. It was in this context that we observe the occurrence of the Thirty Years' War, developed between 1618 and 1648.
To give a brief notion of the reasons that developed this war, we must cite the situation of the Germanic Holy Empire after the development of the Protestant reforms. In that region, marked as the cradle of the Reformation, there were different kingdoms headed by princes of Catholic and Protestant orientation. This diversity often implied a great political tension where the kings of a certain region did not accept the practice of a religion contrary to their particular faith.
An example of this situation occurred when Emperor Rudolf II began to fight Protestantism by destroying churches and promoting laws that reinforced Catholic power in the region. In a short time, the Protestant princes reacted to the imposition by creating the Evangelical League, which fought the excesses promoted by real religious intolerance. On the other hand, Germanic Catholic monarchs created the Holy League, supported by other monarchies linked to the Roman Church.
The intransigence of the Catholic kings in Bohemia was felt with greater force, as this region of the Holy Empire had a Catholic majority. In May 1618, Protestants promoted an uprising in the city of Prague, which eventually sparked the interest of other anti-Catholic nations in preventing the expansion of the power of the Habsburgs, Germanic dynasty interested in fighting Protestantism in the Holy Empire and expanding its domain political-territorial.
Initially, the troops that made up the Holy League managed to overcome the Protestant armies and, with that, the Habsburg dynasty enjoyed a large territory controlled by a centralized monarchy and supported by the Church. Roman. Thus, the emergence of this powerful and aggressive power ended up arousing the concern of other nations Europeans who defended Protestantism or feared the consolidation of a strong competitor in the mercantilist.
Denmark was the first nation to speak out against the great Catholic reign that was taking shape in the Holy Empire. At the same time, the Dutch also supported the Protestant reaction by disposing of arms and armies that fought alongside the German Protestant princes. Of course, behind these disputes there was the Danish interest in recovering duchies that suffered the intervention of the Catholic monarchs of the Holy German Empire. Between 1625 and 1627, new struggles reaffirmed the superiority of the Sacred League's armies.
In this way, the supremacy of the Habsburgs was established with the domination over the territories and goods of the Protestants who, with the signing of the Peace of Augsburg, in 1555, had taken Catholic possessions. The event weakened the economic power of the Danish state and aroused the concern of the French Crown, which negotiated the entry. of Swedish troops in the fight against the Habsburgs with the promise of ceding territories that would guarantee their hegemony in the Baltic region.
In this new endeavor, the Swedish armies led under the strict discipline of the Swedish king Gustav Adolfo achieved expressive victories that had the support of the Protestant German princes. With this, Catholics tended to negotiate the end of conflicts so that the political balance in the Holy Empire could preserve in basic conditions the power of Catholics. In this way, the Protestants were able to renegotiate some of the losses imposed by the Edict of Restitution.
From then on, the French decided to intervene directly in the conflict, declaring war against the Habsburgs and all monarchies that were allies of the Catholic-Germans. The mighty French army managed to annihilate all enemy forces that, even with successive defeats, were not willing to surrender. At this point the war lost all its religious motivation as it saw France, a traditionally Catholic nation, fighting other nations that professed the same faith.
The Treaty of Westphalia (1648), negotiated in the final years of the war, intended to end the conflict that mobilized almost all of Europe. France, hugely benefited from the agreement, forced the Habsburgs to take their project expansionist towards the Turkish-Ottoman Empire and gained dominance over the regions of Roussillon, Alsace and Lorraine. Furthermore, nations such as Switzerland and the Netherlands (Netherlands) managed to consolidate the independence of their states.
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Brazil School Team.
16th to 19th century - wars - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/guerras/guerra-dos-trinta-anos.htm