Thirty Years War: A Thematic Analysis

The Thirty Years’ War was a religious conflict between the Reformation and Counter-Reformation supporters that was not merely of ideologies and words, however. The conflict generated wars and clashes between the members of the two camps and resulted in the fracturation, destruction, and ruin of Europe and its citizens. The religious and political issues were intimately connected in Europe in the 17th Century. The religious tension between the Roman church and the Protestants sparked a war that would further shape Baroque architecture as the style and its elements were utilized for various forms of propaganda. The Thirty Years’ War between the Counter-Reformation and the Protestants started in 1619 and drained the resources of many European

Baroque architecture were created to give the sensation that the Roman Church was reasserted itself back into a spiritual power. With the Catholic force’s victory against the Protestants in the Battle of White Mountain (1620), sixteenth century popes created sense of security and allowed the opposition toward the Protestant to be “directed into celebration” (Blunt, 1982, p. 10). For example, churches were to be dedicated to saints, and many of them were canonized. These churches reflected how these canonizations embodied celebrations rather than retaliations against the Protestants. The war would cause “more joyous, more emotional style in accordance with the new religious mood” (Blunt 10). The dynamics in the Counter-Reformation affected Baroque architecture, portraying strong connection between the two. It is evident that Baroque architecture shifted to celebrate the continuous Catholic victories against the

While Blunt's numerous works on the subject of European architecture suggest he is credible, his Baroque & Rococo Architecture and Decoration disregards the transition phase of Mannerism to Baroque and other influences that shaped baroque styles, and instead focuses solely on modifications and adaptations in other countries. Therefore, the origin and the other unexplained modifications suggest that there were other factors that changed Baroque