Thirty Years War Effects

The Thirty Years war was one of the darkest periods in European History, and one of the most devastating, more so on the Germans more than any other group of people. It is said that it was one of the worst catastrophes in German History, and the only other event to match and exceed the devastation endured is World War II. There are many effects that stemmed for this conflicted, but there is only one root cause of it, the religious conflict which was spark by the reformation of Christian throughout Europe. The effects that stemmed from this religious war were almost as costly as the war itself, and some even estimate that the thirty years war set back Germany two hundred years. The effects of the Thirty Years War affected the German people both

In response Fredrick, gathered armies from German state that were loyal to the Holy Roman Empire and crush the revolt of the Protestants, after which the Danish King Christian IV entered the war. Denmark’s protestant king, saw Ferdinand as a threat to Protestants everywhere not just in Bohemia, so together with the support of Protestant German States, and being backed financially by France, Denmark struck back but in the end the catholic backed Hapsburg became the victors. The next Country to enter the war on the Protestant side was Sweden. The Swedish entered the war out of fear who the Hapsburg may attack next. The Swedes were supported by the remaining Protestant German States and financially by the French. The Swedes won many victories against the Hapsburg, and as a result a peace treaty was signed, the Peace of Prague, this brought about three changes, it first provided protection for German Protestant in the North, it made the Armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the German States into one, and restricted the German princes from allying with each other or foreign countries. The Peace of Prague did not conclude the war mainly because it did not extend religious freedoms to the Protestants I the South. Although the war could have been ended here, the French continued the war for another eight years, because the French did not want other European Rulers to have as much power as the French King, so French sent troops to engage the Hapsburg armies and declared war on Spain. The war finally ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which had numerous significances such as, weakening the Hapsburg in Spain, and Austria, Giving the German territory of Alsace to France, and introduces a new method of peace negotiations, it also allowed the German princes to form alliances with and sign treaties, with the exception that they did not declare war on the Holy Roman Empire.