Chapter 5 section 3
Central European
Monarchs Clash
The Thirty Years' War
• Germany had suffered from religious wars that ended in
1555 with the Peace of Augsburg. Rulers of each German
state agreed that they would decide whether their lands
would be Catholic or Protestant.
• After the Peace of Augsburg (1555) the catholic
and Lutheran princes kept a close eye on one
another.
• Relations between sides became tense over the next
decades. Then in 1618, a new war broke out and lasted for
30 terrible years. It was called the Thirty Years' War.
• Both Lutherans and Catholics felt threatened by
Calvinists. Lutherans formed the Protestant Union,
and Catholics started the Catholic League.
In 1618, Ferdinand II, head of the Hapsburg family, and a
Catholic, decided to close some Protestant churches in
Bohemia. This made the Protestants mad, and they revolted
• Ferdinand sent an army to crush the revolt. As a result, the
Thirty Years’ War began. It lasted for thirty years
• The Hapsburgs started good, and were whipping the
Protestants Every time the army won Ferdinand allowed
them to plunder.
• But the Protestants, led by Gustavas
Adolphus of Sweden, turned the tide and
drove the Hapsburgs out of Northern
Germany
Cardinals Richelieu and Mazarin of France had begun the war
on the side of the Hapsburgs, but then decided that they
didn’t want the Hapsburgs to have too much power. So even
though they were Catholic, they switched teams and joined
the Netherlands and German Protestant states.
• The Thirty Years' War ended in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia. It
had been a disaster for Germany. About 4 million people had died, and
the economy was in ruins. It took Germany two centuries to recover.
• The peace treaty weakened the power of Austria and Spain. But it made
France stronger. The French gained German territory. The treaty also
made German princes independent of the Holy Roman emperor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WO73Dh7rY&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1
• It ended religious wars in Europe. Lastly, the treaty
introduced a new way of negotiating peace-a method still
used today. All states involved in the fighting meet to settle
the problems of a war and decide the terms of peace.
• With the Treaty of Westphalia also came the end of the idea of a
Catholic Empire that would rule most of Europe. Thus, the modern state
system was born. Each independent state was now equal to any other.
Central Europe Differs
from
the West
• In 1711, Charles VI became the Hapsburg ruler. It
was difficult for him to rule, however, because
there was a diverse assortment of lands within the
borders of his empire.
• His heir, Maria
Theresa, had a
difficult time as ruler.
She was constantly at
war with Prussia, and
she had to keep the
territories within her
empire under her
reign.
• Maria had 16
children. Most
famous child was
Marie Antoinette,
who married Louis
XVI of France.
She was very
religious. She did
not like to see the
poor work to hard.
Prussia and Austria Clash
(pages 149-1501
What was Prussia?
• Like Austria, Prussia rose to power in the late
1600s. Like the Hapsburgs of Austria, Prussia's
ruling family, the Hohenzollerns, also had ambitions.
• The Hohenzollerns
began to build their
state from the German
states of Brandenburg
and Prussia.
• In 1640, a 20 year old
Hohenzollern named
Frederick William
inherited the title of
elector of Brandenburg.
• He decided it would be
wise to build a strong
army after seeing the
destruction of the
Thirty Years’ War.
The Hohenzollerns of
Prussia
• Frederick, who later became know as the Great Elector,
built the best army in Europe. It had 80,000 men. The
army was paid from the collection of taxes.
The Hohenzollerns of
Prussia
• Frederick also
brought the nobles
under his
cooperation by
making them the
officers in his
army.
• The nobles in
Prussia were called
Junkers
• Frederick was afraid
that his son would not
be a good ruler.
Frederick II was more
into poetry, music, and
philosophy. In 1730,
Frederick II and a
friend tried to run
away. They were
caught. As punishment,
his father ordered him
to watch his friend be
beheaded.
• Frederick II went on
take over the throne.
He believed the role
of government was to
expand it’s
territories. He
allowed religious
toleration in Prussia.
• Prussia was a strong state that gave much power to its large, welltrained army. In 1740, Frederick the Great of Prussia invaded one of
Maria Theresa's lands. Austria fought hard to keep the territory, but
lost. Still, in fighting the War of the Austrian Succession, Maria
Theresa managed to keep the rest of her empire intact.
The Seven
Years’
War
• After losing Silesia,
Maria decided to
switch allies and joined
with the French, and
then allied with the
Russians. Frederick
found out and joined
with England.
• Then, he attacked
Saxony, an ally of
Austria. Soon,
just about every
European power
was involved in
the war.
• This would become the 7 Years War. It was fought in
Europe, India, and North America. The war lasted from
1756 to 1763.
• The two sides fought again, beginning in 1756. In the Seven Years' War,
Austria abandoned Britain, its old ally, for France and Russia. Prussia
joined with Britain. The Prussians and British won. In that victory,
Britain gained complete control of the overseas colonies of France.