& # 8217 ; War Essay, Research Paper

The Thirty Years & # 8217 ; WarTHE HAPSBURG S DEMISEOn October 24, 1648 in Munster a pact was signed that ended one of the most bloody wars in European history. This war, a war of faith, involved most of Western Europe, particularly the Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years War marked the diminution socially, politically, and economically of the Hapsburgs and the rise of France as the main power in Europe. As a consequence of the Thirty Years War, the Hapsburgs lost their standing as the wealthiest dynasty in Europe. The war was an economic drain on the imperium, due to increased cost of weaponries and work forces. After the Hapsburgs Catholic conference ground forces was defeated in 1632 by the Swedes the Hapsburgs merely hope for triumph was to fall back to the utilizations of soldier of fortunes, a factor that contributed to farther economic diminution. The Holy Roman Empire so had to depend on soldiers of luck for the staying 16 old ages of the war. These soldier of fortunes were out of control. The soldier of fortunes were about worse so the encroachers. The soldier of fortunes would plunder the metropoliss that they were supposed to be protecting because they needed the supplies. The commanding officers of the soldier of fortunes could non command them and in some instances they would even assist with the robbery. With the Holy Roman Empire s defeat the state lay in shambles. No less so half of the German people perished during the war. Two tierces of all of the industrial, agricultural, and commercial installations were ruined. With its full economic construction destroyed and half of its workers killed, the Holy Roman Empire had to fall back to outside beginnings to import the goods that the Holy Roman Empire needed to last. This status contributed to an unfavourable balance of trade. This trade shortage forced the Hapsburg to utilize the wealth acquired in the sixteenth century to recap their loses. Thus the Holy Roman Empire lost its border and could non retrieve economically. Politically the Holy Roman Empire would ne’er be the same after the Thirty Years War. This was a spiritual war that tore the Holy Roman Empire along spiritual lines. Originally the Hapsburgs and the princes of the Holy Roman Empire were viing against each other for the control of the imperium. In order to derive a border on the princes the Hapsbur

gs went to the pontificate to acquire support. From this point on the princes felt no trueness to the pontificate. It was this deficiency of trueness that made the princes really susceptible to Protestantism. The fact that now these two parties were from opposite faith it merely gave them the alibi that they needed to contend each other. France wanted to go the most powerful state in Europe. In order to carry through this France had to suppress the Hapburgs and they could make this with the aid of the German Princes. found a powerful ally in the German princes. France was a predominately Catholic state but in the Thirty Years War it used the Protestant faith as a ground to contend the Hapsburgs. By utilizing the aid of the princes the Hapsburgs could non win. France set up the Peace of Westphalia when they won the war. By making the pact of Westphalia France could command the authorities of the Holy Roman Empire and insure that it would ne’er be every bit powerful as it one time was.

The societal branchings, peculiarly due to faith of the Thirty Years War were felt long after the war. Religion following the Thirty Years War no longer served as a major factor in the life of the people of the Holy Roman Empire. The death of faith as a force was due to the licking of the Catholic component which had served ab initio as the justification for the war itself. Furthermore, the societal construction was altered due to the lowering of the instruction criterions in the Holy Roman Empire. The people of this imperium were more bemused with survival so instruction. This was apparent from the deficiency of new thoughts and literature that came out of the universities of the Holy Roman Empire. Another branching of the Thirty Years War was the fact that the population of the Holy Roman Empire was cut in half. The Thirty Years War marked the diminution of the Hapsburgs and the rise of France as the main power in Europe. The Thirty Years War left the Holy Roman Empire in shambles. The Holy Roman Empire s economic system was about wholly destroyed. Besides the war left the authorities no manner to repair the economic system. The societal construction of the Empire besides was devastated by the war. The death of the Holy Roman Empire is an illustration of how a house that is divided against itself can non stand.