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The 30 Years' War started in the year 1618 when (future) Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II tried forcing Catholicism in the H.R.E. in an absolute manner, causing the Protestant groups in the H.R.E. to revolt.

After the initial conflict between the Catholic and Protestant parties in the H.R.E., many other nations around Europe joined the war for various reasons, including territory, wealth and independence from certain leaders. For example, some territories in Italy wanted freedom from the Papal states, the French joined the war to lessen the influence of the Hapsburgs, and many other nations joined the war for their own political gain.

After three decades of conflict, the 30 Years' War ended with the Treaty of Westphalia, a series of peace treaties used to give every nation what they wanted/deserved after the war, after much negotiation.

APA:

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2019). Thirty Years’ War | Summary, Causes, Combatants, Map, & Significance | Britannica. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Thirty-Years-War

Erlanger, P. (2019). Louis XIV. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-XIV-king-of-France

LaHaye, L. (2019). Mercantilism . Econlib. https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Mercantilism.html

The French Wars of Religion | Western Civilization. (n.d.). Courses.lumenlearning.com. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory/chapter/the-french-wars-of-religion/

Gibson, E. (2025, January 17). Peace of Westphalia. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Peace_of_Westphalia/

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1. The War of Devolution started when Louis XIV said some land in the Spanish Netherlands belonged to his wife, Maria Theresa, because of local inheritance rules. He used this as an excuse to take more land for France, knowing Spain was weak and its king, Charles II, was young. The war was part of France’s long fight with Spain for power.

2. The War of Devolution ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ("Treaty of Aachen") in 1668. France kept some forts in the Spanish Netherlands, like Lille, but had to return most of the land because England, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden pressured them to stop.

3. During the war, France’s army, led by Marshal Turenne, used smart planning and new battle tactics to quickly capture important Spanish forts. This showed that France had a powerful and modern military, making it one of the strongest forces in Europe at the time.

APA:

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). War of Devolution | Louis XIV, Spain, France. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-Devolution

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of | European history [1668] | Britannica. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Treaty-of-Aix-la-Chapelle-1668

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1. Early Triumph and Disappointments: Louis XIV's forces quickly overran parts of the Dutch Republic in 1672, but the Dutch struck back by flooding lands surrounding Amsterdam, constructing a defensive "Water Line" that halted the French advance.

2. Naval Battles: The Dutch fleet, under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, successfully drove out English and French fleets, foiling invasions of the republic in battles such as those off Sole Bay and Kijkduin.

3. International Alliances: The war widened when the Holy Roman Emperor, Spain, and Lorraine joined forces with the Dutch to battle France. The French were expelled from the Dutch Republic by 1673.

APA:

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998a, July 20). Dutch War | William III, Louis XIV. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Dutch-War

French-Dutch War | EBSCO. (n.d.). EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | www.ebsco.com. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/french-dutch-war

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1. The Nine Years' War was fought between France, led by King Louis XIV, and a group of countries including England, the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire. They were trying to stop France from becoming too powerful in Europe.

2. One important event during the war was the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. King William III of England defeated King James II of England, which helped strengthen Protestant control in England and Ireland.

3. The war ended with the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697. This treaty made peace between France and the other countries. France had to give back some lands it took, and it agreed that William III would be the rightful King of England.

APA:

The Nine Years’ War: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg. (n.d.). https://www.schloss-heidelberg.de/en/interesting-amusing/collections/the-nine-years-war

The Nine Years’ War, 1689-1697. (n.d.). https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/exploration/9-years-war.php

Nine Years’ War - (AP European History) - Vocab, definition, Explanations | Fiveable. (n.d.). Fiveable. https://library.fiveable.me/key-terms/ap-euro/nine-years-war

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1. The Spanish Succession was caused by the death of Charles ll of Spain, who did not have an heir to rule after him. This led to a dispute between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs over who would rule over Spain, or if it should be divided to maintain the balance of power in Europe.

2. Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, England, and the United Provinces of the Netherlands were the main countries involved in this war. The reason they were involved is because of the complex web of alliances and because the war was not only about the Spanish throne, but also to prevent any single power, particularly France, from becoming too dominant in Europe.

3. The Treaty of Utrecht was a series of treaties that involved France and Spain making peace with various European powers. This ended with the Bourbon Philip V as the king of Spain

APA:

1. “War of the Spanish Succession.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 28 Mar. 2025, www.britannica.com/event/War-of-the-Spanish-Succession.

2. “War of the Spanish Succession Summary.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/summary/War-of-the-Spanish-Succession. Accessed 3 Apr. 2025.

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Supporting Opinions:

As a group, we believe that Louis XIV was the best possible example of an absolute monarch. This is because he managed to control every aspect of his government by himself and he had all the power in France during his rule.

Recognizing Effects:

Colbert and Louis' economic policies helped France by introducing mercantilism, meaning that France imported less and exported more, which bolstered economic growth in the country.

Synthesizing:

Protestantism played a very important role in the fall of Louis XIV, as one of his main acts during his rule was the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which framed him as an antagonist to the Protestant population of France at the time.

Explain:

France's wars of religion and economy were very impactful in Europe, because most of the time, a lot of Europe was involved in these wars (E.g. the 30 Years' War, the War of Spanish Succession, etc.) and because his excessive amount of conflicts in Europe led to France being weakened, thus leading to many political shifts in power in the continent.

Recognizing Effects:

The Peace of Westphalia, being the treaty (or treaties) that ended the 30 Years' War, played a crucial role in shaping modern day Europe. It geographically defined many of today's European borders and cultures, it gave some territories full sovereignty and autonomy, and it shaped the continent both religiously and politically.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Thirty-Years-War

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-XIV-king-of-France

https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Mercantilism.html

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory/chapter/the-french-wars-of-religion/

https://www.worldhistory.org/Peace_of_Westphalia/

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Thirty Years' War, (1618-48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe, and, when it ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, the map of Europe had been irrevocably changed.

A brief treatment of the Thirty Years' War follows. For full treatment, see Europe, history of: The Thirty Years' War.

Although the struggles that created it erupted some years earlier, the war is conventionally held to have begun in 1618, when the future Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand II, in his role as king of Bohemia, attempted to impose Roman Catholic absolutism on his domains, and the Protestant nobles of both Bohemia and Austria rose up in rebellion. Ferdinand won after a five-year struggle. In 1625 King Christian IV of Denmark saw an opportunity to gain valuable territory in Germany to balance his earlier loss of Baltic provinces to Sweden. Christian's defeat and the Peace of Lübeck in 1629 finished Denmark as a European power, but Sweden's Gustav II Adolf, having ended a four-year war with Poland, invaded Germany and won many German princes to his anti-Roman Catholic, anti-imperial cause.

Meanwhile the conflict widened, fueled by political ambitions of the various powers. Poland, having been drawn in as a Baltic power coveted by Sweden, pushed its own ambitions by attacking Russia and establishing a dictatorship in Moscow under Władysław, Poland's future king. The Russo-Polish Peace of Polyanov in 1634 ended Poland's claim to the tsarist throne but freed Poland to resume hostilities against its Baltic archenemy, Sweden, which was now deeply embroiled in Germany. Here, in the heartland of Europe, three denominations vied for dominance: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism. This resulted in a Gordian tangle of alliances as princes and prelates called in foreign powers to aid them. Overall, the struggle was between the Holy Roman Empire, which was Roman Catholic and Habsburg, and a network of Protestant towns and principalities that relied on the chief anti-Catholic powers of Sweden and the United Netherlands, which had at last thrown off the yoke of Spain after a struggle lasting 80 years. A parallel struggle involved the rivalry of France with the Habsburgs of the empire and with the Habsburgs of Spain, who had been attempting to construct a cordon of anti-French alliances.

The principal battlefield for all these intermittent conflicts was the towns and principalities of Germany, which suffered severely. During the Thirty Years' War, many of the contending armies were mercenaries, many of whom could not collect their pay. This threw them on the countryside for their supplies, and thus began the "wolf-strategy" that typified this war. The armies of both sides plundered as they marched, leaving cities, towns, villages, and farms ravaged. When the contending powers finally met in the German province of Westphalia to end the bloodshed, the balance of power in Europe had been radically changed. Spain had lost not only the Netherlands but its dominant position in western Europe. France was now the chief Western power. Sweden had control of the Baltic. The United Netherlands was recognized as an independent republic. The member states of the Holy Roman Empire were granted full sovereignty. The ancient notion of a Roman Catholic empire of Europe, headed spiritually by a pope and temporally by an emperor, was permanently abandoned, and the essential structure of modern Europe as a community of sovereign states was established.

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Thirty Years' War | Summary, Causes, Combatants, Map, & Significance

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Thirty Years' War (1618-48), in European history, a series of wars fought by various nations for various reasons, including religious, dynastic, territorial, and commercial rivalries. Its destructive campaigns and battles occurred over most of Europe, and, when it ended, the map of Europe had been irrevocably changed.