Data
Date	October 24, 1648.
Location	Münster and Osnabrück, Westphalia, present-day Germany.
Signatories	Holy Roman Empire, France, Sweden and the German princes.

The Peace of Westphalia were the clauses established by the Treaties of Osnabrück and Münster , which were signed on October 24, 1648 , in the region of Westphalia , in the Holy Roman Empire . Those put an end to the 30 Years’ War .

The Treaty of Osnabrück regulated the internal organization of the Holy Empire and specified which territories would pass into the hands of the kingdom of Sweden. The Treaty of Münster established the territorial cessions that the Habsburgs had to make to the kingdom of France. Peace of Westphalia with consequences

The United Provinces, the Helvetic Confederation, England, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Venice and Transylvania joined the Peace of Westphalia . It was not signed by Spain, which continued the war against France.

The provisions of the Peace of Westphalia became part of the constitutional organization of the Holy Roman Empire and remained in force until its dissolution and replacement by the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806.

The guarantors of the new order were the victorious states of the 30 Years’ War, France and Sweden, without whose consent none of the clauses of 1648 could be modified.

Enhance your reading: War of the Two Roses with causes in detail

Background to the Peace of Westphalia

The publication by Martin Luther of The 95 Theses of Wittenberg , in 1517, initiated the Protestant Reformation and a series of wars that shook Europe for more than 100 years. The causes of these wars were the desire for religious and political freedom of the German princes and the intransigence of the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, who were not willing to see their power reduced.

The Peace of Augsburg , signed in 1555 between Emperor Charles V and the German princes, had tried to put an end to these religious conflicts; But in the early seventeenth century , tensions between the predominant cults in the Holy Empire increased and led to the creation of two competing alliances: the Evangelical Union (1608), which was a coalition of Lutheran and Calvinist German states , and the League German Catholic (1609), which grouped the Catholic princes. Peace of Westphalia with consequences

The attempt of the Emperor Ferdinand II of Habsburg to restore religious absolutism and impose Catholicism by force , led to the outbreak of the 30 Years’ War, which ended with the Peace of Westphalia.

Provisions of the Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück

The main provisions of both treaties were the following:

• France incorporated territories that belonged to the west of the Holy Roman Empire, including the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun, as well as Breisach and almost all of Alsace.
• Sweden received Western Pomerania, the Port of Wismar, the Principality of Rugen, the Archbishopric of Bremen, and the Bishopric of Verden. Thus he obtained control of the mouths of the Elbe and Weser rivers in the North Sea and the Oder in the Baltic Sea.
• Brandenburg obtained Eastern Pomerania, the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, and the bishoprics of Minden and Halberstadt.
• The Palatinate was divided into Lower Palatinate, which was handed over to the son of Frederick V, and Upper Palatinate, which remained in the hands of Maximilian, Elector Duke of Bavaria.
• France and Sweden obtained a vote in the Germanic Imperial Diet, while Bavaria acquired a vote in the Council of Electors of the Holy Empire, which rose to 8 members.
• The Helvetic Confederation (now Switzerland) and the United Provinces of the Netherlands were recognized as independent nations. Peace of Westphalia with consequences
• The 350 German states were granted independence to choose their foreign policy, but they could not confront the Holy Empire, which retained the powers to wage wars and sign treaties.
• The Peace of Prague, signed in 1635 between Emperor Ferdinand II and the Protestant princes of the Empire, was incorporated into the Peace of Westphalia.

Enhance your reading: Causes and consequences of Black Death in detail

Consequences of the Peace of Westphalia

The main consequences of the Peace of Westphalia were the following:

• France expanded eastward and became the main European power .
• Spain was weakened and began its decline .
• The United Provinces became a maritime power and experienced a period of great economic prosperity.
• Sweden confirmed its role as a great European power , interfering in the affairs of the Holy Empire and in the entire Baltic Sea basin.
• The territories received by the Elector of Brandenburg were the cradle of Prussia, the state from which the unifying impulse of Germany started in the second half of the 19th century .
• The Holy Empire maintained its federal political organization and its elective monarchy, just as it was before the war.
• The German regional states became independent subjects of international law , since they could make alliances with foreign powers. In this way, the power of the emperor was weakened and the feudal conception that towns and territories were a hereditary patrimony of princes and kings remained in the past . The principle that territorial integrity was the foundation of the existence of States was affirmed. In this sense, Westphalia meant the birth of the idea of ​​the nation state and its territorial sovereignty.
• France and Sweden were the guarantors of the international order established in Westphalia. Without his authorization, no provision established in 1648 could be changed. The maintenance of this state of affairs responded to the needs of the European powers, who wanted to maintain a balance of power and prevent the emergence of a centralized and powerful German Empire at the heart of the continent.
• The consecration of religious freedom by the German princes and the legalization of Calvinism put an end to the wars of religion, which had raged in Europe since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517. In this way, the papacy ceased to exercise significant temporal power. in European politics, which became secularized and detached from religious issues. Peace of Westphalia with consequences