Thirty Years War Essay

The Thirty Years’ War, which lasted from 1618-1648, ravaged Europe for three decades aimed at the control of Germany by the Habsburg House that had ruled the Holy Roman Empire since the fifteenth century. This war was sparked by the Protestant Reformation that had begun in 1517. Though the war was destructive on all accounts, it did help shape today’s modern Europe. This essay will evaluate the Thirty Years’ War and how it helped form the modern state of Europe. The Thirty Years’ War was both a religious struggle and a civil war of sorts. The religious struggle was due to the shattering of the Christian unity in Europe, which was caused by the Reformation. In Germany, the split between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism was greater than …show more content…
Wallenstein, who backed Ferdinand in his cause, managed to raise 50,000 mercenaries. Though they were basically a private army to Wallenstein and loyal to no one else but him, they still fought for the Catholic cause. After numerous Protestant defeats made by Wallenstein, the war ended between the two countries with the Edict of Restitution. This edict returned all of the Roman Catholic lands that had been converted to Protestantism after 1555. This edict crippled the Protestant movement …show more content…
Calvinism, which was illegal throughout the Holy Roman Empire before and during the war, was now equal to that of Lutheran and Catholicism. The war produced a backlash all through Europe. Many people became disgusted that people were suffering in the name of a loving God, and so, religious persecution, which was once universally accepted, was now under critical scrutiny. On a long term scale, the Thirty Years’ War played a significant role in making the West more tolerant and gave everyone the freedom to choose what religion to follow without persecution by the state or its