The effects of the Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War is considered to be one of the longest and most destructive war in European history. In the beginning of the war there were two sides, the Catholics of the Holy Roman Empire and the “Protestants” a term used to describe followers of a Christian church that isn’t catholic. By the end of this long and bloody conflict most of Europe was caught in the spider web of war. When it was finally over the religious, political, and social environment of Europe was completely different.
While the Thirty Years War was officially from 1618 to 1648 the conflict actually started much earlier than 1618. Signed in 1555 the peace of Augsburg gave religious freedom to the princes of the Holy Roman Empire to choose whether to follow the old Christian way of Catholicism or the new protestant way, Lutheranism. This treaty left out Calvinism another protestant sect. flash forward 35 years to the 1590’s where militant Catholic Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand II began to …show more content…
In order to feed and fun the huge armies required to wage war, the governing bodies made the common folk quarter the soldiers at their own homes. They were required to feed the soldiers and find a place for them to sleep. Soldiers had the ability to do whatever they wanted which often included plundering towns and harassing the people quartering them. In addition to dealing with the soldiers the working class citizens has heavy taxes laid on them which caused major strife and uprisings. Cases of rape and torture are common from this time period and, some cases or cannibalism were recorded as well. The people who lived through the Thirty Years War only knew the social turbulence of that era and were left with a very devastated landscape full of disease and
The Thirty Years War is considered to be one of the longest and most destructive war in European history. In the beginning of the war there were two sides, the Catholics of the Holy Roman Empire and the “Protestants” a term used to describe followers of a Christian church that isn’t catholic. By the end of this long and bloody conflict most of Europe was caught in the spider web of war. When it was finally over the religious, political, and social environment of Europe was completely different.
While the Thirty Years War was officially from 1618 to 1648 the conflict actually started much earlier than 1618. Signed in 1555 the peace of Augsburg gave religious freedom to the princes of the Holy Roman Empire to choose whether to follow the old Christian way of Catholicism or the new protestant way, Lutheranism. This treaty left out Calvinism another protestant sect. flash forward 35 years to the 1590’s where militant Catholic Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand II began to …show more content…
In order to feed and fun the huge armies required to wage war, the governing bodies made the common folk quarter the soldiers at their own homes. They were required to feed the soldiers and find a place for them to sleep. Soldiers had the ability to do whatever they wanted which often included plundering towns and harassing the people quartering them. In addition to dealing with the soldiers the working class citizens has heavy taxes laid on them which caused major strife and uprisings. Cases of rape and torture are common from this time period and, some cases or cannibalism were recorded as well. The people who lived through the Thirty Years War only knew the social turbulence of that era and were left with a very devastated landscape full of disease and