War · 1618–1648
Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia
Münster, Westphalia (Germany)
Rooted in the religious divisions of the Holy Roman Empire that followed the Reformation, and in disputes over imperial authority, the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) drew in Austria, Spain, Sweden, France and many German states. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine or disease, and parts of Germany lost more than half their population.
Treaties signed at Münster and Osnabrück in October 1648, together called the Peace of Westphalia, ended the war; earlier that year Spain and the Dutch Republic had made peace at Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War.
Why it mattered
Many international-relations scholars trace the principle of sovereign states that do not interfere in one another's internal affairs ('Westphalian sovereignty') to this settlement, though some historians argue that reading was a later invention.
Related
- The world in 1600: Gunpowder Empires chapter
- Thirty Years' War 23 May 1618 – 24 October 1648
- The Qing take Beijing previous moment · 1644 (conquest completed 1683)
- Newton's Principia next moment · 1687