Sum total of the Thirty Years' War

Result of the Thirty Years' War

Peace of Westphalia (Political settlement). The peace of Westphalia left the Austrian Hapsburgs in undisputed of their hereditary possession - Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. It however deprived them of control over the Holy Roman Empire and brought about numerous changes within the Empire.

i. Each prince was practically given sovereign authority in his own territory including the right to make peace or war. ii. France got Alsace except the free city of Strasbourg and also the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun.  iii. Sweden got part of Pomerania controlling the mouth of the order and the bishopric of BREMEN and commanding the mouth of ELBE and WESER.  iv. France and Sweden were given voting rights in the Imperial Diet by virtue of their having obtained German lands.  v.  Brandenburg obtained Eastern Pomerania and several bishoprics including Magdeburg.  vi. The Palatinate was divided between Maximilian of Bavaria and the son of the deposed Frederick and Bavaria and the Palatinate were to be an electorate. vii. Switzerland and Holland were formally recognized as free and independent states. ( Holland was part of the Spanish Hapsburgs and Switzerland of the Austrian Hapsburgs).

RELIGIOUS CLAUSES OF THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA 

i. Calvinist were to share all the privileges alongwith Lutheran Protestants. ii. Church property as held at the beginning of 1624 by both Catholics and Protestants was confirmed. iii. Equal number of Catholics and Protestants judges were to be members of the Imperial Courts.

Significance

The Thirty Years' War which began as a fight between Roman Catholics and Protestants had economic and political overtones and ended as a major conflict between the Austrian Hapsburgs and the French Bourbons - ironically both being Catholics. The war laid the foundation of a troublesome and rocky road to the dawn of religious toleration and  freedom.

The Thirty years' war laid the foundation of the modern state system of Europe and modern International law. What was more significant however was the political and economic destruction it caused in Germany. It postponed indefinitely the establishment of a national German state and economically it left Germany a virtual desert. About two thirds of the total population had disappeared, five sixths of the villages in the empire had been destroyed and the condition of the surviving population was miserable in the extreme. Trade fell into the hands of the Dutch and the French. Education almost disappeared. 

The Spanish Hapsburgs also suffered immense losses. What was one of the most powerful and wealthy state in Europe became in 1648 the poorest and the most helpless. All this had been the result of serving the Hapsburg cause.

What had been Phillip IV's gain. He had devotedly served his kinsmen, the Hapsburgs of Austria but even they let him down - the very kinsmen for whom he ruined his kingdom. The Austrian Hapsburgs made peace in 1648 without him and achieved a peace that the other German states by the Thirty years' war. Having retained possession of Bohemia and Hungary she could continue as a great power in Europe irrespective of what befell the Holy Roman Empire or for that matter Germany Phillip IV knew that he had made immense sacrifice to preserve the kingdom of his cousin and brother-in-law Ferdinand III. He had hoped that Ferdinand III would prolong the war after 1648 and thus enable Phillip IV to check France, recover Portugal and maintain Hapsburgs prestige in the Spanish inheritance. Ferdinand unfortunately rejected the pleas of Phillip who was left alone to carry on the struggle valiantly for another eleven years from 1648 onwards. He met with reverses at the hands of the French arms and eventually was forced  in 1659 to sign with France the treaty of the Pyrenees.

The treaty of Pyrenees signalled the end  of Spanish greatness as a European power. According to this treaty- i. Spain gave to France the province of ROUSSILON situated at the eastern end of the Pyrenees. ii. Spain also gave to France the Southern Strip of Belgian Netherland including the province of Artois and several fortified towns. iii. Phillip IV suffered the humiliation of agreeing to marry his daughter Maria Theresa to the Bourbon king Louis XIV who in consideration for a large dowry gave up any further claim to Spanish kingdom. 

As a consequence of the Thirty years' war , France had become the dominant power in Europe !